Note 600 — Chapter VII

Exod. iv. 24; xii. 1-18; xiii. 2, 12-14; xxxiv. 19; xxx. 11-16. From the sacrifice of Isaac, the redemption of the firstborn and the Paschal offering, the conclusion may be drawn that in the oldest times human sacrifices were not unknown to the Hebrews. If such took place they were not offered in the same manner as the Moloch-offerings of the Canaanites. If Jehovah appears in fire, the fire is not, to the Hebrews, his essence, but only a form or mode of appearance. Sacrifices like those offered to Moloch were forbidden by the earliest text (Levit. xviii. 22; xx. 2) under pain of death. The narrative of Jephthah's daughter lays especial stress on the sanctity of the vow. Of the other passages which come into consideration only one or two deal with sacrifices; the remainder have reference to executions. In Numbers xxv. 4, we find, "Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel." Jephthah vowed his daughter and sacrificed her, Judges xi. 30, 34. "And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal," 1 Samuel xv. 33. In 2 Samuel xxi. 6-9, the Gibeonites say, "Give us seven men of his sons that we may hang them before the Lord in Gibeah. And they hanged them up on the mountain before Jehovah."