We have looked at the detestable observances Josiah had to
clean up in the temple. We have detected many crazy and unusual practices, such
as male and female prostitution, incense burned to idols, the worship of the
Cherubim and the stars. Another practice that regularly showed up in Israel is
child sacrifice and the worship of Moloch. We have a hard time adjusting our
thinking as we have only heard the happy version of Israel’s history but when
we read the Bible we find some very interesting facts that we have not been
taught. In part we have a fragmented knowledge that is like looking into a dark
mirror at a puzzle, but as we put a historical time line together we start to
see that Jacob’s sons have always had a hard time staying faithful to Yahweh. There
is a prophetic relationship to this child sacrifice which we will also explore.
The ritual practice of child sacrifice is horrific and still happens in our
time, even though the cultic ceremonies have mostly gone underground and have
fallen out of popularity.
1 Cor 13:9-13 For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete
and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and
imperfect). 10 But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete
and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded). 11
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned
like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and
have put them aside. 12 For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim
(blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when
perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part
(imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in
the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].
13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith — conviction and belief respecting
man's relation to God and divine things; hope — joyful and confident
expectation of eternal salvation; love — true affection for God and man,
growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of
these is love AMP
We should keep in mind that our walk should be “in love”
when we read history. We did not live at that time period and we did not have
to experience the pressures the people of Israel did, and we do not know how we
would have behaved in the same situation. One thing we have been led to believe
is that idolatrous worship started under some of the kings, but what we see is
that Amos tells us that the children of Israel worshiped Moloch in the
wilderness. We have studied this section previously. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/11/lucifer-worship-of-cherubim-star-gospel.html
Amos 5:25-27 Did you bring to Me sacrifices and cereal
offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26
[No] but [instead of bringing Me the appointed sacrifices] you carried about
the tent of your king Sakkuth and Kaiwan [names for the gods of the planet
Saturn], your images of your star-god which you made for yourselves [and you
will do so again]. 27 Therefore I will cause you to go into exile beyond
Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts. [Acts 7:42,43.] AMP
If this is a surprise it is only because we haven’t noticed
it before. While idol worship in the wilderness might be a surprise, we see
several more surprises. Samuel records, in the book of Judges, that the
children of Israel didn’t do what they were told so the Angel of the Lord did
not drive out the people that lived in the land of Canaan. During Joshua’s time
leading Israel, many nations were conquered but some were left behind.
Judg 2:1-4 NOW THE Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to
Bochim. And He said, I brought you up from Egypt and have brought you to the
land which I swore to give to your fathers, and I said, I will never break My
covenant with you; [Ex 20:2.] 2 And you shall make no covenant with the
inhabitants of this land; but you shall break down their altars. But you have
not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 So now I say, I will not drive
them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their
gods shall be a snare to you. 4 When the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to
all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voice and wept. AMP
That generation of people under Joshua’s leadership died,
but the next generation of Israelites behaved worse than their fathers.
Judg 2:10-15 And also all that generation were gathered to
their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who did not know
(recognize, understand) the Lord, or even the work which He had done for
Israel. 11 And the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and
served the Baals. 12 And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who
brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods of the
peoples round about them and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord to
anger. 13 And they forsook the Lord and served Baal [the god worshiped by the
Canaanites] and the Ashtaroth [female deities such as Ashtoreth and Asherah].
14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them into
the power of plunderers who robbed them; and He sold them into the hands of
their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their
foes. 15 Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil
as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them; and they were bitterly
distressed. [Lev 26:14-46.] AMP
This generation of people did not recognize the Lord and
they practiced religious observations to false gods. They also intermarried. We
seem to think that The Israelites stayed pure and everyone has a pure genetic
lineage but shortly after Joshua died the mixed marriages started. This is only
one of a number of recorded mixings of the Jews with the surrounding people.
Judg 3:2-7It was only that the generations of the
Israelites might know and be taught war, at least those who previously knew
nothing of it. 3 The remaining nations are: the five lords of the Philistines,
all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt on Mount Lebanon
from Mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4 They were for the testing
and proving of Israel to know whether Israel would listen and obey the
commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers by Moses. 5 And the
Israelites dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites,
and Jebusites; 6 And they married their daughters and gave their own daughters
to their sons, and served their gods. [Ex 34:12-16.] 7 And the Israelites did
evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served the
Baals and the Ashtaroth. [Judg 2:13.] AMP
If we recognize that Israel was a mixed nation at this
point in history we will recognize the reason for Yahweh’s sarcasm in Judges 10.
One could become a Jew by conversion and that was perfectly acceptable, but
lineage is from the mother’s line. Therefore it does not matter what the
father’s heritage is, only the mother’s heritage establishes a true Jew. Yahweh
reminds the people what he did for them.
Judg 10:11-14 And the Lord said to the Israelites, Did I
not deliver you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the
Philistines? 12 Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites
oppressed and crushed you, you cried to Me, and I delivered you out of their
hands. 13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will
deliver you no more. 14 Go, cry to the gods you have chosen; let them deliver
you in your time of distress. AMP
Obviously there was never a “happy time” of entering the
Promised Land. There were constant struggles. By the time Josiah became King and
wanted to hold a Passover, Josiah had to deal with so many evil practices in
Judah. One of those practices was child sacrifice.
2 Kings 23:10 And Josiah defiled Topheth, which is in the
Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], that no man might ever burn there his son
or his daughter as an offering to Molech. [Ezek 16:21.] AMP
The Valley of Hinnom became a garbage dump with a perpetual
fire. By the time of the first century, the people related Hinnom’s ever burning
fires to Hades. It became a great visual for people to understand. But let’s go
back in history before the captivity into Babylon. Jeremiah records what Yahweh
wanted the sons of Jacob to do. He notes that from the time they came out of
Egypt to the time Jeremiah was recording this, the people did not listen to
Yahweh’s servants or prophets.
Jer 7:21-29 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh [if you will. It
will avail you nothing]. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land
of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this thing I did command them: Listen to and
obey My voice, and I will be your God and you will be My people; and walk in
the whole way that I command you, that it may be well with you. 24 But they
would not listen to and obey Me or bend their ear [to Me], but followed the
counsels and the stubborn promptings of their own evil hearts and minds, and
they turned their backs and went in reverse instead of forward. 25 Since the
day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have
persistently sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily,
early and late. 26 Yet the people would not listen to and obey Me or bend their
ears [to Me], but stiffened their necks and behaved worse than their fathers. 27
Speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to and obey you; also
call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 Yet you shall say to them, This
is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or receive
instruction and correction and warning; truth and faithfulness have perished
and have completely vanished from their mouths. 29 Cut off your hair [your
crown, O Jerusalem] and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare
heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.
Yahweh points out that Israel’s abominations were done in
His house and that they also built a high place in the Valley of Hinnom.
Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My
sight, says the Lord; they have set their abominations (extremely disgusting
and shamefully vile things) in the house which is called by My Name to defile it.
31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of
Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire
[in honor of Molech, the fire god] — which I did not command, nor did it come
into My mind or heart. [Lev 18:21; Josh 15:8; 2 Kings 16:2-3; 21:1,6; Isa
30:33.] 32 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it shall
no more be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], but the
Valley of Slaughter, for [in bloody warfare] they will bury in Topheth till
there is no more room and no place else to bury. [Jer 19:6.] 33 And the dead
bodies of this people will be meat for the fowls of the air and for the beasts
of the earth, and none will frighten them away. AMP
Eventually the place known as the Valley of the Son of
Hinnom will be a burial place due to war, and the birds will eat the dead. The
sacrificing of children was not Yahweh’s idea but a practice of the nations to
appease their many gods. Yahweh says they have filled Hinnom with the blood of
innocents.
Jer 19:1-4 THUS SAYS the Lord: Go and get a potter's
earthen bottle, and take some of the old people and some of the elderly priests
2 And go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], which is by the
entrance of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I shall tell
you, 3 And say, Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of
Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am going
to bring such evil upon this place that the ears of whoever hears of it will
tingle. 4 Because the people have forsaken Me and have estranged and profaned
this place [Jerusalem] by burning incense in it to other gods that neither they
nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and because they have
filled this place with the blood of innocents AMP
A second time Yahweh notes the Valley of Hinnom will be
called the Valley of Slaughter.
Jer 19:5-6 And have built the high places of Baal to burn
their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not nor
spoke of it, nor did it come into My mind and heart — 6 Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the Valley of
Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], but the Valley of Slaughter. [Jer 7:31-32.] AMP
Jeremiah prophesies in Topheth (the Valley of Hinnom) and
then prophesies in Jerusalem in the temple court.
Jer 19:7-15 And I will pour out and make void the counsel
and the plans of [the men of] Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will
cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands
of those who seek their lives, and their dead bodies I will give to be food for
the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this
city an astonishment and a horror and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will
be horrified and will hiss [in scorn] because of all its plagues and disasters.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and
they shall eat each one the flesh of his neighbor and friend in the siege and
in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their lives
distress them. 10 Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who
accompany you, 11 And say to them, Thus said the Lord of hosts: Even so will I
break this people and this city as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it
cannot be mended. Men will bury in Topheth because there will be no other place
for burial and until there is no more room to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this
place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants; and I will even make this city
like Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of
Judah, which are defiled, shall be like the place of Topheth — even all the
houses upon whose roofs incense has been burned to all the host of the heavens
and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods. [Acts 7:42,43.] 14 Then
came Jeremiah from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he
stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people, 15 Thus says
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and
upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they
have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear My words. AMP
The superstition of appeasing a god by a blood sacrifice,
especially the blood of a first born son, seemed to permeate Israel at the time
they entered the Promised Land. But Moses had told the Israelites not to do
this during their forty years in the wilderness.
Lev 18:21 You shall not give any of your children to pass
through the fire and sacrifice them to Molech [the fire god], nor shall you
profane the name of your God [by giving it to false gods]. I am the Lord. AMP
Not only was the person making the child sacrifice going to
be cut off from the people, anyone who neglects to do anything about someone
making a child sacrifice will be cut off from the people.
Lev 20:1-6 AND THE Lord said to Moses, 2 Moreover, you shall say to the Israelites,
Any one of the Israelites or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel who gives
any of his children to Molech [the fire god worshiped with human sacrifices]
shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with
stones. 3 I also will set My face
against that man [opposing him, withdrawing My protection from him, and
excluding him from My covenant] and will cut him off from among his people,
because he has given of his children to Molech, defiling My sanctuary and
profaning My holy name. 4 And if the
people of the land do at all hide their eyes from the man when he gives one of
his children [as a burnt offering] to Molech [the fire god] and they overlook
it or neglect to take legal action to punish him, winking at his sin, and do
not kill him [as My law requires], 5
Then I will set My face against that man and against his family and will cut
him off from among their people, him and all who follow him to [unfaithfulness
to Me, and thus] play the harlot after Molech.
6 The person who turns to those who have familiar spirits and to
wizards, [being unfaithful to Israel's Maker Who is her Husband, and thus]
playing the harlot after them, I will set My face against that person and will
cut him off from among his people [that he may not be included in the atonement
made for them]. [Isa 54:5.]AMP
As we know, Solomon built a high place for Molech.
1 Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh
the abominable idol of Moab, on the hill opposite Jerusalem, and for Molech the
abominable idol of the Ammonites. AMP
Therefore, Judah went into captivity in Babylon.
Jer 32:28-35 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am
giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it; 29 And the Chaldeans who
are fighting against this city shall come in and set this city on fire and burn
it, along with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and
drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger. [Jer
19:13.] 30 For the children of Israel
and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth;
for the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of
their hands [the idols], says the Lord. 31 For this city has been to Me a [such
a] provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they [finished]
building it [in the time of Solomon, who was the first Israelite king who
turned to idolatry] even to this day that I must remove it from before My face
— [1 Kings 11:1-13.] 32 Because of all
the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah which they have
done to provoke Me to anger — they, their kings, their princes, their priests,
their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they
have turned their backs to Me and not their faces; though I taught them
persistently, yet they would not listen and receive instruction. 34 But they set
their abominations [of idol worship] in the house which is called by My Name to
defile it. 35 And they built the high places [for worship] of Baal in the
Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] to cause their sons and their daughters to
pass through the fire [in worship also of and] to Molech — which I did not
command them, nor did it come into My mind or heart that they should do this
abomination, to cause Judah to sin. [Jer 7:30-31.AMP
Again we note that this was a problem from Israel’s youth. As
we saw from Amos, carrying the tents of Moloch in the wilderness happened
during Israel’s youth. Ahaz was a king of Judah and he sacrificed his sons in
the fire.
2 Kings 16:2-3 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began his
sixteen-year reign in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the sight of the Lord
his God, like David his [forefather]. 3 But he walked in the ways of Israel's
kings, yes, and made his son pass through the fire [and offered him as a
sacrifice], in accord with the abominable [idolatrous] practices of the
[heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites. AMP
2 Chron 28:1-5 AHAZ WAS twenty years old when he began his
sixteen-year reign in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the sight of the Lord,
like David his father [forefather]. 2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of
Israel and even made molten images for the Baals. 3 And he burned incense in
the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] and burned his sons as an offering,
after the abominable customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out
before the Israelites. 4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high
places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5 Therefore the Lord his God
gave Ahaz into the power of the king of Syria, who defeated him and carried
away a great multitude of the Jews as captives, taking them to Damascus. And he
was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, who smote Judah with a
great slaughter. AMP
During the same time period Ahaz was in Jerusalem (in the
Southern Kingdom) Hoshea was doing the same awful things in the Northern
Kingdom.
2 Kings 17:1-18 IN THE twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah,
Hoshea son of Elah began his nine-year reign in Samaria over Israel. 2 He did
evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as Israel's kings before him did. 3
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant
and brought him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea,
for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and offered no tribute to the
king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria
shut him up and bound him in prison. 5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the
land and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth
year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried the Israelites
away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan
and in the cities of the Medes. 7 This was so because the Israelites had sinned
against the Lord their God, Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from
under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods 8 And
walked in the customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before
the Israelites, customs the kings of Israel had introduced. 9 The Israelites
did secretly against the Lord their God things not right. They built for
themselves high places in all their towns, from [lonely] watchtower to
[populous] fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim
[symbols of the goddess Asherah] on every high hill and under every green tree.
11 There they burned incense on all the high places, as did the nations whom
the Lord carried away before them; and they did wicked things provoking the
Lord to anger. 12 And they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them,
You shall not do this thing. 13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through
all the prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep
My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded
your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets. 14 Yet they
would not hear, but hardened their necks as did their fathers who did not
believe (trust in, rely on, and remain steadfast to) the Lord their God. 15
They despised and rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with
their fathers and His warnings to them, and they followed vanity (false gods —
falsehood, emptiness, and futility) and [they themselves and their prayers]
became false (empty and futile). They went after the heathen round about them,
of whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do as they did. 16 And
they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves
molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the [starry]
hosts of the heavens and served Baal. 17 They caused their sons and their
daughters to pass through the fire and used divination and enchantments and
sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 18
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His
sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah. AMP
There are times we may have thought that the Southern
Kingdom was less evil or more righteous than the Northern Kingdom but that was
not true. As we noted from the time of the death of Joshua, the Israelites were
mixing with the other nations, and taking on their religious practices. So this
was a cultural problem for all of Jacob’s heirs. We saw a few weeks ago that
even if someone walked faithfully with Yahweh, that did not mean his children
would. Another example we have of this is Hezekiah’s son Manasseh. Remember
Hezekiah tried to clean up Judah and the temple and held a Passover in the
second month even though they simply could not get the entire nation cleaned
up.
2 Kings 21:1-7 MANASSEH WAS twelve years old when he began
his fifty-five-year [wicked] reign in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Hephzibah. 2 He [Hezekiah's son] did evil in the sight of the Lord, after the
[idolatrous] practices of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord cast out before
the Israelites. 3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his
father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as
did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the [starry] hosts of the heavens
and served them! 4 And he built [heathen] altars in the house of the Lord, of
which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put My Name [and the pledge of My
presence]. 5 And he [good Hezekiah's son] built altars for all the hosts of the
heavens in the two courts of the house of the Lord! 6 And he made his son pass
through the fire and burned him as an offering [to Molech]; he practiced
soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and wizards! He did much
wickedness in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 7 He made a graven
image of [the goddess] Asherah and set it in the house, of which the Lord said
to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have
chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put My Name [and the pledge of
My presence] forever; AMP
2 Chron 33:1-7 MANASSEH WAS twelve years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 But he did evil in
the Lord's sight, like the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord drove out
before the Israelites. 3 For he built again the [idolatrous] high places which
Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared altars for the Baals and
made the Asherim and worshiped all the hosts of the heavens and served them. 4
Also he built [heathen] altars in the Lord's house, of which the Lord had said,
In Jerusalem shall My Name be forever. 5 He built altars for all the hosts of
the heavens in the two courts of the Lord's house. 6 And he burned his children
as an offering [to his god] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], and
practiced soothsaying, augury, and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and wizards.
He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 7 And he set
a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God
had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which
I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put My Name [and
Presence] forever; AMP
We have to recognize that this is ritual sacrifice. A
ceremonial offering to appease a false god. This was more than a simple
observation such as Jews do today when a baby is born, by passing the baby over
the flame of a candle. That practice has its roots in passing the children
through the fire, but today it is not culturally an offering to Moloch. It is
instead a superstition to ward off evil spirits. Instead, this ritual sacrifice
was a brutal bloody murder of the most innocent humans on the planet, babies.
The baby is the embodiment of innocence and the slaughter of the innocent is an
abomination to Yahweh.
Isa 57:1-8 THE RIGHTEOUS man perishes, and no one lays it
to heart; and merciful and devout men are taken away, with no one considering
that the uncompromisingly upright and godly person is taken away from the
calamity and evil to come [even through wickedness]. 2 He [in death] enters
into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walks straight and in his
uprightness. 3 But come close, you sons of a sorceress [nursed in witchcraft
and superstition], you offspring of an adulterer and a harlot. 4 Against whom
do you make sport and take your delight? Against whom do you open wide your
mouth and put out your tongue? Are you not yourselves the children of
transgression, the offspring of deceit —
5 You who burn with lust [inflaming yourselves with idols] among the
oaks, under every green tree, you who slay the children [in sacrifice] in the
valleys under the clefts of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth stones of the valley
is your portion; they, they [the idols] are your lot; to them you have poured
out a drink offering, you have offered a cereal offering. Should I be quiet in
spite of all these things [and leave them unpunished — bearing them with
patience]? 7 Upon a lofty and high mountain you have openly and shamelessly set
your [idolatrous and adulterous] bed; even there you went up to offer sacrifice
[in spiritual unfaithfulness to your divine Husband]. 8 Behind the door and the
doorpost you have set up your [idol] symbol [as a substitute for the Scripture
text God ordered]. Deserting Me, you have uncovered and ascended and enlarged
your bed; and you have made a [fresh] bargain for yourself with [the
adulterers], and you loved their bed, where you saw [a beckoning hand or a
passion-inflaming image]. [Deut 6:5,6,9; 11:18,20.] AMP
Child sacrifice is mentioned so many times in the Bible we
should recognize how big a problem it had become. Yet we are rarely mindful that
it actually happened. Spiritually speaking, Topheth will be the place of
eternal burning for Molech/Moloch.
Isa 30:33 For Topheth [a place of burning and abomination]
has already been laid out and long ago prepared; yes, for the [Assyrian] king
and [the god] Molech it has been made ready, its pyre made deep and large, with
fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, kindles
it. [Jer 7:31,32; Matt 5:22; 25:41.] AMP
It is a good thing Jesus came to rescue us because, as I
have mentioned before, no one could live under the law. The problems the
children of Jacob faced with the worship of strange gods was evident in the
wilderness. Today we recognize that many people in that time period worshipped
dumb idols. They worshipped false gods and attempted to appease gods that had
no power or position with the sacrifice of their own children. Yet the Heavenly
Father allowed His Son to be a sacrifice for all humanity and the simple
requirement to appropriate the Father’s blessings is belief in His Son Jesus.
Once we believe on Jesus as Messiah and Christ we share in the heavenly
calling.
Heb 3:1-13 SO THEN, brethren, consecrated and set apart for
God, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider
Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confessed [as ours when we embraced
the Christian faith]. 2 [See how] faithful He was to Him Who appointed Him
[Apostle and High Priest], as Moses was also faithful in the whole house [of
God]. [Num 12:7.] 3 Yet Jesus has been considered worthy of much greater honor
and glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the
house [itself]. 4 For [of course] every house is built and furnished by
someone, but the Builder of all things and the Furnisher [of the entire
equipment of all things] is God. 5 And Moses certainly was faithful in the
administration of all God's house [but it was only] as a ministering servant. [In
his entire ministry he was but] a testimony to the things which were to be
spoken [the revelations to be given afterward in Christ]. [Num 12:7.] 6 But
Christ (the Messiah) was faithful over His [own Father's] house as a Son [and
Master of it]. And it is we who are [now members] of this house, if we hold
fast and firm to the end our joyful and exultant confidence and sense of
triumph in our hope [in Christ]. 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today,
if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts, as [happened] in the
rebellion [of Israel] and their provocation and embitterment [of Me] in the day
of testing in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tried [My patience] and
tested [My forbearance] and found I stood their test, and they saw My works for
forty years. 10 And so I was provoked (displeased and sorely grieved) with that
generation, and said, They always err and are led astray in their hearts, and
they have not perceived or recognized My ways and become progressively better
and more experimentally and intimately acquainted with them. 11 Accordingly, I
swore in My wrath and indignation, They shall not enter into My rest. [Ps
95:7-11.] 12 [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one
of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and
rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the
living God. 13 But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another
every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened
[into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the
stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him].
AMP
If we had been living in that time period we may have tried
to appease false gods to change our luck just as the sons of Jacob did. We may
have done the same things they did and we may very well have made ritual
sacrifices of our children. We attempt to piece this puzzle of Biblical history
together as if we are looking through a dark mirror. We want to understand the
history of the temple so that we can more clearly appreciate what Jesus has
done for us. Today there is no temple and anyone wanting to atone for sin under
the temple model will die in their sin. However Jesus made atonement by His
blood, the sinless blood of the first born Son of the Heavenly Father.
Heb 9:11-15 But [that appointed time came] when Christ (the
Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are
to come. [Then] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with
[human] hands, that is, not a part of this material creation, 12 He went once
for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of heaven], not by virtue of the blood of
goats and calves [by which to make reconciliation between God and man], but His
own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting
release for us). 13 For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons
with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is
sufficient for the purification of the body, [Lev 16:6,16; Num 19:9,17,18.] 14
How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who by virtue of [His] eternal
Spirit [His own preexistent divine personality] has offered Himself as an
unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and
lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God? 15 [Christ, the Messiah]
is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement
(testament, covenant), so that those who are called and offered it may receive
the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance — since a death has
taken place which rescues and delivers and redeems them from the transgressions
committed under the [old] first agreement. AMP
There is a parallel between the ancient sacrificing of a
child to false gods and the sacrificing of the innocent first born Son of the
Living God. While the sacrifice of innocent children to false gods yields
nothing but sin, the sacrifice of the innocent Son of the Living God, Jesus
Christ, yields forgiveness of sin. The evil ritual of child sacrifice was
atoned for with Jesus’ blood. We see that the only blood good enough to save
all of humanity was Jesus’ blood. The only child sacrifice that made a
difference to a lost and dying world was Jesus. It is fascinating that the Jews
were the ones who pushed the Romans for Jesus’ murder, and it is Jesus’ blood
that can save the Jew who believes that Jesus is Lord and Messiah.
While there is no temple in Jerusalem today, those who
believe on Jesus as Lord and Messiah are the living temple, and we can enter
into the Holy of Holies. Jesus cleansed humanity by His blood. So the prophetic
comparison is that all the years of bloodshed during ritual child sacrifice is
compensated for with Jesus’ blood. This was part of the deal to save humans
from eternal damnation. The full recompense is made by Jesus who saves humanity
in all areas and in all aspects of human sin. Then we can enter into full
relationship, in the Holy of Holies because we are the temple on earth.
Heb 10:19-23 Therefore, brethren, since we have full
freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue]
in the blood of Jesus, 20 By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated
and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the
Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh, 21 And since we have [such] a
great and wonderful and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, 22 Let
us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in
unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that
leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence
in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified
from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water. 23 So
let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and
confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure)
and faithful to His word. AMP
Jesus’ blood was shed to fix the problem of all sin but
especially the sin of child sacrifice. Once we understand that Jesus came to
make a new and living way, we will not want to go back to the old way.
