Moving Beyond the Inclination to Sacrifice our Children

Transcribed from the Sermon preached June 26, 2005

The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

Scripture Readings:  Genesis 22:1-14

Tikal

Scholarly sources have found that human sacrifice was not uncommon in ancient Middle Eastern culture. One site called Gazar part of a Canaanite kings territory, dating to around 2000BCE holds a graveyard of children below a stone shrine. (possitiveatheism.org). While Abraham may not be a physically historical person, he is likely a historically accurate mythological composite of patriarchs in Palestine several hundred years before David’s scribes scrolled the first edition of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. We believe we can accurately pinpoint David around 1,000BC or a little later, while some sort of Exodus like event took place perhaps around 1200BC. It is possible that oral histories of the Hebrews were passed down to David’s scribes from sometime even earlier. Still dates prior to David are quite speculative.

Yet it is likely that while some of our stories of Abraham are oral histories recorded by David’s scribes, this story of sacrifice may come from a later edition to the Bible. Most scholars agree that there are three main editors to the Pentateuch know as J, E and P. J and E are the first letter of the word each of the editors used for God, Jehovah also know to us as Yahweh, the Yahwist is King David’s first edition, followed shortly by El or Elojim, the Eloist or second edition. Our third edition follows several centuries later, sometime shortly after the exile to Babylon, or return from exile, sometime after 586BCE.

The Priests who wrote the later edition to the Pentateuch were particularly concerned with legislating the use of blood, and are responsible for those laws controlling blood in Leviticus, among other places. While there is an earlier reference to the Moabite King sacrificing his first-born son on the city wall in an attempt to fend off the Israelites in war, this is not a direct reference to Israelite human sacrifice. This is not to say that there wasn’t any. But, still, we find that Jeremiah and Ezekiel are flaming mad at the practice of human sacrifice in Israelite sacred places. Both of them prophesy around the end of the sixth century BCE. We also know that King Ahaz and Mannasheh sacrificed their children, and they reigned just prior to our prophet’s outrage.

Ezekiel 16:20 “You took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idol. Was your prostitution not enough? In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.” Ezekiel is making the point that they didn’t think of where they would be if their parents did such a thing.

Jeremiah writes in chapter 7:30 “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my name and have defiled it. They build the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.”

Now if the story of Abraham was already recorded would Jeremiah have said it had never entered Yahweh’s mind? It is possible and we want to believe that Yahweh never intended for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and that he was just testing his faith. But it sure seems from Abraham’s perspective that it had entered his mind.

But I think that this story of Abraham and Isaac was added by the Priests shortly after the work of Ezekiel and Jeremiah in order to drive the same point home: Human sacrifice is not something Yahweh desires. So knock it off.

Our author is essentially admitting what is likely argued by those promoting child sacrifice. It is certainly a sign of strong devotion if you are willing to sacrifice your first-born child. Killing our child must be contrary to our very core being. It is contrary to our biological nature like fasting or holding your breath. Abraham has not had a child with his wife Sarah until she was eighty years old. Not only has God promised her a child but also that he would make that child into a great nation. But now He seems to have changed his mind. It is not possible to make a great nation out of somebody that you burn to death. “Father,” Isaac says, “The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” But then, after seeing his devotion, just as Abraham is about to slit the throat of his son, God stops Abraham. “Do not lay a hand on the boy. Now I now that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son…. I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.” Abraham finds a ram stuck in the bushes and substitutes the ram for his son. He names the place, “The Lord Will Provide.”

Imagine this being included into scripture just at the time when many people are contemplating this same kind of sacrifice. Ezekiel and Jeremiah do not hold back any punches. In their mind, Yahweh is going to wipe them off the face of the map for such a despicable crime. But this story says, I admire your dedication, your devotion to me shown by such a valuable sacrifice. But stop, these are my children too. Let’s raise them together. Let us be about life, not death. Let us be about justice and peace, not sacrifice and violence. I deserve mercy and not sacrifice. Let us not sell our children in the temple for sex and sacrifice, but dedicate them to righteousness. Honor life. Love life. Preserve life. Love your children. Let that be your sign of dedication to me.

This story marks the shift in the ancient understanding of who God is and what God is about. This is a lot of information about a culture so far removed from us in time and space. It is hard to find the relevance to our life today.

Then again, maybe there is something we descendants of Abraham can learn. It is hard to deny the devotion of a suicide bomber, of someone who would strap a bomb to a child and send it off to kill a busload of people. Such dedication is frightening. And we have to admit it is inspiring to see our young men and women, with beautiful, shiny young faces and strong bodies going off to Iraq, taking the fight over there. Pat Tillman had a multimillion-dollar contract to play professional football, but gave it up after 9/11 to go serve his country. The fact that he was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire doesn’t diminish the courage and heart that he showed by giving up his life of material comfort and fame to fight and die to keep us safe. He reminds me of Isaac. I am not arguing against an army or saying that suicide bombing a bus is morally equivalent to tracking down an Osama Bin Laden. But I do think there may be something primitive in us all that make us think God wants blood. It may be more unconscious. We need to go against those who think God wants us to sacrifice our lives to kill innocent people.

Perhaps there is something very primitive in us that just won’t go away, that keeps coming up when horrific and awesome threats come our way. When our world changes so rapidly and unexplainably that nothing seems to makes sense. A giant flood, a volcanic eruption, the onslaught of frightening armies, huge towers burning and crashing upon thousands of people. Crazy bloodthirsty gods are angry. The idols we have set up – the god of nationalism, the god of oil and material luxury.

Somebody has to die. The gods must be demanding more sacrifice. We have to kill somebody so that the gods will stop. Perhaps in fear and vulnerability we are as likely to damage ourselves and our loved ones as anything. Perhaps the lesson for the day is that just at that anxious moment when we feel we are being called to risk our family or ourselves, we stop, take a few breaths and remember, “God will provide.”

That is the crazy paradox of Christianity, one way of understanding atonement. The crazy flip of primitive theology where the gods demand sacrifice from humans. No longer, it is not about how much we are dedicated to God, not how much we love God, but in Christ Jesus it is about how much God is dedicated to us, how much God loves us. I sacrifice my son for you. Enough already, God says, it is done and over, once and for all. Don’t you get it? You are forgiven. I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly. And look how this Jesus lived, as a radical non-violent pacifist, in dedication to preserving life. Offer ourselves to God, says Paul, as those who have been brought from death to life.

So we can pray together today, that we are granted the dedication and faithfulness of Abraham. But let us be dedicated to the God of love and life, to the God who loves us more than we love ourselves. Let us be dedicated to a God Who cries with us in our loss and confusion and stands with us in our vulnerability. Let us be dedicated to a God of justice and peace, a God of grace and forgiveness. May we love our God with all our heart, mind, body and soul.