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| Mesha , 9th century BCE King of Moab in S. Transjordan, kindred to Israelites like the Ammonites from Lot. Defeated by the Israelites, later incorporated by the Romans into Arabia. We were forbidden intermarriage with Moabites. He is sacrificing his oldest son. King Mesha of the Moabites worshipped a patron deity (Kemosh), in whose name Mesha conducted warfare, made sacrifices, and consecrated sanctuaries and even the peoples he had defeated (compare the biblical ḥerem, or "sacred ban"). .Kemosh (or Chemosh) was presumably the chief deity of the Moabites, although they doubtless worshipped other gods as well. Kemosh is known from earlier times in Syria-Palestine, |
The first we hear about human sacrifice was about our progenitor, Abraham, born about 1948 BCE in the 2nd millennium, and that his son, Isaac, was to be sacrificed. This is referred to as the Akedah or binding) (Gen 22:2). This was when the act was stopped by G-d, showing Abram's complete devotion to G-d's will. Later on with Islam created by Mohammed before 632 CE, Abram is sacrificing Ishmael, not Isaac. This event is found in the Torah, the 5 books of Moses with Genesis being the first book, and our history is that Moses wrote the 5 books on the 40 year trek of the Exodus from Egypt to Canaan.
"In the Tanakh, the name Moriyya (Hebrew: מוֹרִיָּה) occurs twice (with minor differences of spelling between different manuscripts). Tradition has interpreted these as the same place:
- Genesis: "Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriyya(Moriah). Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.'"
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- 2 Chronicles: "Then Shlomo (Solomon) began to build the temple of the LORD in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) on Har Moriyya (Mount Moriah), where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.."Araunah was a Jebusite mentioned in the Second Book of Samuel, who owned the threshing floor on Mount Moriah which David purchased and used as the site for assembling an altar to God. The First Book of Chronicles, a later text, renders his name as Ornan.
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- II Samuel 24:21-25) Araunah asked, " Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David replied, "To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to HASHEM (G-d) so that the pestilence may cease from the people."Threshing was originally "...'to tramp or stamp heavily with the feet'..." and was later applied to the act of separating out grain by the feet of people or oxen and still later with the use of a flail.
The space of the Temple was so important. You know that there is a tradition that the place where the altar of the Temple stood, that was the place from which Adam was formed. Cain and Abel made their sacrifices there. Noah made his sacrifices there after the flood. The binding of Isaac took place there, the Akedah . .
To sum this up, our first and second Temples were built on the spot where Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac but was stopped by G-d who was testing his obedience and trust in him and he passed the test. This spot is on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Mosque of Omar is now over the spot according to our history.
It seems that the Dome of the Rock also claims to be over Solomon's 2nd Temple site which was a rebuild of the 1st Temple by Solomon. The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: قبة الصخرة Qubbat al-Sakhrah, Hebrew: כיפת הסלע Kippat ha-Sela) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was initially completed in 691–92 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik during the Second Fitna on the site of the Second Jewish Temple, destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The original dome collapsed in 1015 and was rebuilt in 1022–23.
What happened was when the Romans burned down the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 CE, a Roman temple was later built on the site, and since the Muslim Period, a mosque has stood there, now this one. . Some rabbis say we would be trespassing on holy ground if we go there as we don't know where the area called the holy of holies is, and the Jordanian guards won't let Jews near or pray nearby. We resort to pray at the Western Wall since the end of the 1967 War.
Perhaps we have sacrificed the need to pray at this site for the need for peace with Jordan and Egypt, hoping someday to be included. Or perhaps we are waiting for the 3rd Temple to be built AND continue on in peace.
Sara and Abraham, first known to us as Sarai and Abram, lived so long ago it's hard to fathom. They lived in the 2nd millennium BCE, about 4,000 years ago. The ship, Mayflower which carried Pilgrim to our New World with Plymouth Rock, sailed in 1620 CE, 400 years ago and that seems like ancient history to us. Think how odd they seemed to have been with their prim outlook on life, daring to sail in an ocean that hadn't seen a ship, let alone a ship with sails. 4,000 years is long ago. We figured today that 4 generations make up 100 years, so Abram's sacrifice attempt happened 160 generations ago whereby he was willing to sacrifice his first son, and by that meant to kill him.
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| Baal worship in Canaan by Canaanites |
Abram, his father Terah and Sarai and her family were in a group of people who had traveled westward from the East around the Tiger and Euphrates Rivers. They came upon the land called Canaan. The Canaanites sacrificed human beings. They believed in a god called MOLOCH (II Kings 3:27). Condemned by biblical prophets and even Roman senators alike, few pagan deities were as reviled as Moloch, a god whose bronze body was a furnace for sacrificing children. The religion of the Canaanites was a hodgepodge of ancient Semitic faiths.
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| 18th-century depiction of the Moloch idol, “The idol Moloch with seven chambers or chapels.” It was believed these statues had seven chambers, one of which was reserved for child sacrifices. |
Practiced by the people of the Levant region from at least the early Bronze Age of 1300 BCE to 1200 BCE, the cult of Moloch was still active into the first few centuries of the Common Era.(1-200 CE)
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| Pagan Baal worship among Canaanites, and one main god of theirs, god of the sky and fertility. Sometimes it refers to the various local gods, represented in the form of a bull or a man, being worshiped as gods of fertility, both of the field and of the womb. After the iSRAELITES ENTERED CANAAN, THEY TENDED TO ADOPT THE DEITIES OF THE LOCAL INHABITANTS, THOUGH THE PROPHETS PROTESTED LOUDLY. Baal was later identified with the Greek god, Zeus; Book of Kings tells about it. Antiochus believed in Baal Shamin, "Lord of Heaven," and he set up the "Abomination of Desolation" in the Temple in Jerusalem during the Greek Occupation. "Abomination of desolation" is a phrase from the Book of Daniel describing the pagan sacrifices with which the 2nd century BCE Greek king Antiochus IV replaced the twice-daily offering in the Jewish temple, or alternatively the altar on which such offerings were made. |
The idea of the need to sacrifice humans comes from wanting to give a tangible expression to a feeling of submission to dependence on the deity; sacrifice seeks to obtain the god's favor and atone for the sins of the sacrifice. Often it starts with a cultic-like group, probably family, then adding people to that cult until the entire population is engulfed.
The first thing that come to my mind is the study of the Aztec, ancient Indians of Mexico. The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521 CE. This practice happened anywhere from 720 to 499 years ago. Remember, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. He didn't know what he'd run into. He could have become the sacrificial human for Aztecs if he ran into theml.
When the Aztecs sacrificed people to Huitzilopochtli (the god with warlike aspects) the victim would be placed on a sacrificial stone. The priest would then cut through the abdomen with an obsidian or flint blade. The heart would be torn out still beating and held towards the sky in honor to the Sun-God.
Human sacrifice was common in many parts of Mesoamerica, so the rite was nothing new to the Aztecs when they arrived at the Valley of Mexico, nor was it something unique to pre-Columbian Mexico. Other Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Purépechas and Toltecs, performed sacrifices as well and from archaeological evidence, it probably existed since the time of the Olmecs (1200–400 BC), and perhaps even throughout the early farming cultures of the region. However, the extent of human sacrifice is unknown among several Mesoamerican civilizations, such as Teotihuacán. What distinguished Maya and Aztec human sacrifice was the way in which it was embedded in everyday life and believed to be a necessity. These cultures also notably sacrificed elements of their own population to the gods.
As I see it, the Palestinians of late have been sacrificing their children in their war with Israel by being proud of their deaths in fighting. They also allow their schools and mosques to be used for storage of ammunition. This is not a protection of their children but sacrificing them for their greater selfish act of trying to take over Israel. It's a subtle form of human sacrifice.
A Montana Hospital had patients who were rescued from cults that involved alcohol and drugs where the pregnant girls' babies were often sacrificed. This terrible experience was happening in today's age. It is a rarity, one hopes.
Abram, then Abraham, introduced us to the end of human sacrifice. When Moses had created the beginnings of the Temple and then Solomon (961-920 BCE) which is almost 3,000 years ago, actually building it because he was not a king of war but of peace, sacrifice continued with animals. No animals were slaughtered except by sacrifice until the time of the Code of Deuteronomy. (The Deuteronomic Code is the name given by academics to the law code set out in chapters 12 to 26 of the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible). The 3 varieties of sacrifice were animal sacrifice (ZEVAH); meal-offerings (MINHAH) and libations (NESEKH)
All animal offerings had to be perfect and unblemished (Lev.23:20). They were divided into the highest class of sacrifice, (burnt-offering, sin-offering, guilt-offering, congregational peace-offering) and sacrifices of a minor grade (individual peace offerings, first-born, animal tithes, paschal lamb).
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| Priests or Cohens of the Temple The line of Aaron, brother of Moses, both Levites |
The former category was slaughtered to the North of the altar and eaten by the priests inside the enclosures of the Temple court (except for the burnt-offering which was entirely consumed by fire): the latter group could be killed in any part of the Temple Court and eaten by the sacrificer in any pure place in Jerusalem. Before offering any individual sacrifice, the sacrificer placed his hands on the animal and confessed his sin or iniquity; hands were laid on peace-offerings, thank-offerings, and bird-offerings.
After this ceremony the animal was slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the altar. A contribution was given from these sacrifices to the priests. The sin-offering of an individual and the sacrifice of a Nazirite had to be a female animal; a peace-offering could be of either sex. Honey and leaven (bread with yeast) were forbidden with the sacrifice but leaven was offered on the Feast of Weeks and with the thanksgiving sacrifice of the peace-offering. Every meal offering was seasoned with salt.
Thank-offerings and festival sacrifices were offered when the people went to Jerusalem. The sacrifices of the burnt-offerings was made to the accompaniment of musical instruments and the levitical choir; 2 priests sounded the trumpets and the people bowed in worship.
The prophetical condemnation of a sacrifice can perhaps be connected with its similarities to Canaanite worship and the desire of the prophets to purify the Jewish beliefs. As explained by Maimonides( or the Rambam (1135-1204 CE), the true objective was to attain to the worship that is in the heart.
The Temple Mount Faithful Organization that has developed into The Temple Mount Faithful and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement in Jerusalem and re-institute the practice of ritual sacrifice that started before 1980, of which my cousin, Stanley Goldfoot was a member. They are planning to re-build the 3rd Temple on the Temple Mount. They just built an altar and wanted to sacrifice an animal on the Temple Mount but their plea was rejected. They have been studying this and creating things for the Temple for years. This is a requirement to bring the Moshiach. Chabad answers questions about reinstituting animal sacrifice.
Things I didn't Know: Chabad, a teaching group of Judaism, teaches the meaning of sacrifice then :
In fact, every Jew has an obligation to study the details of the Temple rites. Even little children are supposed to learn everything those priests are to be doing. That’s a far cry from the cult of secrecy that empowered the priestly class of other nations.
There were some other major distinctions: The Temple was considered the property of the people, and daily communal sacrifices reinforced that fact. There were no male or female prostitutes wandering around the courtyards, no orgies or drunken revelry—or self-mutilation. The priests wore modest, standardized clothes, and were held accountable by a people’s court that sat right there at the edge of the Temple complex. Most of the meat was eaten—a lot less waste than what goes on at Safeway or Stop & Shop. And animals were slaughtered in a humane fashion. Definitely a sublime relief from ancient standards. All in all, it must have seemed a very strange place for the average Joe Ancient.
The main act of a sacrifice was not the physical act of slaughtering an animal. You understand that the sacrificial service was principally a spiritual one. when a person brought a sacrifice, his mental focus was crucial. If his mind was not focused on the correct meaning and intent of the sacrifice, the whole thing could be deemed useless, or worse.Well, If it was being brought to atone for some inadvertent sin, he had to have in mind some remorse over what had happened. But it went far beyond that: The priests would focus their minds on the higher spiritual spheres, according to esoteric traditions. That explains why they had the Levites singing and the musicians playing. After all, if it was all just a grand barbecue, what need was there for inspirational music? Rather, it was a deep spiritual experience for all involved. You went away truly elevated.
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| prayer on Rosh Hashanah, the Birthday of the World, first holiday of the autumn, the start of the year in a large synagogue |
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| Orthodox men praying |
Today our prayers are in place of the sacrifices. So the principal aspect of the sacrifices was never terminated. Just the outer aspects that the Torah also demands, those are temporarily suspended.
Resource:https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2942/jewish/Animal-Sacrifices.htm
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Sacrifice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture#:~:text=When%20the%20Aztecs%20sacrificed%20people,honor%20to%20the%20Sun%2DGod.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriah#:~:text=Moriah%20%2Fm%C9%92%CB%88r,of%20the%20sacrifice%20of%20Isaac.
Tanakh, the Stone Edition
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-jerusalem-municipality-rejects-plea-to-practice-animal-sacrifice-for-future-temple-1.6729388
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock
https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/moabite-religion#:~:text=MOABITE%20RELIGION%20.&text=At%20any%20rate%2C%20the%20MI,or%20%22sacred%20ban%22).
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