Page 116 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

God. Among the evils practiced, the worst may have been human sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality
(Lev. 18:21-23). These actions were not only evil, worthy of punishment, but they were also a threat to
spread spiritual pollution to Israel and to other nations. “For all these things were done by the people
who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit
you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you (Lev. 18:27-28).”

Modern scholars use the name “Tophet” to identify these burial places,
connecting them to the same practice adopted by Israel toward the end of its
existence (Jer. 7:30-32). They have discovered similar inscriptions and other
carvings in sites in Israel 1000 years earlier than those in Carth age. The historical
timeline suggests that the Canaanites practiced child sacrifice as part of their
worship first and passed the custom on to other cultures. Inscriptions from the
Tophet in Carthage demonstrate that the commonest reason for child sacrifice
was the fulfillment of a vow. It was considered wise to repay a god when a
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person’s request for help was answered.

We begin to understand God’s judgment on these nations. Others were not
included in the ban (Deut. 2:5). With some they could make treaties (Deut.
20:10-15). Individuals were welcome to accept Israel’s God and even blessed Fig. 76: Tanit goddess in a
along with the rest of Israel (Deut. 14:29). So the command to destroy the Tophet, Tyre
nations in the land was not an open-ended license to kill. “They were not to
expect that even God would call on them again for this strange work of
judgment…. War was to be merely defensive. Under no circumstances was war for war’s sake
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encouraged.

Part of God’s judgment involves a people’s rejection of his mercy. Creation testifies to the reality of
God’s love as does his continued gifts of sunshine and rain and daily life for the vast majority of people
on earth. Wherever his people have existed, some sense of God’s grace has surrounded them and has
been a witness to other nations. The Egyptians had opportunity after opportunity to escape judgment.
The example of God’s dealing with the Egyptians was communicated later by word of mouth to these
near-neighbors in the Promised Land. We can only guess at what might have been if they had turned
from their practices.

“Every forecast or prophecy of doom…had a suppressed ‘unless’ attached to them….
Canaan had, as it were, a final forty-year countdown as they heard of the events in
Egypt, at the crossing of the [Red] Sea, and what happened to the kings who opposed
Israel along the way. We know they were aware of such events, for Rahab confessed
that these same events had terrorized her city of Jericho and that she, as a result, had
placed her faith in the God of the Hebrews (Josh. 2:10-14).
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125 L. E. Stager and S.R. Wolff, “Child Sacrifice at Carthage,” Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb. 84, 31-
51.
126 William Benton Greene, Jr., “The Ethics of the Old Testament,” Classical Evangelical Essays, Walter C.
Kaiser, ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972) 222.

127 Walter C. Kaiser. Ethics. 268.

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