Page 106 - Pentateuch

Numbers 21:2 and 3, where it first occurs. “They destroyed them and their towns (v. 3).” When we get to
Deut, 7:1-6, we read the command in its stronger form. The Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites,
Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites are to be destroyed totally without mercy (v. 2). How can a just and loving
God do such things?

God is pictured as the judge of the world from the very beginning of the Pentateuch. He cast Adam and Eve
out of the garden. He destroyed the world with a
flood. He rained fire from heaven on Sodom and
Gomorrah. Egypt felt the successive plagues from his
hand of judgment. In his wisdom, this Sovereign also
waits to carry out judgment. YHWH had promised the
land to Abraham. He told Abraham that the promise
would not be fulfilled for another four generations.
The reason? “The sin of the Amorites has not yet
reached its full measure (Gen. 15:16).”

Archeologists confirm the presence of child sacrifice in
the ancient Near East. In the North African city of
Carthage, where Phoenicians lived, large cemeteries
dedicated to Ba’al, Astarte, and other gods have been
th
Fig. 75: Child cemetery excavated. The cemeteries from the 8 century to the
second century B.C have as many as nine levels
containing some 20,000 burial urns. The urns contain
the charred bones of children or animals sacrificed as substitutes for children.

So while Israel was not perfect by any means and often deserved punishment as a nation, the people living
in the Promised Land were doing things despised by 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 and
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 Carthage. 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
person’s request for help was answered. 125

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 be Fig. 76: Tanit goddess in a
blessed along with the rest of Israel (Deut. 14:29). So the command to Tophet, Tyre
destroy the nations in the land was not an open-ended license to kill. “They

125 L. E. Stager and S.R. Wolff, “Child Sacrifice at Carthage,” Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb. 84, 31-51.
104