I was listening to a bible study on Youtube and learned something new again! Related to the binding of Isaac discussion earlier, which this quote links back to conveniently.
To be fair, they kind of did blood rituals anyway.
((although I totally agree that the whole story is kinda scary))
It's worse than that! Isaac wasn't the only human sacrifice God demanded, just the only one who was spared apparently.
Once again I'll be investigating a list compiled by skeptics, but I don't have time to go into as much detail as they did. Though as usual, they include questionable edge cases for completeness sake:
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/human_sacrifice.htmlNumbers 31:25-40
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/31.html#2531:25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
31:26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:
...
31:29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD.
...
31:34 And threescore and one thousand asses,
31:35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.
...
31:40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD's tribute was thirty and two persons.
31:41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD's heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Of note is that, as flipping usual, women are counted alongside cattle. Though that's hardly the worst part of what's happening here. God is explicitly commanding the Israelites to sacrifice human virgins to him, and there's no mention of this being out of the ordinary. It is simply done, alongside all the animal sacrifice. It really reads like captured women, like all the other property they get in all the many wars they wage, are perfectly normal sacrifices.
I don't know what to think of this one:
22:29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
22:30 Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.
I have trouble believing this means what it looks like it means. Even the livestock sacrifice seems like a ridiculously high tithe. I'm going to assume that it's being metaphorical regarding the Israelite sons. But it seems fairly explicit, weirdly.
Finally, here's one that's similar to Isaac's sacrifice except infinitely worse: Judges 11:29-40 (
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/11.html#29)
Too much to quote, so: God approaches Jephthah, who wants to conquer the Ammonites. In exchange for God's help, he promises to sacrifice the first thing that exits his doorway to greet him when he returns home (what the hell??). God finds this acceptable and helps Jephthah slaughter the Ammonites. 20 conquered cities later, the people of Ammon were subdued to Israel, so Jephthah goes home.
OH NO his daughter (and only child) rushes out to greet him!
11:35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.
"Dammit girl this is all your fault"
"Oh, well, I guess you promised. But please let me... uh... go hang out in the mountains with my friends for a couple months. I promise I'll come back, I just need to bewail my virginity."
"Okay sounds reasonable"
*2 months later*
"Woah what, you actually came back? Uh okay... let's do this then."
"Alright. By the way, about my virginity - URK BLEH I AM DEAD"
"My daughter was definitely still a virgin if anybody asks!"
But yeah. Two months his daughter cries in the mountains, and God doesn't raise a single objection. Human sacrifice in exchange for victory in an offensive war: Bible approved.
Then of course there's Jesus himself, but we're all familiar with that sacrifice. It's obviously a special case, and removes the need for any further blood sacrifice. God is finally appeased permanently.
God does forbid human sacrifice a few times... but only to other Gods. In conclusion, the Bible supports blood sacrifice of humans and animals to appease God, and it is arguably the central theme of both testaments. In different ways.