Does this mean that they burned them in a fire as a sacrifice to a god, or might it refer to some kind of initiation ritual where they had to walk through fire or something? I'm unsure because of the wording, "Pass through fire."
2007-03-12 05:13:21 · 5 answers · asked by Heron By The Sea 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I suspect that if this were referring to actual child sacrifice, it would have said so. Certainly the writers of the OT were not squeamish about describing bashing the heads of children against rocks, or killing unborn babies along with their mothers.
Isn't it fascinating that the bible literalists take so much leeway with their scripture? Why is THIS passage not taken word for word?
Many older cultures and religions thought of fire as purifying, and at specific times of the year, people either leapt through the flames of a bonfire or walked between two fires to symbolically burn away disease or other impurities. Domesticated animals were also led or driven between bonfires to purify them, and children were carried through the flames, too, for the same reason- to keep them healthy, and safe from what they considered to be the spritual forces that cause disease.
This was not child sacrifice.
In fact, many neo-pagans still leap the fire!
2007-03-12 05:31:46 · answer #1 · answered by Praise Singer 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pass Through Fire
2016-12-18 16:37:09 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, those were apostate Israelites being discussed in that passage. And there is scriptural evidence that they did sacrifice their children in the fire as in Deut. 12:31 "...for even their sons and their daughters they regularly burn in the fire to their gods" and Ps. 106:37,28 "And they would sacrifice their sons And their daughters to demons. So they kept spilling innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land came to be polluted with bloodshed"
King Ahaz of Judah(spoken of earlier in 2 Kings regarding "passing through fire") “proceeded to burn up his sons in the fire.” (2Ch 28:3) The parallel passage, at 2 Kings 16:3, reads: “Even his own son he made pass through the fire.” This indicates that ‘passing through the fire’ is at least sometimes synonymous with sacrificing.
Likely, however, the worship of Molech was not always and everywhere the same. For example, King Solomon, under the influence of his foreign wives, built high places to Molech and other deities, but not until the time of Ahaz is mention made of child sacrifice. (1Ki 11:7, 8)
2007-03-16 01:04:36 · answer #3 · answered by Badriya 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It refers to the childen being offered up as burnt sacrifices to the pagan gods.
2007-03-12 05:21:11 · answer #4 · answered by lillie 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
many scripture scholars (I put it that way because I haven't read ALL scripture scholars, but I am sure the number is not infinte) say that it means your first thing, namely offering them as a burnt sacrifice to a god (Moloch: cf other references in link)
2007-03-12 05:19:49 · answer #5 · answered by a 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋