why did the king of moab sacrifice his son

Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? (John 1:46.) 210.319.5055 But his flight was stopped by the Edomites, and he was forced back into the city. ), The worship of Baal, who was a fertility god, involved all sorts of immorality, temple prostitution, and other wicked practices that were extremely difficult to stop when most of the people were themselves immoral and wicked. Elisha found no better response, even though his ministry was as remarkable as Elijahs. To the south of Moab was Edom and to the north of Moab was Ammon. It is usually well furnished, and kept as a room for the entertainment of honored guests. (Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible, p.171.). DRA Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was great indignation in Israel, and presently they departed from him, and returned into their own country. The aliyah, chamber, is an upper room of an Eastern house, being sometimes built on the roof, and sometimes making a second story to the porch, to which it has access by stairs. What it suggests is that, by sacrificing his son, the king of Moab manages to call down the wrath of a very real god, who then proceeds to invoke his power onto the Israelites in a manner not dissimilar to the way God has supported his followers in previous and following chapters. Berean Standard Bible When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail. Coauthor removed the 1st-author's name from Google scholar input. Sacrifice of the first-born son leads to fury. In 2 Kings 3, the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom unite to fight the Moabites. Chemosh served as their country's defender, just as Yahweh did for the Israelites. He ruled Syria for forty-two harsh and brutal years in which he did Israel much harm, fulfilling Elishas prophecy. therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL, P.O. That makes perfect sense to me, Thats one way of looking at it but if you include the child sacrifice and Chemosh into the picture then their repentance was to Chemosh with whom they had allegiance to due to their own child sacrifices. The temptation to use priesthood power for personal gain has plagued man throughout history (see for example the account of Balaam in Jude 1:11and the account of Nehor in Alma 1). Winona Lake, United States: Eisenbrauns. This was the very vineyard that Jezebel had obtained by murdering Naboth. This question has generated some good answers, and there are some legitimate hermeneutical issues related to v.27b especially. She, in turn, was assured that she would be blessed with a child. Under Athaliah, Solomons temple had been vandalized and images of Baal set up within it. With the death of the heir, Israel lifted their siege and departed, perhaps feeling that Moabs power as a nation had ended. For this Elisha chastised him, saying that had Jehoash shot five or six times he would have smitten the Syrians to destruction (2Kings 13:19). Is it morally wrong to use tragic historical events as character background/development? Had Israel repented and denounced Chemosh his legal rights over their spirits (and soul and body) would have been broken and they would have collected their spoils but they didnt and so they left empty handed. (link expired). The word translated as "divine" in some Bibles is actually better rendered "great" and what is seen as "anger" is more likely "regret" - so there was a great regret in Israel [ABP "repentance a great in Israel."] Not the eldest son of the king of Edom, whom the king of Moab had in his hands before, which made the king of Edom the more willing to join in this expedition for the recovery of his son, as Joseph Kimchi thinks; or whom he took now in his sally out upon him, as Moses Kimchi and Ben Gersom, proceeding upon a mistaken sense of ( Amos 2:1 ) for th. use of human sacrifice In Middle Eastern religion: Nature: the framework of ideas and practices The Bible describes how King Mesha of Moab sacrificed his crown prince to avert a military disaster (2 Kings 3:27). "will be missed"]: but the destruction of the ungodly is speedy, and causes Jerry Bridges in his book, The Practice of Godliness, suggests that this attitude consists of three essential elements: (a) the fear of God--reverential awe and trust; (b) the love of God; and (c) the desire for God. The next morning the people of Samaria went out and brought the spoils into the market, and it was overstocked with provisions, and the word of the Lord through the Prophet was fulfilled. A certain nobleman, who heard the prophecy of Elisha expressed his doubt of its truth, and he said that if the windows of heaven were opened and meal poured down from above it could not fall to such low figures. Second, he blessed food that was bitter and inedible and made it whole, or good. When Athaliah killed the heirs to the throne (see vv.13), Jehoash escaped through the intervention of his aunt (see vv.23). The reign of Jehoash, or Joash, lasted forty years. God had granted to them the clearest revelation of his character and will, his temple also, and the ordinances of his worship. We should consider it pretty much of a task or penalty to be compelled to use an article like that for food, but the people of Samaria were sorely distressed with famine, and which way to turn to save themselves they knew not. But Jehu did not deign to answer the worthless woman; he simply looked up to the window and inquired: Who is (holds) with me? Because the title of Savior is associated with Jesus, some may think the Lord was promising a deliverer, but all that was being promised was deliverance. Study the following scriptures to help you formulate your answer: Doctrine and Covenants 103:58; 105:37; 124:84; 136:19; 2Nephi 9:2829. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God. (2Nephi 9:2829). If you were to read this naturally, even after vigorous examination of the surrounding texts, it would seem that this passage would creat a huge conundrum from a theological standpoint. Mesha was ruler of the small kingdom of Moab, east of the Dead Sea, in the mid-ninth century BC. Ahab, the archvillain of much of the Elijah narrative, has been slain, and his son Jehoram is reigning as his successor after a brief two-year reign of Ahab's son Ahaziah. Did the Shunammite woman expect Elisha to resurrect her son in 2 Kings 4:23? @Schuh you are correct about the typo. Like Ahab, who had blamed Elijah and sought his life (see 1Kings 18:1718), King Jehoram refused to see that his own actions had caused Israels problems. I don't think that's the case, though, when the Scripture is really studied in the full context available to us. It would then take months of hard work to uncover the land so crops could again be grown. Do people still reject the prophets for the same reasons. After the Israelites slaughtered the Moabites and destroyed their towns, the Moabite king offered his son as a sacrifice on the city wall of Kir Hareseth. It is, however, a reference to the relative of Ahaziah who lived in the royal household (see 2Chronicles 22:8). Both conceived and bore children. ERV The Moabites, however, were the less likely to entertain the thought of an optical delusion, from the fact that with their accurate acquaintance with the country they knew very well that there was no water in the wady at that time, and they had neither seen nor heard anything of the rain which had fallen at a great distance off in the Edomitish mountains. +1 for including the Septuagint in your analysis. Israel, losing the heart to press the . In the most extreme cases of leprosy, the flesh actually falls off the bone. Jehu was the means of bringing about the Lords will in this regard, but that does not mean the Lord was pleased with his brutal methods or his wickedness. And because Naamans knowledge of God was still adulterated with superstition, he was not yet prepared to make an unreserved confession before men of his faith in Jehovah as the only true God, but hoped that Jehovah would forgive him if he still continued to join outwardly in the worship of idols, so far as his official duty required. (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary, 3:1:320.). Jehoram probably lost Libnah at the time the Philistines attacked Judah and plundered Jerusalem (see 2Chronicles 21:1617). Israel with him. which broke out among the besieged (Budd., Schulz, and others). Moab [a] ( / mob /) is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in the modern state of Jordan. A cab of dove dung would be a little less than two quarts. a. All of the above points to an interpretation NOT that the king of Moab eventually prevailed - helped by an "outburst of divine anger" - against Israel, after sacrificing his son; but RATHER, I think, that the king of Moab was regretful at/in Israel because everything that he tried - including his filial sacrifice - had failed. There are not many other individuals listed in Scripture, but more of the discussion of Moabites . Instead, he set up a chest within the temple courtyard into which the people put money. How did Elijah send a letter to King Jehoram, if Elijah had already been taken to heaven? The prophecy was fulfilled when thousands came through the valley during the California gold rush. He could do so because he was writing many years later. King Of Moab Sacrifices His Son, And Raises The Siege 2 Kings 3:26 KJV 2 Kings Chapter 3 26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, desired the advice of a true prophet of God before he went into battle because he was a follower of Jehovah. The new moon (i.e. The prophets have always been free from the evil of their times, free to be divine auditors who will still call fraud, fraud; embezzlement, embezzlement; and adultery, adultery. (In Conference Report, Apr. These verses record the death of Elisha. When the alliance besieged the Moabite capital of Kir-Hareseth, the Moabite king Mesha, in desperation, sacrificed his eldest son to the god Chemosh. They could also surprise Moab by attacking from the geographically most difficult, and therefore the least likely, direction. If a thief could not restore what he had stolen, he could be sold to square a debt (see Exodus 22:3). As soon as Athaliah heard the loud rejoicing of the people, she came to the people into the temple, and when she saw the youthful king in his standing-place surrounded by the princes, the trumpeters, and the whole of the people, rejoicing and blowing the trumpets, she rent her clothes with horror, and cried out, conspiracy, conspiracy! Was It Really Practiced? President Lee once gave a speech to seminary and institute faculty members on The Place of the Living Prophet in which he observed how proximity and familiarity sometimes get in the way of peoples following the living prophet because he is so close. He commented on the responsiveness of heaven to changing circumstances: had you ever thought that what was contrary to the order of heaven in 1840 might not be contrary to the order of heaven in 1960? (Address to Seminary and Institute Faculty, Brigham Young University, July8, 1968. Image Israel and Moab Israel and Moab (6-3) 2 Kings 3:2-3. To eat bird dung for what little nutritional value there was in it also graphically illustrates the severity of the siege. Ben-hadads reaction, when he heard that Elisha was in Damascus, was one of jubilation. Notice the prophecy about Jezebel in verse10. him (the king of Moab) and returned into their land." Did the Child Die? Take what you will from this as a grain of very fine salt. Several other translations render a similar sense including the Jubilee Bible, Apostolic Bible Polyglot, Contemporary English Version. human sacrifice, which is strictly forbidden in the law (Leviticus As far as the rest of the story went before this, it seemed like a sure victory. As a result of witnessing such a heinous act . These questions arent properly the concern of exegesis. It only remains that they believed in the existence and power of gods other than their own chief God, Yahweh, for them to accept defeat and retreat. 31) when Jehu entered the palace gate, she cried out to him, Is it peace, thou Zimri, murderer of his lord? She addressed Jehu as Zimri the murderer of the king, to point to the fate which Jehu would bring upon himself by the murder of the king, as Zimri had already done [vv.3233]. These verses recount three great miracles Elisha performed through the power of the priesthood. the first day of the month) and the sabbath were feasts at which the prophets might be asked to preside, as Samuel did at the feast held at the high place of Ramah [see 1Samuel 9:1213]. (J.R. Dummelow, ed., A Commentary on the Holy Bible, p.231.). One of the last commissions the Lord gave Elijah was to anoint Jehu as king of Israel (see 1Kings 19:16). There was no anger poured out from another god that caused them to turn back, they reacted and retreated on their own volition. Naaman was a great warrior and appears to have been a very good man, for by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria from the Assyrians. and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and What do you think? rev2023.6.28.43514. After hiding Jehoash in the temple for six years, Jehoiada the priest decided to make the childs existence known and install him as Judahs king. A large army passing through an area could quickly cover the land with rocks. When the king of Moab realized he was losing the battle, he and 700 swordsmen tried to break through and attack the king of Edom, but they failed. What is your view? Elsewhere (with Brenton's translation): When a just man dies he leaves regret [i.e. Jehu is promised the possession of the throne to the fourth generation of his sons for having exterminated the godless royal house of Ahab. Moab was located east of ancient Israel and Judah across the Dead Sea. There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel, so they broke off the attack and returned to their homeland. But your questions are mostly theological. Therefore King Jehoash took the responsibility away from them (see 2Kings 12:78). In my view it is not the responsibility or purview of biblical hermeneutics to answer challenges to certain conceptions of YHWH's supposed omnipotence, nor can it answer whether Elisha is a 'false prophet'. Jezebel [painted her face] that she might present an imposing appearance to Jehu and die as a queen; not to allure him by her charms. Israel seems to have had great difficulty listening to and obeying the counsel of their prophets. O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! 13:55.) Genesis 19:30-38 accounts for the origins of the nation of Moab. Why did Isreal experience great indignation, and where did it come from? Keeping DNA sequence after changing FASTA header on command line, Alternative to 'stuff' in "with regard to administrative or financial _______.". God chastens those whom He loves (Proverbs 3:12; also Hebrews 12:6). In the Hebrew Bible, Moloch is presented as a . The extremity of the circumstance for the Moabites had propelled the king to sacrifice his own son -of course, to his own deity(Chemosh), who is NOT a deity, as the prophets, including Isaiah, says, "And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but Had they broken their ties and denounced him then Chemosh would not have been able to inflict that wrath upon them. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. There were two kings by the same name. It was not too harsh a punishment that the leprosy taken from Naaman on account of his faith in the living God, should pass to Gehazi on account of his departure from the true God. Chemosh, god of the Moabites, was frequently offered human sacrifice to appease his anger. Only one city, Kir Hareseth, remained unconquered (v. 25b). The next morning Elishas servant, realizing the precarious situation they were in, said to his master, How shall we do? (v.15.)
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