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This time, I'm talking about one of the most taboo and horrifying topics in the Bible: child sacrifice. This first of two episodes on the subject covers some of the biblical laws and rhetoric and folktales about child sacrifice, while the next will go over the practice in archaeology and history. Today I answer a few questions: was Isaac actually killed in his famous binding? Did Yahweh give a law commanding the sacrifice of the first born? And what does Ishtar's descent into the underworld have to do with the tragic tale of Jephthah's daughter?

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Bibliography:

Francesca Stavrakopoulou - 'King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice';  

Heath Dewrell - 'Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel'; 

Coogan & Smith - 'Stories from Ancient Canaan'; 

Coogan & Metzger - 'The Oxford Companion to the Bible'; 

Christian Frevel - 'History of Ancient Israel';  

Hallo & Younger - 'The Context of Scripture, vol. 1-3'; 

Robert Alter - 'The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary';  

Berlin, Brettler, et al - 'The Jewish Study Bible';  

Other Bible quotations taken from the NRSVue and NJPS with adaptations

https://www.thetorah.com/article/giving-your-firstborn-son-to-god

https://www.thetorah.com/article/how-exodus-revises-the-laws-of-hammurabi

https://www.thetorah.com/article/isaac-before-he-was-abrahams-son