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Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? - Religion (4) - Nairaland

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Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 8:57pm On Feb 06, 2022
LordReed:
LMAO! It's so funny that you are using semantics to try and wriggle your way out of this.
Its actually you that makes it funny, seeing you hiding from the glaring truth

LordReed:
This sentence:
"Think twice before you co-sign a loan, no matter who it is", is a prime example that it can refer to a person so just stop this line of argument, kole werk.
Judges 11:30-31
30And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord:
“If you give the Ammonites into my hands,
31
whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s,
and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
'

If Judges 11:31 had a human being in mind, and if it wanted to refer to a person, as you want to argue is the case, then, going by and even parroting your example, it would be written as:
whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s,
and I will sacrifice who it is, as a burnt offering.”
'

The absence of "who it is" in Judges 11:31, along with the grammatical structure and word construction indicates, an animal is what was in the mind of Jephthah, not a human being.

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by LordReed(m): 9:34pm On Feb 06, 2022
NNTR:
Its actually you that makes it funny, seeing you hiding from the glaring truth

Judges 11:30-31
30And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord:
“If you give the Ammonites into my hands,
31
whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s,
and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
'

If Judges 11:31 had a human being in mind, and if it wanted to refer to a person, as you want to argue is the case, then, going by and even parroting your example, it would be written as:
whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s,
and I will sacrifice who it is, as a burnt offering.”
'

The absence of "who it is" in Judges 11:31, along with the grammatical structure and word construction indicates, an animal is what was in the mind of Jephthah, not a human being.

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.

You are the one saying it can't refer to a human being therefore he didn't burn his daughter. The argument stands, he burnt his daughter just as he promised his god your semantic dance won't change the meaning of what we can see korokoro.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 9:47pm On Feb 06, 2022
LordReed:
You are the one saying it can't refer to a human being therefore he didn't burn his daughter. The argument stands, he burnt his daughter just as he promised his god your semantic dance won't change the meaning of what we can see korokoro.
Your argument has no legs to stand on and what you korokoro see, is a mirage, an optical illusion so to speak

God unequivocally condemns human being burnt offering sacrifice made to Him and because Jephthah knows this, he did not made a vow to burn any human being

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by PastorAIO: 10:03am On Feb 07, 2022
NNTR:


Smh, I give up. Blind as a bat.

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.


In your quackness, dumbness and pointless self, you fail to grasp and understand that God is completely against humans, being offered up as a dead burning sacrifice. Get this fact and truth set in the bone framework enclosing your brain please

Look at you, making a fool of yourself playing very hard trying to explain a non-existent event by proof-texting one single verse of the bible and another single verse.

Duh, did king Josiah say he made the sacrifices to God? Answer nah. Smh.

If anyone wants to confirm they can check any concordance, to see that, it was desecrate (i.e. inverse of sacrifice) that king Josiah did

Its only an arrant nonsense, fake paistor like you, who wouldnt know that king Josiah's act of desecration (i.e. embarrassed the bad priests by killing them all and leaving them as sacrifices on their fake gods' altars) was prophesied well before he was born

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.
DeepSight:


And this is a response to something so self-evidently fundamental to the Christian faith - the indisputable fact that Christ is said to have been offered up as a sacrifice for sins?

In response to that being pointed out, you shamefully attempt to pretend the poser is too stupid to countenance, and accuse the poster of being "blind as a bat," while therefore throwing up your hands in surrender.

Cringe-worthy, but nothing new.

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by PastorAIO: 10:18am On Feb 07, 2022
jamesid29:

2 Chronicles 18:2



2 Chronicles 18:2
After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.


I can see where the confusion is. The case actually still remains the same. Why?

Because when Way yiz Bah is translated to mean Sacrifice it refers to a ritual killings that is done as an inducement to another person.

When I kill a goat on a deity's shrine it is not just any killing but a killing that is done in order to appease, influence, induce the deity to be well disposed towards me.

A murder, or a judicial killing cannot ever be a Way yiz bah. If I kill a goat because the goat was vexing me for some reason or the other then that is NOT wayyizbah. But if I kill the goat as an offering to someone or something then that is Way yiz bah.

Ahab way-yiz-bah many sheep and oxen for his father in law in order to 'finesse' him, appease him, induce him, to want to go to war with him. This is the same way that a devotee will way-yiz-bah a sheep on the altar of a deity as an inducement to the deity to get the deity to well disposed towards him.
In other words Wayyizbah is a killing that is done for the purpose of offering inducements to someone or something else.

Josiah Wayyizbah the priests. That means that it was done with regards to a deity or some other entity.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 11:10am On Feb 07, 2022
PastorAIO -
The bold refers -

DeepSight:


Discussing with NNTR, you will find that when you assert that two plus two is four, you will be required to actually draw two apples on one side, then draw two apples on the other side, and count them and show that there are now four apples. Sadly, after doing this, you will find this poster repeatedly ask you just how two plus two is actually four. Poker faced, this poster will say you have shown no such thing, and at the last minute is likely to insult you for saying that you have shown that two plus two is four.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 11:19am On Feb 07, 2022
jamesid29:

Actually it is wayyizbaḥ. The root word for wayyizbaḥ is zabah hence the "strong number".
The form wayyizbaḥ only occurs about 15times, two of which are in 2kings and 2chronicles.

You can pick up any good interlinear Bible to confirm.
Even the link he(pastorAi) posted confirms it as well

Okay. Thanks for pointing this out. Well noted.
It did leave me slightly confused I must confess.

1 Like

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by PastorAIO: 11:42am On Feb 07, 2022
It is a common thing with Bible disputations that someone will quote a passage in order to buttress a point and the interlocutor will respond with another verse contradicting the initial passage. Why the endemic inconsistency?

Generally in life when you encounter someone whose stories are inconsistent you conclude that it is because the person is a Liar.

When someone talks out of both sides of their mouth like that I find that it is better to trust what they say inadvertently rather than what they intentionally say.
As the saying goes: The Truth is what we speak when we think that we are talking about something else entirely.

When Yhwh opened his mouth to boast about his power and how wonderful he is (a favourite trait of his) he did not realise that he made a confession that contradicted his lies about not accepting human sacrifices.

Ezekiel 20
24because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers’ idols. 25Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, 26and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the LORD.

We have to understand that the motivation of this utterance is to show how great he demonstrated himself to be by his ability to lie to his devotees and to 'defile them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn'. He didn't realise that he was exposing himself, he thought he was giving another good boast of his greatness.

Micaiah exposed him thoroughly:
1Kings 22:23
23Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”


The really difficulty with dealing with a known liar is that you don't know what you can trust and what you cannot trust. Can any of the promises they make be true? Can you make any plans on the basis of what they tell you? No! Of course not! Not unless you want to invite disaster into your life, as indeed many devotees of this ghoul have done.

What did the liar promise to all those that obeyed his laws?

Leviticus 26
3 “This is what I will do if you will live by my laws and carefully obey my commands:

4 “I will give you rain at the right time. The land will produce its crops, and the trees in the field will produce their fruit. 5 Threshing [a] time will last until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until planting. You will eat all you want and live securely in your land.

6 “I will bring peace to your land. You will lie down with no one to scare you. I will remove dangerous animals, and there will be no war in your land. 7 You will chase your enemies, and you will defeat them. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred of them, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand of them. You will defeat your enemies, 9 and I will be pleased with you.


Now to demonstrate how mendacious a promise this was check this out. Josiah was the most righteous King that ever was in Judah.

1Kings 22
1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2[b]And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD[/b] and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.


Yhwh says to Josiah:

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. 20Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’”


1Kings 23

Josiah’s Death in Battle

28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. 30And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb.




What becomes obvious is that nothing the Liar says is to be trusted. Nothing but lies are spouted from his mouth and the mouths of his prophets.





Now that we have established that Mendacity is the Modus Operandi of Yhwh we can now turn to the question of Human sacrifices again.

Obviously nothing he says can be taken at face value but must be scrutinised.

Jeremiah 7:31
'They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom,
and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire.
I have never commanded such a horrible deed;
it never even crossed My mind to command such a thing
!'



Ezekiel 20
25Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, 26and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the LORD.


You see how liars are caught talking out of both sides of their mouths.


Obviously humans have a bond with their children that makes it hard for them to sacrifice their first borns. It became a matter of great despair for the Israelites. They moaned, 'must we kill our first borns', and yhwh relented and that is when he changed tack and said he never commanded it.

Micah6
What Does the LORD Require?

6“With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7Will the LORD be pleased witha thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,b
and to walk humbly with your God?


This is actually a another lie. Because 1, yes he did ask for Calves and rams. 2. yes, He did ask for child sacrifice as we see in Ezekiel20. But now Micah says he doesn't want any sacrifice but just 'justice and loving kindness'.
But we see that animal sacrifice, child sacrifice and offerings of oil are mentioned here and yhwh rejects them. But even in 'The Law' we see the request for animals and oil, and elsewhere (Ezekiel) we see that child sacrifices were requested, so which is it. Does he accept sacrifices or does he just accepts righteous conduct?

Followers of yhwh seem to be the only people who will see inconsistencies in a story and not suspect mendacity.

Let me pause there abeg, although there is a lot more to say.

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Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by PastorAIO: 11:48am On Feb 07, 2022
I've just found this. I haven't read it but it seems interesting. I'll probably go through it slowly over the next few days but if anyone else is interested ....

Maybe it even contradicts what I am saying...

https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/21729/1/The%20Sacrifice%20of%20the%20Firstbron%20in%20the%20Hebrew%20Bible.pdf
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 11:58am On Feb 07, 2022
PastorAIO:


Followers of yhwh seem to be the only people who will see inconsistencies in a story and not suspect mendacity.

Religious people generally - and certainly all those who assert the infallibility of their scripture.

Let me pause there abeg, although there is a lot more to say.


You have spoken well. The truth is more than obvious. However dont hold out any hope that any of those who worship Yahweh will see black and call it black. They will call it white till the hour of their death.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by diridiri(m): 12:32pm On Feb 07, 2022
tctrills:
We learn of Jephthah in Judges 11 who sacrificed his daughter. Was it an act of righteousness or murder?
When Abraham wanted to sacrifice Isaac, was it not God that stopped him?
So why did God not stop Jephthah? Obviously he wanted human sacrifice.
The Bible says that God delights in the smell of burnt offering. Maybe the smell of goats and cows wasn't enough anymore.

2 Likes

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by Acehart: 6:54pm On Feb 07, 2022
tctrills:
We learn of Jephthah in Judges 11 who sacrificed his daughter. Was it an act of righteousness or murder?

Greetings,

Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
-Judges 11:31(KJV)

It's a good question you asked. But you missed out on something- the meaning of the word "for". I see from your response to some personalities here that you have substituted or given the wrong meaning to the word "for": you have replaced it was the word "as". You say, "I will offer it up as a burnt offering".

The preposition "for" in the Hebrew language has at least 14 translations. The best fit for the verse is בִּמקוֹם, instead of or כְּנֶגֶד, as against. Let's see this example: I will seize your allowances instead of flogging you. Instead here means "to give up (something) for something else" or "part with for some equivalent". Sometimes we use the word in the English language to indicate exchange, swapping, or substitution.

When you understand the full implication of Jephthah's vow, you would conclude that he was rash, and running contrary to the will of God. He wanted to institute his will above God's will. Why do I say this?

1. All burnt offerings from Genesis 2 to Jephthat's day involved the sacrifice of the male firstling of cattle, sheep, or goat- A shadow of the sacrifice of God's firstborn, Christ Jesus. Jephthah tried to be like many men, who substituted something in the stead of the instituted burnt offering laws; Cain was rejected because he offered the fruit of the ground instead of a firstling from the flock, Aaron's sons offered "strange fire" instead of the fire from the altar and paid with their lives, Elijah's altar was destroyed because he offered a burnt offering at Camel instead of Jerusalem, Saul was rejected because he offered an animal (as a sacrifice) from Amalek instead of Bethlehem, and Uzziah was struck with leprosy because he usurped the prerogatives of the priest. I give all these examples to show that God abhorred Jephthah's vow. All levitical ordinances can never be replaced by the will of man.

2. The Bible shows us that God's people offered an animal sacrifice after warfare and according to God's prescription. We see this in the Book of Joshua after Joshua conquered Ai: He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses - Joshua 8:31. When Jephthah said, "and I will offer it up for a burnt offering", one would think it referred to an animal. Only until his daughter was seen that one would see the true intention of Jephthah- revenge.

Since he intended to sacrifice a man, perhaps his half-brother, and that wasn't feasible. Then the best way to replace a burnt offering would be to give an equivalent- prevent his daughter from having offspring, as a sacrifice of a young calf is to offer it together with its offspring.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 7:58pm On Feb 07, 2022
Acehart:
Greetings,

Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
-Judges 11:31(KJV)

It's a good question you asked. But you missed out on something- the meaning of the word "for". I see from your response to some personalities here that you have substituted or given the wrong meaning to the word "for": you have replaced it was the word "as". You say, "I will offer it up as a burnt offering".

The preposition "for" in the Hebrew language has at least 14 translations. The best fit for the verse is בִּמקוֹם, instead of or כְּנֶגֶד, as against. Let's see this example: I will seize your allowances instead of flogging you. Instead here means "taking the place of something else". Sometimes we use the word in the English language is indicate replacement or substitution.

When you understand the full implication of Jephthah's vow, you would conclude that he was rash, and running contrary to the will of God. He wanted to institute his will above God's will. Why do I say this?

1. All burnt offerings from Genesis 2 to Jephthat's day involved the sacrifice of the male firstling of cattle, sheep, or goat- A shadow of the sacrifice of God's firstborn, Christ Jesus. Jephthah tried to be like many men, who substituted something instead of the instituted burnt offering laws; Cain was rejected because he offered the fruit of the ground instead of a firstling from the flock, Aaron's sons offered "strange fire" instead of the fire from the altar and paid with their lives, Elijah's altar was destroyed because he offered a burnt offering at Camel instead of Jerusalem, Saul was rejected because he offered an animal (as a sacrifice) from Amalek instead of Bethlehem, and Uzziah was struck with leprosy because he usurped the prerogatives of the priest. All levitical ordinances can never be replaced by the will of man.

2. The Bible shows us that God's people offered an animal sacrifice after warfare and according to God's prescription. We see this in the Book of Joshua after Joshua conquered Ai: He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses - Joshua 8:31. When Jephthah said, "and I will offer it up for a burnt offering", one would think it referred to an animal. Only until his daughter was seen that one would see the true intention of Jephthah- revenge.

Since he intended to sacrifice a man, perhaps his half-brother, and that wasn't feasible. Then the best way to replace a burnt offering would be to give an equivalent- prevent his daughter from having offspring, as a sacrifice of a young calf is to offer it together with its offspring.
Greetings to you too highly regarded

Inasmuch that this is a most unusual take and approach to Jephthah you have above put forward, permit me, to ask you the following questions please:
1. Do you accept it as true, that Jephthah wasnt familiar with and wasnt aware of Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Leviticus 18:21 and 2 Kings 21:6?
2. Do you believe that, in spite of Jephthah, being familiar with and aware of Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Leviticus 18:21 and 2 Kings 21:6, he so was still ready, prepared and determined to goes against the grain of Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Leviticus 18:21 and 2 Kings 21:6?
3. What do you believe, specifically is the action(s), Jephthah took or did, that worked in his favour and what consequently made him get the recognition and qualification to be listed in the 'Faith Hall of Fame', found in Hebrews 11?

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by jamesid29(m): 8:40pm On Feb 07, 2022
PastorAIO:


2 Chronicles 18:2
After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.


I can see where the confusion is. The case actually still remains the same. Why?

Because when Way yiz Bah is translated to mean Sacrifice it refers to a ritual killings that is done as an inducement to another person.

When I kill a goat on a deity's shrine it is not just any killing but a killing that is done in order to appease, influence, induce the deity to be well disposed towards me.

A murder, or a judicial killing cannot ever be a Way yiz bah. If I kill a goat because the goat was vexing me for some reason or the other then that is NOT wayyizbah. But if I kill the goat as an offering to someone or something then that is Way yiz bah.

Ahab way-yiz-bah many sheep and oxen for his father in law in order to 'finesse' him, appease him, induce him, to want to go to war with him. This is the same way that a devotee will way-yiz-bah a sheep on the altar of a deity as an inducement to the deity to get the deity to well disposed towards him.
In other words Wayyizbah is a killing that is done for the purpose of offering inducements to someone or something else.

Josiah Wayyizbah the priests. That means that it was done with regards to a deity or some other entity.

Interesting viewpoint. Just so I'm accurately getting your point.

Are you saying wayyizbah should no longer be thought of as a word that exclusively denotes a ritual sacrifice but should be taken more generally as a term to denote a killing done in other to induce/ appease someone. That person could either be human or a deity.

I'm i correct in my understanding of your position?
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by PastorAIO: 8:54pm On Feb 07, 2022
jamesid29:


Interesting viewpoint. Just so I'm accurately getting your point.

Are you saying wayyizbah should no longer be thought of as a word that exclusively denotes a ritual sacrifice but should be taken more generally as a term to denote a killing done in other to induce/ appease someone. That person could either be human or a deity.

I'm i correct in my understanding of your position?

Yes. or to reduce it to one word, an Offering.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 9:18pm On Feb 07, 2022
jamesid29:


Interesting viewpoint. Just so I'm accurately getting your point.

Are you saying wayyizbah should no longer be thought of as a word that exclusively denotes a ritual sacrifice but should be taken more generally as a term to denote a killing done in other to induce/ appease someone. That person could either be human or a deity.

I'm i correct in my understanding of your position?

PastorAIO:


Yes. or to reduce it to one word, an Offering.

But this is the essence of a ritual sacrifice. You are going round in circles.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by Acehart: 9:36pm On Feb 07, 2022
NNTR:
Greetings to you too highly regarded

Inasmuch that this is a most unusual take and approach to Jephthah you have above put forward, permit me, to ask you the following questions please:
1. Do you accept it as true, that Jephthah wasnt familiar with and wasnt aware of Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Leviticus 18:21 and 2 Kings 21:6?
2. Do you believe that, in spite of Jephthah, being familiar with and aware of Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Leviticus 18:21 and 2 Kings 21:6, he so was still ready, prepared and determined to goes against the grain of Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Leviticus 18:21 and 2 Kings 21:6?
3. What do you believe, specifically is the action(s), Jephthah took or did, that worked in his favour and what consequently made him get the recognition and qualification to be listed in the 'Faith Hall of Fame', found in Hebrews 11?


'IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL; EVERY MAN DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES. '

The text above is very profound. One cannot paraphrase the bolden. The whole book shows that where there is no lawful authority, anarchy reigns supreme. That verse also applies to Jephthah- whether he was familiar with the laws or no, he did what he liked, following his inclination and delusion. Did he have a right to rewrite the Law of Moses? Was he a Levite? Okay! maybe because he wasn’t a Levite, he wanted to institute a parallel law.

Regarding Jephthah’s appearance in Hebrews 11: I remember a discussion about Gideon I had with my late uncle; he said, “for Gideon to remember God’s deeds in times past (when the Angel met him at the winepress), it means Gideon had (justifying) faith in God. This same remembrance by Jephthah (when responding to the King of Ammon) of God’s deed for Israel showed he had (justifying) faith. Faith is the evidence of things one did not witness, right?
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by PastorAIO: 9:39pm On Feb 07, 2022
DeepSight:




But this is the essence of a ritual sacrifice. You are going round in circles.
Yes a ritual sacrifice is an offering. My point is that killing sheep and oxen for your father in law is an offering too. So both can be called a ‘way Yiz bah’.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by jamesid29(m): 9:59pm On Feb 07, 2022
PastorAIO:


Yes. or to reduce it to one word, an Offering.
Please where did you get your translation from or did you come up with it on your knowledge?

Secondly, In view of 2chronicles 18:2, would you agree that the best way to translate the verb in that passage would be "to slaughter/kill"?
As to Sacrifice, might give a modern reader a different connotation of the text because of how we understand the word in our worldview. And to Offer could likewise mislead a modern reader into thinking he just gave him the animals.

Are we in agreement on this?
Please bear in mind biblical Hebrew does has words for offering & killing

1 Like

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by jamesid29(m): 12:46am On Feb 08, 2022
DeepSight:




But this is the essence of a ritual sacrifice. You are going round in circles.
Not at all sir ... In light of new information, pastorAi has amended his original assertion of the verb being used purely for ritual sacrifices to a diety to also encompass a more generalized sense of an offering.
This is still a bit problematic on its own, but I'm just making sure I fully understanding his new position before pushing the conversation forward.

1 Like

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 5:00am On Feb 08, 2022
PastorAIO:
2 Chronicles 18:2
After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.


I can see where the confusion is.
The confusion you see, is your confusion.

PastorAIO:
The case actually still remains the same. Why?
The answer to your 'why' asked question, is, its because Josiah's action of killing or slaughtering the priests, at their gods' shrines and even leaving their dead and burnt bodies, right there, on their gods' altars, is tantamount to disrespecting their idol(s)

PastorAIO:
Because when Way yiz Bah is translated to mean Sacrifice it refers to a ritual killings that is done as an inducement to another person.
2 Chronicles 18:1-2
1When King Jehoshaphat of Judah became rich and famous, he arranged a marriage between a member of his family and the family of King Ahab of Israel.
2A number of years later Jehoshaphat went to the city of Samaria to visit Ahab.
To honor Jehoshaphat and those with him, Ahab had a large number of sheep and cattle slaughtered for a feast.
(i.e. slaughtered many sheep and cattle for a banquet in honor of Jehoshaphat and the people who were with him)
He tried to persuade Jehoshaphat to join him in attacking the city of Ramoth in Gilead.


It is dishonest and deceitful of you to pretend or act that 'way-yiz-bah' as seen in 2 Chronicles 18:2 above means anything less or more than slaughter to provide a lavish meal or kill to entertain with fabulous feast

PastorAIO:
When I kill a goat on a deity's shrine it is not just any killing but a killing that is done in order to appease, influence, induce the deity to be well disposed towards me.
You dont appease, influence, induce a deity, with the aim, of it, to be well disposed towards you, by killing an animal on another deity's shrine different to its.

PastorAIO:
A murder, or a judicial killing cannot ever be a Way yiz bah
Oh yes, It can, and 2 Chronicles 18:2 is your proof, now where is my £20?

PastorAIO:
If I kill a goat because the goat was vexing me for some reason or the other then that is NOT wayyizbah. But if I kill the goat as an offering to someone or something then that is Way yiz bah.
If I kill a dog as as an offering to someone or something like Shango, worshipped as a thunder, lightning and weather, then that dog Way yiz bah will be done at a Shango shrine and on a Shango altar, it will not be done at the shrine and altar of another worshipped god or deity

PastorAIO:
Ahab way-yiz-bah many sheep and oxen for his father in law in order to 'finesse' him, appease him, induce him, to want to go to war with him. This is the same way that a devotee will way-yiz-bah a sheep on the altar of a deity as an inducement to the deity to get the deity to well disposed towards him.
Yes, Ahab way-yiz-bah (i.e. killed or slaughtered) many sheep and oxen for his father in law Jehoshaphat in order to 'finesse' him, appease him, induce him, to want to go to war with him. The banquet dinner was meant to sweeten up Jehoshaphat and curry favour with him.

Your dishonesty has clouded your view and thus prevented you from seeing that Jehoshaphat was never a father-in-law to Ahab

PastorAIO:
In other words Wayyizbah is a killing that is done for the purpose of offering inducements to someone or something else.
Exactly, in other words, Wayyizbah, first, is a killing. It's after that acceptance of fact, that it gets clarified as to what sort of killing is it and what end is the killing after

PastorAIO:
Josiah Wayyizbah the priests. That means that it was done with regards to a deity or some other entity.
Yes, Josiah Wayyizbah (i.e. killed) the priests. That means Josiah's action, was done with regards to disrespecting a deity or some other entity

Yes, Ahab Wayyizbah (i.e. killed) many sheep and oxen in the presence of and for Jehoshaphat. That means Ahab's action, was done with regards to lavish entertaining purposes and curry favour from Jehoshaphat

jamesid29:
Interesting viewpoint. Just so I'm accurately getting your point.

Are you saying wayyizbah should no longer be thought of as a word that exclusively denotes a ritual sacrifice but should be taken more generally as a term to denote a killing done in other to induce/ appease someone. That person could either be human or a deity.

I'm i correct in my understanding of your position?
loll.

PastorAIO:
Yes. or to reduce it to one word, an Offering.
In the case of Josiah, alternatively yes, and to reduce it to another one word, desecration (i.e. defacement, befouling or even vandalism killing)

jamesid29:
Please where did you get your translation from or did you come up with it on your knowledge?

Secondly, In view of 2 Chronicles 18:2, would you agree that the best way to translate the verb in that passage would be "to slaughter/kill"?
As to Sacrifice, might give a modern reader a different connotation of the text because of how we understand the word in our worldview. And to Offer could likewise mislead a modern reader into thinking he just gave him the animals.

Are we in agreement on this?
Please bear in mind biblical Hebrew does has words for offering & killing
1 Kings 13:1-2
1Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word (command) of the LORD,
while Jeroboam was standing by the altar [which he had built] to burn incense.
2
The man cried out against the [idolatrous] altar by the word of the LORD,
“O altar, altar, thus says the Lord:
‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name;
and on you shall he sacrifice [the bodies of] the priests of the high places who burn incense on you,
and human bones shall be burned on you.’”


2 Chronicles 34:5
Then Josiah burned the bones of the [pagan] priests on their altars
and purged and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.


Josiah' wayyizbah (i.e. slaughter) of the priests in 2 Kings 23:20 and 2 Chronicles 34:5, as was prophesied in 1 Kings 13:1-2, that it will happen, besides, being an act of divine judgment, was in addition, done in that spectacular way and manner, so make an example of, the priests gone bad, as a public display for others to see the consequence of the errors of the bad priests.

Ahab' wayyizbah (i.e. slaughter) of many sheep and oxen in 2 Chronicles 18:2, was done in the presence of and for Jehoshaphat. Ahab's action, was done with regards to having a lavish entertaining purpose with aim to curry favour from Jehoshaphat.

Wayyizbah has different connotations other than plain, out right sacrificial killing or sacrificial offering, as it also carries meanings, that has to do with,
1. Kill for food or slaughter for eating or warmth (e.g. 2 Chronicles 18:2, 1 Samuel 28:24, Ezekiel 34:3, Deuteronomy 12:15, Deuteronomy 12:21, 1 Kings 19:21 etc)
2. Kill in divine judgment (e.g. 1 Kings 13:2, 2 Kings 23:20 Ezekiel 39:17-19 and 2 Chronicles 34:5 etc)

The Hebrew says that Josiah 'way yiz bah' the priests. Yeah, that is correct because 'way yiz bah', means more than just to sacrifice. Way yiz bah', equally can mean, to punish by death of killing.

In closing, 'way yiz bah' does not only mean, sacrifice or only mean, offering.

If anyone wants to confirm, they can see it in this lexicon link below, loll. Smh
https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/zabach.html

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 5:41am On Feb 08, 2022
The final word on this matter is very simple. Propitiatory sacrifices were standard fare for Yahweh throughout the ages covered by the Old Testament. This in itself says quite enough: for the sensitive and enlightened soul must at once wonder at the spiritual and even rational basis for those practices. By what means was it ever suggested that animal sacrifices were appropriate to appease Yahweh in the first place. How is such not as pagan and barbaric as anything ever was.

Worse than all this, the fundamental rock on which the Christian faith is built is a further propitiatory sacrifice - this time of a human being - Jesus of Nazareth. How this is supposed to be something beautiful, graceful and sublime must eternally elude all people of conscience, good sense, genuine morality, integrity and humanity. The equivalent of an Aztec human sacrifice to appease a blood-thirsty deity and wash away the sins of humanity can never be something to be idealized. Not even the argument that Christ was not just human helps this any - for what sense can anyone derive from the spectre of a god entering the world in human form in order to enact a gory scene of blood propitiation to satisfy himself enough to pardon his creatures of the sinful nature he created them with.

The whole precept is at once nonsensical, devilish, pagan, barbaric and stinks of the worst kind of dark ritualism conceivable. That anyone would conceive of all of this as some sort of exalted purity is only explainable by the severe psychological delusion of humankind.

When one adds in the fact that this is said to be the way chosen by a just God - a transcendental, pure and righteous GOD devoted to justice, then one can only shake ones head in shame.
That is all there is to say.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 5:51am On Feb 08, 2022
DeepSight:
The final word on this matter is very simple. Propitiatory sacrifices were standard fare for Yahweh throughout the ages covered by the Old Testament. This in itself says quite enough: for the sensitive and enlightened soul must at once wonder at the spiritual and even rational basis for those practices. By what means was it ever suggested that animal sacrifices were appropriate to appease Yahweh in the first place. How is such not as pagan and barbaric as anything ever was.

Worse than all this, the fundamental rock on which the Christian faith is built is a further propitiatory sacrifice - this time of a human being - Jesus of Nazareth. How this is supposed to be something beautiful, graceful and sublime must eternally elude all people of conscience, good sense, genuine morality, integrity and humanity. The equivalent of an Aztec human sacrifice to appease a blood-thirsty deity and wash away the sins of humanity can never be something to be idealized. Not even the argument that Christ was not just human helps this any - for what sense can anyone derive from the spectre of a god entering the world in human form in order to enact a gory scene of blood propitiation to satisfy himself enough to pardon his creatures of the sinful nature he created them with.

The whole precept is at once nonsensical, devilish, pagan, barbaric and stinks of the worst kind of dark ritualism conceivable. That anyone would conceive of all of this as some sort of exalted purity is only explainable by the severe psychological delusion of humankind.

That is all there is to say.

PastorAIO:
No matter the calibre, whether ido-later or Ido-sooner, The point which seems to be flying over your head is that they were sacrificed!

Now it is possible that you are confused because of the bible translations that you are reading because the translators sanitised the text.

The Hebrew says that he Way yiz bah the priests. Way yiz bah means to sacrifice. Not to punish by death. To sacrifice.

If anyone wants to confirm they can see it in this concordance.

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/vaiyizbach_2076.htm

Genesis 31:54
HEB: וַיִּזְבַּ֨ח יַעֲקֹ֥ב זֶ֙בַח֙
NAS: Then Jacob offered a sacrifice
KJV: Then Jacob offered sacrifice
INT: offered Jacob A sacrifice

Genesis 46:1
HEB: בְּאֵ֣רָה שָּׁ֑בַע וַיִּזְבַּ֣ח זְבָחִ֔ים לֵאלֹהֵ֖י
NAS: to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices
KJV: to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices
INT: came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God

Numbers 22:40
HEB: וַיִּזְבַּ֥ח בָּלָ֖ק בָּקָ֣ר
NAS: Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep,
KJV: And Balak offered oxen and sheep,
INT: sacrificed Balak oxen


everywhere in the Hebrew bible where you see wayyizbah they translate it as sacrifice. Only in 2Kings when Josiah sacrifices the priests that's when your translators deceive you and say 'slaughtered'. But Mendacity is what is to be expected. It shows that they know their evil but they want to hide it. Like you avoid points made and ramble nonsensically in the hope of derailing the point.

The point to be clear:
Josiah, Yhwh's favoured King, Sacrificed Priests on the altars.
The final word and point to be clear here, is that:
Josiah, YHWH's favoured King, slaughtered, the Priests gone bad, on their idolatrous altars, he burned the bones of these [pagan] priests on their altars.

He made a right divine judgment public spectacle of them, by desecrating their worthless bodies, on worthless altars, in their worthless gods' shrines

That is all, there is to say, to you and your alter-ego. loll.

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 5:56am On Feb 08, 2022
NNTR:


The final word and point to be clear here, is that:
Josiah, YHWH's favoured King, slaughtered, the Priests gone bad, on their idolatrous altars, he burned the bones of these [pagan] priests on their altars.

He made a right divine judgment public spectacle of them, by desecrating their worthless bodies, on worthless altars, in their worthless gods' shrines

That is all, there is to say, to you and your alter-ego. loll.

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.


The argument about Jephtah, Josiah, et al - has nothing to do with my perspective, kindly note - if you are capable of noting. For me, the very fact of animal sacrifices to Yahweh in the OT and the alleged propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus in the NT are more than sufficient to conclude Yahweh as one of the most pagan, demonic, barbaric and darkly ritualistic deities of all time.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 6:32am On Feb 08, 2022
Steep:
Why are you avoiding from vs 1 to19? quote them first

Do provide the evidence where yahweh commanded the children of Israel to offer human sacrifice.

@ bolded the word sacrifice was added by you.

2 Kings 23:10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

23:19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
23:20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.

These priest were all involved in human and the king killed them upon their own altar.
sacrifice vv10, secondly the high places are not places were yahweh is worshiped, the high places were places that sacrifice to pagan gods were offered.

You mean this

Exodus 13:14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:
13:15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

This was a ceremonial practice in Israel to teach their descended how the Lord God killed all the firstborn of Israel but saved Israel.
Israel is God's firstborn. To redeem is to save or to deliver.
What happens when an Israelite is not able to redeem his son, then his son will continue to be in the service of the Lord

PastorAIO:
The word sacrifice was not added by me but rather was removed by you and by those ye ye bible versions that you picked. This is a further example of how the bible is distorted when redaction and translations are made.

The word in contention is WAY - YIZ- BAH. This word in Hebrew means ritual sacrifice. There is no other context in which it is used in the Hebrew language other than as religious ritual sacrifice.

If you don't believe me, look it up in a concordance:

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/vaiyizbach_2076.htm

If you can show me one other passage where way yiz bah did not mean a ritual sacrifice then I will send you 20 pounds.
When you are ready to cough, please tell, so I can direct you, to the charity body, you'll be paying the £20 to

DeepSight:
The argument about Jephtah, Josiah, et al - has nothing to do with my perspective, kindly note - if you are capable of noting.
You see my dear friend, I give as good, even with added bonus, as much as I get, but when I do, you wince and class it as insults, loll.

The thing is, I especially dont suffer gladly at all, you and your alter-ego, whichever hand youse, put forward, is what I serve back to youse back. Watch this, unlike you, I dont cry foul, I dont squeal for sympathy votes, I just get on with it, loll.

DeepSight:
For me, the very fact of animal sacrifices to Yahweh in the OT and the alleged propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus in the NT are more than sufficient to conclude Yahweh as one of the most pagan, demonic, barbaric and darkly ritualistic deities of all time.
Kk, here's the deal. Few questions to start with. I'll like to see your responses done in the same numbered up style, this allows be to see when, where, how and what question, you've answered, loll.
1. Please tell what does the name Jesus mean. Please pretty please tell
2. Who really is Jesus on Calvary that sacrificed?
3. The animal sacrifices to Yahweh served what purpose and why at all?
4. Explain and describe how you mean that Yahweh is one of the most pagan, demonic, barbaric and darkly ritualistic deities of all time?
5. What to your knowledge is the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus in the NT neccesary?

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 7:12am On Feb 08, 2022
NNTR:

You see my dear friend, I give as good, even with added bonus, as much as I get, but when I do, you wince and class it as insults, loll.

It is your way, even when no one has insulted you. Its merely interesting to note, please dont kid yourself into thinking any amount of ranting and raving from one such as yourself could cause me the slightest discomfort. Once upon a time I had the energy for your ilk, but as my grey hair begins to hit luxuriant stride, I have far less strength for piffle.

Kk, here's the deal. Few questions to start with. I'll like to see your responses done in the same numbered up style, this allows be to see when, where, how and what question, you've answered, loll.
1. Please tell what does the name Jesus mean. Please pretty please tell
2. Who really is Jesus on Calvary that sacrificed?
3. The animal sacrifices to Yahweh served what purpose and why at all?
4. Explain and describe how you mean that Yahweh is one of the most pagan, demonic, barbaric and darkly ritualistic deities of all time?
5. What to your knowledge is the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus in the NT neccesary?

These are silly questions and I will not dignify them.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 7:48am On Feb 08, 2022
DeepSight:
[s]It is your way, even when no one has insulted you. Its merely interesting to note, please dont kid yourself into thinking any amount of ranting and raving from one such as yourself could cause me the slightest discomfort. Once upon a time I had the energy for your ilk, but as my grey hair begins to hit luxuriant stride, I have far less strength for piffle.[/s]
Joshua 14:10-11
10“Look how the LORD has let me survive, as you can see,
these 45 years since the time when the LORD said this through Moses,
while Israel was wandering through the wilderness.
And look! I’m here today—my eighty-fifth birthday!
11I’m still as strong today as I was the day Moses commissioned me.
I’m as strong today as I was then,
and I can go out to battle
and come back successful.


Black kite, that thinks, its an eagle. Give Red Bull a trial, loll. You see now, that youse and your alter-ego are not made from cloth and materials Caleb and I, are cut from. I've always taken you and your alter-ego on and will forever push youse heads under water.

DeepSight:
[s]These are silly questions and I will not dignify them. [/s]
The fear of silly questions is the beginning of wisdom.
Why not tag team your alter-ego, to step in

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 7:52am On Feb 08, 2022
NNTR:
Joshua 14:10-11
10“Look how the LORD has let me survive, as you can see, these 45 years since the time when the LORD said this through Moses, while Israel was wandering through the wilderness. And look! I’m here today—my eighty-fifth birthday!
11I’m still as strong today as I was the day Moses commissioned me.
I’m as strong today as I was then, and I can go out to battle and come back successful.


Black kite, that thinks, its an eagle. Give Red Bull a trial, loll. You see now, that youse and your alter-ego are not made from cloth and materials Caleb and I, are cut from. I've always taken you and your alter-ego on and will forever push youse heads under water.

The fear of silly questions is the beginning of wisdom.
Why not tag team your alter-ego, to step in

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.

Cool. Enjoy.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by Mom007(f): 8:22am On Feb 08, 2022
He didn't ' sacrifice' her per se but dedicated her to God. Big difference. Christ is the only true and acceptable sacrifice to God.

1 Like

Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by DeepSight(m): 10:17am On Feb 08, 2022
Mom007:
Christ is the only true and acceptable sacrifice to God.

How is that any less barbaric than Aztec human sacrifice?
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by NNTR: 11:32am On Feb 08, 2022
Mom007:
He didn't ' sacrifice' her per se but dedicated her to God. Big difference. Christ is the only true and acceptable sacrifice to God.

DeepSight:
How is that any less barbaric than Aztec human sacrifice?
John 15:13
'No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.
(i.e. No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.
Or, the greatest love you can show, is to give your life for your friends.
'

Matthew 13:15
For the hearts of these people are hardened,
and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes
— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to Me and let Me heal them.


Goats, are a deepshite stubborn breed of animal, that much, I do know about them.

The Aztec barbaric human sacrifice, where the priest would cut through the abdomen with a flint blade and the heart would be torn out still beating and held towards the sky in honor to the Sun-God has no ounce of love in it.

Unlike the Jesus Christ sacrifice, that is a first-hand sacrifice and once, the Aztec barbaric human sacrifices are not a first-hand sacrifices.

God, on a mission, purposely created Jesus' body for sacrifice, as for the Aztec .... we won't say, so just to spare them their blushes

Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.
Re: Does The Bible Endorse Human Sacrifice? by PastorAIO: 2:08pm On Feb 09, 2022
jamesid29:

Please where did you get your translation from or did you come up with it on your knowledge?

Secondly, In view of 2chronicles 18:2, would you agree that the best way to translate the verb in that passage would be "to slaughter/kill"?
As to Sacrifice, might give a modern reader a different connotation of the text because of how we understand the word in our worldview. And to Offer could likewise mislead a modern reader into thinking he just gave him the animals.

Are we in agreement on this?
Please bear in mind biblical Hebrew does has words for offering & killing


Where did I get my translation from?
I thought it was self evident. A sacrifice is an offering. And many translations already use the word offering, as can be seen in the same concordance that we have all been reading since.
Numbers 22:40, KJV reads
NAS: Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep,
KJV: And Balak offered oxen and sheep,
INT: sacrificed Balak oxen


1Samuel 1
4And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:

I want to believe that we are still discussing in good faith and that you only perhaps forgot that a sacrifice is an offering.

As regards the best way to translate 2 Chron 18:12, the only way that slaughter/kill would work as a translation that captures what is said is if it is also demonstrated that the slaughter was presented to someone else. If he just slaughtered the sheep for no reason at all, or for another reason that wouldn't be Way yiz bah. If say, there was a disease amongst the flock and he decided to cull the flock then that killing will not be a Way yiz bah.

As regards the connotations of the word Sacrifice in the modern worldview, this is a problem to be found in all translations from one language to another, not to mention when the languages come from very different cultures. I discuss this on my Pensees thread with the Yoruba word Ebo. Check it out:

The word CULT.

There are some points of interest to be gleaned from studying the etymology of the word cult. The word entered the English language in the 17th century from 2 sources. French culte, and Latin cultus. The French is itself derived from the Latin.

The meaning of Cult in Latin encompasses To Inhabit, To Cultivate, To Protect, To Grow, To Worship, To Train or To Educate,.....

It is from the Latin Cultus that we get the English words Cultivation, and Culture.

Exploring the connection of these uses for the word Cultus we come to a deeper understanding of Religious activity.

A religious Cult should be a place where a certain spirit in a person can be nurtured and developed.

In studying African traditional religion, many concepts can be misconstrued. For instance in Yoruba religious thought (and other tribes too) practitioners talk of going to offer ẹ́bọ́ to a shrine. Too many scholars loosely translate ẹ́bọ́ to mean sacrifice, and go on to explain that something must be given in order to get something as if the offering of ẹ́bọ́ is a business transaction.

But actually the word ẹ́bọ́ in Yoruba just means nourishment. To offer ẹ́bọ́ is to feed. In other words to 'cultivate', to culture, To cult. (In Yoruba it is said that the Wife bọ́s the Husband and the Husband bọ́s the Wife). Furthermore this misconstruing of the meaning of ẹ́bọ́ ignores a very important key part of the ẹ́bọ́ ceremony. And that is that the ẹ́bọ́ is mostly eaten by the person doing the offering and shared with everyone else present. So how can it be an offering or a transaction if you are just going to eat it yourself?

This fact is true of every traditional religion that I am aware of and that is that the Offering is eaten by the Offerer. This is true even of traditional Hebrew religion from which Christianity is derived. You can tell from certain passage that most offering were eaten:

1 Samuel 2
29 Why then do you scorn[b] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’

The sons of Eli fell into disfavour because they would purposely select the best part of the sacrifice for their own bellies.

And the other famous Offering was the Tithe which was again eaten by those who made the offering and shared with others.

Deuteronomy 14
23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.



So what exactly is going on when ẹ́bọ́ is offered? When a meal is dedicated to a deity at a shrine the meal is then consumed by the practitioners in the belief that when the eat the meal they are nourishing the spirit of the deity in them. An Ogun devotee when he eats of the sacrifice is nurturing the spirit of industry, invention, pioneering within himself. He is cultivating the Ogun aspects of his being.

When a christian eats the Eucharist he is nourishing and nurturing the spirit of Christ within himself. The hope is that the Christ nature within will grow and come to fruition.
https://www.nairaland.com/4096095/des-pensees/6#88505692

Similarly, the English word Sacrifice does not totally capture the Hebrew Wayyizbah.
Just as a Isese practitioner can give ebo to her Ogun shrine and she can also give ebo to the child she is nursing, So also a Hebrew can Wayyizbah a deity and also wayyizbah an honoured guest. That is not to say that Ebo and Wayyizbah are the same thing. I just mean that just as it is applied to a deity it can also be applied to a guest, yet in English language both words are translated as sacrifice missing the full sense of the word in its proper cultural context.

So in short, I agree with you that the problems of translations are very deep and intractable.
There was a popular song a while ago, I think it was lagbaja that said;
ekaaro =. good morning
ekaason = good afternoon.
eku ise = ?
There are some words that just cannot be translated out of their cultural context.



Please bear in mind biblical Hebrew does has words for offering & killing

Yes I agree, and those words will be used in a context quite different from way yiz bah. For example Judges 8:17
Penuel Killed the Men.

He didn't offer the dead bodies to anybody he just killed them so He way·ya·hă·rōḡ them, he didn't Way yiz bah them.

In exodus 13:15
Yhwh killed every first born.

He way yaharog-ed them, he didn't way yiz bah them.

Similarly to offer is Et-ten.
Ahab did not 'et ten' sheep for his in law, He 'way yiz bah' the sheep. If he just gave it as a gift then he would have 'et ten' the sheep. But he slaughtered the sheep and presented them to his in-law. That is a Way yizbah.

Numbers 11:21
yet You have said, 'I will give them meat,

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