DNAReplicator

While reading up on the OT treatment of the Canaanite practices of child sacrifice, I stumbled on the story of Manesseh in 2 Chronicles. I am trying to get my head around the implications of the story, and wondered if anyone here could help.

According to Chronicles Manesseh did not start out as much of a model king;

So the OT reports that Manesseh was sacrificing his children. Then, the Assyrians invade, and take Manesseh prisoner. In captivity he converts;

So Manesseh is released, and returns to Jerusalem a reformed man. Chronicles goes onto describe how he has changed for the better;

To my eyes, this is suggesting that the child sacrifices continued under Manesseh, but these are now OK, as they were now dedicated to the God of Israel.

Have I got this right? Or perhaps could the term 'sacrifice at the high places' mean sacrifices other than children. If so, what evidence is there of there being other forms of Caananite sacrifice in ‘high places’.

In fact, does anyone here know much about the subject of child sacrifice in Canaan? As far as I can tell, by the time of Josiah in Deuteronomy there appears to be unambiguous condemnation of the practice – however, earlier books seem more ambiguous in their treatment of the subject. Could this change in attitude have been related to the fact that Josiah was writing after the fall of the northern kingdom (where such practices seemed to be more prevalent)?

Any educated help, even a cursory dismissal of my musings would be appreciated.

vid

Ugaritic texts have shed some light on this:

credoconsolans

Can they actually be certain of death by suffication, having only - perhaps - bones/dried up remains of bodies?

andrewcriddle

Kings and the later Chronicles were written by people who held that sacrifices other than at Jerusalem were wrong in themselves quite apart from whether or not they contained pagan elements. (This position, that there is an appointed place for sacrifice and sacrifice anywhere else is wrong is explicit in the present version of the Torah particularly Deuteronomy).

What the text in Chronicles is claiming is that in the early period of Manasseh sacrifices with pagan elements (such as child sacrifice) were carried out both at Jerusalem and at the various high places. This is regarded as wrong both because of the pagan elements and because sacrifice outside Jerusalem is wrong anyway.

In the late period of Manasseh the text in Chronicles claims that the pagan elements (such as child sacrifice) disappeared but the problem of sacrifice outside Jerusalem at the high places continued.

Andrew Criddle