|| HOME || INDEX || SACRIFICE, HUMAN
Although it turned out that God was only kidding, he first demanded a human sacrifice from Abraham:
"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am." "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." [Gen 22: 1-2]
God became much more serious about the subject after that:
"Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him." "And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour." "And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." "For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day." [Exo 32: 26-29]
“That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.” “And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.” “And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.” [2 Chron 15: 13-15]
"And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands," "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." "So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands." "And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel." "And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; besider her he had neither son nor daughter." "And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back." "And she said unto him, my father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon." "And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows." "And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains." "And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel," "That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year." [Judg 11: 30-40]
God would sometimes magically force others to behave in an "evil" way, and then order his followers to kill them:
"But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day." "And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people." "And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:" [Deut 2: 30,33-34]
|| HOME || INDEX || SATAN
Satan is a late creation in the scriptures, adopted from the Persian duality concept, somewhere between 538 and 518 BCE. Satan is only mentioned in 4 of the old testament books, only once in 2 of them, twice in another. Job (written between 500 and 250 BCE) is a folktale that builds a story around him. The original Hebrew word is “ha-satan”; used to describe God’s roving spy, who kept watch on mankind. For much of the Old Testament, all evil comes from God. The story of the sepent in Genesis is just that, a myth to account for the snake crawling on it’s belly: all religions are full of such entertaining explanations for animal behavior.
“Now the serpent was more subtil (sic) than any beast of the field which the lord God had made...” [Gen 3:1]
“And the lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:” “And I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” [Gen 3:14,15]
|| HOME || INDEX || SECTARIANISM / GENOCIDE
The scriptures often promoted a strong conviction that anyone of another religion was evil; this viewpoint has caused the deaths of hundreds of millions of people.
“And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.” [Deut 7: 16]
“That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.” “And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.” “And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.” [2 Chron 15: 13-15]
"And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The Lord liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people." "But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord." [Jere 12: 16-17]
"But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day." "And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people." "And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:" [Deut 2: 30,33-34]
"So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining." "And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan." "And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city." [Deut 3: 3-4,6]
"For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." [Deut 7: 6]
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon." "So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land." [Numb 21: 34-35]
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt." "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." [1 Sam 15: 2-3]
"And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males."... "And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle" "And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?" "Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord." "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him." [Numb 31: 7, 14-18]
But of course, a man has certain needs, when virgin "prey" are involved: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying," "Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:" "And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:" "And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:"... "And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him."... "And the persons were sixteen thousand: of which the Lord's tribute was thirty and two persons." "And Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses." [Numb 31: 25-28, 35, 40-41]And of course, God has certain financial needs as well (The destruction of Jericho):
"And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord..." "And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it." "But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord" "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword." "And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord." [Josh 6: 17-19, 21, 24]|| HOME || INDEX || “SINS OF THE FATHER”
Many religious sects that follow the “god of Abraham” believe that God removed eternal life from mankind as part of Adam and Eve’s punishment; this concept is not supported by Genesis. It is likely that this idea developed to account for God lying to man about death resulting from eating from the tree. The infallibility of God is a concept from the Greek scriptures, not the Hebrew.
“...the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” [Gen 2:9]
“...God said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:” “Therefore the lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” [Gen 3:22-24]
God verifies, that sin is not inherited, in these scriptures:
“The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin” [Deut 24:16]
“But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin” [2 Kings 14:6]
“...the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.” [2 Chron 25:4]
“...he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” [Prov 24: 12]
Of course, God is contradictory, and verifies that sin is inherited for a limited amount of time, in these scriptures:
“...I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;” [Exo 20: 5]
"...for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me," [Deut 5: 9]Or even that sins are unforgivable:
"And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins." [Josh 24: 19]
|| HOME || INDEX || SLAVES
Many of the over six hundred commandments pertained to slaves.
“If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.” “If he came in by himself*, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.” “If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.” [Exo 21: 2-4] {*original text: “with his body”} Note: the slave had the option of staying with his family, but he was then committed to slavery forever, and was marked, with a hole through his ear.
“And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.” [Exo 21: 7]
“And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.” [Exo 21: 16]
“And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.” “Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.” [Exo 21: 20-21]
“And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.” “And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.” [Exo 21: 26-27]
“And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.” “If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.” [Exo 22: 16-17]
“And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.” “And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.” “And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.” [Lev 19: 20-22]
“Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:” [Colo 3: 22]
“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;” [Titus 2: 9]
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.” [1 Peter 2: 18]
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