Mainstream Doctrines Are Hiding Who Jehovah Really Was.
They simply don't teach it.
You want to think that YHWH or the western equivalent Jehovah is not serious about the promises we make, doesn't require so much as most think or is satisfied with what humans say He is satisfied with. Oh, really?
For Discussion: I am including an excerpt from the Bible regarding a story about a man who promised a sacrifice to Jehovah and it turned out to be the man's only daughter. Some of you will say, "this did not really happen." Others will say, "Jehovah didn't ask for her, the man offered her." Why didn't Jehovah turn him down the way He did Isaac? Obviously, He could have, and there could have been another son who was heir to the Promise.
Blood Ritual in the Hebrew Bible:
Meaning and Power Hardcover
What do the Judges of the Bible Have to Say About Jehovah and Human Sacrifice?
Judges 11
Backdrop:
Israelites were being attacked by the Ammonites who wanted them out of the land. Jephthah, an Israelite warrior, who had been rejected by his family because he was born out of wedlock, was a good fighter so the Israelites went back to find him and to ask for help. They promised to make him their leader if he took up their cause.
At that time, the people were monolatric meaning they knew there were many gods, but they were only to worship the God of their own land. The Israelites had made a covenant to worship Jehovah.
Jephthah decided to take his kindred up on their deal, returned to his country and sent a stern message to the enemy of Israel...[NIV version]
23 “Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? 24 Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess. 25 Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them? 26 For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time? 27 I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
28 The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And 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.”
32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”
36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”
38 “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Israelite tradition 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
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Now take out your pens and paper, re-read and contemplate. I invite you to do your own personal study or you may leave a comment answering the following questions:
- Jehovah could have allowed Jephthah to lose the war or let an animal or someone else come out to greet him. Jehovah could also have requested something more specific. Why do you think God accepted Jephthah's sacrifice?
- Do you feel man has spoken incorrectly for Jehovah, regarding what He wants in these modern times?
- Some of the names of gods and deities are referred to as God in the Bible. In this passage, Chemosh is referred to by name. I especially want to hear from biblical scholars of the Hebrew and Greek. Do you believe God of the Old Testament is identical to the God of the New Testament?