Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Patrina" <patrina AT bestmail.us>]

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 23:14:47 -0600, "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
said:
"....Historic Christian understanding of events such as Yom Kippur is 
that they were prefigurements, looking forward to the coming and the 
sacrifice of Christ, which events fulfilled these foreshadowings.  
>From that POV, the forgiveness given at Yom Kippur was based, not on 
the Day of Atonement itself, but on the coming One who would pay the 
ultimate penalty that brought about forgiveness of sins."

The problem with that view of course is that YHWH does NOT accept human 
sacrifice and forbids it, no matter how willing the victim.  The idea 
of an innocent substitute being sacrificed to remove guilt was common 
in the ANE. It wasn't always an animal but was often a firstborn child!  
However, in Jeremiah YHWH states that human sacrifice never even entered 
his mind (Jer 7:31).  In Torah terms a human sacrifice for atonement is 
simply not valid, and was a practice that was bitterly opposed by 
Jeremiah, since it was still being practised at the Tophets.  The very 
idea of YHWH yielding his innocent "firstborn son" like worshippers 
of Baal Hamon - who brought their innocent firstborn sons to the Tophet
as 
whole burnt offerings - is totally absurd, and to be honest, as a former 
Christian I never thought deeply enough on this issue.

Patrina Nuske Small
Adelaide, South Australia 

-- 
  Patrina
  patrina AT bestmail.us