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Document Details : Title: The Law on Child Sacrifice in Exod 22, 28b-29 Author(s): VAN SETERS, J. Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 74 Issue: 4 Date: Dec. 1998 Pages: 364-372 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.74.4.504805 Abstract : In his recent book, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son, which traces “the transformation of child sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity”, John D. Levenson begins with the law as set out in Exod 22,28b-29 as the legal basis for the practice of child sacrifice in ancient Israel. This he does on the assumption that the Book of the Covenant, to which the law belongs, is the oldest law code of ancient Israel and therefore precedes those references in the prophets (Jer 7,30-31; 19,5-6 and Ezek 20,25-26) which, in his view, quite unequivocally point to the practice of child sacrifice in the late monarchy period. He therefore rejects the attempt by Roland de Vaux to construe this law in any other way except to regard it as a reference to child sacrifice2. For Levenson there is a direct relationship between this law and the practice that is condemned by Jeremiah and Ezekiel because they seem to make references to a disputed law having to do with the sacrifice or dedication of children to the deity, and it is this law in Exod 22,28b-29 that is regarded by Levenson and others as the law in question. |
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