Child sacrifice
Child sacrifice is the sinful practice of offering children as sacrificial victims, a practice God strongly condemns in Scripture. It is associated especially with pagan worship and covenant unfaithfulness in Israel’s history.
At a Glance
Child sacrifice is the sinful practice of offering children as sacrificial victims, a practice God strongly condemns in Scripture. It is associated especially with pagan worship and covenant unfaithfulness in Israel’s history.
Description
Child sacrifice in Scripture is the offering of one’s son or daughter as a sacrificial victim in pagan worship, a practice explicitly forbidden by God and treated as a grave abomination. The Old Testament especially associates it with the worship of Molech and with the corrupt religious practices of the nations in Canaan, which Israel was commanded not to imitate. When some in Israel later participated in such acts, the Bible presents this not as acceptable devotion but as shocking covenant rebellion that defiled the land and invited divine judgment. The term is therefore best handled as a biblical-theological subject describing a condemned form of idolatry and moral evil, not as a neutral ritual category.