User:Nederlandse Leeuw/Child killing in the Hebrew Bible

Child killing in the Hebrew Bible, including infanticide, is threatened, commanded, or narrated as having happened in several texts.

Child killing is apparently motivated or justified according to several categories:

• as part of divine genocides directly carried out by the ancient Israelite god Yahweh
• as part of genocides during wars, sometimes commanded or assisted by Yahweh
• as part of punishing their father
• as child sacrifice
• as part of a monarch's efforts to secure his own kingship, and prevent any threat to his reign
• as execution for capital crimes which children commit against their parents
• for other reasons
• for underdetermined reasons, or it is undetermined whether child killing is being threatened, commanded, or said to have taken place.

Terminology

See also: Rape in the Hebrew Bible § Terminology

In the Hebrew Bible, child killing is threatened, commanded, or narrated as having been committed by Yahweh, the ancient Israelites, or other ethnic groups in the ancient Near East, against individual or groups of children, sometimes including infants (also called babies or newborns). The interpretation of these texts depends significantly on the meaning of the original Hebrew vocabulary and grammar, and how these should be translated and understood. Bible translations may differ in their choice of words. For example, in Jeremiah 51:22, וָנָ֑עַר wā-nā-‘ar is variously translated into English as '(the) youth', '(the) young', 'children', 'the child', 'the young man', and 'the boy'. The phrase "Children of Israel" (בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל Bənēy Yīsrāʾēl) just means "Israelites", regardless of age or gender.

The ages and genders of the targets or victims are thus not always clear, nor is there a clear biblical definition of when a child becomes an adult, and so it can sometimes not be determined whether they are or were "children". Sometimes words like 'child', 'son' or 'daughter' only refer to a person's relationship to their parents and not their age, and so their killings cannot always be unambiguously identified as child killing. Whenever there is no age indication, it also becomes more difficult to classify certain cases as infanticide, because that depends on the person's age and one's definition of 'infant'. In some cases, terms such 'murder' or 'infanticide' may also be problematic as they carry connotations of premeditation (as opposed to manslaughter), as well as and being unethical or illegal, when the texts themselves or some interpreters may consider some killings justified or justifiable (for example, because they are commanded by a perceived legitimate authority, such as the god Yahweh, or a rightful/righteous king), and therefore represent a certain point of view.

Divine genocides

Genesis 6–9: Genesis flood narrative. All humans and animals on Earth drowned except Noah's family and the animals aboard his ark. (Genesis 7:21–23) Yahweh regrets creating humans and decides to destroy them along with all the animals, except Noah's family. (Genesis 6:5–8)

Genesis 18–19: Sodom and Gomorrah. 'Then Yahweh rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from Yahweh out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.' (Genesis 19:24–25) 'The outcry to Yahweh against its people is so great that he has sent us [=angels] to destroy it.' (Genesis 19:12–13)

Exodus 11–12: Tenth Plague of Egypt. Yahweh states that he will kill all firstborn sons of the Egyptians to force Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, and punish him for not doing so earlier (Exodus 11:4–6). However, just like during the previous nine plagues that he threatened Pharaoh with, after which Yahweh repeatedly hardened Pharaoh's heart to prevent him from letting the Israelites go, and then punished him with the threatened plague for not letting them go, Yahweh does this again in Exodus 11:9–10, explaining to Moses that 'Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt'. In Exodus 12:29–30, Yahweh carries out the threat and unleashes the tenth plague upon the Egyptians: 'At midnight Yahweh struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.' Exodus 13:1–15 apparently establishes the practice of Pidyon haben or "redemption of the first-born": each Israelite man must consecrate each first-born son as well as each first-born males of his livestock to Yahweh as a confirmation and reminder that Yahweh saved the Israelites' first-borns from the Tenth Plague and would have been killed just like the Egyptian first-born male humans and animals if it were not for his protection. They can then be redeemed by paying five shekels to a priest of Yahweh, as specified in Numbers 18:15–16.

Jeremiah 11:22: The narrator, Jeremiah, says that the people of his hometown Anathoth plotted against him, but that Yahweh would cause them all to be killed or die as punishment: 'therefore this is what Yahweh Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.'

Genocides during wars

Numbers 31:14–18: Moses orders all Midianite prisoners of war who are boys and non-virgin women to be executed. But the Israelites soldiers are to keep all the Midianite virgin girls alive for themselves. While he explains the execution of the non-virgin women as punishment for the 'Peor incident' (Numbers 25; unclear whether this involved Moabite or Midianite women, or if they were deliberately mixed up), Moses provides no reason why the boys need to be killed.

Deuteronomy 2:24–34: Yahweh tells Moses that he will help the Israelites defeat the Amorite king Sihon, and conquer his land of Heshbon. "When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, Yahweh our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them—men, women and children. We left no survivors." (Deuteronomy 2:31–34) Two other accounts of the conquest of Heshbon in Numbers 21:21–30, and Judges 11:19-22, do not say anything about exterminating the entire population, but limit themselves to killing only the land's soldiers.

Deuteronomy 3: extermination of the 60 cities of Bashan. 'We completely destroyed a them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children'. (3:6) The verb for 'destroyed' is also used for 'devoted to Yahweh'. The Israelite soldiers did this after completely destroying the Bashan army in the field, implying that after all combatants were killed, killing non-combatants was fair game, even divinely commanded. Similar to the Sihon of Heshbon narrative, another account of the conquest of Bashan in Numbers 21:33–35 does not say anything about exterminating the entire population, but limits itself to killing only the land's soldiers.

Deuteronomy 20:10-20. Yahweh instructs Moses that, in the event of a siege against an enemy city, the Israelites are to kill all men inside, but take the women, children, livestock and everything else in it as plunder, and "use" this plunder. However, if Yahweh has given the city as "inheritance" to the Israelites, they are to kill "everything that breathes" within the city, except fruit-bearing trees.

Joshua 6:21: Joshua's Israelity army 'devoted the city [of Jericho] to Yahweh and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.' Verses 6:17–19 explain that 'devotion to Yahweh' means destroying all living beings (apart from Rahab and her family) and all objects (apart from those made of silver, gold, bronze, and iron).

Joshua 8:24–27 The entire human population of Ai (12,000) is exterminated, while livestock and plunder are carried off as spoils of war. Yahweh had ordered Joshua to do this after the example of Jericho 2 chapters ago (Joshua 8:1–2).

Joshua 10:28–42 Joshua exterminates the cities of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir, 'the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.' This happens after all the allied armies are slaughtered at the Battle of Gibeon for which Yahweh makes the sun stand still. (Joshua 10:1–27)

Judges 1:8 Extermination of Jerusalem.

Judges 1:15 Extermination of Zephath?

Judges 1:22–26 Extermination of Bethel/Luz except the traitor's family.

1 Samuel 15:1–3 'Samuel said to Saul: (...) This is what Yahweh Almighty says: "I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy a all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys." ' 1 Samuel 15:7–8 'Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.'

1 Samuel 22:19. Saul orders his vassal Doeg the Edomite to kill Ahimelech (for conspiring with David against him), along with his priests, family, and the entire town of Nob including 'its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep'.

2 Kings 8:12 Hazael, possibly the son or courtier of Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram-Damascus (possibly Hadadezer, or "Ben-Hadad II"), asks the Israelite prophet Elisha if Ben-Hadad will recover from his illness. Elisha predicts that Ben-Hadad will die, that Hazael will become king, and weeps "Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites (...) You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women." (See also Ripping pregnant women open).

Esther 3: Persian minister Haman is angry that royal official Mordecai refuses to bow down to him, and learning he is a Jew, he convinces Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes) to exterminate all the Jews in the empire on the pretext that 'they do not obey the king's laws' (3:8). The king is convinced and sends out a decree 'to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.' (3:15). When queen Esther, who is secretly Jewish herself, hears of the plan, she spends chapter 4 to 8:6 on preventing her husband from carrying out this genocide against the Jews. King Ahasuerus then changes the decree to instead grant the Jews in his empire kill any armed men 'who might attack them', along with their wives and children, and plunder their possessions (Esther 8:7–14; see the Punishing their father section).

Isaiah 13: Yahweh speaks out his judgement over Babylon, that is to be punished for its 'evil, sins, arrogance and pride' (11), by foreign soldiers who will attack Babylon (4–5). 'Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated. (...) [The Medes'] bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children.' (Isaiah 13:15–18). See also Rape in the Hebrew Bible § Personified capital cities threatened with rape.

Jeremiah 6: Yahweh speaks out his judgement over Jerusalem, that is to be punished (6) for its 'oppression, wickedness, violence, destruction and sickness' (6–8), 'greed, deceit,' not healing 'the wound of my people', lack of 'peace', and 'shamelessness' (13–15), by foreign soldiers from the north who will attack Jerusalem (1, 6, 22–23). The narrator says: 'I am full of the wrath of Yahweh, and I cannot hold it in.' To which Yahweh replies: 'Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years.' (11) 'I will put obstacles / stumbling blocks before this people. Parents and children alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish.' (21)

Jeremiah 51:20–26: Yahweh's judgement over Babylon: “You are my war club, my weapon for battle—with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,... with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and young woman,'

Punishing their father

Further information: Ancestral sin

The idea that children can or should be punished for what their father (or parent) or more distant forefathers (or ancestors) have done is established in relation to the commandment Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, wherein Yahweh is narrated to have said:

'...for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me...'.

— Exodus 20:4–6 NIV; Deuteronomy 5:8–10

KJV: 'פֹּ֠קֵד pō-qêḏ visiting the iniquity אָבֹ֧ת ’ā-ḇōṯ of the fathers upon בָּנִ֛ים bā-nîm the sons'.
Sometimes, the threatened, ordered or narrated punishment of a child for its father/parent/ancestor's sin is death.

• Repeated Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, Jeremiah 32:18, (Leviticus 26:39), Isaiah 14:21, Isaiah 65:7, Amos 7:17, Jeremiah 16:11, Daniel 9:16, Lamentations 5:7.
• Contradicted by Deuteronomy 24:16 "Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin"
• Contradicted by Ezekiel 18:(17–)20 "The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them."

Leviticus 26:21–22: [Yahweh]:"If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted."

Numbers 16: Yahweh caused Korah, Dathan and Abiram and 'their wives, children and little ones' to be swallowed up by the Earth (Numbers 16:23–33), because these three men led a protest of 250 Israelite men against Moses and Aaron's authority (Numbers 16:1–3). The 250 Israelite men were then killed by fire (Numbers 16:34–35). The death sentence for the three men's family members is explained as though 'their wives, children and little ones' 'belonged to them' (verse 30), and they were 'associated with Korah' (verse 32). So, they either had guilt by association, or were somehow tainted by each man's sin and had to be destroyed along with him. The subsequent narrative describes a sort of cleansing process, supporting the hypothesis that everyone and everything associated with the male sinners had become tainted, contaminated, unholy. (Numbers 16:36–40)

Joshua 7: For taking some of the Battle of Jericho's spoils of war for himself rather than offering it to Yahweh, Achan son of Karmi was stoned to death along with all his children and livestock, will his possessions were burnt. It is not clear why Achan's children, let alone his livestock, were killed along with him, but presumably they shared in the guilt by association, or killing them served as extra punishment for Achan himself.

2 Chronicles 21:14 Jehoram of Judah's 'people, sons/children, wives and possessions' are 'struck with a heavy blow' because of Jehoram's sins. Philistine and Arabs raiders kidnap Jehoram's sons/children except Ahaziah (2 Chronicles 21:16–17) and kill them (2 Chronicles 22:1), but Ahaziah was the youngest (2 Chronicles 21:17) and began to reign upon his father's death aged 22 (2 Chronicles 22:1–2), so the other sons of Jehoram must already have reached adulthood.

Esther 8:11: The Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes) changes his decree ordering the extermination of the Jews including children in his empire (Esther 3:15, see the Genocides during wars section) to instead grant the Jews in his empire the right to kill any armed men 'who might attack them', along with their wives and children, and plunder their possessions. Esther 9:5–16 narrates that several massacres were carried out, although no victim ages are specified (the 'ten sons of Haman' could be any age). The Purim festival is instituted to celebrate the Jews' victory.

Psalm 21: The author/narrator states that Yahweh (addressed in the second person) will destroy his (Yahweh's) enemies with fire in battle (21:8–9), as well as destroying the enemies' 'offspring/children/descendants' (פִּ֭רְיָמוֹ pir-yā-mōw, literally "fruit") and their 'posterity/descendants/offspring/children' (וְ֝זַרְעָ֗ם wə-zar-‘ām, literally "seed").

Psalm 109: The author appeals to the god Yahweh to oppose and punish his enemy (6–7), including dying soon and his children to be fatherless wandering beggers whom nobody pities (8–10, 12), and 'May his children/posterity/offspring/descendants be cut off/destroyed/die/be killed (לְהַכְרִ֑ית lə-haḵ-rîṯ), their names blotted out from the next generation', which may mean a wish for them to be killed, or simply that they will not reproduce.

Psalm 137 ("By the rivers of Babylon"): The author laments the Jews that are in Babylonian captivity, and then addresses the Babylonians (metaphorically called "Daughter Babylon") with anticipation for revenge: "Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants (עֹ֝לָלַ֗יִךְ ‘ō-lā-la-yiḵ), and dashes them against the rocks." (Psalm 137:8–9).

Isaiah 14:20–22 'Let the offspring of the wicked never be mentioned again. Prepare a place to slaughter לְבָנָ֛יו lə-ḇā-nāw his sons/children for the sins אֲבוֹתָ֑ם ’ă-ḇō-w-ṯām of their fathers/ancestors; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities. "I will rise up against them," declares Yahweh Almighty. "I will wipe out Babylon's name and survivors, her offspring and descendants," declares Yahweh.'

Jeremiah 16:11 Yahweh is going to kill everyone using deadly diseases, the sword and famine (1–4) 'because אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֤ם ’ă-ḇō-w-ṯê-ḵem your fathers/forefathers/ancestors forsook me,' declares Yahweh, 'and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.'

Eating own children during siege

Deuteronomy 28:53–57. As part of the curses for disobeying Yahweh (Deuteronomy 28:15–64; see also Rape in the Hebrew Bible#Deuteronomy 28), he threatens that Israelite parents will be forced to kill and eat their own children due to starvation when their city will be besieged by enemies that Yahweh will unleash upon them.

2 Kings 6:24–33 appears to have put this curse of Deuteronomy 28 into a narrative: when king Ben-Hadad of Aram-Damascus besieges Samaria, a great famine breaks out in the city, during which a woman cries out to the unnamed king of Israel. She tells him: '"This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."' (verses 28–29) The king responds with tearing his robes in anger and grief (verse 30), and a little later interprets the city's precarious situation as follows: 'This is a disaster from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?' (verse 33).

Jeremiah 19 claims that the kings and population of Judah and Jerusalem have turned away from Yahweh by worshipping other gods, including sacrificing children to Baal at 'Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom' (verses 3–6). Therefore, Yahweh will 'make them fall by the sword before their enemies' (verse 7), and also force them to eat their own children due to starvation during an enemy siege (verse 9).

Lamentations 2:19–20 laments the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587/6 BCE, which is interpreted as the Israelite god Yahweh punishing the city (metaphorically called "Daughter Zion"), and wonders if Yahweh has ever punished anyone so severely, including starvation during the siege. '...your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner. Look, Yahweh, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for?'

Child sacrifice

This section is an excerpt from Child sacrifice § Tanakh.[edit]

The Tanakh mentions human sacrifice in the history of ancient Near Eastern practice. The king of Moab gives his firstborn son and heir as a whole burnt offering (olah, as used of the Temple sacrifice). In the book of the prophet Micah, the question is asked, 'Shall I give my firstborn for my sin, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?', and responded to in the phrase, 'He has shown all you people what is good. And what does Yahweh require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.' The Tanakh also implies that the Ammonites offered child sacrifices to Moloch.

According to scholars such as Otto Eissfeldt, Paul G. Mosca, and Susan Ackerman, Moloch was not a name for a god, but instead is a word for a particular form of child sacrifice practiced in Israel and Judah which was not abandoned until the reforms of Josiah. In the Tanakh mentions are made in books such as Kings, Leviticus, and Jeremiah of children being given "to the mōlek". According to Patrick D. Miller these child sacrifice traditions were not originally part of the Yahwism, but were instead foreign imports. Francesca Stavrakopoulou contradicts this, asserting that sacrifices were native to Israel and part of the royal line's attempts to perpetuate itself.

Exodus 22:28b–29 states "The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me" potentially a demand by Yahweh that the firstborn children of the Israelites must be sacrificed to him. However, Jacob Milgrom argues that Yahweh forbids human sacrifice and that in Exodus 22:28b-29, as in the Day of Atonement, Yahweh instituted substitutionary animal sacrifices for human sin and the redemption of the firstborn in Israelite families (cf. Exodus 13:11–16). Yahweh also states to the prophet Jeremiah, “They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind,” (Jeremiah 7:31) which some scholars interpret as indicating that it was once viewed as a central part to the law and desire of Yahweh.

Binding of Isaac

This section is an excerpt from Child sacrifice § Binding of Isaac.[edit]

In this depiction of the Binding of Isaac by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld, 1860, Abraham is shown not sacrificing Isaac.

Genesis 22 relates the binding of Isaac, by Abraham to present his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. It was a test of faith (Genesis 22:12). Abraham agrees to this command without arguing. The story ends with an angel stopping Abraham at the last minute and making Isaac's sacrifice unnecessary by providing a ram, caught in some nearby bushes, to be sacrificed instead. Other interpretations of the text have contradicted this version. For example, Martin S. Bergmann states "The Aggadah rabbis asserted that "father Isaac was bound on the altar and reduced to ashes, and his sacrificial dust was cast on Mount Moriah." A similar interpretation was made in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Margaret Barker notes that "Abraham returned to Bersheeba without Isaac" according to Genesis 22:19, a possible sign that he was indeed sacrificed. Barker also stated that wall paintings in the ancient Dura-Europos synagogue explicitly show Isaac being sacrificed, followed by his soul traveling to heaven. According to Jon D. Levenson a part of Jewish tradition interpreted Isaac as having been sacrificed. Similarly the German theologians Christan Rose and Hans-Friedrich Weiß maintain that due to the grammatical perfect tense used to describe Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, he did, in fact, follow through with the action.

Rabbi A.I. Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, stressed that the climax of the story, commanding Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac, is the whole point: to put an end to, and God's total aversion to the ritual of child sacrifice. According to Irving Greenberg the story of the binding of Isaac, symbolizes the prohibition to worship God by human sacrifices, at a time when human sacrifices were the norm worldwide.

Ban in Leviticus

This section is an excerpt from Child sacrifice § Ban in Leviticus.[edit]

In Leviticus 18:21, 20:3 and Deuteronomy 12:30–31, 18:10, the Torah contains a number of imprecations against and laws forbidding child sacrifice and human sacrifice in general. The Tanakh denounces human sacrifice as barbaric customs of Baal worshippers (e.g. Psalms 106:37). James Kugel argues that the Torah's specifically forbidding child sacrifice indicates that it happened in Israel as well. The biblical scholar Mark S. Smith argues that the mention of "Tophet" in Isaiah 30:27–33 indicates an acceptance of child sacrifice in the early Jerusalem practices, to which the law in Leviticus 20:2–5 forbidding child sacrifice is a response. Some scholars have stated that at least some Israelites and Judahites believed child sacrifice was a legitimate religious practice.

Numbers 31

In the aftermath of the War against the Midianites narrated in Numbers 31, the Israelites appear to be dedicating 32 captive Midianite virgin girls to be sacrificed to Yahweh as his share in the spoils of war.

This section is an excerpt from Numbers 31 § Fate of the 32 virgins.[edit]

It is not clear what happened to Yahweh's 0.1% share of the spoils of war, including 808 animals (verses 36–39) and 32 human virgin women/girls (verse 40), who are entrusted to the Levites, who are responsible for maintaining Yahweh's tabernacle (verses 30 and 47). Two Hebrew terms are used to indicate they are a 'tribute' or 'levy' that is 'offered' or 'contributed' to Yahweh:

• me·ḵes or ham·me·ḵes (verses 28, 37 and 41), generally translated as 'tribute', 'tax' or 'levy'. Outside these three occurrences in Numbers 31, it appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. It is also attested in Ugaritic as mekes and in Akkadian as miksu. An inflection of mekes is וּמִכְסָ֥ם ū·miḵ·sām, occurring only in verses 38, 39 and 40.
• tə-rū-maṯ (verses 29 and 41); the term terumah (plural: terumat) is generally translated as '(heave) offering' or 'contribution' and is associated with heave offerings.

Some scholars have concluded that these 32 human virgins were to be sacrificed to Yahweh as a burnt offering along with the animals. For example, in 1854, Carl Falck-Lebahn compared the incident with the near-sacrifice of Iphigenia in Greek mythology, claiming: "According to Levit. xxvii, 29, sacrifices of human victims were clearly established among the Jews." After recounting the story of Jephthah's daughter in Judges 11, he reasoned: "the Jews (according to Numbers, chap 31) took 61,000 asses, 72,000 oxen, 675,000 sheep, and 32,000 virgins (whose fathers, mothers, brothers &c., were butchered). There were 16,000 girls for the soldiers, 16,000 for the priests; and on the soldiers' share there was levied a tribute of 32 virgins for the Lord. What became of them? The Jews had no nuns. What was the Lord's share in all the wars of the Hebrews, if it was not blood?"

Carl Plfuger in 1995 cited Exodus 17, Numbers 31, Deuteronomy 13 and 20 as examples of human sacrifice demanded by Yahweh, adding that according to 1 Samuel 15, Saul "lost his kingship of Israel because he had withheld the human sacrifice that Yahweh, the god of Israel, expected as his due after a war." Susan Niditch remarked in 1995 that, at the time of her writing, "increasingly scholars suggest that Israelites engaged in state-sponsored rituals of child sacrifice". Although "[s]uch ritual activity is condemned by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other biblical writers (e.g., Lev 18:21, Deut 12:31, 18:10; Jer 7:30–31, 19:5; Ezek 20:31), and the seventh-century reformer king Josiah sought to put an end to it, [the] notion of a god who desires human sacrifice may well have been an important thread in Israelite belief." She cited the Mesha Stele as evidence that the neighbouring Moabites performed human sacrifices with prisoners of war to their god Chemosh after successfully attacking an Israelite city in the 9th century BCE. Before the 7th-century BCE reformers of king Josiah of the southern Kingdom of Judah tried to end the practice of human/child sacrifice, it appears to have been commonplace in Israelite military culture.

Other scholars have concluded that the virgins and animals were kept alive and used by the Levites as their share of the spoils. Some even posited that human sacrifice (especially child sacrifice) was foreign to the Israelites, thus making the possibility of sacrificing the Midianite virgins unfeasible. Carl Freidrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch argued in 1870 that the 32 were enslaved:

Of the one half the priests received 675 head of small cattle, 72 oxen, 61 asses, and 32 maidens for Jehovah; and these Moses handed over to Eleazar, in all probability for the maintenance of the priests, in the same manner as the tithes (Numbers 18:26–28, and Leviticus 27:30–33), so that they might put the cattle into their own flocks (Numbers 35:3), and slay oxen or sheep as they required them, whilst they sold the asses, and made slaves of the gifts; and not in the character of a vow, in which case the clean animals would have had to be sacrificed, and the unclean animals, as well as the human beings, to be redeemed (Leviticus 27:2–13).

Securing own kingship

The Pharaoh of Egypt orders all Israelite newborn boys to be killed by having them thrown into the Nile, and thus reduce the number of Israelites in Egypt. (Exodus 1:9–22) Moses escapes infanticide by being put into a basket and set adrift on the Nile by his mother, and being found and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. (Exodus 2:1–10)

King Herod the Great of Judea orders the Massacre of the Innocents in Gospel of Matthew (2:16–18): 'to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under'. Although the text does not make clear exactly why Herod wanted to kill Jesus (Matthew 1:13), but it seems that he was disturbed by the Magi's claim that 'one who has been born king of the Jews' (Matthew 1:2–3) was the Messiah who would become the 'ruler of Judah' over the 'people Israel' (Matthew 1:4–6), and thus one day overthrow Herod to end his kingship. Jesus escapes infanticide by Joseph and Mary taking him along in their Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15), and then returning from Egypt to settle in Nazareth, Galilee after Herod's death rather than returning to Bethlehem, Judea (Matthew 2:19–23).

Unlike Pharaoh's long-term genocidal policy against the Israelites as an ethnic group, Herod's massacre of the male infants in Bethlehem and environs was apparently a one-off decision targeting a specific individual by killing Jesus' entire age/gender group in his place of birth.

Crimes against parents

See also: List of capital crimes in the Torah

These capital crimes apply to anyone who commits them against their parents. The age of the perpetrator is not mentioned, so this may apply both during childhood and adulthood. Similarly, it could also be that capital crimes in general, in which the age of the perpetrator is not specified, also apply to children, as the Hebrew Bible appears not to set an age of criminal responsibility, so that there is no legal immunity for minors as in modern jurisdictions.

Exodus 21:5 (NIV): 'Anyone who attacks/kills their father or mother must be put to death.'

Leviticus 20:9 (NIV): 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.'

Leviticus 21:9 (NIV): 'If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.'

Deuteronomy 21:18–21: rebellious sons are to be stoned.

Zechariah 13:3: 'And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, 'You must die, because you have told lies in Yahweh's name.' Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.'

Other reasons

2 Kings 2:23–24 Elisha's two she-bears mauling 42 boys because they tease his baldness.

Ezekiel 9: All inhabitants of Jerusalem not marked by Yahweh (because they grieve and lament over all the detestable things' (idolatry?) done in the city) are exterminated. 'As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple. Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city.' Ezekiel 9:5–7

Pregnancy cases

See also: Judaism and abortion § Biblical sources, and Christianity and abortion § Biblical passages

In some passages, the intentional termination of pregnancies (sometimes by the killing of pregnant women) is threatened, commanded, or narrated to have happened. Part of the question on whether this constitutes 'child killing' is which views the Hebrew Bible takes on the beginning of human personhood. Genesis 2:7 (see also Soul in the Bible § Genesis 2:7) seems to suggest that Adam's life started when he first drew breath: the god Yahweh "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." If this is a correct understanding of the Hebrew Bible's perspective, then no being is alive before it draws breath, and neither intentional termination of pregnancy, nor uninentional (miscarriage), means that killing has taken place. According to other views, an embryo or foetus becomes 'alive' in the womb at some point (although when exactly is debated), and can be considered an 'unborn child', and thus terminating the pregnancy would constitute 'child killing'.

Exodus 21

Exodus 21:22–25 contains an eye for an eye law in a scenario whereby a person fighting with another person accidentally hits a pregnant woman which results in her יְלָדֶ֔יהָ וְיָצְא֣וּ wə-yā-ṣə-’ū yə-lā-ḏe-hā 'giving birth prematurely', or 'having a miscarriage', depending on translation. If 'there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows' (verse 22). 'But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.' (verses 23–25). It is not clear whether the injury to be compensated is that inflicted on the woman, or on the prematurely born / miscarried "fruit" (יֶלֶד yeh'-led), or both. The fact that verse 22 speaks of הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה בַּ֣עַל ba-‘al hā-’iš-šāh "husband of the woman" rather than something like "the father of the child" centres the value of a wife's value to a husband rather than a child's value to a father, and suggests it is injury to the woman that is to be compensated for. If the phrase יְלָדֶ֔יהָ וְיָצְא֣וּ is to be understood as being about miscarriage, then verse 22 probably must apply to the woman alone, for if the "fruit" (embryo/foetus) was considered to be 'alive' in the womb and lost its 'life' due to the miscarriage, then verse 23 dictates that the perpetrator's life must be taken in return, and the monetary compensation demanded in verse 22 would not suffice. If it is to be understood as describing premature birth, which results in the loss of 'life' of this prematurely born "fruit" (embryo/foetus/child), then causing its 'death' would result in the death penalty for the perpetrator (as well). According to the 'drawing-breath' interpretation of Genesis 2:7, if the prematurely born "fruit" never drew breath, then it had never been alive, and was thus not 'killed' by the perpetrator. This also suggests that the 'life for life' scenario in verse 22 only applies to cases wherein the pregnant woman dies, regardless of what happens to her "fruit".

Ordeal of the bitter water

Main article: Ordeal of the bitter water

Numbers 5:11–31, known as Ordeal of the bitter water, called "The Test for an Unfaithful Wife" by the New International Version (NIV), has Yahweh explaining to Moses that a man, who suspects his wife to be pregnant by having sex with another man, can force her to have an abortion. This is accomplished by forcing the pregnant wife to drink water with a magical substance prepared by a priest, which will curse her and cause her to miscarry if she has been unfaithful, but if she has been "pure", then she will be able to have children.

Miscarriage due to divine curse

Hosea 9:14: The narrator pleads with Yahweh to punish the Israelites with a range curses, including that pregnant women will have miscarriages, and that mothers won't be able to brestfeed infants: "Give them, Yahweh—what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry."

Ripping pregnant women open

2 Kings 8:12 Hazael, possibly the son or courtier of Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram-Damascus (possibly Hadadezer, or "Ben-Hadad II"), asks the Israelite prophet Elisha if Ben-Hadad will recover from his illness. Elisha predicts that Ben-Hadad will die, that Hazael will become king, and weeps "Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites (...) You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women."

2 Kings 15:16 Menahem, who had been an officer in the army of Zechariah of Israel, apparently staged a rebellion against Shallum of Israel, another officer who had assassinated Zechariah and usurped the throne. During the rebellion, 'Menahem, starting out from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in the city and its vicinity, because they refused to open their gates. He sacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.' The narrative goes to say that Menahem became king of Israel (apparently overthrowing Shallum) and that 'He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh' and continued 'the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat' (2 Kings 15:18), which suggests that Yahweh condemned the ripping open of Tiphsah's pregnant women.

Hosea 13:16: Yahweh speaks out his judgement over the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria): "The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; עֹלְלֵיהֶ֣ם ‘ō-lə-lê-hem their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open.' The ripping-pregnant-women-open theme that causes Elisha to weep for the Israelites in 2 Kings 8, and that when Menahem does it to the Israelites of Tiphsah it causes the apparent condemnation by Yahweh as 'evil' in 2 Kings 15, is now a threat/prediction that Yahweh speaks out in judgement against the Israelites.

Undetermined cases

Exodus 32:27–29: Golden calf massacre. The text does not make clear whether children were killed. Moses does say 'you were against your own sons and brothers', but 'sons' probably just refers to genealogical relationship and not necessarily to age.

Numbers Tabernacle plagues: Numbers 16:41–50 doesn't indicate ages of the 14,700 deaths of the plague, although it was apparently directed against 'the whole Israelite community'. The same problem occurs in Numbers 25:6–9.

2 Samuel 24:15 'seventy thousand men (אִֽישׁ׃ ’îš) of the people (הָעָ֗ם hā-‘ām) from Dan to Beersheba died' by Yahweh's plague as punishment for David conducting a census. Gender and age unclear, it might just be adult men. Retold in 1 Chronicles 21:14.

2 Kings 10:8–10 mentions the killing of 'seventy sons of Ahab', but their ages are not told.

Job 1:18–19 Yahweh or Satan sends a windstorm that kills Job's seven sons and three daughters in order to test Job's faith, but their ages are not told.

Isaiah 9:17: After stating that Yahweh will כָּרַת kaw-rath "cut off" (or 'destroy/kill') 'from Israel both head and tail' because they did not seek him (13–14), meaning 'the leaders/guides of the people (of Samaria)' (16), 'Yahweh will not spare / have joy in the/their young men, לֹ֣א יְרַחֵ֔ם lō yə-ra-ḥêm nor have mercy יְתֹמָ֤יו yə-ṯō-māw on their orphans/fatherless children and widows...' The meaning of these verses is not quite clear, nor which words apply to which groups of people, giving rise to several possible readings that translators have noted. The implication, however, is that the leaders/guides of the people will be killed (one possible meaning of the verb כָּרַת kaw-rath), as their children and wives are said to be 'orphaned' and 'widowed' in the next verses, in which Yahweh is said not to show mercy on them (either?). It could be that the verse means to say that orphans and widows will also be killed as punishment for what their fathers and husbands have done, or (more likely) because they share in the guilt because 'those who are guided are led astray' (15), meaning all Samarians who followed these male leaders/guides have also turned their backs on Yahweh and are to be equally punished, 'for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks folly' (17).

Jeremiah 2:30: 'In vain I נָכָה nakah have smitten/killed/destroyed/punished your בְּנֵיכֶ֔ם bə-nê-ḵem sons/children/people; they did not respond to correction.' Yahweh is addressing Jerusalem/Israel/Judah here, so 'children' may just be a metaphor for the population of a city or country. It's not necessarily a punishing-the-parent scenario.

References

Category:Bible-related controversies Category:Biblical topics Category:Child sacrifice Category:Christian ethics in the Bible Category:Christianity and violence Category:Jewish ethics Category:Judaism and violence Category:Fiction about violence