>back to their days of sacrificing babies to "The Gods"
Canaanites
>it's the Phoenicians
>Carthage defeated the Romans probably
czech'T
{ excerpt }:
90-125 The Journal of Ministry and Theology
Canaanite Child Sacrifice, Abortion, and the Bible
Henry B. Smith, Jr.
Director of Development Associates for Biblical Research, Akron, PA
INTRODUCTION
History is replete with civilizations that have held morally
repugnant attitudes concerning infants and children. The Nazis
carried Jewish children off to killing fields and the gas chambers
at Auschwitz. The Aztecs and Mayans sacrificed both children
and adults to their gods. Exposing an unwanted child to the
elements or wild animals was a common practice throughout
the Greco-Roman world. The Carthaginians of North Africa
sacrificed their infants and children to pagan gods over a period
of several centuries.
Old Testament passages referring to child sacrifice are both
numerous and dreadful. The Israelites, delivered from the
bondage of Egypt by the mighty hand of Yahweh, the Lord of
heaven and earth, did not simply engage in idolatry. They were
guilty of adopting the ghastly Canaanite practice of child
sacrifice. In some cases, they attempted to attach this practice to
worship of the Lord (Ezek 23:39). In others, they rejected
Yahweh worship altogether and fully turned themselves over to
the idols of Canaan (2 Kgs 17:14-17). Kings Ahaz and Manasseh,
the “shepherds of Israel,” even burned their own sons in the
fires of sacrifice (2 Chr 28:2-3; 33:6). Certain Israelites stood by
and did nothing (Lev 20:4-5). Despite manifold warnings and
admonitions from the Lord (Deut 12:29-31; 18:10), the
Israelites persisted. As a result, God brought dreadful judgment
upon their entire nation (Jer 19:3b-6).
The present author has several purposes in mind in writing
this article. First, this article will attempt to connect the practice
of child sacrifice at ancient Carthage to the Canaanite mainland,
both culturally and geographically (near and in Israel proper).
Canaanite Child Sacrifice 91
This will be done through archaeological evidence and the
testimonies of ancient authors. This evidence offers apologetic
support for the veracity of the biblical references, which will
also be discussed. Second, this paper will discuss recent
scholarly attempts to deny that child sacrifice took place at
Carthage, a position that the author believes is without warrant.
Third, this article will survey the unnerving parallels between
child sacrifice and modern-day abortion. Lastly, this article will
touch upon several biblical and non-canonical texts that speak
to the moral status of the unborn child.
Child Sacrifice at Carthage
The ancient city of Carthage, North Africa (modern Tunisia),
began as a fledgling Phoenician colony and grew into one of the
most prosperous and prominent city-states of the ancient world.
Its influence and role in central Mediterranean history is often
obscured by the legacy of the Greeks and the Romans. Known
for resisting the Romans during the Punic Wars, the city’s
infamous military commander Hannibal was a nemesis of Rome
for several decades. Most notably, Carthage has the ignominious
reputation for performing large scale-child sacrifice over a
period of several centuries.
Carthage was settled by the Phoenicians in the latter part of the ninth century BC. 2
Their place of origin was the Lebanese coast of Phoenicia, which was predominantly Canaanite during the second millennium BC. 3
Near the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 BC), the Phoenicians had taken control of the region.
Scholars '''call the Lebanese coast Phoenicia, the name given to the region by the Greeks from their word for "purple."
The ancient world’s purple dye industry developed from extracting a fluid from a Mediterranean mollusk, the murex.
The Phoenicians developed this industry and specialized in shipping this very valuable commodity all over the Mediterranean world.
There are many connections between Israel in the OT and the Phoenician territories, notably, the cities of Tyre and Sidon. 5
https://biblearchaeology.org/images/Child-Sacrifice-and-Abortion/4-Canaanite-Child-Sacrifice-Smith-90-125.pdf
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