Editing Human sacrifice (section)

====Judaism====
[[Judaism]] explicitly forbids human sacrifice, regarding it as murder. Jews view the ''[[Binding of Isaac#Jewish views|Akedah]]'' as central to the abolition of human sacrifice.  Some [[Talmud]]ic scholars assert that its replacement is the sacrificial offering of animals at the Temple – using Exodus 13:2–12ff; 22:28ff; 34:19ff; Numeri 3:1ff; 18:15; Deuteronomy 15:19 – others view that as being superseded by the symbolic ''[[Pars pro toto|pars-pro-toto]]'' sacrifice of the covenant of [[circumcision]]. Leviticus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 18:10 specifically outlaw the giving of children to [[Moloch]], making it punishable by stoning; the [[Tanakh]] subsequently denounces human sacrifice as barbaric customs of Moloch worshippers (e.g. Psalms 106:37ff).{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Judges chapter 11 features a [[Biblical judges|Judge]] named [[Jephthah]] vowing that "whatsoever cometh forth from the doors of my house to meet me shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt-offering" in gratitude for God's help with a military battle against the Ammonites.<ref name="Brenner-56">{{cite book |last=Brenner |first=Athalya |author-link=Athalya Brenner |title=Judges: A feminist companion to the Bible |year=1999 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-84127-024-1 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hT2vAwAAQBAJ&q=Josephus}}</ref> Much to Jephthah's dismay, his only daughter greeted him upon his triumphant return. Judges 11:39 states that Jephthah did as he had vowed, but "shies away from explicitly depicting her sacrifice, which leads some ancient and modern interpreters (e.g., [[Radak]]) to suggest that she was not actually killed."<ref name="TJSB-524">{{cite book |last1=Berlin |first1=Adele |last2=Brettler |first2=Marc Zvi |title=Jewish study bible |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=[s.l.] |isbn=978-0-19-997846-5 |page=524 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ&q=%22and+he+did+to+her+as+he+had+vowed%22&pg=PT17 |access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref>

According to the [[Mishnah]] he was under no obligation to keep the ill-phrased, illegal vow. According to Rabbi [[Johanan HaSandlar|Jochanan]], in his commentary on the Mishnah, it was Jephthah's obligation to pay the vow in money.<ref name="Brenner-56"/> According to some [[meforshim|commentators of the rabbinic Jewish tradition]] during the Middle Ages, Jepthah's daughter was not sacrificed, but was forbidden to marry and remained a spinster her entire life.<ref name="Radak-MD">[[David Kimhi|Radak]], [[Book of Judges]] 11:39; ''Metzudas Dovid'' ibid</ref>

The 1st-century CE [[Hellenistic Judaism|Jewish-Hellenistic]] historian [[Flavius Josephus]], however, stated that Jephthah "sacrificed his child as a burnt-offering – a sacrifice neither sanctioned by the law nor well-pleasing to God; for he had not by reflection probed what might befall or in what aspect the deed would appear to them that heard of it".<ref name="Brenner-73">{{cite book |last=Brenner |first=Athalya |author-link=Athalya Brenner |title=Judges: a feminist companion to the Bible |year=1999 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-84127-024-1 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hT2vAwAAQBAJ&q=Josephus}}</ref> Latin philosopher [[pseudo-Philo]], late {{nobr|1st century CE,}} wrote that Jephthah burnt his daughter because he could find no sage in Israel who would cancel his vow. In other words, in the opinion of the Latin philosopher, this story of an ill-phrased vow consolidates that human sacrifice is not an order or requirement by [[God in Judaism|God]], but the punishment for those who illegally vowed to sacrifice humans.<ref>{{cite book |title=Women's Bible Commentary |first1=Carol Ann |last1=Newsom |first2=Sharon H. |last2=Ringe |first3=Jacqueline E. |last3=Lapsley |page=133 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=8274 |title=הפולמוס העקיף בנושא העלאת קורבן אדם: בת יפתח (שופטים יא 40–29)}}</ref>

[[File:Ofiara Abrahama1.jpg|thumb|upright|An angel ends the [[Binding of Isaac]] by [[Abraham]] – believed to be a foreshadowing of the ''human sacrifice'' of Christ (''The Offering of Abraham, Genesis 22:1–13'', workshop of [[Rembrandt]], 1636; ''[[Christian art]]'')]]

Allegations accusing [[Jews]] of committing ritual murder – called the "[[blood libel]]" – were widespread during the [[Middle Ages]], often leading to the slaughter of entire Jewish communities.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nathan |first1=D. |author-link=Debbie Nathan |last2=Snedeker |first2=M. |title=Satan's Silence: Ritual abuse and the making of a modern American witch hunt |year=1995 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=0-87975-809-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/abuseofinnocence00eber/page/31 31] |url=https://archive.org/details/abuseofinnocence00eber |url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name=Victor>{{Cite book |title=Satanic Panic: The creation of a contemporary legend |last=Victor |first=J.S. |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company]] |year=1993 |isbn=0-8126-9192-X |pages=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n226 207–08]}}</ref> In the 20th&nbsp;century, similar accusations of ritual child killing by non-Christians were made as part of the [[satanic ritual abuse]] [[moral panic]].<ref name="Victor"/>