Whose Son was Sacrificed?

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mattrose
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Whose Son was Sacrificed?

Post by mattrose » Thu Jul 06, 2017 11:12 pm

I am preaching the story of Jehoshaphat this weekend

It was interesting, interacting with a few different commentaries and listening to Steve's verse by verse commentary, to discover that Steve had an alternative interpretation of 2 Kings 3:27

2 Kings 3:27

All the commentators I read agreed that the King of Moab sacrificed his own son

But Steve suggested that he sacrificed the son of the King of Edom

Steve's reasoning?
1. The king of Edom is mentioned in the previous verse and could be an antecedent for the 'his'
2. Amos 2:1-2 might be referencing this act

Amos 2:1-2

3. It makes better sense of why people became furious with Israel (Edom & Judah were no longer happy to be in alliance since it had produced this ugly situation).

I might add that 1 Kings 22:47 makes a statement that, at the end of Jehoshaphat's reign, there was no longer a king in Edom at all (perhaps the sacrificed son was his only son?). This could be further evidence for Steve's theory.

In any case, I was wondering if Steve had thought about this any more (I don't know how old the tape was). If others feel like they have insight into the passage, you are welcome to share as well! :)

TruthInLove
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Re: Whose Son was Sacrificed?

Post by TruthInLove » Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:43 am

Hi Matt,

I think Steve's theory fits well here too from a typological/prophetic stand point. Strange as it may sound, I think there is compelling evidence that Edom itself was used by God throughout the Old Testament as a powerful foreshadowing of Christ.

For starters, there is a close association of Christ with Adam. There is also a close association of Adam with Edom. By association then, the connection between Christ and Edom through Adam is at least a possibility.

But I believe the association is much, much deeper than that and can be demonstrated quite convincingly with examples throughtout the Old Testament. I'm currently working on some resources to raise general awareness of this possibility within scholarly circles and the general public. If anyone is interested I could elaborate on this at great length here but I won't rant about it if it's not a topic that interests many.

Assuming such a connection is really intended, it's then not hard to see how the sacrifice of this Edomite heir to the throne in 2 Kings could hint at the ultimate sacrifice of Christ.

Also, while the actual Christ was sacrificed outside the city, here the approximate prefigurement of the ultimate scapegoat is sacrificed suspiciously close to the outside of the city - right on the wall bounding it.

Further, it's also hard to ignore the parallels between the great deliverance of Jehoshaphat via the water from Edom on the other side of the Dead Sea (2 Kings 3:9-23), the defeat of the army of Moab, Ammon and Edom coming from from En-Gedi (2 Chronicles 20:2) and the refreshing of the Dead Sea and the land bounded at one end by En-Gedi via the river from Ezekiel's visionary temple (Ezekiel 47:8-10).

Much more could be said about the typological character of Edom as well as that of the books of Kings and Chronicles in general but I'll leave things at that for now.

Blessings in Christ
Carmine

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steve
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Re: Whose Son was Sacrificed?

Post by steve » Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:29 pm

Carmine has thought through issues related to this passage more than I have, and may be onto something, though I am not able to assess or critique the theory.

As for my theory about the connection between this incident and the allusion in Amos 2, I still think it likely. I could never understand the alternative (namely, that the king of Edom sacrificed his own son). Not that it was that unusual for pagans to sacrifice their own children to their demonic deities, but simply because the reaction of the invading armies to the action seems more likely, if it was the Edomites whose heir had been seized and murdered. It is also hard to identify the event alluded to in Amos with any known event other than this one.

steve7150
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Re: Whose Son was Sacrificed?

Post by steve7150 » Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:47 am

It seems this account is on an ancient stone , now housed in the Louvre Museum called "The Moabite Stone" which similarly has this story too but it is also unclear whose son was sacrificed.

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