Passing Through The Fire part 1

Praising God for all the wonderful blessings that He continues to give us all. From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, we just ought to praise His holy name because His grace and mercy sustain us. We should give thanks no matter what we believe our circumstances to be, things could be worse. Thank God for He is always in control.

You are always loved and appreciated.

Hebrews 13:15

King James Version

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Hebrews 13:15

New International Version

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

Praise the Lord.

I am pretty sure we have all read a bible verse or two and wondered what was the writer writing about?

And then maybe a thought comes to mind that seems to make some sense about what we read. So, we accept that thought as an explanation, not wanting to spend time searching for meaning from other translations. Or asking someone.

I came across more than a few verses that made me wonder. In particular, the verses that stated that they made their children pass through the fire.

My first thought about that was it was perhaps a rite of passage. You know, like a bar mitzvah. An act that was required of the children to change social status. Girls become women and boys become men. I would accept my thoughts about it, but every time I would come across verses that mentioned passing children through the fire, I just did not feel completely sure. But thinking it to be a rite of passage, I considered they made children walk on coals of fire.

I obviously thought that because of some self-help gurus’ explanations of how walking on coals increased your self-esteem because you could overcome something you may have considered impossible for you to do. Some say the same freedom and exhilaration can come from skydiving or facing any fear you may have.

But even so, a rite of passage?

Jeremiah 32:35

King James Version

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Leviticus 18:21

King James Version

And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

So, God had explained that His chosen people were not to do this, no not at all. But as we have read in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, some of God’s chosen were (are) rebellious. Rite of passage or not, God said not to do it.

I still wondered what this passing through the fire was all about. You may have known what it meant all along, but I was at a loss. Until I read other verses and translations.

The same verse from Leviticus 18:21 in the Message translation reads:

Leviticus 18:21

The Message

“Don’t give any of your children to be burned in sacrifice to the god Molech—an act of sheer blasphemy of your God. I am God.

And Jeremiah 32: (31)-35 –

Jeremiah 32:31-35

The Message

“This city has made me angry from the day they built it, and now I’ve had my fill. I’m destroying it. I can’t stand to look any longer at the wicked lives of the people of Israel and Judah, deliberately making me angry, the whole lot of them—kings and leaders and priests and preachers, in the country and in the city. They’ve turned their backs on me—won’t even look me in the face!—even though I took great pains to teach them how to live. They refused to listen, refused to be taught. Why, they even set up obscene god and goddess statues in the Temple built in my honor—an outrageous desecration! And then they went out and built shrines to the god Baal in the valley of Hinnom, where they burned their children in sacrifice to the god Molech—I can hardly conceive of such evil!—turning the whole country into one huge act of sin.

God could have not made it any clearer that this passing through the fire was sacrificial. God’s chosen people were sacrificing, burning to death their own children. That, to me, is just so hard to digest. Yet it shed some light on things that happened in the Bible.

God did not want His people to have anything to do with outsiders because there were some that followed satan and were doing crazy stuff, like burning children as a sacrifice to strange gods. God did not want His people to fall into that behavior. He already knew that the rebellious ones, just like Adam and Eve, were going to be deceived by satan into believing God was holding something good from them by not wanting them to do like others.

Exodus 20:3

King James Version

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

But kids will be kids. Some listen and obey, and some succumb to peer pressure and want a king or build a golden idol to worship.

But burning their children alive?