2 Kings 3:27: “Then [the king of Moab] took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall; and there was great indignation against Israel. So they departed from him and returned to their own land.”

July 28th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Holy Spirit gives us insight here into the heathen religion of the indigenous people surrounding Israel and Judah. At that time, human sacrifice was a very common practice throughout the world. Anthropologists have found evidence of it among the Pacific Islanders, the Aboriginal Australians, the North and South American Indians, and throughout Central and West African tribes. All these have the same antagonist in common, who we read about in the Book of Job:

And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” (Job 1:7)

The kings of Israel and Judah and the king of Edom were fighting together against the king of Moab and were defeating him. The king of Moab believed he was losing because his gods were angry, but that the sacrifice of his son would satisfy their anger and cause them to make him victorious over the other kings. He worked himself into such a frenzy and believed this so fervently that he killed his son out in the open so everyone could see, both those inside and outside the walls. Moab’s false god, Chemosh, could never deliver the city, but the extreme act of murdering his son for the city had the desired effect. The Israelites were so disgusted and sickened by the exhibition of senseless human sacrifice that they broke off the siege and returned home.

What is striking about this verse is that the children of darkness were more passionate than the children of light. This heathen king was willing to sacrifice anything in his life to gain something that was, at best, temporary. How much more should the children of light be willing to sacrifice to see the good news go out to a dying world.

“LORD, make us more passionate to serve You and others. Give us Your heart and passion for the lost, and the words to see others changed this day, in Jesus’ name.”