Leviticus 18:23 “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek. Do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”

Robert Stewart Macalister, former Professor of Zoology and Anatomy, was a Biblical Archaeologist at heart. He is best known for what his article “the iniquity of the Amorites”, which is a reference to Genesis 15:16, which he published in his 1906 publication “Bible sidelights from the mound of Gezer.”

Gezer, founded in 3,000BC, exists today between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel. Macalister’s dig in 1902 was one of the earliest large-scale scientific excavations in that area. Many battles were fought over Gezer due to its importance on the travel road called the Via Maris, a major east-west route connecting 3 continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. Whoever controlled Gezer controlled trade in the ancient world.

Archaeologists have unearthed 21 layers of civilizations, stacked on top of each other. As one civilization defeats the previous one, it builds on top of it. The earliest Gezer inhabitants were the Canaanites.

Genesis 10:15 gives us the origin of the Canaanites, beginning with Canaan, one of Ham’s sons, who was one of Noah’s sons. It also gives the first mention of Amorites: “Canaan was the father of Sidon, and the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.”

The Amorites have been verified by archaeology (Sumerian cuneiform records) as the dominant nation ruling the Levant region from 2,100 – 1,700 BC, once again validating the incredible accuracy of the biblical record. The Levant region is today occupied by Israel, Lebanon, part of Syria, and western Jordan. In Old Testament times, the southern part of the Levant was called Canaan. The Amorites controlled Gezer.

It was at Gezer Macalister unearthed Amorite child sacrifice. In his video ‘Excavated Canaanite High Place – The Sin of the Amorites’, archaeologist Joel Kramer explains Macalister’s usage of Exodus 23:23-24 and ‘sacred stones’ to locate the Amorite’s high places of child sacrifice: “My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.” Notice God said He will wipe out the Amorites.

One of the most repeated objections from skeptics is how genocidal the God of the Bible is, because He commands the destruction of nations like the Amorites. We can easily understand why God would issue judgment. Starting at Genesis 15:13-16, God foretells to Abraham the history of the Israelites and the future destruction of the Amorites: “For 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Verse 16 is the title of Macalister’s article.

Genesis foretold Jewish slavery in Egypt for 400 years, then their exodus out of Egypt, then their entry into the Promised Land because, while slaves, God preached to the inhabitants through Noah (2Peter 2:5) to repent of the “sin of the Amorites.” But they did not repent. God would now judge them.

What was the “sin of the Amorites”? Leviticus 18 details 17 sins that led to His final judgment on them. God warns the Israelites not to do as they are doing: “I am the Lord your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live. You must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.’” One of those sins is this week’s verse, from Leviticus 18:21: “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”

What exactly did Macalister unearth at Gezer, relating to child sacrifice by the Amorites? Joel Kramer explains: “There were multiple sacred stones, standing up to 18 feet tall, and then a flat stone with a basin in the middle that was identified as the altar. The purpose of the carved-out basin was to catch the blood of sacrifices. All around the standing stones were found the mutilated, burnt bodies of little children in jars.”

This week was the 51st March for Life. Pro-life advocates marched on the White House to protest America’s sinful practice of child sacrifice, reminiscent of the Amorites sacrificing their children. God judged the nations in Canaan for murdering innocent, defenseless children. Do we think America will be free from judgment for our massive abortion practice that does the same thing?
“The Evidence of Faith’s Substance” _ Article #589