Of the mystical sacrifice

OF THE MYSTICAL SACRIFICE OF THE PHŒNICIANS

It was the custom among the ancients, in times of great calamity, in order to prevent the ruin of all, for the rulers of the city or nation to sacrifice to the avenging deities the most beloved of their children as the price of redemption: they who were devoted this purpose were offered mystically. For Cronus, whom the Phœnicians call Il, and who after his death was deified and instated in the planet which bears his name, when king, had by a nymph of the country called Anobret an only son, who on that account is styled Ieoud, for so the Phœnicians still call an only son: and when great dangers from war beset the land he adorned the altar, and invested this son with the emblems of royalty, and sacrificed him.

Gad Yaton: The word Ieoud—"only son"—is cognate with the Hebrew yahid (יחיד), also meaning "only one," used of Isaac in Genesis 22:2 ("your son, your only son, whom you love"). The linguistic and ritual parallel is exact. The Hebrews, who denounced the Phœnicians for this practice, preserved the same root and the same story. I do not accuse the Hebrews of child sacrifice. I accuse them of hypocrisy in condemning what their own ancestors may have practised and what their own scriptures record without explicit condemnation of the patriarch.