I would say that 95 % of the population can achieve a six pack rather easily . <| sep |> when in the OT god spoke directly to humans and an animal sacrifice was enough ? Weeeeeeeell , not exactly . There are at least two solid indications that human sacrifice was part of the worship of the YHWH war god Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac , Jephthah ' s sacrifice of his daughter who likely ended up as a burnt offering , not just an aging virgin serving at the tabernacle . Beyond the duplicitous efforts of the later old testament bible writers and subsequent Christian bible translators and apologists to hide their nation ' s participation in child sacrifice , there are still vestiges of the practice visible in the bible archaeological sites , too . Several other scriptures within the bible strongly indicate that the Canaanite practice of child sacrifice was carried over into the Hebrews ' religions . King DavidKing David participated in the sacrifice of seven men at the beginning of a barley harvest with an eye towards ending famine in the land . There was famine in the kingdom of David for three years . When David asked God what he could do about it . God explained that it was because of bloodguilt on Saul because he put the Gibeonites to death . 1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years , year after year and David sought the face of the LORD . And the LORD said , There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house , because he put the Gibeonites to death . 2 Sam . 211 So David called for the Gibeonites and wanted to know what he could do to expiate for what Saul did . 2 So the king called the Gibeonites . Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel , but of the remnant of the Amorites although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them , Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah . 3 And David said to the Gibeonites , What shall I do for you ? And how shall I make expiation , that you may bless the heritage of the LORD ? 2 Sam . 2123 The Gibeonites replied that it was not a matter of money . What they wanted was seven of Saul ' s sons so they may hang them . David agreed . 4 The Gibeonites said to him , It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel . And he said , What do you say that I shall do for you ? 5 They said to the king , The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us , so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel , 6 let seven of his sons be given to us , so that we may hang them up before the LORD at Gibeon on the mountain of the LORD . And the king said , I will give them . From s a c r i f i c e a t r a d i t i o n a l r e l i g i o uspracticeinancientisrael . However , even if these passages in Jeremiah are not conclusive as to whether human sacrifices were performed in YHWH ' s name or at YHWH ' s behest , other biblical passages confirm this fact . For instance , Ezekiel 202526 directly indicates that YHWH actually commanded such sacrifices I also gave them statutes that were not good , and ordinances by which they could not live . I caused them to sin by their own gifts , by causing them to pass through the fire all who open the womb i . e . , the firstborn , in order that I might horrify them , in order that they might know that I am YHWH . Moreover , the imagery of the mlk sacrifice in Isaiah 302733 esp . verse 33 clearly indicates that such offerings were performed forto YHWH . Micah 667 is also of note , as it condemns child sacrifice , not because it is immoral , but because , in absence of covenant fidelity and justice , it is an excessive and unnecessary form of worship , just as are sacrifices to YHWH of , for instance , thousands of rams . I therefore agree with Mark Smith that These passages indicate that in the seventh century child sacrifice was a Judean practice performed in the name of YahwehIn Isaiah 302733 there is no offense taken at the tophet , the precinct of child sacrifice . It would appear that Jerusalemite cult included child sacrifice under Yahwistic patronage it is this that Leviticus 2025 deplores . . The somewhat opaque references in Jeremiah referred to above have additional implications for evaluating Day ' s argument that the Deuteronomists and other biblical authors , who lived at a time when or soon after such sacrifices were actually being performed , would not have confused the sacrificial term mlk with the name of a deity . Saul Olyan has cogently argued that this is not a case of the Deuteronomists ' misunderstanding the terms and their references rather it is a matter of the Deuteronomists purposefully distorting the terminology and their references in order to criticize what were otherwise native Israelite practices that they deemed illegitimate . Just as they distorted the original nature of Asherahthe asherah in Israelite religion by associating herit with Baal instead of YHWH , so too the Deuteronomists , as seen in the passage quoted from Jeremiah above , associated human sacrifice , otherwise a traditional Israelite practice in certain circles , with Baala polemical distortion , as human sacrifice is nowhere else attested in Canaanite religion for Baal . From c u l t u r e s d a i l y l i f e a n d p r a c t i c e f i r s t p e r s o n h u m a n s acrificetoanammonitegodIn 1955 the late Australian archaeologist John Basil Hennessy excavated a Late Bronze Age 13 th century B . C . E . building he identified as a temple near the airport in Amman , Jordan . In the center of the solidly built structure were two circular flat stones , one on top of the other , that the excavator identified as an altar with which a large number of burnt offerings were associated , including pottery , 50 pieces of gold jewelry , small bronze pins , scarabs and cylinder seals . In the words of the excavator , The most surprising feature of all in the final analysis of the material is that the several thousands of small bone fragments are almost exclusively over 90 percent human There can be little doubt that a major concern of the ritual at the Amman airport temple was the burning of human bodies . 1 Hennessey ' s general impression was that the bones represented an immature group . One was of a youth 14 to 18 years of age . Larry G . Herr , who continued the excavation briefly in 1976 , also found fragments of many human bones around a stone pile Herr reconstructed the stone pile as originally a square altar about 20 feet from the temple . This stone pile had functioned as a pyre Many small fragments of burned human bones strewn all about the building , but their thickest concentration was near the stone pile . 2 The bones were primarily from adults emphasis added . Although the article goes on to blame the apparent sacrifices upon the Molech god , please note in the article quoted above this one that Molech was more likely a corruption deliberate of ' mlk ', meaning sacrifice often applied to sacrifices to YHWH .