An Indignant Sacrifice

Reading:   2 Kings 3

From the exalted rise of Elijah in a chariot of fire to the King of the Moabites brutal burning sacrifice of his eldest son.  Quite a gruesome self-preserving subject for the day of my 20th Anniversary, but I love my sweetheart none-the-less!

2 KINGS 3:26-27

26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. 

27 Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land. 

The Moabite king made an attempt to flee from a losing battle and, after a halting failure, he tried...

To obtain the favour of Chemosh his god, which, being a devil, delighted in blood and murder, and the destruction of mankind. The dearer any thing was to them the more acceptable those idolaters thought it must needs be if offered in sacrifice to their gods, and therefore burnt their children in the fire to their honour.   

~Matthew Henry

The ploy, though disgusting and insanely morbid, worked to the King's advantage because the combined armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom "...departed from him, and returned to their own land."  This is crazy!  Not only did the king murder his most beloved child but he also showed "...great indignation against Israel."  He was losing the battle, badly, and did not appear to have a chance at survival, especially after his failed attempt at escape, so, in a last ditch effort, he thumbed his nose at his attackers and then threw the proverbial Hail Mary pass to his morbid God, Chemosh, by sacrificing his son - and it worked!

I find this hard to understand because I would be more apt to destroy the king after such a grotesque display verses allowing him to live - different times?  Anyway, because I am at a loss for why the Israelites allowed this man to live, I decided to get a better grip on their reasoning.  The only logical explanation, as the Israelites were certainly not righteous and did not seek counsel from Elisha, can only be attributed to a sense of fear.  The king slaughtered his own child and it riled the Moabites into a frenzied state - an "indignant" willingness to fight on until death.  This may have been a completely chaotic scene that simply frightened the armies of Israel and diminished their desire to continue forth in a campaign they had already won.  That has to be the explanation?  Any better ideas...

~Kipling