We Sinned Like Our Fathers
They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. Psalm 106:37 · Berean Standard Bible
In their worship of these false gods, the Israelites reached the ultimate depravity: they sacrificed their own children to demons. They gave their most precious possessions to spiritual lies.
This refers to practices like passing children through fire or sacrificing them to Molech and other gods. You might think this sounds so extreme it couldn't really happen, but the Bible mentions it repeatedly and archaeology confirms these practices in surrounding cultures. It shows what happens when people are completely disconnected from the true God—they lose all moral anchoring and do things that should be unthinkable.
The psalmist, describing the ultimate consequence of idolatry—loss of all moral restraint.
This is the endpoint of spiritual rebellion: losing the image of God in your moral compass. It's why the Bible takes idolatry so seriously—it doesn't just separate you from God; it destroys your humanity.
Israel's apostasy reached its nadir in child sacrifice to Canaanite demons—the ultimate violation of covenantal ethics and natural parental bonds, destroying the next generation as an offering to spiritual powers.
The phrase 'sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons' (וַיִּזְבְּחוּ אֶת בְנֵיהֶם וְאֶת בְנוֹתֵיהֶם לַשֵּׁדִים—vayizbechu et benehem ve-et benotehem la-shedim) combines historical horror with theological interpretation. Archaeological evidence documents child sacrifice at Carthage (Tophet), though scholars debate its prevalence in Iron Age Canaan. The term שֵׁדִים (shedim—demons) is the psalmist's theological reading: Canaanite child sacrifice was ultimately sacrifice to demonic rather than divine powers. Deuteronomy 32:17 employs identical language. This represents the utter inversion of covenant ethics—the covenant promised seed and blessing; instead, Israel offers that seed to spiritual darkness.
The psalmist, reaching the moral and spiritual abyss of Israel's apostasy, interpreting child sacrifice theologically as demonic worship.
Child sacrifice represents the complete inversion of covenantal relationship; it is the ultimate rupture between Israel and God's intentions, the destruction of the very people God covenanted to bless.
35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
36They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.
37They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
38They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
39They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.
Read all of Psalm 106 — The other side of Psalm 105. Israel's history retold through the lens of rebellion — yet God saved them again and again for His name's sake.
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