Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed. The prohibition on sacrifice to other gods is the covenant exclusivity of the first commandment applied to the most concrete act of worship. Sacrifice is the most direct expression of religious allegiance in the ancient world — it is the act that defines which deity is your God. To sacrifice to another deity while within the covenant community is to sever the covenant bond at its most fundamental point. 1 Corinthians 10:20 says the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God — the New Testament's prohibition on participating in pagan sacrifices is grounded in the same covenant exclusivity of Exodus 22:20.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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