THE KING of Moab sacrificed his oldest son on the wall of his capital city, causing the combined armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom to withdraw from their siege. How do we process this? 

Then he (King Mesha) took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath on Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. (2 Kings 3:27, ESV)

On the surface, it appears the king of Moab’s sacrifice was successful. But that’s not how we read it. 

The wrath against Israel was God’s anger that they didn’t trust in His promise, through the prophet Elisha, to deliver Moab into the hands of kings Jehoram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah. God does not honor or condone human sacrifice. 

We also discuss the miracles of the widow’s oil, the son of the Shunammite woman, whose birth was no less a miracle than Elisha raising him from the dead, and Elisha’s purification of poisoned stew.