You can read the entire Old Testament history of the Jews as God’s repeated attempts to teach them to give up human sacrifice, to stop trying to kill the image of God. God starts by replacing people with animals. He gives elaborate instructions on how the animal sacrifices should be done. He creates rituals to communicate symbol to the soul. But at the same time, he tells them his real purpose: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”32 “If you had known what these words mean,” Jesus told the Pharisees, “you would not have condemned the
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