I think you are overthinking this one.

In the text, Israel is condemned for doing what the pagans do, that is,
"sacrificing innocents." The whole point is the condemnation of Israel for
doing what the pagans were doing, so the identity between the sins is
mandatory to the point.

If the pagans were "sacrificing the guilty," then the text would be
nonsense.

MacArthur's reading of the text is fine, although (of course) one must
consider carefully what "innocent" means in the context. I think it means
they have not committed sin of which we have any knowledge (that is what we
mean by "innocent", after all). He certainly does not mean they are not dead
in Adam.

James W. Allen
jallen@...