Lev 18:21 do not give your son to .. by fire to M
I love 5:26; Act 7:43 ye carried the tabernacle .. M
Moloch (Heb. Môlek; gr. Molój). Name of a god to whom human sacrifices were offered; unidentified. Originally the name was probably Melek, “king,” which was a title the Hebrews also applied to the true God (see Psa 5:2; 10:16; etc.). If so, it would seem that later Jews, finding it shameful to refer to a pagan deity with the same word they used for the true God, changed the pronunciation to Môlek, taking the vowels hey from the Heb word. bosheth, “shame.” Some scholars have denied that this god existed in ancient times; however, texts discovered in various places document its existence. A god Malkûm, mentioned for the first time in 4 Drehem texts (late 3rd millennium BC), appears as Mulûk in those of Mari, and as Malik in 3 Assyrian writings that identify him with Nergal, the Assyro-Babylonian world deity Underground. A recently discovered text from Ugarit clearly speaks of a “sacrifice to Mlk”, leaving no doubt that Mlk was a god. In the Punic language, closely related to Hebrew, môlek appears with the meaning of “vow”, “promise”. Accordingly, some scholars explain the expression “passing through the fire to Molech” by saying that it means “passing through the fire in fulfillment of a vow to a certain deity.” The word môlek may have had this meaning in Carthage, but in biblical usage it seems to be limited to designating a pagan god to whom sacrifices were offered, among which there were also human ones. The Mosaic law strictly prohibited dedicating children to Moloch (2Ki 23:10) and condemned to death those who transgressed this law (Lev 18:21; 20:1-5). However, the Israelites frequently followed this practice (Jer 7:31; 19:4, 5; 32:35; Eze 16:21; 23:37, 39). Ahaz and Manasseh burned their children on top of Topheth, in the Valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem (2Ch 28:1, 3; 33:1, 6), but the merciful King Josiah destroyed this place so that it would not be destroyed. could use it more (2Ki 23:10). A statement by the prophet Amos (Amos 5:26) quoted by Stephen (Acts 7:43) seems to indicate that the Hebrews once had a portable sanctuary dedicated to this god. However, some commentators understand that Heb. sikkûth, translated “tabernacle” in the RVR, is a proper name: Sakkut (BJ). Consequently, they put different vowels in the translated term “your Moloc” so that it reads “your king”, so that the phrase reads: “Sakkut your king”. In 1Ki 11:7, the name Molech should perhaps be read Milcom (cf vs 5, 33). The difference could have arisen from the inadvertent omission of the final letter m of the Hebrew name. Bib.: ARW Green, The Role of Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East (Missoula, Mont., 1975).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
A pagan god, especially of the Ammonites, who was worshiped with gruesome orgies in which children were sacrificed. In at least some places the image of the god was heated and the bodies of children who had just been killed were placed in his arms. The cult of Molech was known to the Israelites before they entered Canaan, because Moses strictly forbade the worship of him (Lev 18:21; Lev 20: 1-5). Despite being prohibited, King Solomon, to please his numerous pagan wives, raised high places for Chemosh and Moloch on the Mount of Olives (1Ki 11:7), although the main place for the worship of Moloch during and after the time of Manasseh it was the valley of Ben-hinnom (2Ch 33:6), a place of such ill repute that Gehenna (the valley of Hinnom) became a type of hell (Mat 5:29-30). The words Moloch and Milcom (1Ki 11:5; Zep 1:5) translate the Heb. malcham, milcom, molech and moloch which are all variations of Heb words. meaning “he who reigns.” Jews of former times, after offering burnt offerings to Molech, often went to worship in the house of Jehovah (Eze 23:37-39); this was very offensive to God (Jer 7:9-11; Jer 19:4-13). Because of this pagan worship God allowed Israel’s enemies to rule over them for many years (Psa 106:35-42).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Also called Milcom. He was the main deity of the Ammonites. Some think that the name comes from the Hebrew melek, which means “king”. And that the Israelites used the vowels of the word boshet (shame), to change the meaning of melek. Children were sacrificed in his cult (†œAnd do not give your son to offer him by fire to M.; do not contaminate the name of your God in this way† ). Unfortunately, the Israelites fell many times into this disastrous practice (2Ki 23:10; Jer 32:35; Acts 7:43), for which it is read in Ps 106:37: “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons † . We are even told that Solomon “built…a high place for Chemosh…and M., the abominable idol of the children of Ammon” (1Ki 11:7, 1Ki 11:33). The words of Isa 30:33 (“For †¢Topheth is ready and prepared for the king, deep and wide, whose pyre is fire, and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, kindles it† ) clearly refer to the cult of M. Some scholars have questioned whether the cult of M. actually included human sacrifice, interpreting the expression †œpassing through fire† as a kind of dedication or consecration of children.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
guy, GOD
see, PAGAN DIVINITIES, CHEMÍ“S, TOFET sit,
vet, Divinity worshiped by the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:7). The article that precedes the term in Heb. indicates that it is not a proper name, but an expression that means “he who reigns”. He was also called Milcom (1 Kings 11:5, 33; Jer. 49:1, 3; Zeph. 1:5). This divinity presented one of the aspects of Baal (Jer. 32:35), a proper name that is also a common name, synonymous with lord. Under the name of Melcart, “king of the city”, Baal received human sacrifices in Tire. Molech’s cult demanded holocausts of children who were burned alive. To do this, they were deposited in the idol’s arms, which were in a hanging position. To the sound of drums and chants, the victim rolled towards an opening through which he fell into a hot oven. The motivations for this sacrifice were various: from national emergencies to the mere fulfillment of a vow for a gift received from the god. The age of the sacrificed children ranged from newborns to three and even four years; it was not always the firstborn, as has sometimes been assumed. In fact, urns have been found in the Tophet of Cartago with two or three corpses of sacrificed children, between three/four years of age and newborns, belonging to the same family. It was a practice that, as the excavations of Carthage have documented, was carried out regularly and normally. This practice increased with the sophistication of the Canaanite urban civilization, contrary to evolutionary conceptions of progress. In Carthage, the practices did not cease completely even when the Roman authority, after the conquest of the city, killed the criminal priests of Baal, hanging them from the trees of their own sanctuary. In the law of Moses, anyone guilty of this abominable crime was sentenced to death (Lev. 18:21; 20:1-5). Despite this, Solomon, already an old man, erected an altar to Milcom to please his Ammonite women. During subsequent centuries, children were sacrificed to Molech, burned alive, on the high place of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom (Ps. 106:38; Jer. 7:31; 19:4, 5; Ex. 16:21 23:32, 39; cf. Isa. 30:33). Ahaz thus put his own children to death (2 Chron. 28:3); Manasseh also immolated at least one of his sons (2 Kings 21: 6). The Israelites of the northern kingdom also practiced this horrendous rite (2 Kings 17:17; Ex. 23:37). Josiah destroyed the altars that Solomon had erected on the mount of perdition (one of the tops of the Mount of Olives) for this false god and for other idols. King Josiah desecrated the high place of Topheth (2 Kings 23:10, 13). (See PAGAN DIVINITIES, CHEMIS, TOPHET.) It should also be noted that the LXX introduces the Moloch form in Am. 5:26, quoted in Acts. 7:43. The Hebrew text it can be read “your king” instead of Moloch (Heb. “melek”, with the vowels of “bõsheth”, shame, to indicate contempt for the pagan divinity). Bibliography: Free, JP: “Archaeology and Bible History” (Van Kampen Press, Wheaton, 1950); Stager, LE and Wolff, SR: “Child Sacrifice at Carthage”, in Biblical Archeology Review, vol. 10, no. 1, Jan./Feb. 1984, pp. 31-51.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
See ME“LEK.
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
The OT often speaks of the fact that the Israelites in the time of apostasy put “their son or their daughter through fire to Molech (°bj “Molech)” (2 Kings 23.10; cf. Jer. 7.31; 19.5). In some passages there is a clear reference to a deity to whom human sacrifices were made, especially in the Valley of Hinnom SW of Mount Jerusalem (2 Kings 23.10; Jer. 32.35), in a place known by the name of Tophet (Syr. “fire pit”). The deity is associated with Amun in 1 Kings 11.7, where reference is made to the “abominable idol of the children of Amun.” The cult of Moloch seems to have been associated with the sacrifice of children in fire (Lev. 18.21; 20.2–5; 2 Kings 23.10; Jer. 32.35; cf. 2 Kings 17.31).
When we take a closer look at the etymology of the word, some interesting facts are discovered. Some commentators consider that the Hebrew consonants of meleḵ‘king’, and the vowels of bōšeṯ‘shame’, were combined to form the Heb. môleḵ, expressing contempt for the pagan god. But there is another possibility that in some passages the term Molech may not refer to any deity. Some Phoenician-Carthaginian (Punic) inscriptions from the period 400–150 BC suggest that the word mlk (pronounced molk in Latin inscriptions from Carthage around AD 200) is a general term meaning “sacrifice” or “offering,” and a number of OT passages can be interpreted as asserting that there were those who passed children through fire “as a votive offering.” or sacrifice môleḵ”. In passages such as Lev. 18.21; 20.3–5; 2 Kings 23.10; Jer. 32.35 the translation should remain a moot point.
These observations do not deny that the Bible refers to a deity called Moloch or Molech. He is referred to as the national god of Amun in 1 Kings 11.7. He can be identified with the deity muluk who was worshiped in Mari around 1800 BC, and malik, known from Akkadian texts, and appearing in the forms Adramelec and Anamelech in 2 Kings 17.31. In some Old Testament passages the word Moloch (or Molec) carries the article, which suggests that it may have been an appellation to indicate “the one who rules” (Lv. 18.21; 20.2-5; 2 R. 23.10; Jer. 32.35 ). In Jer. 32.35…