Their national deity was Molech or Milcon.
21 a by " Thou shalt not give any of thy seed to an Aramean woman to make her conceive " is censured, presumably because the prohibition of Molech worship is thereby ignored.
7, always "the Molech"), the name or title of the divinity which the men of Judah in the last ages of the kingdom were wont to propitiate by the sacrifice of their own children.
10, 13 that the worship of Milcom at the shrine set up by Solomon was distinct from Molech worship, and the text should probably therefore be emended to the longer form (so the Septuagint).
The phrase employed in speaking of these sacrifices is that of dedication - "to make one's son or daughter pass through (or by means of) fire to (the) Molech" (2 Kings xxiii.
The phrase "to give one's seed to Molech" (Lev.
14) naturally identifies with the child-eater Kronos, thus leading many moderns to make Molech the planet Saturn.
It is with these sacrifices that the name of "the Molech" is always connected; sometimes "the Baal" (lord) appears as a synonym.
2 -5) and the author of Kings, seem to mark out the Molech or Baal as a false god, distinct from Yahweh, is precisely parallel to the way in which Hosea speaks of the golden calves or Baalim.
In each case the people thought themselves to be worshipping Yahweh under the title of Molech or Baal; but the prophet refuses to admit that this is so, because the worship itself is an apostasy to heathenism.
On the whole, the biblical tradition that the Molech-cult was Canaanite and indigenous (Deut.
The god who demanded these victims, and especially the burning of children, seems to have been Milk, the Molech or Moloch of the Old Testament.
27, in Israel to Molech (q.v.), was a rite once less rare.
31, to a spot in the valley of Ben Hinnom near Jerusalem where the Hebrews in the time of Ahab and Manasseh offered children to Molech and other heathen gods.
" Molech," § 3, "Topheth."
21 (on Molech worship), which is here out of place, and has possibly been introduced from xx.
Prohibitions against Molech worship, vv.
