Mo’lech. (king). The fire-god, Molech, was the tutelary deity of the children of Ammon, and essentially, identical with the Moabitish Chemosh. Fire-gods appear to have been common to all the Canaanite, Syrian and Arab tribes, who worshipped the destructive element under an outward symbol, with the most inhuman rites.
According to Jewish tradition, the image of Molech was of brass, hollow within, and was situated without Jerusalem. "His face was (that) of a calf, and his hands stretched forth like a man who opens his hands to receive (something) of his neighbor. And they kindled it with fire, and the priests took the babe and put it into the hands of Molech, and the babe gave up the ghost."
Many instances of human sacrifices are found in ancient writers, which may be compared with the description of the Old Testament of the manner in which Molech was worshipped. Molech was the lord and master of the Ammonites; their country was his possession, Jer 49:1, as Moab was the heritage of Chemosh; the princes of the land were the princes of Malcham. Jer 49:3; Amo 1:15. His priests were men of rank, Jer 49:3, taking precedence of the princes. The priests of Molech, like those of other idols, were called Chemarim. 2Ki 23:5; Hos 10:5; Zep 1:4.
Molech. (mô’lek), the rider, Lev 18:21, or Milcom (mĭl’kom), 1Ki 11:5, or Moloch, Act 7:43. The name of an idol-god worshipped by the Ammonites with human sacrifices, especially of children. The rabbins tell us that it was made of brass and placed on a brazen throne, and that the head was that of a calf with a crown upon it. The throne and image were made hollow, and a furious fire was kindled within it. The flames penetrated into the body and limbs of the idol; and when the arms were red-hot, the victim was thrown into them, and was almost immediately burned to death, while its cries were drowned by drums. Though warned against this idolatry, common to all the Canaanite tribes, though probably not of Canaanite origin, the Jews were repeatedly allured to adopt it. 2Ki 23:10; Eze 20:26. In the Valley of Hinnom they set up a tabernacle to Molech, and there they sacrificed their children to the idol.
[Mo’lech]
This is the Fire-god, ’the abomination of Ammon.’ In the latter days of Solomon, when the heathen women whom he had married had turned away his heart after other gods, he built a high place in the hill before (that is, ’east of’) Jerusalem for Molech. The Israelites sacrificed their children to this idol. Passing their children through the fire might seem to imply that they were dedicated to the idol by being rapidly passed through a fire without being burnt, and this may have been done, but some passages do not admit of this interpretation. Of the Canaanites it is said, "their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods," Deu 12:31; and of Israel it is recorded, they have "caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them, . . . . for when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it." Eze 23:37; Eze 23:39; Lev 18:21; Lev 20:2-5; 1Ki 11:7; 2Ki 23:10; Jer 32:35.
The expression ’the tabernacle of your Molech,’ Amo 5:26, is quoted in Act 7:43-44. The Israelites had not worshipped Jehovah for forty years in the wilderness; but they had carried symbols of Molech and Chiun (or Remphan) and worshipped them. The root of their idolatrous course was that they had never in heart made a clean break from Egypt.
Molech (or Milcom) was the national god of the Ammonites, whose land bordered Israel’s territory east of Jordan. A well known feature of the worship of Molech was the sacrifice of children by fire, a practice that in Israel carried the death penalty (Lev 18:21; Lev 20:2-5; 2Ki 23:10; Jer 32:35).
When Solomon married an Ammonite wife, he built a shrine for Molech, though there is no record of his using it to offer child sacrifices. The shrine was not destroyed till the reign of Josiah, three hundred years later (1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:7; 2Ki 23:10; 2Ki 23:13).
In spite of the penalties and warnings, there were many occasions throughout Israel’s history when people were guilty of offering child sacrifices (Jdg 10:6; Jdg 11:30-31; Jdg 11:39; 2Ki 17:17; 2Ki 21:6; 2Ch 28:1-3; Psa 106:38; Jer 7:31; Eze 16:21; Eze 20:31; Eze 23:39). There is no record of child sacrifices by the Israelites after the Babylonian captivity.
A false god. This name is like the
Hebrew word meaning “king.”