Lev 18:21, 20:2-5, 2Ki 17:16-18, 21:6 | TSK | STEP | pass through.Molech signifies a king, or governor, of similar import with Baâl, lord, or governor; and it is generally supposed that the sun was worshipped under this name; and more particularly as the fire appears to have been so much employed in his worship. It seems clear that children were not only consecrated to him by passing through the fire, which appears to be alluded to here, but that they were actually made a burnt offering to him. (See the parallel passages.) That the several abominations afterwards mentioned were actually practised by many heathen nations is abundantly attested by their own writers. to Molech. Moloch. profane.

Leviticus 18:21

pass through.Molech signifies a king, or governor, of similar import with Baâl, lord, or governor; and it is generally supposed that the sun was worshipped under this name; and more particularly as the fire appears to have been so much employed in his worship. It seems clear that children were not only consecrated to him by passing through the fire, which appears to be alluded to here, but that they were actually made a burnt offering to him. (See the parallel passages.) That the several abominations afterwards mentioned were actually practised by many heathen nations is abundantly attested by their own writers.

20:2; De 12:31; 18:10; 2Ki 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; Ps 106:37,38; Jer 7:31

Jer 19:5; Eze 20:31; 23:37

to Molech.

1Ki 11:7,33; Am 5:26; Ac 7:43

Moloch.

profane.

19:12; 20:2-5; 21:6; 22:2,32; Eze 36:20-23; Mal 1:12; Ro 1:23; 2:24

Leviticus 20:2-5

Whosoever.

17:8,13,15

giveth.

18:21; De 12:31; 18:10; 2Ki 17:17; 23:10; 2Ch 28:3; 33:6; Ps 106:38

Isa 57:5,6; Jer 7:31; 32:35; Eze 16:20,21; 20:26,31; 23:37,39

Ac 7:43

Moloch. Molech.The Rabbins describe this idol as made of brass sitting upon a throne of the same metal, in the form of a man, with the head of a calf, adorned with a royal crown, and his arms extended as if to embrace any one. When they offered any children to him, they heated the statue by a great fire kindled within, and the victim was put into his arms, and thus consumed. Others relate, that the idol, which was hollow, was divided into seven compartments within; in one of which they put flour, in the second turtles, in the third a ewe, in the fourth a ram, in the fifth a calf, in the sixth an ox, and the seventh a child; which were all burnt together by heating the statue inside. The account which Diodorus (l. xx.) gives of the statue of Saturn, to which the Carthaginians, descendants of the Canaanites, sacrificed their children, is very similar. For they had a brazen stature of Saturn, stretching out his hands towards the ground, in such a manner that the children placed within them tumbled down into a pit full of fire. To this account Milton alludes, in Paradise Lost, B. 1. 392.

the people.

27; 24:14,23; Nu 15:35,36; De 13:10,11; 17:5-7; 21:21; Ac 7:58,59

I will set.

17:10; 1Pe 3:12

to defile.

Nu 19:20; Eze 5:11; 23:38,39

profane.

18:21; Eze 20:39; 2Co 6:16

hide.

Ac 17:30

and kill.

De 13:8; 17:2-5; Jos 7:12; 1Sa 3:13,14; 1Ki 20:42; Re 2:14