| Other Names / Variants: |
Moloch, Molech |
Moloc(h) -
A fallen angel in
Paradise Lost II, 4, where he is described as "the fiercest
Spirit/That fought in Heav'n; now fiercer by despair." In
Hebrew lore, he is a Canaanitish god of fire to whom children were
sacrificed. Solomon built a temple to him [Rf. I Kings II,
7.]
(a)
Moloch
FRANCIS E. GIGOT
Transcribed by Kenneth M. Caldwell
(Hebrew Molech, king).
A divinity worshipped by the idolatrous Israelites. The Hebrew
pointing Molech does not represent the original pronunciation of
the name, any more than the Greek vocalization Moloch found in the
LXX and in the Acts (vii, 43). The primitive title of this god was
very probably Melech, "king", the consonants of which came to be
combined through derision with the vowels of the word Bosheth,
"shame". As the word Moloch (A.V. Molech) means king, it is
difficult in several places of the Old Testament to determine
whether it should be considered as the proper name of a deity or
as a simple appellative. The passages of the original text in
which the name stands probably for that of a god are Lev., xviii,
21; xx, 2-5; III (A. V. I) Kings, xi, 7; IV (II) Kings, xxiii, 10;
Is., xxx, 33; lvii, 9; Jer., xxxii, 35. The chief feature of
Moloch's worship among the Jews seems to have been the sacrifice
of children, and the usual expression for describing that
sacrifice was "to pass through the fire", a rite carried out after
the victims had been put to death. The special centre of such
atrocities was just outside of Jerusalem, at a place called Tophet
(probably "place of abomination"), in the valley of Geennom.
According to III (I) Kings, xi, 7, Solomon erected "a temple" for
Moloch "on the hill over against Jerusalem", and on this account
he is at times considered as the monarch who introduced the
impious cult into Israel. After the disruption, traces of Moloch
worship appear in both Juda and Israel. The custom of causing
one's children to pass through the fire seems to have been general
in the Northern Kingdom [IV (II) Kings, xvii, 17; Ezech. xxiii,
37], and it gradually grew in the Southern, encouraged by the
royal example of Achaz (IV Kings, xvi, 3) and Manasses [IV (II)
Kings, xvi, 6] till it became prevalent in the time of the prophet
Jeremias (Jerem. xxxii, 35), when King Josias suppressed the
worship of Moloch and defiled Tophet [IV (II) Kings, xxiii, 13
(10)]. It is not improbable that this worship was revived under
Joakim and continued until the Babylonian Captivity.
On the basis of the Hebrew reading of III (I) Kings, xi, 7, Moloch
has often been identified with Milcom, the national god of the
Ammonites, but this identification cannot be considered as
probable: as shown by the Greek Versions, the original reading of
III (I) Kings, xi, 7, was not Molech but Milchom [cf. also III (I)
Kings, xi, 5, 33]; and according to Deut., xii, 29-31; xviii,
9-14, the passing of children through fire was of Chanaanite
origin [cf. IV (II) Kings, xvi, 3]. Of late, numerous attempts
have been made to prove that in sacrificing their children to
Moloch the Israelites simply thought that they were offering them
in holocaust to Yahweh. In other words, the Melech to whom
child-sacrifices were offered was Yahweh under another name. To
uphold this view appeal is made in particular to Jer., vii, 31;
xix, 5, and to Ezech., xx, 25-31. But this position is to say the
least improbable. The texts appealed to may well be understood
otherwise, and the prophets expressly treat the cult of Moloch as
foreign and as an apostasy from the worship of the true God. The
offerings by fire, the probable identity of Moloch with Baal, and
the fact that in Assyria and Babylonia Malik, and at Palmyra
Malach-bel, were sun-gods, have suggested to many that Moloch was
a fire- or sun-god.
BAUDISSIN, Jahve et Moloch
(Leipzig, 1874); SMITH, Religion of the Semites (London, 1894);
SCHULTZ, Old Testament Theology, I (tr., Edinburgh, 1898);
LAGRANGE, Etudes sur les Religions Semitiques (Paris, 1903).
|
