More on Moloch...
BIBLE
KJV References
Mōlek, Hebrew Strong's #4432, a noun meaning “king,” is found 8 times in the OT, translated as “Molech” in the following verses:
Leviticus 18:21 - And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 20:2-5 - Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.
1 Kings 11:7 - Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
2 Kings 23:10 - And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
Jeremiah 32:35 - And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
Melek, Hebrew Strong's #4428, a noun meaning “king,” is found 2523 times in the OT, translated king (2518), royal (2), Hammelech (1), Malcham (1), Moloch (1). It is translated as Moloch and Malcham in the following verses:
Amos 5:26 - But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Zephaniah 1:5 - And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;
Milkōm, Hebrew Strong's #4445, is a proper noun from the root Mōlek meaning “king.” It is found 4 times in the OT, translated as Milcom (3) and Malcham (1) in the following verses:
1 Kings 11:5 - For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
1 Kings 11:33 - Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
2 Kings 23:13 - And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
1 Chronicles 8:9 - And he begat of Hodesh his wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and Mesha, and Malcham,
Moloch, Greek Strong's #3434, is a proper noun of Hebrew origin found 1 time in the NT:
Acts 7:43 - Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Smith’s Bible Dictionary, William Smith, 1884
MOLECH 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, Jere 49:1 as Moab was the heritage of Chemosh; the princes of the land were the princes of Malcham. Jere 49:3; Amos 1:15 His priests were men of rank, Jere 49:3 taking precedence of the princes. The priests of Molech, like those of other idols, were called Chemarim. 2 Kin 23:5; Hose 10:5; Zeph 1:4
Easton's Bible Dictionary, Matthew George Easton, 1897
Moloch
King, the name of the national god of the Ammonites, to whom children were sacrificed by fire. He was the consuming and destroying and also at the same time the purifying fire. In Amos 5:26, "your Moloch" of the Authorized Version is "your king" in the Revised Version (Compare Acts 7:43). Solomon (1Ki 11:7) erected a high place for this idol on the Mount of Olives, and from that time till the days of Josiah his worship continued (2Ki 23:10, 13). In the days of Jehoahaz it was partially restored, but after the Captivity wholly disappeared. He is also called Molech (Lev 18:21; Lev 20:2-5), Milcom (1Ki 11:5, 33), and Malcham (Zep 1:5). This god became Chemosh among the Moabites.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915
“Solomon, under the influence of his idolatrous wives, built high places for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon. See CHEMOSH. Because of this apostasy it was intimated by the prophet Ahijah, that the kingdom was to be rent out of the hand of Solomon, and ten tribes given to Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:31-33). These high places survived to the time of Josiah, who, among his other works of religious reformation, destroyed and defiled them, filling their places with the bones of men (2 Kings 23:12-14).”
“Molech-worship had evidently received a great impulse from Ahaz, who, like Ahab of Israel, was a supporter of foreign religions (2 Kings 16:12). He also “made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel” (2 Kings 16:3). His grandson Manasseh, so far from following in the footsteps of his father Hezekiah, who had made great reforms in the worship, reared altars for Baal, and besides other abominations which he practiced, made his son to pass through the fire (2 Kings 21:6). The chief site of this worship, of which Ahaz and Manasseh were the promoters, was Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom, or, as it is also called, the Valley of the Children, or of the Son of Hinnom, lying to the Southwest of Jerusalem (see GEHENNA).”
“That Molech-worship had increased in the interval may account for the frequency and the clearness of the references to it in tile later Prophets. In Jeremiah we find the passing of sons and daughters through the fire to Molech associated with the building of “the high places of Baal, which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom” (Jeremiah 32:35; compare to Jeremiah 7:31; 19:5)
Metaphysical Bible Dictionary (1955), p. 420.
"Meta. Setting up the outer reasoning or thinking consciousness as king, thus giving it dominion in one's life. Especially does Malcam as referring to the idol Molech signify the worship of the intellect, or reason, directed entirely by the senses, by the prejudices, seemings, customs, and desires of the outer man."
DEFINITIONS
The Century Dictionary, an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, 1895
Moloch (mo'lok), n.
1. The chief god of the Phenicians, frequently mentioned in Scripture as the god of the Ammonites, whose worship consisted chiefly of human sacrifices, ordeals by fire, mutilation, etc. : also identified with the god of the Carthaginians called by classical writers Kronos or Saturn, Hence the word has now become a designation of any baneful influence to which everything is sacrificed.
The Century Encyclopedia of Names, 1897
Molech (rnö’lek), or Moloch (mô’lok). [‘Ktng.]
In 1 Ki. xi. 7, he is mentioned as an idol of the Ammonites, but the worship of Melech was spread among all the Canaanitish and Semitic tribes.] A form of Baal, the sun—god, or the personification of the male generative principle in nature. Molech represents the sun in his fierce destructive aspect. The worship of Molech consisted in offering human sacrifices. The god was represented with a bulls head andl long arms to receive the victims, which were lifted up to an opening in the breast of the brass statue and rolled into the furnace blazing inside. Whether the victims were first killed, or were burned alive, is a disputed question. The worship of Molech was at different periods introduced into Israel, with its principal place in the valley of Himmom : so under Ahaz (king of Judah 734—728 B. C.), Manassch (697-642), and Amon (642-640). In the cuneiform, inscriptions malik (‘ruler,' properly ‘decider’) can be the epithet of any god, but it is especially applied to Adar, who is among others the god of the destructive south or midday sun, and in the Old Testament is called Adrammelech (Adar-malik): to him children were sacrificed (2 Ki. xvii. 31). although in the Assyrian- Babylonian literature no reference to human sacrifices in honor of a divinity has been found. At Carthage the bloody rites of Molech were officially suppressed by the emperor Tiberius (14-37 A. D.).
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1919
Mo'loch (-k), n.
Canaanite idol to whom children were sacrificed (often fig.); thornlizard, a hideous Australian reptile. [L f. Gk, f. Heb. molek]
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1939
Moloch
1. The name of a Canaanite idol, to whom children were sacrificed as burnt offerings (Lev. XVII 21), in Milton, one of the devils. Hence, an object to which horrible sacrifices are made. 1667.
2. The Australian thorn-lizard or thorn-devil, Moloch horridus, one of the most grotesque and hideous of reptiles 1845.
3. A Brazilian monkey, Callithrix moloch 1875.
MISCELLANEOUS
"Howl", Allen Ginsberg, 1955
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless!
Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison!
Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows!
Moloch whose buildings are judgment!
Moloch the vast stone of war!
Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery!
Moloch whose blood is running money!
Moloch whose fingers are ten armies!
Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo!
Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!
Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows!
Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs!
Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog!
Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities!
Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone!
Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks!
Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius!
Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen!
Moloch whose name is the Mind!”
Statism is Idolatry, Pastor John Weaver
Did you know that the worship of Moleck came into Israel under King Solomon and also, several other idolatries? At I Kings 11:4:
"For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice."
Note that the worship of Molech came in under Solomon.
…
What did Satan have to say to Adam and Eve?: 'you shall be as God.' Who has control over men? God does. Well, if we are our own gods or if we think we're some type of god, then we're going to have to exercise some control over men in order to prove it. So governments, then, are prone to idolatry. It's interesting that it was Solomon that introduced Moleck worship. He also built an alter for Astarte worship. It's interesting that he did that as well. Astarte was the goddess of sex, or love; a lot of prostitution was involved in the worship of Astarte.
Now, Molech worship is a power religion. It is a political religion. There was no king in Israel that had the power that Solomon had. Solomon knew power. In fact, Solomon ruled from the river Euphrates, all the way to the sea. He ruled the whole of The Promised Land which God had given. No other king had done that before or after. So Solomon knew what power was.
You see, Molech worship is the worship of the State. The word 'Molech' means, 'king or kingship.' Molech worship is the concept of divine kingship. We know it in our time as, 'the divine right of kings.' And, do you know that that concept went out the window just a few hundred years ago? Do you realize that Europe still had kings that ruled as God? Their word was absolute law. The king could do no wrong. They ruled in the place of God. Molech worship was a power manifested in the political order. It was a political religion. And the king became identified with God to the degree that manifested absolute power. Thus, the Molech state, as the Molech king, claimed total jurisdiction over man. That's where we get the term, 'Statism.' That's where we get the term, 'totalitarianism.' It's a claim of total and absolute jurisdiction.
The Molech state-- the false pagan idolatrous governments of our day--claim unlimited jurisdiction. They claim unlimited control over man and the world. The Molech state claims jurisdiction from the cradle to the grave. Or as one man says, 'from the womb to the tomb.' Over welfare, education, worship, family, business, farming--you name it, they claim control of it. And if you don't believe that is true in our land today, try to enter into any of that without a license or certificate and you'll find out. The government claims absolute jurisdiction and control.
The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop, 1853
Now, looking simply at the Scripture, this perverse demand for self-torture on the part of those for whom Christ has made a complete and perfect atonement might seem exceedingly strange: but, looking at the real character of the god whom the Papacy has set tip for the worship of its deluded devotees, there is nothing in the least strange about it. That god is Moloch, the god of barbarity and blood. Moloch signifies “king”: and Nimrod was the first after the flood that violated the patriarchal system and set up as “king” over his fellows. At first he was worshipped as the “revealer of goodness and truth.” But by-and-by his worship was made to correspond with his dark and forbidding countenance and complexion. The name Moloch originally suggested nothing of cruelty or terror: but now the well known rites associated with that name have made it for ages a synonym for all that is most revolting to the heart of humanity, and amply justify the description of Milton (Paradise Lost):
“First Moloch. horrid king. besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears.
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud.
Their children's cries unheard, that passed through fire
To his grim idol."