Molech

How Nave’s arranged it

• Also called MOLOCH and MILCOM
• An idol of the AmmonitesActs 7:43
• Worshiped by the wives of Solomon, and by Solomon1 Kings 11:1–8
• Children sacrificed to2 Kings 23:10Jeremiah 32:352 Kings 16:32 Kings 21:62 Chronicles 28:3Isaiah 57:5Jeremiah 7:31Ezekiel 16:20Ezekiel 16:21Ezekiel 20:26Ezekiel 20:31Ezekiel 23:37Ezekiel 23:39
• SeeLeviticus 18:21Leviticus 20:2–5

The passages, in Bible order (17)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Leviticus 18:21

   You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 18:211 voice

   “Pass through the fire to Molech - The name of this idol is mentioned for the first time in this place. As the word מלח molech or melech signifies king or governor, it is very likely that this idol represented the sun; and more particularly as the fire appears to have been so much employed in his worship. There are several opinions concerning the meaning of passing through the fire to Molech. 1. Some think that the semen humanum was offered on the fire to this idol. 2. Others think that the children were actually made a burnt-offering to him.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 18:21→

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2. Leviticus 20:2–5

   “Tell the Israelites, ‘Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 20:2–51 voice

   “That giveth any of his seed unto Molech - To what has been said in the note on Lev 18:21 (note), we may add, that the rabbins describe this idol, who was probably a representative or emblematical personification of the solar influence, as made of brass, in the form of a man, with the head of an ox; that a fire was kindled in the inside, and the child to be sacrificed to him was put in his arms, and roasted to death.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 20:2–5→

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3. 1 Kings 11:1–8

   King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

   ›Commentary on 1 Kings 11:1–82 voices

   “In the previous chapters the Scripture related the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of Pharaoh and did not rebuke him because she was the one wife only who did not secretly practice the religion of her homeland and was no reason of offense for …

   “In noticing successively Solomon’s excessive accumulation of silver and gold 1Ki 10:14-25, his multiplication of horses 1Ki 10:26-29, and his multiplication of wives, the writer has in mind the warning of Moses against these three forms of princely ostentation, all alike forbidden to an Israelite monarch (marginal reference). Zidonians - i. e., Phoenician women. A tradition states that Solomon married a daughter of Hiram, king of Tyre.

   Everything gathered on 1 Kings 11:1–8→

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4. 2 Kings 16:3

   Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 16:31 voice

   “Ahaz was the worst of all the kings of Judah. He imitated the worst of the Israelite kings - Ahab and Ahaziah - by a re-introduction of the Baal worship, which had been rooted out of Israel by Jehu and out of Judah by Jehoiada. And made Iris son to pass through the fire - i. e. Ahaz adopted the Moloch worship of the Ammonites and Moabites 2Ki 3:27; Mic 6:7, and sacrificed at least one son, probably his firstborn, according to the horrid rites of those nations, and the Canaanite tribes Deu 12:31; Psa 106:37-

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 16:3→

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5. 2 Kings 21:6

   He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 21:61 voice

   “Made his son pass through the fire - Consecrated him to Moloch. Observed times - ועונן veonen; he practiced divination by the clouds; by observing their course at particular times, their different kinds, contrary directions, etc., etc. Used enchantments - ונחש venichesh; he used incantations, spells, and charms. Dealt with familiar spirits - ועשה אוב veasah ob; he was a necromancer; was a raiser of spirits, whom he endeavored to press into his service; he had a Python.

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 21:6→

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6. 2 Kings 23:10

   He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 23:101 voice

   "No one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire." The passage through fire is the symbol of combustion. In fact, the demons demanded that [their worshipers] burn their own children, and sometimes they were immolated, sometimes they only underwent the symbolic rite …

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 23:10→

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7. 2 Chronicles 28:3

   Moreover, Ahaz burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

   ›Commentary on 2 Chronicles 28:31 voice

   “Burnt his children in the fire - There is a most remarkable addition here in the Chaldee which I shall give at length: “Ahaz burnt his children in the fire; but the Word of the Lord snatched Hezekiah from among them; for it was manifest before the Lord that the three righteous men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were to proceed from him; who should deliver up their bodies that they might be cast into a burning fiery furnace, on account of the great and glorious Name, (יהוה) and from which they should escape.

   Everything gathered on 2 Chronicles 28:3→

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8. Isaiah 57:5

   who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 57:52 voices

   “This shows them to be those who detest God, having a sick hatred for him and ready to eat blood. There was nothing new in this; it was a long established custom. For you are the ones who have from long ago called on idols under a leafy tree.… Your guilt is that you first think to kill your firstborn and then offer libations to impure demons and soulless idols; so slaying will also be your portion and your lot.… Should I not be angry with these people? Is there not a good cause for my anger?

   “Inflaming yourselves - Burning, that is, with lust. The whole language here is derived from adulterous intercourse. The sense is, that they were greatly addicted to idolatry, and that they used every means to increase and extend the practice of it. The Vulgate, however, renders this, ‘Who console yourselves.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘Invoking (παρακαλοῦντες parakalountes) idols.’ But the proper meaning of the Hebrew word חמם châmam is, “to become warm; to be inflamed, or to burn as with lust.” With idols - Margin, ‘Among the oaks.’ Hebrew, באלים bā'ēlı̂ym.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 57:5→

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9. Jeremiah 7:31

   They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 7:312 voices

   “(Verse 30, 31.) Because the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord: they have set up their stumbling blocks in the house where my name is invoked, to defile it. And they have built the high places (or altar) of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in fire: which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. We learn in the beginning of Ezekiel that the sons of Judah put a statue of Baal in the Temple of God.

   “And they have built the high places of Tophet,.... Where was the idol Moloch; and which place had its name, as Jarchi thinks, from the beating of drums, that the parents of the children that were burnt might not hear the cry of them: which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom; a valley near Jerusalem, and lay to the south of it, Jos 15:8, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire: which was done, as Jarchi says, by putting them into the arms of the brasen image Moloch, heated hot.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 7:31→

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10. Jeremiah 32:35

    They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Judah to sin.

    ›Commentary on Jeremiah 32:351 voice

    “(Verse 35.) And they built high places (or altars) to Baal, which are in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters as offerings to the idol Moloch. The word 'initiate' is written in Hebrew as 'Ebir', which Aquila and Symmachus translated as 'offer'. The Seventy and Theodotion interpreted it as 'sacrifice'.

    Everything gathered on Jeremiah 32:35→

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11. Ezekiel 16:20

    You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 16:201 voice

    “Borne unto me - me is emphatic. The children of Yahweh have been devoted to Moloch. The rites of Moloch were twofold; (1) The actual sacrifice of men and children as expiatory sacrifices to, false gods. (2) The passing of them through the fire by way of purification and dedication. Probably the first is alluded to in Eze 16:20; the two rites together in Eze 16:21.

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 16:20→

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12. Ezekiel 16:21

    You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 16:211 voice

    “To cause them to pass through the fire - Bp. Newcome quotes a very apposite passage from Dionysius Halicarnass. Ant. Romans lib. i., s. 88, p. 72, and marg. p. 75, Edit.

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 16:21→

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13. Ezekiel 20:26

    And I pronounced them unclean through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn in the fire—so that I might devastate them, in order that they would know that I am the LORD.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 20:261 voice

    “I polluted them in their own gifts - I permitted them to pollute themselves by the offerings which they made to their idols. Causing their children to pass through the fire was one of those pollutions; but, did God ever give them a statute or judgment of this kind? No. He ever inveighs against such things, and they incur his heaviest displeasure and curse. See on Eze 20:31 (note).

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 20:26→

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14. Ezekiel 20:31

    When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your sons in the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be consulted by you!

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 20:311 voice

    “Ye pollute yourselves - This shows the sense in which God says, Eze 20:26, “I polluted them in their own gifts.” They chose to pollute themselves, and I permitted them to do so. See on Eze 20:25 (note), Eze 20:26 (note).

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 20:31→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Ezekiel 23:37

    For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols.

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16. Ezekiel 23:39

    On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 23:391 voice

    “Yahweh was placed as it were in the list of deities, not acknowledged as the One God. Idols and idol-temples were erected close to the House of God, and yet the temple-service went on Jer 32:34.

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