Molech(milcom)
“King”
Summary
A Canaanite deity to whom children were sacrificed by fire, worship strictly forbidden to Israel under penalty of death.
☩Prohibition
God explicitly commanded: 'Thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God' (Leviticus 18:21). The penalty was death by stoning (Leviticus 20:2-5). Passing children 'through the fire' refers to child sacrifice, burning children alive as offerings.
☩Israel's Apostasy
Despite these prohibitions, Israel repeatedly fell into Molech worship. Solomon built 'an high place for Molech' (1 Kings 11:7). Kings Ahaz and Manasseh 'made their sons pass through the fire' (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6). The practice was centered in the Valley of Hinnom (Tophet) outside Jerusalem (Jeremiah 32:35), which became a symbol of hell (Gehenna).
☩Prophetic Condemnation
The prophets thundered against this practice: 'They have built the high places of Tophet... to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart' (Jeremiah 7:31). Ezekiel declared that Israel 'slew their children to their idols' (Ezekiel 23:37). This abomination was among the chief reasons for exile.
☩Josiah's Reform
King Josiah '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' (2 Kings 23:10). He destroyed the high places and brought Molech worship to an end, though the exile still came because of previous generations' sins.
