Moloch

Moloch, also known as Baal (The Lord), was a god of Canaanite origin. Moloch may have been referred to my his followers as "Melech," meaning "King." His name in the Hebrew bible (Moloch) may be a combination of the word melech with the word "boshet" ("shame").

Moloch was considered the symbol of purifying fire, which in turn symbolizes the soul. He is associated with child sacrifice, and the concept of children being "consumed" by fire has lead to Moloch being syncretized with the Greek god Cronos and his Roman counterpart Saturn, who consumed their own children.

Moloch in the Book of Leviticus:
The first mention of Moloch in the Hebrew bible is in Leviticus Ch. 18 Vs. 21 where it states:
 * “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek (Moloch), for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.


 * -NIV Translation

Moloch in this passage is shown to be a foreign deity worshiped by his followers by sacrificing their own children to the fire. This passage in Leviticus strictly forbids the worship of Moloch. Leviticus Ch. 20 Vs. 1-5 states that the punishment for worshiping Moloch is death:


 * The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death, I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek.


 * -NIV Translation

Moloch in the Book of 2nd Kings:
Even with this clear prohibition, there are at least two Kings of Judah who have been documented giving offerings to Moloch- King Ahaz and King Manasseh:


 * In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.


 * -2 Kings Ch. 16 Vs. 1-4, NIV Translation

At this time in the history of Israel the nation had been split in two. The northern section of the country kept the name Israel, but culturally that section of the country had begun to assimilate with the Canaanites, taking up Canaanite religious beliefs and customs. The southern section of the country took the name Judah, and continued the worship of Yahweh. In this passage Ahaz, the king of Judah, is being rebuked for following in the customs of the northern nation of Israel. Below is the passage describing King Manasseh of Judah acting in the same manner as King Ahaz:


 * Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.


 * -2 Kings Ch. 21 Vs. 1-6, NIV Translation

The worship of Moloch continued until the reign of King Josiah of Judah, who descended upon the hill site of Topheth, the primary hub of Moloch worship, and destroyed the alters and cleared out all of the Moloch worshipers:


 * He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.


 * -2 Kings Ch. 23 Vs. 10, 11, NIV Translation

Moloch in the Book of Jeremiah:
Moloch is referenced to throughout the Book of Jeremiah, where the prophet Jeremiah warns of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. In his prophecies Jeremiah states that the worship of Moloch and the child sacrifice associated with it are the reasons why Yahweh will allow foreign invaders to destroy Jerusalem:


 * “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away. And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.


 * -Jeremiah Ch. 7 Vs. 30-34, NIV Translation


 * This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.


 * -Jeremiah Ch. 19 Vs. 1-6, NIV Translation


 * “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger with what their hands have made, declares the Lord. From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight. The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.


 * -Jeremiah Ch. 32 Vs. 30-35, NIV Translation

Moloch in Christian and Occult Demonologies
Throughout history multiple formalized classifications of demons have been proposed. None of them however are considered canon by modern mainstream Christian denominations. Instead, lists of formalized demonologies tend to remain popular in occult traditions.

Dictionnaire Infernal (Infernal Dictionary):
The  Infernal Dictionary  is a book of demonology written in 1818 by the French occultist Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy. The entry for Moloch is as follows:


 * Moloch, prince of the land of tears, member of the infernal council. He was adored by the Ammonites under the form of a bronze statue seated on a throne of the same metal, having a calf's head surmounted with a royal crown. His arms were extended to receive human victims: one sacrificed children to him. In Milton, Moloch is a frightful and terrible demon covered with mother's tears and children's blood.


 * Rabbis claim that, in the interior of the statue of the famous Moloch, god of the Ammonites, one had carefully arranged seven kinds of cabinets. One could open one for flour, another for turtle doves, a third for an ewe, a fourth for a ram, a fifth for a calf, a sixth for a beef, the seventh for a child. It is this which has given place to confounding Moloch with Mithras and his seven mysterious gates with the seven chambers. When one wished to sacrifice children to Moloch, one lit a large fire in the interior of this statue. But in order that one could not hear their plaintive cries, his priests beat loudly on drums and other instruments around the idol.

==Moloch in Fiction and Literature =

Paradise Lost


 Paradise Lost  is an epic poem written by the English poet John Milton in 1667. The poem concerns the fall of the angel Satan, as well as the fall of Adam and Eve. In the poem Moloch is a monstrous and fearsome demon:


 * "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. Him the Ammonite
 * Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain,
 * In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
 * Of utmost Arnon."


 * -Paradise Lost, Pg. 15