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The Ancient Near Eastern culture described in the Old Testament and in which the Old Testament scriptures were given can sometimes seem foreign to our postmodern world. There are, however, some striking points of contact. One of these is the cult of Molech, to which Scripture refers in several places…

Molech Then And Now by R. SCOTT CLARK on June 8, 2022 | 3 Comments The Ancient Near Eastern culture described in the Old Testament and in which the Old Testament scriptures were given can sometimes seem foreign to our postmodern world. There are, however, some striking points of contact. One of these is the cult of Molech, to which Scripture refers in several places in the Old and New Testaments (E.g., Lev 18:21; 20:2–5; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:10; Jer 32:35; Acts 7:43). Background Leviticus 18:20–22 connects the cult of Molech with sexual immorality: You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her. You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination (NASB; 1995) Leviticus assumes that the hearer of this text will know what Molech is. Unfortunately, according to the great Old Testament scholar R. K. Harrison (1920–93) we know less than we might like. Let us start with what we do know. Harrison writes, “All OT references allude to an individual deity identified in specific instances with the Ammonite god Molech (cf. 1 K. 11:7), for whom Solomon built a shrine in Jerusalem” (s.v., “Molech,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). There is, he reminds us, good reason outside of the Old Testament to think of Molech as a false god. The great scholar of the Ancient world, Cyrus Gordon (1908–2001), whose work should be better remembered than it is, showed that a word closely related to Molech occurred alongside Baal in a Ugaritic list of gods. In Leviticus 20:1–9 we get a little more insight into the cult of Molech and its rituals: The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech. If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you. For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him. From this passage we infer that Molech was regarded by the pagan Ammonites as a deity. What it meant to “give” one’s child is debated by scholars but at least in some instances it meant to make of one’s child an offering to the god Molech. Under Old Testament religious and civil law this was a crime against Yahweh and the Israelite state and punishable by death. We may be sure that is was a religious crime since the passage explicitly turns to religious infidelity (necromancers, mediums etc). Scripture calls this a sort of spiritual “whoring.” One of the marks of Solomon’s corruption was his building of a “high place” for Chemosh, the Moabite idol, and for Molech, “the detestable idol” of the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:7). This is a reminder to the Christian to put no confidence in princes, not even in the wisest ruler in Israel’s history, David’s son. There is only one son of David, one king whom we may safely trust. The cult of Molech was tolerated, however, in Israel until the 7th century B. C. when the reformer Josiah finally tore it down, “that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech” (2 Kings 23:10; NASB95). Harrison writes, “[i]n speaking of Molech the OT clearly referred to a specific deity (cf. Am. 5:26 AV; quoted in Acts 7:43) whose cult flourished among the Ammonites (1 K. 11:7, 33).” For Christians, however, the case is answered definitely in Acts 7:43 where Stephen, as part of his indictment of Israel, quotes and interprets Amos 5:26: “‘You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon'” (Acts 7:43; ESV). Note that “Molech” becomes Moloch but the reference is to the same deity. What Hath Modernity To Do With Molech? It might be better to ask, what does modernity not have to do with Molech? For a long time I struggled to understand how the pagans and certainly some in the Old Testament church could have fallen into the cult of Molech. As part of the tail end of the baby-boom, I am part of a generati...

Molech Then And Now - The Heidelblog