Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

In our Torah study on the opening chapter of Leviticus, we had a discussion about the different kinds of sacrifices that Israel’s neighbors observed. The priestly theology of Leviticus deliberately kept ancient Israel far away from sacrificing their sons and daughters as a way of honoring Yahweh. Instead, the only animals that were permitted to be offered were domestic animals one would find in a Semitic pastoral environment, e.g., goats, sheep, and cattle.

Who was Molech?

You shall not offer any of your offspring to be immolated to Molech, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD — (Lev. 18:21)

In ancient biblical times, one of the most dreaded deities of antiquity was the deity known as Molech. People use used to show their devotion to Molech by causing their children to pass through a fire that was made in its honor (Lev. 18:21; Deut. 12:31, 18:10). Details from extrabiblical sources are scattered, and Molech continues to be a subject of considerable speculation. Molech might have been either a god of death, similar to the Canaanite deity of Mot, or, more likely, the dying and reviving god (a good case could be made that Molech was possibly one and the same with the Punic deity Baal‑Hammon) as he is in his chthonic aspect and both were regarded as West‑Semitic manifestations of the Assyrian and Babylonian god of death and lord of the underworld, Nergal. [1] The connection between Nergel, Baal, the Assyrian and Babylonian Malik, and at Palmyra Malach‑bel, who were all sun‑gods and strongly suggest that Molech may have been a fire or sun‑god. [2] Some passages in the Tanakh identifed Molech as Milkom, the Ammonite form of Malik and Chemosh, the deity of Moab. [3]

While most scholars trace the worship of Molech to the 7^th- 8^th centuries B.C.E., there are some recent archeological findings from Jordan, dating back to the time of Israel’s conquest of Canaan, suggesting that child sacrifice is older than was once previously believed to be, and the deity the ancient Ammonites worshiped at this time period, was Molech![4] Given how archeological theories are constantly being revised, there is ample reason to suggest that further evidence will eventually be unearthed to further substantiate an earlier period for Molech worship.

A Midrashic Dramatization of Molech Worship

The horrific imagery of such child sacrifices found in the Midrashic literature that is cited by R. David Kimchi (14^th century), who midrashically describes how the ritual occurred (in a manner that is reminiscent of the movie, “Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom”): An image of Molech was made out of brass and was hollow. A fire was kindled within the idol. When the extended hands became hot, Molech’s priest taking the infant from its father’s hand, placed it in Molech’s hands to the accompaniment of drums to prevent the father from hearing the screams of his dying offspring. [5]

Archeological evidence revealing the skeletons of infants near pagan shrines, suggest that human sacrifice may have been transplanted to Canaan from Carthage, Sardina, Sicily, and the Greek islands, and later spread to Canaan via the Phoenicians. [6] Not all scholars agree on this point. Israeli scholar M. Weinfeld doubts there is any tangible connection between the Phoenician-Punic child sacrifices which are sporadic and conditioned by crisis, whereas Moloch worship which became an institutional practice. He writes: “Distinction should be made between human sacrifice as a sporadic deed at a time of crisis and distress, such as the holocaust of the son of Mesha king of Moab ( 2 Kgs 3:27), or as an act which serves to express an unusual degree of religious devotion as the binding of Isaac (cf. Micah 6:7), on the one hand, and the Moloch cult which was an established institution with a fixed location (the Topheth), on the other.” [7]

Reviving Molech Worship Today

When we observe the Jihadist war against Israel and Western civilization, the cult of the shihad (suicide bombers) is very reminiscent of the Molech worship of antiquity. Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths need to stress to their followers, true sacrifice does not destroy life indiscriminately, it aims to sanctify life with reverence and respect. In some ways, the Molech worship today is far worst because it centers upon the victimization of children to Allah-God.

Readers may be surprised to learn that child sacrifice is making a combat in poor African countries like Uganda, and Nigeria, where recently police authorities recovered more than 80 skulls and 50 fresh corpses. In these shrines, the police recovered three registers. They list 1,258 visitors who had allegedly come to offer human sacrifices in the past five years.

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Notes:

[1] One of the Sumerian titles of Nergal was (É)‑gir‑kù, “pure (or sacred) oven (or stove),” and one of his Akkadian titles was Sharrapu, “he who burns (others).” The worship of Nergel is mentioned in 2 Kgs. 17:30‑31.

[2] According to the Koran (Sura 43: 74‑77), the ruling spirit in hell was called Malik, a name which is etymologically identical with Molech. (e) The Assyrian god list VAT 10173 gives the identification “Malik is Nergal,” while the list K. 4349 identifies Nergal with many other deities including dKa‑am‑muš, i.e., Chemosh. Thus the identification Chemosh = Molech = Nergal seems established. That this deity can be called the Destroyer is seen from the large mass of material about Nergal from Mesopotamian sources (IBD).

[3] Cf. Lev. 20:1‑5; 2 Kgs. 3:27; 23:10; Jer. 32:35.

[4] Cited in G. Wenham’s Leviticus Commentary, 259.

[5] Radak’s commentary on 2 Kings 23:10. Young children were first slain and then cremated (cf Eze. 16:20-22; 20:26, 31; 23:37).

[6] Greek historian Diodorus Siculus describes how common was the practice of child sacrifice in Phonecia and her colonies (xx. 14). In one siege, the Carthaginians sacrificed 200 boys to Kronos. The practice of sacrificing children as burnt offerings in Phoenicia and the Punic colonies of N. Africa, and especially in the ruins of the Phoenician city of Carthage in North Africa, where the remains of hundreds of children sacrificed to the goddess Tanit and the god Baal-Hammon have been excavated. This fact is well attested by Greek and Roman authors who wrote extensively about it (L. E. Stager and S. R. Wolff, BAR 10/1 [1984] 31–51).

[7] See Moshe Weinfeld’s The Worship of Molech and of the Queen of Heaven and Its Background, Ugarit‑Forschungen 4 (1972): 133‑154.