Making Son or
Daughter to Pass Through the Fire:
This was a form of child
sacrifice, widely practiced in Canaan and its environs, and was
of such abominable nature that we shall take a historical
excursus to discuss it before proceeding with our discussion of
further terminology.
(a) Nature and Importunity of the
Prohibition:
This refers to sons and
daughters being "burned in the fire to their gods" [that is,
the gods of the heathen population of Palestine, which was to
be the home of Jehovah’s people, Israel] (Deuteronomy 12:31) –
one of which had been specifically named, that is, Molech
(Leviticus 18:21) – also referred to as Moloch – but not
confined to Molech (or Moloch). Chapter 12:29-31 (of
Deuteronomy) had warned against their inquiring how these
people served their gods, with the idea of doing likewise unto
Jehovah, saying: "Thou shalt not do so unto Jehovah thy God:
for every abomination
to Jehovah, have they done unto their gods; for
even their sons
and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods" –
which seems to mean that this was the climax of abominations to
Jehovah – not exceeded even by immoral sexual rites with which
they worshipped their so-called fertility gods and goddesses –
Baal (male) and Ashtareth (female) being chief ones in Canaan –
or Baalim and Ashtaroth (plural, in reference to their
images).
(b) Commandments
Forsaken:
Notwithstanding such
prohibitions, Israel (the ten northern tribes after the kingdom
was divided) "forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their
God, and made them molten images, even two calves [see 1 Kings
12:25-30], and made an Asherah (=Ashtareth) [see 1 Kings
14:15], and worshipped all the host of heaven [see 2 Kings
21:3], and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their
daughters to pass through the fire, and used divinations and
enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in
the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger." (2 Kings
17:16-17.) But a more general description of the nations even
before its division is that: "They did not destroy the
peoples[of Canaan], as Jehovah had commanded them, but mingled
themselves with the nations, And learned their works, And
served their idols, Which became a snare
unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters
unto demons
[meaning pagan gods], and shed innocent blood, Even the blood
of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed unto
the idols of
Canaan; And the land was polluted with blood." (Psalm
106:35-38.)
(c) Later Prophetic Review and Preview
– From Sinai to Beyond Babylon"
(1) In the Old Testament: The
prophet Amos,
about 750 B.C., delivered God’s message to Israel (the northern
kingdom after its separation from Judah in the south and
setting up idol worship to replace the worship of Jehovah, and
was doomed to exile in Assyria), asked and said : "Did you
bring unto me
[probably meaning to Jehovah only] sacrifices and offerings in
the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? Yea, ye have
borne the tabernacle [likely a
miniature shrine] of your king [Moloch] and the
shrine of your
images, the star of your god, which you
made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into
captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is God of
hosts." (Amos 5:25-27). This was saying there had been at least
an idolatrous element in Israel from the very first of its
history as a nation, on its way from Egypt to
Canaan.
(2) In the New Testament: The
first Christian martyr, Stephen, refers to the
language of Amos but prefaces it by recounting the very first
manifestation of the idolatrous spirit while encamped at Sinai,
as follows: " … our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust
him [Moses] from them, and turned back their hearts unto Egypt,
saying Moses [who was on the mountain communing with God and
receiving the law], who led us forth out of the land of Egypt,
we know not what has become of him. And they made a
calf in those
days, and brought a sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in
the works of their hands. But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host
of heaven [sun, moon, and stars]; as it is written in
the prophets [in Amos, one of the prophets] , Did ye offer unto
me slain beast and sacrifices in the wilderness, O house of
Israel? And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the
star of the god
Rephan, The figures which ye made to worship them [which were
of the ‘host of heaven’]: And I will carry you away beyond
Babylon [where later the kingdom of Judah was exiled, into
Assyria, both of which (Babylon and Assyria) were beyond
Damascus’ eastward]." (Acts 7:39-43).
NOTE: The
appropriateness of the places of exile may lie in the
probability of the type of forbidden worship here mentioned
having had its origin in that part of the world, where their
ancestors lived before spreading westward into Canaan and Egypt
and returning to Canaan.
(3) The King James Version of Amos
5:26: "but ye have borne the tabernacle [likely a small
portable shrine] of your Moloch and
Chium your
images, the star of your god, which ye made to
yourselves."
The word "Moloch" is a
contemptuous modification of "Molech," which means king (as rendered by the
American Standard Version), by use of the vowels of the word
shame. The
Masoretic Hebrew text sometimes uses one marking, and sometimes
the other. In harmony with the text of the LXX of about 250 B.
C. The term Chium was the Hebrew name
for the planet Saturn. However, the LXX (made in Alexandria,
Egypt) uses the Egyptian name "Raiphan," and Stephen in Acts
employs Rephan, a
variant.
Owing to the peculiar
relationship at certain times between Saturn and the Sun in the
Zodiac, Saturn was called the "star" of the latter, as also the
calf (or bull) was in many parts of the world – which makes it
possible if not probable the "golden calf" made by Israel at
Sinai represented the Sun as supreme among "the host of heaven"
– and as being the "god" that had brought them out of Egypt, as
they announced (Exodus 32:4).
It is said that in Egypt
the sun was referred to as "the valient bull." The International Standard
Bible Encyclopedia states: "The worship of the golden
calf was star worship; it was the solar bull, [of] the
constellation Taurus [which means ‘bull’], in which the sun was
at the time of the spring equinox, that is thus represented"
)"Saturn or Moloch Worship." In article Astrology," Vol. 1,
p.298).
(d) Historical Overview After
Sinai:
(1) Joshua’s Farewell Address and
Israel’s Response: When Joshua had led Israel in
subduing for the most part the land of Canaan and delivered to
them his farewell address, they still had probably miniature
images of foreign gods (maybe those mentioned above in Amos),
for he addressed them thus: "Now therefore fear Jehovah, and
serve him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which
your fathers served beyond the River [Euphrates], and in Egypt;
and serve Jehovah. … Now therefore put away, said he, the
foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto
Jehovah, the God of Israel" Joshua 24:14-23). "And the people
served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the
elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of
Jehovah that he wrought for Israel" (Judges 2:7).
(2) Second Generation Apostasy:
But in the second generation after the death of Joshua, Israel
began worshipping the Canaanite deities, chief of which were
Baal and Ashtareth, (Ashtaroth, plural); and God began
punishing them allowing them to be oppressed and distressed by
the very people whose practices they had adopted (Judges
2:10-15; cf. 17:1-6; 18:1-18).
Note: "Teraphim" are
prominently mentioned in some of the text just cited:17:5;
18:14,17,18,19. They were idols, or household gods, possibly
images of ancestors, and seemingly used by some in connection
with divination (1 Kings 23:24). They were sometimes small and
easily hidden (Genesis 31:19,33-35). On the other hand, they
might be larger and in some respects resemble a human being (1
Samuel 19:11-17). It is said that Jewish commentators thought
the teraphim were in early times mummified human heads, which
were represented in later centuries by rude images
(International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. III,
p.1455).
(3) Under Judges and Kings:
Idolatry and its associated practices continued intermittently
all during the period of the judges (approximately 450 years),
but greatly subsided (though not completely eradicated) during
the reign of kings Saul and David – 40 years each. (Witness
that the event of 1 Samuel 19:11-19 above, took place during
the reign of Saul and the "witch" of Endor [1 Samuel 28:3-25]).
And during the reign of king Solomon (40 years), the worship of
Molech and other heathen gods was actually introduced by him
(as will be documented in the next paragraph). And after his
reign, when the ten northern tribes had rebelled against his
son Rehoboam, their king Jreoboam instituted calf worship to
keep his subjects from returning to Jerusalem in the south to
worship Jehovah on special occasions – saying, "Behold thy
gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt"
(1 Kings 12:28) – as had been said by some at Sinai. Then,
generations later, a tremendous wave of Baal worship was
instigated in Israel (the northern kingdom) by the wicked queen
Jezebel, pagan wife of Ahab, the seventh king of Israel, and
spread to Judah (the southern kingdom). It was condemned and
opposed vigorously by God through his prophets, with only
partial successes – and eventually punished by Assyrian
captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 17:7-23)
and later by Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom of
Judah (2 Kings 24:10 -25:21).
(4) Children Sacrificed by Fire to
Moloch and Baal: It was Molech (or Moloch) in particular
(but Baal also to some extent), that was worshipped by having
their "seed" pass through the fire to him (Leviticus 18:21).
Molech, meaning
king, was chief god of the Ammonites [a god also of the
Phoenicians, according to Ras-Shanra tablets] – also Milcom,
Malcam, and Malchan. King Solomon married many foreign women,
who led him to include their gods in his worship (! Kings
11:4-8) – one of which was "Milcom the abomination of
the Ammonites" (v.5) – expressed again as Molech in the
abomination of the children of Ammon," for which he built a
high place in the valley of Hinnom (v.7).
NOTE: Harper’s Bible Dictionary
(1985) states the "Milcom was the Ammonite form of Baal," and
"was closely related to the Phoenician Baals, Melchart and
Molech, to whom human sacrifices, particularly children, were
offered" (pp.653-36).
At a later time, in Jeremiah
7:31, it is said that the children of Judah "have built the
high places of Topheth [that is, burning, an alter-pyre for
the burning of sacrificial victims], which is in the valley of
the sons of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in
the fire." In Jeremiah 19:5, it is said that the kings of Judah
had also "built the high places of Baal.
And in Chapter 32:35, it is stated that "they built the high
places of Baal,
which are in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, to cause their
sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto
Molech" – which
may indicate that these were used for sacrifices both to Baal
and Molech, due to syncretism, with Baal of the Canaanites and
Molech of the Ammonites being very similar, if not of common
origin. For the Rash-Shamra (or Ugaritic) texts of the
14th century B. C. , excavated in 1929, confirm that
Baal worship also included child sacrifice, as noted above from
Harper’s Bible
Dictionary.
(5) Similarities Between Baal and
Moloch: Baal’s power of fertility was expressed by his
association with the bull as his cult animal,
horns of which were on his helmet; and his astrological symbol
was the sun –
according to the Ras-shamra texts as cited by the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the
Bible (Vol. I, pp.320-30). And Moloch was also conceived
as an astral deity associated with the sun-god. According to
the ancient historian, Diodorus Siculus (first century B. C.),
the Carthaginian* "image of Moloch was a human figure with a
bull’s head and outstretched arms, ready to receive the
children destined for sacrifice. The image of metal was heated
red by fire kindled within, and the children laid on its arms
rolled off into the fiery pit below. In order to drown the
cries of the victims, flutes were played, and drums were
beaten; and mothers stood by without tears or sobs, to give the
impression of the voluntary character of the offering."
(Ibid., Vol.
III, p.2075.)
*NOTE: Carthage
was a city in north Africa, which had been founded by
Phoenicians, worshipers of Moloch.
(6) Israel and the Term "Baal":
The word Baal
within itself was a neutral term, meaning lord or master, and used also of a
husband – being
so translated 11 times (Exodus 21:22; Deuteronomy 22:22; 24:4;
2 Samuel 11:26;Ester 1:17,20; Proverbs 12:4; 31:11,23,28; Joel
1:8) and to be or have a husband three more times (Deuteronomy
21"13; Jeremiah 31:32; Isaiah 54:5). It had even been used by
Israel of Jehovah at times in its history, as seen in Isaiah
54:5 (where it is translated "husband"); Jeremiah 31:32 (again
translated "husband"); and Hosea 2:16 (translated Baali, meaning "My husband" or
"My master"). But, because that was also the name by which the
chief deity of the Canaanites and Phoenicians was called and
his worship had come to permeate both Israel and Judah, and
their remnants returning from Assyrian and Babylonian exile
would be cured of Baal worship and all idolatry, the following
was declared through the prophet Hosea: "And it shall be at
that day saith Jehovah, that thou shall call me Ishi [‘My husband’], and shalt
call me no more Baali
[‘my lord’]. For I will take away the names of the Baalim [plural of
Baal] out of
her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name"
(Hosea 2:17-17). The point was that Israel should not afterward
even use language that could lend itself to confusing Jehovah
with Baal, or to indicate him as being to Israel what Baal was
for the Canaanites.
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