Moloch

[[File:Moloch the god.gif|upright|165px|thumb|Moloch had exquisite taste]]
{{Biblenav}}
'''Moloch''' (Hebrew: '''מלך''') was the ancient [[Canaan]]ite [[god]] of child [[human sacrifice|sacrifice]] who is referenced several times throughout the [[Bible]], including multiple times in the [[Book of Leviticus]]. Strangely these verses imply that other gods than [[Yahweh]] exist, since they refer to giving one's "seed" (aka "children") to Moloch, which they explicitly forbid.<ref>Leviticus 20:2: "Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that <u>giveth any of his seed unto Molech</u>; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones."</ref> This implies that Leviticus was written in the monolastric{{efn|A religion that accepts the existence of other gods but only worships one, sort of an intermediate state between polytheism and monotheism if you will}} period of ancient [[Judaism]], when other gods existed but only Yahweh was to be worshiped, the worship of other gods was to be punishable by [[execution]]. 

==Origins==
[[Rabbi]]nical tradition depicted Moloch as a bronze statue heated with fire into which the victims were thrown. This has been associated with reports by Greco-Roman authors on the child sacrifices in {{wpl|Carthage}} to {{wpl|Baal Hammon||,}}<ref>D.D. Hughes, ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', London: 1991, S. 115 ff.</ref> especially since [[archaeological]] excavations since the 1920s have produced [[evidence]] for child sacrifice in Carthage as well as inscriptions including the term ''MLK'' (Phoenician: '''𐤌𐤋𐤊‎'''), either a theonym or a technical term associated with sacrifice.  In most of the Semitic languages, this is simply the word for 'king'. ''Moloch'' has been traditionally interpreted as the name of a god, possibly a god given the honorific "the king" (cf. ''adon'' "lord", ''[[baal|baʿal]]'' "master"), but pejoratively mispronounced as ''Mole<u>k</u>'' instead of ''Mele<u>k</u>'', using the vocalisation of Hebrew {{lang|he|בּשֶׁת|rtl=yes}} ''bosheth'' "shame",<ref>following a widely-adopted suggestion going back to {{wpl|Abraham Geiger}} (1857), e.g. {{Cite encyclopedia | title = Molech | encyclopedia = Britannica Online Encyclopedia | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica Online | year = 2008 | url = http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9053271/Moloch | accessdate = 2008-03-22 }}</ref>

The mainstream view of Jewish historians is that for a period of time the Hebrews worshipped Moloch and offered child sacrifices to him, even though Moloch was of non-Hebrew origin, perhaps Canaanite or from further afield. Some believe sacrifices were only made in times of extreme peril when divine intervention was desperately sought, but the presence of a fixed site of worship and sacrifice near [[Jerusalem]] indicates it may have been a regular practice: worship was carried out at a site called Topheth (Tapheth or Tophet). Also near Jerusalem, the valley of Gehenna was associated with sacrifice by fire, but more so to Baal (today both Topheth and Gehenna are associated with the eternal torments of [[Hell]]). According to the [[Tanakh]], the worship of Moloch and human sacrifice were criticised by the Biblical [[prophet]]s and ended by Josiah, King of Judah.<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-cult-of-moloch The Cult of Moloch], Jewish Virtual Library</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10937-moloch-molech Moloch (Molech)], Isidore Singer, George A. Barton, Jewish Encyclopedia</ref><ref>{{wpa|Tophet}}</ref>

According to {{wpl|Moloch#Theories|more modern scholarship}}, however, "Moloch" may refer not to a deity but to a form of (human) sacrifice to a deity instead, more controversially such deity being Yahweh using as proof the sacrifice of [[Jephthah]]'s daughter sacrifice and that the Binding of [[Isaac]] would have originally featured the latter being sacrificed instead of a ram, or by a minority of scholars to a non-lethal rite of passage that involved fire.

==Woo==
Since the late 19<sup>th</sup> century [[anti-abortion]] demagogues have compared [[abortion]], when a mother terminates a [[pregnancy]], to the child sacrifices conducted in the name of Moloch.<ref>B. G. Jefferis, J. L. Nichols,  ''Searchlights on Health: Light on Dark Corners A Complete Sexual Science and a Guide to Purity and Physical Manhood, Advice To Maiden, Wife, And Mother, Love, Courtship, And Marriage'' (1894), p. 139 ("The abiding interest we feel in the preservation of the morals in our country, constrains us to raise our voice against the daily increasing practice of infanticide, especially before birth. The notoriety this monstrous crime has obtained of late, and the hecatombs of infants that are annually sacrificed to Moloch, to gratify an unlawful passion, are a sufficient justification for our alluding to a painful and delicate subject, which should 'not even be named,' only to correct and admonish the wrong-doers.").</ref> Barring the obvious intent of [[poisoning the well]] and the [[false equivalency]] that this malicious comparison brings, one wonders how the extraction of something that is essentially a tumor from a woman's body is equivalent to the violent, barbaric murder of sentient human beings done in the name of [[religion]].

==Freemasonry, Satanism, antisemitism, and child-eating conspiracies==
Moloch is one of the pagan gods whom [[Freemason]]s are sometimes said to worship, as well as featuring in 20th century esoteric [[satanism]] such as [[Aleister Crowley]]: in such systems Moloch is an important figure alongside the likes of [[Baphomet]], Set, and [[Baal]].<ref>[http://www.jesusdelivers.com/the-demonic-roots-of-freemasonry The Demonic Roots of Freemasonry], Jesus Delivers, accessed 25 May 2019</ref><ref>[https://www.biblebelievers.org.au/masonic2.htm Freemasonry Explained], "Based upon research by Willie Martin", accessed 25 May 2019</ref> (This is also part of the plot of [[Dan Brown]]'s ''{{wpl|The Lost Symbol}}''.) It's only a short step from this to full on claims that Moloch-worshiping baby-eating [[Jewish]] Satanist [[Illuminati]] Freemasons are part of an international conspiracy behind every bad thing from war to [[fractional reserve banking]].<ref>[http://itwasjohnson.impiousdigest.com/crowley_jakim.htm Crowley and Freemasonry], It Was Johnson, Impious Digest, accessed 25 May 2019</ref>

That some Hebrews worshipped Moloch and may have participated in human sacrifice is big news among people who are [[antisemitism|hostile to Jews]]. Some complain that Jews have never fully apologised for child sacrifice to Moloch and haven't said that such a thing is wrong, and this is because "Blood ritual is fundamental to Judaism".<ref>[http://www.come-and-hear.com/editor/br_3.html Blood Ritual 3: Human Sacrifice, the Talmud, and the Moloch Problem], Come and Hear, accessed 25 May 2019</ref> This false idea that Jews like killing babies is known as [[blood libel]].

Moloch has become a common symbol of the evils of capitalism, most famously in Fritz Lang's ''Metropolis'' (1927) where a machine called Moloch consumes adult workers. Hence while Moloch as metaphor is not necessarily a symbol of an [[international Jewish conspiracy]], it can slide easily into [[antisemitism]].

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Deities]] [[Category:Old Testament]]

Categories: Deities, Old Testament