Do not permit any of your children to be offered as a sacrifice to Molech, for you must not bring shame on the name of your God. I am the LORD. – Leviticus 18:21
Molech (aka Moloch), was a Canaanite deity associated in biblical sources with the practice of child sacrifice. The name derives from combining the consonants of the Hebrew melech (“king”) with the vowels of boshet (“shame”), the latter often being used in the Old Testament as a variant name for the popular god Baal (“Lord”).
Molech is presented as a foreign deity who was at times illegitimately given a place in Israel’s worship as a result of the syncretistic policies of certain apostate kings. The laws given to Moses by God expressly forbade the Jews to do what was done in Egypt or in Canaan. “You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Moloch, and so profane the name of your God” (Leviticus 18:21).
Yet kings such as Ahaz (2 Kings 16:3) and Manasseh (2 Kings 21:6), having been influenced by the Assyrians, are reported to have worshipped Molech at the hilled site of Topheth, outside the walls of Jerusalem. This site flourished under Manasseh’s son King Amon but was destroyed during the reign of Josiah, the reformer. “And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech” (2 Kings 23:10).*
That valley became known as Gehenna, that eventually was seen as the garbage burning dump outside Jerusalem (a fire that continually burned) and a figurative expression for hell used by Jesus (Matthew 5:22, 29 et al).
*Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica
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Washington, D.C. (May 2, 2022)—After gathering at the steps of the Supreme Court and chanting all through the night in support of abortion, a crowd of worshippers are still having a hard time getting their pagan god Molech to hear them.
“We’ve chanted, and danced, and even cut ourselves with knives, but still, Molech is silent,” said protest leader and male feminist Skeeve Rapenburg. “Why does he not hear? Why won’t he send down fire from the sky and consume this infernal SCOTUS building? MOLECH! HEAR US!” (See 1 Kings 18:20-40).
Sources at the scene have suggested that Molech may possibly be on vacation, sitting on the toilet with terrible diarrhea, or binging the latest season of My Little Pony on Netflix. To get the attention of the ancient god of child blood sacrifice, the protestors will have to resort to even more extreme attention-seeking methods, such as arson or screaming into the camera in a TikTok video.
“We will not rest until the great Molech hears us,” shouted Rapenburg, banging his drums even louder. At publishing time, the crowd was discussing the possibility of sacrificing a beautiful virgin to get the god’s attention but failed to do so after being unable to find any virgins.**
**Babylon Bee, May 3, 2022. (The Babylon Bee is a conservative Christian news satire website that publishes satirical articles on topics including religion, politics, and current events).
