The Hebrew Bible also calls this same goddess Astarte. The ancient Hebrew prophets denounced her cult many times, most likely because she was worshiped with sexual fertility rites. Certainly her cult predated the Hebrews by many centuries, and when the Philistines slaughtered Saul, the first king of Israel, they could think of no better tribute than to place his battle armor in her temple as a tribute.
I Samuel Many nude statues of her have been uncovered by archaeologists and the Bible refers to her fertility poles, or rods, on many occasions. Her cult must have been very popular, as it even swayed, or corrupted, the heart of wise King Solomon, for which he was criticized in I Kings Poor King Solomon also was led astray by the third of the favorite pagan gods of the land, Molech, to whom he raised an altar near Jerusalem, although the Bible tells us that God twice warned him not to and in punishment for this his heir would be deprived of 10 of the tribes of his great kingdom.
I Kings Molech was a god of the Ammonite peoples. Like Baal, his cult may have also been transported to Carthage, where he was worshiped as the god Molech until the servants of the Olympian gods pulverized ancient Carthage. The Hebrew Bible was quite fierce in its denunciations of Molech, not simply because of the sin of idolatry but also because of the custom of the worshipers of Molech of sacrificing children to the god by fire. Jeremiah The Hebrew God reacted very strongly to this kind of worship.
The Torah on several occasions commands the death penalty for anyone worshiping him. Let his fellow citizens stone him. I God myself will turn against such a man and cut him off from the body of his people; for in giving his offspring to Molech, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. The Hebrew God by comparison spent a lot of his career with a solitary ark drawn around in a cart. Later, He had but few holy places for sacrifice and in the days of Solomon these were concentrated into only one temple in Jerusalem.
But the humble worship of the Hebrew God, who had no images, ritual tattoos and who rejected child sacrifice, survived. The images of Baal, Ashtaroth and Molech are today viewed primarily by bored schoolchildren in museums. According to the rabbinic interpretation, this prohibition is against passing children through fire and then delivering them to the pagan priests.
In other words, according to this interpretation, this refers to an initiation rite. This kind of initiation or consecration is actually attested to in various cultures see T. Gaster, in bibl. This is a Midrash of the rabbis likewise attested by the Septuagint. A similar non-sacrificial tradition, perhaps more ancient, is found in the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees ff. This tradition seems to be echoed in the dissenting opinion of R. Ishmael cf.
The common denominator of all these traditions is the understanding of Moloch worship as the transfer of Jewish children to paganism either by delivering them directly to pagan priests or by procreation through intercourse with a pagan woman. This tradition is in keeping with the general rabbinic tendency to make biblical texts relevant to their audiences, who were more likely to be attracted to Greco-Roman cults and to intercourse with pagan women than to the sacrifice of humans to a long-forgotten god.
Johns, who first published these documents, contended that burning is used here in the figurative sense, meaning dedication Assyrian Deeds and Documents , 3 , —6. From the fact that Ahaz, who opened the door to Assyria and Assyrian culture and religion see e. There is no reason to suppose that the Moloch was introduced as a result of Phoenician influence, as is commonly supposed. Were this true, one would expect to find the Moloch worship in Northern Israel, which was overwhelmed by Phoenician influence, especially at the period of the Omri dynasty.
No allusion, however, to this practice in the Northern Kingdom has been found. The worship of Moloch, which was practiced at a special site outside the walls of Jerusalem in the valley of Ben-Hinnom called Topheth, became firmly established in the time of King Manasseh, his son Amon, and at the beginning of Josiah's reign. If it was completely eradicated by Josiah within the framework of his reform activities II Kings , then Jeremiah's references to this worship , ff.
Kaufmann , Toledot, 3 , — Sources : Encyclopaedia Judaica. All Rights Reserved. Tur-Sinai, Ha-Lashon ve-ha-Sefer , 1 2. Buber, Malkhut Shamayim , 99—; K. Deller, in; Orientalia , 34 , —6; T. Weinfeld, in: UF , 4 , —54; M. Held, in: ErIsr , 16 , 76—77; B. Millard, in: DDD , 34—35; G. Heider, in: DDD , —85, incl. Friebel, in: R. Troxel et al. Essays … M. Fox , 21— Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library. Category » Ancient Jewish History.
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