Who was Molech or Moloch?

God intended to prevent His people from practicing the shrine prostitution of the Canaanites, which He warned against in Leviticus 18:3 and 20:23.

The word translated Molech or Moloch (the spelling varies), occurs eight times in the Bible, in Leviticus 18:21, 20:2, 3, 4, 5, 1 Kings 11:7, 2 Kings 23:10, Jeremiah 32:35.

God placed the Holiness Code prohibitions of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 in the context of worshiping false gods, 18:3, 21 and 20:2-5, 23.

For many centuries before Israel entered the land of Palestine, ancient Canaanite fertility cults used same sex rituals to worship their false gods.

God prohibited Israel from adopting the cultic, sexual, fertility goddess worship of Egypt and Canaan, Lev 18:3, 20:23. The issue with God was not committed, faithful, non-cultic sexual relationships between two men or two women. The issue with God was shrine prostitution and pagan worship.

The NET Bible, not considered gay friendly by anyone, takes a strong anti-gay position on Leviticus. This reflects the strong anti-gay beliefs of Dallas Theological Seminary (which trained some of the folks associated with the NET Bible). Yet in spite of being SO ANTI-GAY, the NET Bible clearly links the Molech worship of Leviticus 18:21 with spiritual prostitution.

In Islam, Molech is called Malec or Malik (meaning King), believed to be the principle angel in charge of Djahannam, the Islamic version of hell.

That Molech worship was already common among the Canaanites when Israel entered the land is evident from the fact that God warned Israel against Molech worship as an abomination the Israelites were forbidden to practice, Leviticus 18:21.

Fire gods like Moloch and his fertility goddess consort, Ashtoreth, were not religious fantasies. They exercised a very real power over the primitive Canaanites. And their pagan worship snared some of the children of Israel.

Ashtaroth is mentioned 12 times in the Old Testament. The word is used as the name of a town in ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 1:4, Joshua 9:10, 12:4, 13:12, 13:31 and 1 Chronicles 6:71. That towns were named after the fertility goddess indicates that her worship was already widespread when the children of Israel entered the land of Palestine.

In Judges 2:13 & 10:6, 1 Samuel 7:3 & 4, 12:10 & 31:10, Ashtaroth refers to the ancient Canaanite fertility goddess, with a slightly different spelling than Ashtoreth.

Ashtoreth was the goddess of war and fertility, called Ishtar by Assyrians and Babylonians, called Astarte by Greeks and Romans and called Tanith by North Africans.

Molech represented the male principle of life and reproduction while Ashtoreth represented the female principle of fertility.

Anal sex between male and male worshipers and male and female worshipers was viewed as an offering to the goddess.

Some 1450 years after Leviticus, the Apostle Paul references pagan worship in Romans 1:26-27, when he blasts the same kind of fertility goddess worship in first century Rome.

A child sacrifice laid on the hands, would roll into the fire in the belly cavity. Scripture describes this practice as "passing through the fire to Molech," Leviticus 18:21.

Cleitarchus, an ancient historian, around 315 BC, gives this description of a fire god at Carthage. Kronos is the north African name for Molech.

“There stands in their midst a bronze statue of Kronos, its hands extended over a bronze brazier, the flames of which engulf the child. When the flames fall upon the body, the limbs contract and the open mouth seems almost to be laughing until the contracted body slips quietly into the brazier.”

Diodorus Siculus, 90-30 BC, gives this description of a Carthaginian fire god.

“There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus extending its hands, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire.”

Plutarch, AD 46-127, senior priest of the oracle at Delphi, gives this description of the fire god.

“The whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums so that the cries of wailing [of the children being sacrificed] should not reach the ears of the people.”

One can readily see why God and Moses called this pagan religious practice and the sexual rites associated with it, abomination.

Moloch worship is essentially identical with worship of Chemosh of Moab, Cronos-Kronos of Carthage and Melkart-Melqart of Tyre.

The general name, used throughout Palestine and in the Bible, for this type of fire god, was Baal. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Hebrews first learned Baal worship from the agricultural Canaanites.

In Ashtoreth’s worship services, male worshipers had anal sex with priests and priestesses of the goddess. This was viewed as an offering to the fertility goddess.

The priests and male prostitutes, who were consecrated to her cult were called qadesh, qedishim or sodomites, Deuteronomy 23:18; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46.

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible tells us that pagan religions of the ancient near east shared a common feature. They were fertility cults who worshiped a Mother goddess.

“Fertility rites were practiced at the numerous shrines which dotted the land, as well as at the major sanctuaries... A characteristic feature of the fertility cult was sacral sexual intercourse by priests and priestesses and other specially consecrated persons, sacred prostitutes of both sexes... Child-sacrifice was also a feature of the rites...”

The Interpreter's Dictionary of The Bible, Volume 3, Abingdon, 1990, pages 933-934.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia tells us Ashtoreth was a

“goddess of Canaan and Phoenicia... prostitution was practiced in her name and she was served with immoral rites by bands of men and women.” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume 1, 1979, pages 319-320.

Instead, God intended to forbid Israel, His people, from practicing the same sex religious rites with which the ancient Canaanites worshiped their fertility goddess.

1. The Law of Moses. To whom did it apply?

2. Leviticus - How does God expect modern Christians to understand Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13?

3. Molech was the brutal fire-god who God warned Israel NOT to worship.

4. Never forget this important fact. The Pagan Practices the ancient Canaanites used to worship their false gods, included male-male anal sex.

Those pagan practices were NOT homosexuality. In Lev 18:22 & 20:13, God prohibited heterosexual men from having sex with each other in worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess. God did not prohibit loving, same sex relationships.

5. Shrine Prostitutes were people who used sex to worship the pagan gods of ancient Canaan. God specifically warned Israel NOT to participate in this pagan worship. The Bible is crystal clear about this.

The material on this page is excerpted from our thoughtful book, Gay Christian 101 - Spiritual Self-Defense For Gay Christians, by Rick Brentlinger. This 390 page book is available now.

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