Molech And Ashtoreth - In Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13, God Intended To Prevent Israel From Worshiping Ashtoreth, Molech’s Fertility goddess Consort.

God's warning against worshipping Molech, the Canaanite fire god, is given in a religious context which prohibited pagan sexual worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess because God regarded such pagan worship as abomination.

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 Moloch (the spelling varies), occurs eight times in the Bible, in Leviticus 18:21, 20:2, 3, 4, 5, I Kings 11:7, II Kings 23:10, Jeremiah 32:35. God placed the Holiness Code prohibitions of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 in the context of worshipping 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. 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.

Scripture deals with shrine prostitution under the rubric of worshiping the false gods of Canaan.

The NET Bible, not considered gay friendly by anyone, takes a strong anti-gay position on Leviticus. Yet in spite of being anti-gay, the NET Bible clearly links the Molech worship of Leviticus 18:21 with spiritual prostitution.

Molech was the national deity of the Ammonites,

He was known by many names, all signifying the same false god.

Names of Molech. Melech, Molech, Milcom, Melkom, Moloch, Molek, Malec, Malik, Melek, Malkum, Melqart, Melkart, Milk, Melqarth, Kronos, Cronus.

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 Molech worship was among the abominations the Israelites were forbidden to practice, Leviticus 18:21.

Fire gods like Molech and his fertility goddess consort, Ashtoreth, were not religious fantasies. They exercised a very real power over the primitive Canaanites.

Who Was Ashtoreth?

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 I 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.

In Judges 2:13 & 10:6, I 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, Astarte by Greeks and Romans and Tanith by North Africans.

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

The sexual relationship between these false gods set the example for unbridled sensuality among their worshipers.

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 fertility goddess worship in Romans 1:26-27, when he decries the pagan sexuality of ancient 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 On Molech

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 On Molech

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 On Molech

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.

Molech 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.

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

Male qedishim engaged in shrine prostitution with male worshipers, as did the sacred harlots, II Kings 23:7.

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 worshipped their fertility goddess.

There is no connection between modern homosexuality and ancient fertility goddess worship.

Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 simply do not address modern gay and lesbian relationships.

The following links provide additional information about The Holiness Code.

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. Molech's pagan, fertility goddess consort was Ashtoreth, whose worship included male-male sex. THAT is what God prohibited in Lev 18:22 & 20:13.

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 new book, Gay Christian 101 - Spiritual Self-Defense For Gay Christians, by Rick Brentlinger. This 400 page book will be available in May, 2007.

Don’t let anyone convince you arsenokoites means homosexual. The word arsenokoites is only used 76 times in Greek literature from AD 58 when Paul first used it, to about 1450. Never in any of those usages does arsenokoites refer to equal males in homosexual partnership.

Don’t let anyone tell you that the Greek word malakoi always means homosexual. Malakoi was rarely, if ever, used in antiquity to describe homosexuals.

There are four popular analogies which are used to validate Gay Relationships as blessed by God. Click here to examine these four popular analogies.

Here is a real-life example of a prominent gay partnership in scripture - the amazing true love story of Jonathan and David is the greatest human love story in the Bible.

Jesus identified the sin of Sodom and it was not homosexuality.

The Holiness Code was aimed at Israel, in a specific place, the land of Israel, in a specific time period, while Israel was in the land, living under the Law.

And what some Christians wrongly interpret as a universal prohibition of all gay relationships is, in reality, a prohibition of shrine prostitution in worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess.

What was a sodomite in the Bible? Was it a homosexual, as many conservative preachers insist or was a sodomite in the Bible always a shrine prostitute who worshiped the Canaanite fertility goddess?

Those who believe that the Centurion’s pais was only a servant and not the same sex partner of the gay Centurion, cite Greek lexicons to prove their case. Since most Biblical Greek lexicons do not mention beloved or same sex lover as possible meanings of pais. most nongay Christians insist same sex lover could not possibly be the meaning of pais.

Family Values in the Bible are so different from Traditional family values as taught by Focus On The Family that modern Christians would totally reject the "family values" practiced by Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and Boaz and many of the heroes of faith in the Old Testament.

Did you know that Christians are not required to keep the Old Testament Law to get saved, stay saved or to be in right relationship with God?

You’ve studied the Holiness Code. Click Here To Return To Gay Christian 101.com Home Page.

Its a matter of common sense. To define arsenokoites, we must study how the word was actually used by our Greek speaking ancestors.