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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Moloch</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10443b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="A divinity worshipped by the idolatrous Israelites"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="10443b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/m.htm">M</a> > Moloch</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Moloch</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(<a href="../cathen/07176a.htm">Hebrew</a> <em>Molech</em>, king).</p> <p>A divinity worshipped by the <a href="../cathen/07636a.htm">idolatrous</a> <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israelites</a>. The Hebrew pointing <em>Molech</em> does not represent the original pronunciation of the name, any more than the Greek vocalization <em>Moloch</em> found in the <a href="../cathen/13722a.htm">LXX</a> and in the Acts (vii, 43). The primitive title of this god was very probably <em>Melech</em>, "king", the consonants of which came to be combined through derision with the vowels of the word <em>Bosheth</em>, "shame". As the word Moloch (<a href="../cathen/02141a.htm">A.V.</a> Molech) means king, it is difficult in several places of the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> to determine whether it should be considered as the proper name of a deity or as a simple appellative. The passages of the original text in which the name stands probably for that of a god are Lev., xviii, 21; xx, 2-5; III (A. V. I) Kings, xi, 7; IV (II) Kings, xxiii, 10; <a href="../bible/isa030.htm#vrs33">Isaiah 30:33</a>; <a href="../bible/isa057.htm#vrs9">57:9</a>; <a href="../bible/jer032.htm">Jeremiah 32:35</a>. The chief feature of Moloch's worship among the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> seems to have been the sacrifice of children, and the usual expression for describing that sacrifice was "to pass through the fire", a rite carried out after the victims had been <a href="../cathen/12565a.htm">put to death</a>. The special centre of such atrocities was just outside of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>, at a place called Tophet (probably "place of abomination"), in the valley of Geennom. According to III (I) Kings, xi, 7, Solomon erected "a temple" for Moloch "on the hill over against Jerusalem", and on this account he is at times considered as the monarch who introduced the impious cult into <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israel</a>. After the disruption, traces of Moloch worship appear in both Juda and <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israel</a>. The custom of causing one's children to pass through the fire seems to have been general in the Northern Kingdom [IV (II) Kings, xvii, 17; Ezech. xxiii, 37], and it gradually grew in the Southern, encouraged by the royal example of Achaz (<a href="../bible/2ki016.htm#vrs3">2 Kings 16:3</a>) and Manasses [IV (II) Kings, xvi, 6] till it became prevalent in the time of the <a href="../cathen/12477a.htm">prophet</a> Jeremias (Jerem. xxxii, 35), when King Josias suppressed the worship of Moloch and defiled Tophet [IV (II) Kings, xxiii, 13 (10)]. It is not improbable that this worship was revived under Joakim and continued until the <a href="../cathen/03315a.htm">Babylonian Captivity</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>On the basis of the Hebrew reading of III (I) Kings, xi, 7, Moloch has often been identified with Milcom, the national god of the <a href="../cathen/01431b.htm">Ammonites</a>, but this identification cannot be considered as probable: as shown by the Greek Versions, the original reading of III (I) Kings, xi, 7, was not Molech but Milchom [cf. also III (I) Kings, xi, 5, 33]; and according to <a href="../bible/deu012.htm#vrs29">Deuteronomy 12:29-31</a> and <a href="../bible/deu018.htm#vrs9">18:9-14</a>, the passing of children through fire was of <a href="../cathen/03569b.htm">Chanaanite</a> origin [cf. IV (II) Kings, xvi, 3]. Of late, numerous attempts have been made to prove that in sacrificing their children to Moloch the <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israelites</a> simply thought that they were offering them in <a href="../cathen/07396b.htm">holocaust</a> to <a href="../cathen/08329a.htm">Yahweh</a>. In other words, the <em>Melech</em> to whom child-sacrifices were offered was <a href="../cathen/08329a.htm">Yahweh</a> under another name. To uphold this view appeal is made in particular to <a href="../bible/jer007.htm">Jeremiah 7:31</a> and <a href="../bible/jer019.htm">19:5</a>, and to <a href="../bible/eze020.htm#vrs25">Ezekiel 20:25-31</a>. But this position is to say the least improbable. The texts appealed to may well be understood otherwise, and the <a href="../cathen/12477a.htm">prophets</a> expressly treat the cult of Moloch as foreign and as an apostasy from the worship of the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">true God</a>. The offerings by fire, the probable identity of Moloch with <a href="../cathen/02175a.htm">Baal</a>, and the fact that in <a href="../cathen/02007c.htm">Assyria</a> and <a href="../cathen/02179b.htm">Babylonia</a> Malik, and at <a href="../cathen/11433a.htm">Palmyra</a> Malach-bel, were sun-gods, have suggested to many that Moloch was a fire- or sun-god.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">BAUDISSIN, Jahve et Moloch (Leipzig, 1874); SMITH, Religion of the Semites (London, 1894); SCHULTZ, Old Testament Theology, I (tr., Edinburgh, 1898); LAGRANGE, Etudes sur les Religions Semitiques (Paris, 1903).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Gigot, F.</span> <span id="apayear">(1911).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Moloch.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10443b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Gigot, Francis.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Moloch."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 10.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1911.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10443b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Kenneth M. Caldwell.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to the volunteers of Birthright.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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