Child Sacrifice To Molech And Involvement In The Occult Is Forbidden To All In The Land (Leviticus 20:2-6).
“Moreover, you shall say to the children of Israel, Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who gives of his seed to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I also will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he has given of his seed to Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.”
The horror of what Molech was comes out in the constant mention of him. He was the god of Ammon, but he demanded child sacrifice, and was clearly fairly widely worshipped in Canaan in a day when it was considered that the greater the sacrifice the greater the benefit received. His name was probably Melech (King) but the writers changed the vowels to the vowels used on bosheth (shame) in order to indicate their view of him.
Anyone, whether Israelite or resident alien, who encouraged the worship of Molech or gave to him their ‘seed' was to be put to death without question. The ‘people of the land' were to stone such a person with stones (see Deuteronomy 13:10; Deuteronomy 21:21). He had defiled ‘the land'. It was to be a people's execution for the removal of evil from among them. The thought is probably that the execution should be carried out immediately on one who was an isolated case, and discovered in the act. The worship of Molech was to be allowed nowhere in the land by anyone. Stoning with stones was later especially the punishment for blasphemy, carried out by the people (Leviticus 20:27; Leviticus 24:23; Numbers 14:10; Numbers 15:35-36; Deuteronomy 8:9; Deuteronomy 13:10; Deuteronomy 17:5; Deuteronomy 21:21; Deuteronomy 22:21; Deuteronomy 22:24; Joshua 7:25; 1 Kings 12:18), and could be carried out immediately (compare Stephen - Acts 7).
Moreover God Himself would set His face against that man and cut him off from among his people, for by giving his seed to Molech he had defiled Yahweh's Sanctuary, and profaned His holy name. So the people had to act to maintain the purity of the land, God Himself would act to maintain the purity of the Sanctuary.
The ‘people of the land'. Some see this as a technical description of a group of property owning aristocrats (compare 2 Kings 25:19), others as signifying the whole people acting as one (compare Genesis 42:6). In Genesis it means the indigenous population (Genesis 23:7; Genesis 23:12-13), but not so here. In Exodus 5:5 it refers to a section of the common people in a particular place, which may well be its meaning here.
“And if the people of the land do at all hide their eyes from that man, when he gives of his seed to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that play the harlot after him, to play the harlot with Molech, from among their people.”
But if the people of the land deliberately ‘hide their eyes' and refrain from doing their duty and the worship becomes more prevalent, then this case is so bad that God Himself will step in to intervene. He will set His face against the man, his family, who will undoubtedly be involved with him in it, and with all others involved in the worship. They will all be cut off. This is because they are ‘playing the harlot'. They are looking to Molech rather than to their ‘husband' Yahweh.
It is interesting that at this stage Molech is seen as the great enemy they will face in the land. This may be because he was particularly objectionable, or because at this stage they were close to Moab and Ammon where his worship was prevalent.
“And the person who turns to those who have familiar spirits, and to the wizards, to play the harlot after them, I will even set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people.”
And the same is to apply to the occult. Those who look to familiar spirits or to seekers after the dead, which is again described as ‘playing the harlot' and being unfaithful to Yahweh, will discover that Yahweh sets His face against them and cuts them off from among the people. They will no longer be His. But we also have here again the contrast between life and death, what was ‘clean' and what was ‘unclean'.
This too would have had special significance if it came at the time when Balaam had been called on to ‘fight' against Israel (Numbers 22-24).