Thou shalt not, &c.— This prohibition being delivered more at large in the 20th chapter, we refer to it. A commentator, however, observes on this passage, that "Moloch was a name common to all the gods, as also Baal, under which name the Gentiles worshipped some eminent daemon or hero, but most commonly the sun, in some symbol or image; see Jeremiah 19:5; Jeremiah 32:35. They were forbidden the burning their children alive, which was a magical rite performed by the heathens to their gods, in time of adversity; to which the passage in Mich. Leviticus 6:7 alludes. They were also forbidden the leading their children through the fire, by which rite the idolatrous used to purify or initiate their children. The Zabii also used this rite in their worship of the fire and sun."
Neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God— Any sort of idolatry was highly profaning the name of God, by communicating that worship, which was only due to Him, for his holiness and incommunicable eminency. See Ezekiel 20:39; Ezekiel 43:7-8.