Leviticus 20:1-5 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And the Lord spake, &c.— In ch. Leviticus 18:21 this dedication of children to Molech, is forbidden in more general terms. It is there said, thou shalt not let any of thy offspring pass through the fire to Molech: where the reader will observe, that the words, the fire, are in Italics, and, consequently, not in the Hebrew. Accordingly, Houbigant is of opinion that the phrase signifies to become servants to; and that it expresses dedicating children in perpetual servitude to the worship of Molech, and therefore he renders it, non mittes ad Molech semen tuum in servitutem, thou mayest not send thy offspring into servitude to Molech: and he observes, that the word fire is never used, where Molech is spoken of: but he certainly forgot, Exodus 23:10 where it is expressly said, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech: and I have no doubt but that in many other places in Scripture, where passing through the fire is spoken of, reference is made to this same idol. Calmet has a very learned and excellent dissertation upon this subject. He informs us from the Rabbins, that "this idol was of brass, sitting upon a throne of the same metal, adorned with a royal crown; having the head of a calf, and his arms extended, as if to embrace any one. When they would offer any children to him, they heated the statue within by a great fire; and, when it was burning hot, they put the miserable victim within his arms, which was soon consumed by the violence of the heat: and, that the cries of the children might not be heard, they made a great noise with drums and other instruments about the idol." Others relate that the idol was hollow, and within it were contrived seven partitions, one of which was appointed for meal or flour; in the second, there were turtles; in the third, an ewe; in the fourth, a ram; in the fifth, a calf; in the sixth, an ox; and in the seventh, a child. All these were burned together by heating the statue in the inside. Parkhurst observes, that "it appears from the substance of this idol, which was brass; from its having the head of a calf (the animal-emblem of fire;) from its being divided into seven partitions, answering to the seven planetary spheres or orbits; and from the horrid rites performed to it, that it was intended as a representative of the solar fire. This is also confirmed by its name מלךֶ melek, the king: [the LXX several times render it, when meaning the idol, αρχων the ruler:] for, as a king, in his political capacity, acts where he is not, by means of others; so the solar fire in our system does, in some sense, act where it is not, by means of the light which it is continually sending forth, and putting in motion. It has been doubted, whether in that shocking rite of making their children pass through the fire to Molech, they were always destroyed or burnt to death or not. Whoever will attentively consider the following passages in the Hebrew Bible, will be strongly inclined to the affirmative; Ezekiel 16:20-21; Ezekiel 37:28.: Compare Jeremiah 32:35 with Jeremiah 7:31. Some savages of Florida, we are informed by some writers, used to sacrifice their first-born, if a male, to the sun; see Ceremonies and Religious customs, vol. 3: p. 129:" see also 2 Chronicles 28:2. 2 Kings 23:10. Those who desire further information on this subject, we refer to Calmet and Selden's Dissertations, and Bishop Newton's Notes on Milton's Paradise Lost, Book i. ver. 392.