In order to understand the Mosaic Laws in Leviticus 18
and 20 one needs to know
the history of the gods and the practices involved in
worship of these gods. It is hard
for us some 3550 years later to know just how the societal
mind set was, where a
parent was willing to give their child's life to a god.
Even Abraham (1996 - 1822 bc)
was told to take his son Isaac and offer him for burnt
offering. Abraham did not
hesitate in obeying. At the very last moment Abraham right
as he was taking a knife
to slay his son was told to stop, that now God knew Abraham
feared God by not
withholding his son (Gen 22:1-13). In the Canaan
area where Moses was going,
Molech was likely to be the first god worshiped by the
people that Moses would
encounter in the land of the Amorites (between the rivers
Jabbok and Arnon) and
Moab (south of the river Arnon). Where Moses died, because
he was only
allowed to see the good land beyond the River Jordan,
but would not posses it.
Moses was no doubt told about the practices of the worshipers
in the land of
Canaan well before actually entering near the land of
Canaan. Much like a tourist
is told about a vacation destination. Since the religious
rites in this area were
shared and mixed, no doubt many religious practices were
told to Moses, as well
as the mix of religious rites. This would explain why
Molech a lesser name of the
Baal worship came to be in Leviticus. It is much the same
as Baptist, Catholic,
and Pentecostal are all of the same religion, but all
have their own way of doing it.
Let's get to know the gods and their practices a bit better.
Molech
(also spelled Moloch), a fire god of the calf worship
to whom some child sacrifices
were made throughout the ancient Middle East, but probably
for the most part were
more like hot baptisms, passing the children between two
fires, in normal times
without drought etc. Molech was often used in the Old
Testament as a variant name
for the popular god Baal ("Lord"). Molech is associated
with the gold calves, or
molten calf (Exo 32:8, Lev 19:4, 2
Kings 10:28-29) and Molech was depicted as a
calf faced god with his hands stretched out before him
to receive the seed offering.
Sexual intercourse with temple prostitutes and anyone
else was encouraged,
ostensibly to promote increased agricultural production
and fertility by arousing the
gods to have sex Lev 18:21-24,
Lev 20:2-5. The giving of the seed, both literally and
ceremoniously would be like giving your child to god.
Later in the days of Israel's
divided kingdom a site for this practice was established.
Solomon and later Ahaz
introduced the worship of Molech into Judah. He had a
sanctuary outside Jerusalem
in the valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem called Topheth
(once Tophet), associated
with the worship of Molech.
Tophet became a name for hell. This was destroyed
by Josiah, great grandson of Manassah ( 1
Kings 11:7, 2 Kings 23:10, Jer 32:35 ).
Hosea expresses God's intense hostility toward the gold
calves at Dan & Bethel
which the first king of Israel erected so he wouldn't
lose control of Israel. Hos 13:2.
Canaanite Pantheon
The Canaanites borrowed heavily from the Assyrians. The
Canaanite pantheon was
headed by El, the creator god, whose wife was Asherah.
Their offspring was Baal,
who married Anath, who was Ashtoreth, who was Ishtar.
Dagon, and Resheph,
(Moloch, Molech, Milcom, of the Ammonite, and Chemosh
of the Moabite) were
other gods of this pantheon. The cult practices included
animal sacrifices at
high places; sacred groves, trees or carved wooden images
of Asherah. Divination,
snake worship, ritual prostitution were practiced and
bestiality. Sexual rites were
supposed to ensure fertility of people, animals and lands.
Baal
Baal , plural Baalim (in Semitic, means master, lord),
name used throughout the
Bible for the chief deity or for deities of Canaan. Baal
was originally a title applied
to the storm god Hadad, whose cult object was the bull
was worshiped from
3000-1500 bc. El who was the father of Baal was a creator
god, creation occurs
through sexual procreation with female deities, so worship
of El takes on sexual form.
Baal the son of El was younger and
more virile than El. Since Baal and Ashtoreth
were fertility gods, Baal needed to have sex with the
Ashtoreth in order to cause
crops to grow and livestock reproduce. In order
to induce Baal to do this, male
worshippers needed to have sex with cult prostitutes (sympathetic
magic). This
made Baal worship pretty popular with the men, and in
other texts we see the mixing
of the ritual practices that were associated with Molech
worship as in Jer.19:5
By the time of 14th century bc, Baal had become the ruler
of the universe, and Baal
became the chief of the Canaanite pantheon. Baal's wife
Ashtoreth was the goddess
of sex, war and fertility. She is both sensuous and dangerous.
She is a sacred
prostitute for the gods, called some times,"holy one."
In this religious institution of
sexual intercourse with temple prostitutes and anyone
else for that matter, was
encouraged ostensibly to promote increased fertility of
people, animals and agricultural
production by arousing Baal to have sex with Ashtoreth,
his wife. The Baal cult object
was associated with the bull (or golden calf) and implied
strength and fertility (the roar
of the bull represents Baal, the bull was considered as
a sacred fertilizing power).
Hosea says that this kind of sexual activity was rampant
everywhere by everyone.
Israel's infidelity toward God took as many forms as there
were gods in their Canaanite
pantheon. The most prominent sin was the sexual immorality
associated with the Baal
cult. Since Israel was a theocracy ruled by God, religious
apostasy constituted treason,
which has always been a capital offense. Sexual offenses
were a part of idolatrous
rituals in Baal worship and thus constituted treason (Moses
assigned these sexual
offenses of idolatrous ritual to Molech, Lev 18:21-24,
Lev 20 2-5, 10, 13, 15).
At the beginning the Jewish people had 12 tribes
and they all lived together in
Israel. Then later Israel split into the Northern Kingdom
of Israel and the southern
kingdom of Judah. The north worshiped Yahweh, but the
God of the Old Testament
was in decline. Altars to these other gods surrounded
Israel on every hill. Jezebel the
wife of King Ahab wanted everyone to worship her god,
Baal, so she appointed 450
Chemarim priests to become prophets of Baal. Jezebel
also had her husband, King
Ahab hunt down and kill all of the prophets of Yahweh.
Things were so bad, that these
prophets had to hid out in caves. Elijah challenged the
King Ahab, the king of Israel
to a match between Baal and God on Mt. Carmel (910 bc).
To prove who was the
real God. There was set up two altars with two bullocks
sacrifices, one for Baal, one
for Yahweh and laid it on wood. The winner, the real God,
would prove himself by
sending fire (lightening) from heaven to consume the sacrifice.
The Baal prophets
chanted "Oh Baal, hear us" all day, but Baal never answered.
Elijah mocked them
and said, "Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking,
or he is pursuing, or he is in a
journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked".
The Baal prophets " cried
aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives
and lancets, till the blood
gushed out upon them". The Baal prophets cried into the
evening and there was no
answer. Then Elijah called to the Lord, and then the fire
fell and consumed the burnt
sacrifice. Then Elijah said "take the prophets of Baal;
let not one of them escape. And
they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook
Kishon, and slew them there"
(1 Kings 18:19-40). We see that the worship of the Baal
related gods were going
strong long before Moses was wandering in the wilderness
1491 - 1451 bc and was
still around in 910 bc some 541 years later. If we take
the age of Hadad who was
Baal from 3000 to 910 bc that is 2090 years the Baal like
gods were worshiped, and
this does not take into account the gods Baal ultimatle
grew into, as becoming Jupiter,
and Ashtoreth his wife into Venus. Baal as the bull
is associated with Jupiter and
Dionysus, and Ashtoreth his wife is associated with Aphrodite
and Venus. We will
see in the In Depth study in Romans that these Greek and
Roman gods were treated
in the same disdain as in the time of Moses. The towns
who worshiped Baal often
added Baal to the first of their town's name as Baal meon,
Baal Hazor and even
Hadad Rimmon (near Dor on the sea, see map)
There is evidence at the a temple at Amman (1400-1250 B.C.)
that was excavated
and found in the temple were enormous quantities of animal,
bird and human bones
and a great amount of evidence of fire. There is little
doubt that the temple was
associated with a fire cult (Molech). They found that
75% of the bones found belong to
children between the ages of 3 and 14. It is obvious that
if Moses had heard about
this practice and was told of this idolatrous abomination
by God, Moses would
rightly be appalled by this. Now of course if this was
happening every Sunday let's
say, it would be hard to believe the practice would survive
as long as it had. Parent
are generally very reluctant to kill their child. Even
Abraham who did not hesitate
in obeying God to kill his son, in the back of his mind
thought God would bring his son
back to life (Heb 11:19). Molech practices involved the
idolatrous giving of the seed
to Molech with men giving the seed
in sex with male Chemarim priests (Zeph 1:2-4)
who at times dressed as females, with calves, because
Molech was a calf faced
god, women laying with bulls to recieve the seed of Molech
as to raise seed to
Molech, and pregnant women would stand before bulls or
Molech to give their
seed their child in them to Molech. There is some evidence
that in hard times they
would actually give human sacrifice of their children
between 3 and 14 years old.
This gives a more full understanding of Leviticus 18:21-24 and Lev 20:2-5 13, 15-16.
Lev 18:21 speaks of human sacrifices giving your children
(your seed) to Molech
(the original language does not mention fire). It warns
perform no idolatry to Molech,
then below this verse it goes on to says which idolatrous
acts that are the abominable
acts of idolatry performed to Molech. Lev 18:22 speaks
of the ritual of having sodomy
with a Chemarim priest (Zeph 1:2-4,
idolatrous priests of Molech the fire god) which
is the ritual of "giving the seed
to Molech" to entice the gods to mate and to bring in
cash to the temples to continue the worship of Molech.
(Women were not allowed to
be Chemarim priest at the time so the "giving the seed
to Molech" was with a man,
and clearly said in Lev 20:5 for males to not go whoring
with male temple priests to
Molech.) Lev 18:22 is an idolatrous act to Molech, the
"giving of the seed to Molech",
idolatry is a moral sin, it is abomination. The fact that
the translation of the original
language for Sodomite is telling here. The original Hebrew
word for Sodomite is
"qadesh" which means a male temple prostitute. (Woredoms
for gods Deu 23:17-18,
Ezek 16:21-26,36, Ezek 23:7, and
what Paul says in 1 Cor 6:9,13-20 after being
in Corinth were they worshiped Venus with temple prostitution,
and wrote two letters
(Epistles) to the Corinthians.) Lev 18:23 is also the
act of idolatry, Molech was a
calf faced god, men would "give the seed to Molech" with
calves (Hosea 13:2),
which is a idolatrous act, and an enticement for the gods
to have sex. The women
would receive the seed of Molech to raise them for Molech
by lying with animals
(bulls) a form of fertility rite (and enticement)
to raise their seed (their children after
this) to Molech. Women would stand before animals (bulls
or Molech) to pledge
their children (their seed, if they were pregnant) to
be raised to Molech, to insure their
health. Moses after this then says why these idolatrous
rituals are so bad to the people
and to God. Lev 18:24 speaks to that issue, because in
doing these acts of idolatry you
defile God as well as defile your nation. If you spill
the seed you do not build the nation,
if you raised your seed to Molech it caused confusion
upon your nation, you defiled
your nation. Lev 18:21-24 is the sin of idolatry through
the ritual of spilling the seed to
the god Molech.
Read these verses below with this information and the idolatry becomes clear.
Lev 20:
2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel,
Whosoever he be of the children
of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel,
that giveth any of his seed unto
Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of
the land shall stone him with
stones.
...
5 Then I will set my face against that man, and
against his family, and will cut him
off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom
with Molech, from
among their people.
Leviticus 18:
21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through
the fire to Molech, neither
shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
(perform no idolatry to Molech, give no seed to Molech)
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind:
it is abomination.
(give no seed to male Chemarim priests to Molech.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Ezekiel 16:24.
Thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place a brothel)
23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile
thyself therewith: neither shall any
woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is
confusion.
(give no seed to beasts for Molech (Hosea
13:2))
24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things:
for in all these the nations are
defiled which I cast out before you:
(Give no seed to Molech it does not build the nation it
defiles the nation, it is idolatry
an abomination.)
Lev 20:
3 And I will set my face against that man, and will
cut him off from among his people;
because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile
my sanctuary, and to profane
my holy name.
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Reference
Exo 32:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded
them: they have
made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed
thereunto, and
said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt.
Lev 19:
4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods:
I am the LORD your God.
2 Kings 10:
28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made
Israel to sin, Jehu
departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in
Bethel, and that
were in Dan.
Return
Lev 18
21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire
to Molech, neither shalt
thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is
abomination.
23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith:
neither shall any
woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all
these the nations are defiled
which I cast out before you:
Lev 20:
2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever
he be of the children of
Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any
of his seed unto Molech;
he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone
him with stones.
3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off
from among his people;
because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary,
and to profane
my holy name.
4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from
the man, when he
giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:
5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family,
and will cut him off,
and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech,
from among
their people.
Return
1 Kings 11:
7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the
abomination of Moab, in
the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination
of the children of
Ammon.
2 Kings 23:
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children
of Hinnom, that no
man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to
Molech.
Jer 32:
35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley
of the son of Hinnom,
to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto
Molech; which I
commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should
do this
abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
Return
Jer 19:
5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their
sons with fire for burnt
offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came
it into my mind:
Return
Zeph 1:
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith
the LORD.
3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the
heaven, and the fishes
of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut
off man from off the
land, saith the LORD.
4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name
of the Chemarims
with the priests;
Return
Deu 23:
17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a
sodomite of the sons of Israel.
18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of
a dog, into the house of the
LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto
the LORD thy God.
Ezek 16:
21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause
them to pass through
the fire for them?
22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast
not remembered the
days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted
in thy blood.
23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto
thee! saith the
Lord GOD;)
24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and
hast made thee an high
place in every street.
25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and
hast made thy beauty
to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by,
and multiplied
thy whoredoms.
26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy
neighbours, great of
flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
...
36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured
out, and thy nakedness
discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the
idols of thy
abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give
unto them;
Ezek 23:
7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that
were the chosen
men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols
she defiled herself.
Return
1 Cor 6:
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor
abusers of themselves with mankind,
...
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall
destroy both it and
them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the
Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise
up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall
I then take the
members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is
one body? for two, saith
he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the
body; but he that
committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your
body, and in your
spirit, which are God's.
Return
Hosea 13:
2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images
of their silver,
and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work
of the craftsmen: they
say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
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