Fire:
(1.) For sacred purposes. The sacrifices were consumed by fire (Gen 8:20). The ever-burning fire on the altar was first kindled from heaven (Lev 6:9,13; 9:24), and afterwards rekindled at the dedication of Solomon's temple (2Ch 7:1,3). The expressions "fire from heaven" and "fire of the Lord" generally denote lightning, but sometimes also the fire of the altar was so called (Exd 29:18; Lev 1:9; 2:3; 3:5,9).
Fire for a sacred purpose obtained otherwise than from the altar was called "strange fire" (Lev 10:1,2; Num 3:4).
The victims slain for sin offerings were afterwards consumed by fire outside the camp (Lev 4:12,21; 6:30; 16:27; Hbr 13:11).
(2.) For domestic purposes, such as baking, cooking, warmth, etc. (Jer 36:22; Mar 14:54; Jhn 18:18). But on Sabbath no fire for any domestic purpose was to be kindled (Exd 35:3; Num 15:32-36).
(3.) Punishment of death by fire was inflicted on such as were guilty of certain forms of unchastity and incest (Lev 20:14; 21:9). The burning of captives in war was not unknown among the Jews (2Sa 12:31; Jer 29:22). The bodies of infamous persons who were executed were also sometimes burned (Jos 7:25; 2Ki 23:16).
(4.) In war, fire was used in the destruction of cities, as Jericho (Jos 6:24), Ai (8:19), Hazor (11:11), Laish (Jdg 18:27), etc. The war-chariots of the Canaanites were burnt (Jos 11:6,9,13). The Israelites burned the images (2Ki 10:26; R.V., "pillars") of the house of Baal. These objects of worship seem to have been of the nature of obelisks, and were sometimes evidently made of wood.
Torches were sometimes carried by the soldiers in battle (Jdg 7:16).
(5.) Figuratively, fire is a symbol of Jehovah's presence and the instrument of his power (Exd 14:19; Num 11:1,3; Jdg 13:20; 1Ki 18:38; 2Ki 1:10,12; 2:11; Isa 6:4; Eze 1:4; Rev 1:14, etc.).
God's word is also likened unto fire (Jer 23:29). It is referred to as an emblem of severe trials or misfortunes (Zec 12:6; Luk 12:49; 1Cr 3:13,15; 1Pe 1:7), and of eternal punishment (Mat 5:22; Mar 9:44; Rev 14:10; 21:8).
The influence of the Holy Ghost is likened unto fire (Mat 3:11). His descent was denoted by the appearance of tongues as of fire (Act 2:3).
Fire:
fir ('esh; pur): These are the common words for fire, occurring very frequently. ?Ur, "light" (Isa 24:15 the King James Version; compare the Revised Version (British and American); Isa 31:9, and see FIRES), nur (Aramaic) (Da 3:22 ff) are found a few times, also ?eshshah (Jer 6:29), and be?erah (Ex 22:6), once each. Ac 28:2,3 has pura, "pyre," and Mr 14:54; Lu 22:56, phos, "light," the Revised Version (British and American) "in the light (of the fire)." "To set on fire," yatsath (2Sa 14:31), lahat (De 32:22, etc.), phlogizo (Jas 3:6).
Fire was regarded by primitive peoples as supernatural in origin and specially Divine. Molech, the fire-god, and other deities were worshipped by certain Canaanitish and other tribes with human sacrifices (De 12:31; 2Ki 17:31; Ps 106:37), and, although this was specially forbidden to the Israelites (Le 18:21; De 12:31; 18:10), they too often lapsed into the practice (2Ki 16:3; 21:6; Jer 7:31; Eze 20:26,31).
See MOLECH; IDOLATRY.
1. Literal Usage:
Fire in the Old Testament is specially associated with the Divine presence, e.g. in the making of the Covenant with Abraham (Ge 15:17), in the burning bush. (Ex 3:2-4), in the pillar of fire (Ex 13:21), on Sinai (Ex 19:18), in the flame on the altar (Jud 13:20). Yahweh was "the God that answereth by fire" (1Ki 18:24,38). In the Law, therefore, sacrifices and offerings (including incense) were to be made by fire (Ex 12:8,9,10; Le 1). Fire from Yahweh signified the acceptance of certain special and separate sacrifices (Jud 6:21; 1Ki 18:38; 1Ch 21:26). In Le 9:24 the sacrificial fire "came forth from before Yahweh." The altar-fire was to be kept continually burning (Le 6:12,13); offering by "strange fire" (other than the sacred altar-fire) was punished by "fire from before Yahweh" (Le 10:1,2). Fire came from heaven also at the consecration of Solomon's Temple (2Ch 7:1).
According to #/APC 2Macc 1:19-22, at the time of the Captivity priests hid the sacred fire in a well, and Nehemiah found it again, in a miraculous way, for the second Temple. Later, Maccabeus is said to have restored the fire by "striking stones and taking fire out of them" (10:3).
Fire was a frequent instrument of the Divine primitive wrath (Ge 19:24; Ex 9:23 (lightning); Nu 11:1; 16:35, etc.; Ps 104:4, the American Standard Revised Version "Who maketh.... flames of fire his ministers"). Fire shall yet dissolve the world (2Pe 3:12). It was frequently used by the Israelites as a means of destruction of idolatrous objects and the cities of their enemies (De 7:5,25; 12:3; 13:16; Jos 6:24; Jgs, frequently); sometimes also of punishment (Le 20:14; 21:9; Jos 7:25; #/APC 2Macc 7:5).
The domestic use of fire was, as among other peoples, for heating, cooking, lighting, etc., but according to the Law no fire could be kindled on the Sabbath day (Ex 35:3). It was employed also for melting (Ex 32:24), and refining (Nu 31:23; 3:2,3, etc.). For the sacrificial fire wood was used as fuel (Ge 22:3,1; Le 6:12); for ordinary purposes, also charcoal (Pr 25:22; Isa 6:6, the Revised Version, margin "or hot stone"; Hab 3:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "fiery bolts," margin "or burning coals"; Joh 21:9, "a fire of coals" the Revised Version, margin "Gr, a fire of charcoal"; Ro 12:20); branches (Nu 15:32; 1Ki 17:12); thorns (Ps 58:9; 118:12; Ec 7:6; Isa 33:12); grass and other herbage (Mt 6:30; Lu 12:28).
2. Figurative Use:
Fire was an emblem
(1) of Yahweh in His glory (Da 7:9);
(2) in His holiness (Isa 6:4);
(3) in His jealousy for His sole worship (De 4:24; Heb 12:29; Ps 79:5; perhaps also Isa 33:14);
(4) of His protection of His people (2Ki 6:17; Zec 2:5);
(5) of His righteous judgment and purification (Zec 13:9; Mal 3:2,3; 1Co 3:13,15);
(6) of His wrath against sin and punishment of the wicked (De 9:3; Ps 18:8; 89:46; Isa 5:24; 30:33, "a Topheth is prepared of old"; Mt 3:10-12; 5:22, the Revised Version (British and American) "the hell of fire," margin "Greek, Gehenna of fire"; see Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31; Mt 13:40,42; 25:41, "eternal fire"; Mr 9:45-49; see Isa 66:24; 2Th 1:7; Heb 10:27; Jude 1:7);
(7) of the word of God in its power (Jer 5:14; 23:29);
(8) of Divine truth (Ps 39:3; Jer 20:9; Lu 12:49);
(9) of that which guides men (Isa 50:10,11);
(10) of the Holy Spirit (Ac 2:3);
(11) of the glorified Christ (Re 1:14);
(12) of kindness in its melting power (Ro 12:20);
(13) of trial and suffering (Ps 66:12; Isa 43:2; 1Pe 1:7; 4:12);
(14) of evil (Pr 6:27; 16:27; Isa 9:18; 65:5); lust or desire (Ho 7:6; #/APC Sirach 23:16; 1Co 7:9); greed (Pr 30:16);
(15) of the tongue in its evil aspects (Jas 3:5,6);
(16) of heaven in its purity and glory (Re 15:2; see also Re 21:22,23).
Written by W. L. Walker
Fire Baptism →Fire: Used as a Signal in War
Jer 6:1
Fire: Furnaces Of
Dan 3:6
Fire: Children Caused to Pass Through
2Ki 16:3; 17:17
Fire: Miracles Connected With
Miraculously descends upon, and consumes, Abraham's sacrifice,
Gen 15:17;
David's sacrifice,
1Ch 21:26;
Elijah's sacrifice,
1Ki 18:38;
Solomon's sacrifice, at dedication of the temple,
2Ch 7:1.
Fire: Display Of
In the plagues of Egypt,
Exd 9:24.
Fire: At Elijah's Translation
2Ki 2:11
Fire: Consumes the Conspirators with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
Num 16:35
Fire: The Captains of Fifties
2Ki 1:9-12
Fire: Torture By
Lev 21:9; Jer 29:22; Eze 23:25, 47; Dan 3
Fire: Pillar of Fire
Exd 13:21, 22; 14:19, 24; 40:38; Num 9:15-23
Fire: Reference Concerning
See CLOUD, PILLAR OF
Fire: Figurative
Of cleansing,
Isa 6:6, 7;
spiritual power,
Psa 104:4; Jer 20:9; Mat 3:11; Luk 3:16;
judgments,
Deu 4:24; 32:22; Isa 33:14; Jer 23:29; Amo 1:4, 7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2; Mal 3:2; Luk 12:49; Rev 20:9;
of the destruction of the wicked,
Mat 13:42, 50; 25:41; Mar 9:44; Rev 9:2; 21:8.
Fire: Everlasting Fire
Isa 33:14; Mat 18:8; 25:41; Mar 9:44.
Fire: A Symbol
Of God's presence,
Gen 15:17.
In the burning bush,
Exd 3:2.
On Sinai,
Exd 19:18.
Tongues of, on the apostles,
Act 2:3.
See ARSON
Fire: Can Be Increased in Intensity
Dan 3:19,22
Fire: Though Small, Kindles a Great Matter
Jam 3:5
Fire: Things Connected With
Burning coals
Pro 26:21
Flame
Sgs 8:6; Isa 66:15
Sparks
Job 18:5; Isa 1:31
Ashes
1Ki 13:3; 2Pe 2:6
Smoke
Isa 34:10; Joe 2:30
Fire: Kept Alive by Fuel
Pro 26:20; Isa 9:5
Fire: Characterised As
Bright
Eze 1:13
Spreading
Jam 3:5
Enlightening
Psa 78:14; 105:39
Heating
Mar 14:54
Melting
Psa 68:2; Isa 64:2
Purifying
Num 31:23; 1Pe 1:7; Rev 3:18
Drying
Job 15:30; Joe 1:20
Consuming
Jdg 15:4,5; Psa 46:9; Isa 10:16,17
Insatiable
Pro 30:16
Fire: Sacred
Came from before the Lord
Lev 9:24
Always burning on the altar
Lev 6:13
All burn offerings consumed by
Lev 6:9,12
Incense burned with
Lev 16:12; Num 16:46
Guilt of burning incense without
Lev 10:1
Restored to the temple
2Ch 7:1-3
Fire: Frequently employed as an instrument of divine vengeance
Psa 97:3; Isa 47:14; 66:16
Fire: Miraculous
In the burning bush
Exd 3:2
Plagued the Egyptians
Exd 9:23,24
Led the people of Israel in the desert
Exd 13:22; 40:38
On Mount Sinai at giving of law
Deu 4:11,37
Destroyed Nadab and Abihu
Lev 10:2
Destroyed the people at Taberah
Num 11:1
Consumed the company of Korah
Num 16:35
Consumed the sacrifice of Gideon
Jdg 6:21
Angel ascended in
Jdg 13:20
Consumed the sacrifice of Elijah
1Ki 18:38
Destroyed the enemies of Elijah
2Ki 1:10,12
Elijah taken up in a chariot of
2Ki 2:11
Fire: God Appeared In
Exd 3:2; 19:18
Fire: Christ Shall Appear In
Dan 7:10; 2Th 1:8
Fire: Punishment of the Wicked Shall Be In
Mat 13:42; 25:41
Fire: In Houses
Lighted in the winter
Jer 36:22
Lighted in spring mornings
Jhn 18:18
Not to be lighted on the Sabbath
Exd 35:3
Made of charcoal
Jhn 18:18
Made of wood
Act 28:3
Fire: Injury from, to be made good by the person who kindled it
Exd 22:6
Fire: Illustrative Of
God's protection
Num 9:16; Zec 2:5
God's vengeance
Deu 4:24; Hbr 12:29
Christ as judge
Isa 10:17; Mal 3:2
The Holy Spirit
Isa 4:4; Act 2:3
The church destroying her enemies
Oba 1:18
The word of God
Jer 5:14; 23:29
Zeal of saints
Psa 39:3; 119:139
Zeal of angels
Psa 104:4; Hbr 1:7
God's enemies
Isa 10:17; Oba 1:18
Lust
Pro 6:27,28
Wickedness
Isa 9:18
The tongue
Pro 16:27; Jam 3:6
The self-righteous
Isa 65:5
The hope of hypocrites
Isa 50:11
Persecution
Luk 12:49-53
Affliction
Isa 43:2
Judgments
Jer 48:45; Lam 1:13; Eze 39:6
Fire:
(akin to which are No. 2, pura, and puretos, "a fever," Eng., "fire," etc.) is used (besides its ordinary natural significance):
(a) of the holiness of God, which consumes all that is inconsistent therewith, Hbr 10:27; 12:29; cp. Rev 1:14; 2:18; 10:1; 15:2; 19:12; similarly of the holy angels as His ministers, Hbr 1:7; in Rev 3:18 it is symbolic of that which tries the faith of saints, producing what will glorify the Lord;
(b) of the Divine judgment, testing the deeds of believers, at the judgment seat of Christ, 1Cr 3:13, 15;
(c) of the fire of Divine judgment upon the rejectors of Christ, Mat 3:11 (where a distinction is to be made between the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the "fire" of Divine retribution; Act 2:3 could not refer to baptism); Luk 3:16;
(d) of the judgments of God at the close of the present age previous to the establishment of the kingdom of Christ in the world, 2Th 1:8; Rev 18:8;
(e) of the "fire" of Hell, to be endured by the ungodly hereafter, Mat 5:22; 13:42, 50; 18:8, 9; 25:41; Mar 9:43, 48; Luk 3:17;
(f) of human hostility both to the Jews and to Christ's followers, Luk 12:49;
(g) as illustrative of retributive judgment upon the luxurious and tyrannical rich, Jam 5:3;
(h) of the future overthrow of the Babylonish religious system at the hands of the Beast and the nations under him, Rev 17:16;
(i) of turning the heart of an enemy to repentance by repaying his unkindness by kindness, Rom 12:20;
(j) of the tongue, as governed by a "fiery" disposition and as exercising a destructive influence over others, Jam 3:6;
(k) as symbolic of the danger of destruction, Jud 1:23.
Note: See also under FLAME.
A-2NounStrong's Number: g4443Greek: puraFire:
from No. 1, denotes "a heap of fuel" collected to be set on fire (hence Eng., "pyre"), Act 28:2, 3.
Note: In Mar 14:54, the italicized phrase "of the fire" is added in the Eng. versions to indicate the light as coming from the "fire."
B-1AdjectiveStrong's Number: g4447Greek: purinosFire:
"fiery" (akin to A, No. 1), is translated "of fire" in Rev 9:17. In the Sept., Eze 28:14, 16.
C-1VerbStrong's Number: g4448Greek: purooFire:
is translated "being on fire" (Middle Voice) in 2Pe 3:12.
See FIERY.
Fire:
"to set on fire, burn up," is used figuratively, in both Active and Passive Voices, in Jam 3:6, of the tongue, firstly, of its disastrous effects upon the whole round of the circumstances of life; secondly, of satanic agency in using the tongue for this purpose.
Fire:
is represented as the symbol of Jehovah's presence and the instrument of his power, in the way either of approval or of destruction (Exodus 3:2; 14:19 etc.). There could not be a better symbol for Jehovah than this of fire, it being immaterial, mysterious, but visible, warming, cheering, comforting, but also terrible and consuming. Parallel with this application of fire and with its symbolical meaning are to be noted the similar use for sacrificial purposes and the respect paid to it, or to the heavenly bodies as symbols of deity, which prevailed among so many nations of antiquity, and of which the traces are not even now extinct; e.g. the Sabean and Magian systems of worship (Isaiah 27:9). Fire for sacred purposes obtained elsewhere than from the altar was called "strange fire," and for the use of such Nadab and Abihu were punished with death by fire from God (Leviticus 10:1-2; Numbers 3:4; 26:61).
Molech; Moloch:
mo'-lek, mo'-lok (ha-molekh, always with the article, except in 1Ki 11:7; Septuagint ho Moloch, sometimes also Molchom, Melchol; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Moloch):
1. The Name
2. The Worship in Old Testament History
3. The Worship in the Prophets
4. Nature of the Worship
5. Origin and Extent of the Worship
LITERATURE
1. The Name:
The name of a heathen divinity whose worship figures largely in the later history of the kingdom of Judah. As the national god of the Ammonites, he is known as "Milcom" (1Ki 11:5,7), or "Malcam" ("Malcan" is an alternative reading in 2Sa 12:30,31; compare Jer 49:1,3; Ze 1:5, where the Revised Version margin reads "their king"). The use of basileus, and archon, as a translation of the name by the Septuagint suggests that it may have been originally the Hebrew word for "king," melekh. Molech is obtained from melekh by the substitution of the vowel points of Hebrew bosheth, signifying "shame." From the obscure and difficult passage, Am 5:26, the Revised Version (British and American) has removed "your Moloch" and given "your king," but Septuagint had here translated "Moloch," and from the Septuagint it found its way into the Ac (7:43), the only occurrence of the name in the New Testament.
2. The Worship in Old Testament History:
In the Levitical ordinances delivered to the Israelites by Moses there are stern prohibitions of Molech-worship (Le 18:21; 20:2-5). Parallel to these prohibitions, although the name of the god is not mentioned, are those of the Deuteronomic Code where the abominations of the Canaanites are forbidden, and the burning of their sons and daughters in the fire (to Molech) is condemned as the climax of their wickedness (De 12:31; 18:10-13). The references to Malcam, and to David's causing the inhabitants of Rabbath Ammon to pass through the brick kiln (2Sa 12:30,31), are not sufficiently clear to found upon, because of the uncertainty of the readings. Solomon, under the influence of his idolatrous wives, built high places for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon. See CHEMOSH. Because of this apostasy it was intimated by the prophet Ahijah, that the kingdom was to be rent out of the hand of Solomon, and ten tribes given to Jeroboam (1Ki 11:31-33). These high places survived to the time of Josiah, who, among his other works of religious reformation, destroyed and defiled them, filling their places with the bones of men (2Ki 23:12-14). Molech-worship had evidently received a great impulse from Ahaz, who, like Ahab of Israel, was a supporter of foreign religions (2Ki 16:12 ). He also "made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel" (2Ki 16:3). His grandson Manasseh, so far from following in the footsteps of his father Hezekiah, who had made great reforms in the worship, reared altars for Baal, and besides other abominations which he practiced, made his son to pass through the fire (2Ki 21:6). The chief site of this worship, of which Ahaz and Manasseh were the promoters, was Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom, or, as it is also called, the Valley of the Children, or of the Son of Hinnom, lying to the Southwest of Jerusalem (see GEHENNA). Of Josiah's reformation it is said that "he defiled Topheth.... that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech" (2Ki 23:10).
3. The Worship in the Prophets:
Even Josiah's thorough reformation failed to extirpate the Molech-worship, and it revived and continued till the destruction of Jerusalem, as we learn from the prophets of the time. From the beginning, the prophets maintained against it a loud and persistent protest. The testimony of Amos (1:15; 5:26) is ambiguous, but most of the ancient versions for malkam, "their king," in the former passage, read milkom, the national god of Ammon (see Davidson, in the place cited.). Isaiah was acquainted with Topheth and its abominations (Isa 30:33; 57:5). Over against his beautiful and lofty description of spiritual religion, Micah sets the exaggerated zeal of those who ask in the spirit of the Molech-worshipper: "Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (Mic 6:6 ). That Molech-worship had increased in the interval may account for the frequency and the clearness of the references to it in tile later Prophets. In Jeremiah we find the passing of sons and daughters through the fire to Molech associated with the building of "the high places of Baal, which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom" (32:35; compare 7:31 ff; 19:5 ff). In his oracle against the children of Ammon, the same prophet, denouncing evil against their land, predicts (almost in the very words of Amos above) that Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together (Jer 49:1,3). Ezekiel, speaking to the exiles in Babylon, refers to the practice of causing children to pass through the fire to heathen divinities as long established, and proclaims the wrath of God against it (Eze 16:20 f; 20:26,31; 23:37). That this prophet regarded the practice as among the "statutes that were not good, and ordinances wherein they should not live" (Eze 20:25) given by God to His people, by way of deception and judicial punishment, as some hold, is highly improbable and inconsistent with the whole prophetic attitude toward it. Zephaniah, who prophesied to the men who saw the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah, denounces God's judgments upon the worshippers of false gods (Ze 1:5 f). He does not directly charge his countrymen with having forsaken Yahweh for Malcam, but blames them, because worshipping Him they also swear to Malcam, like those Assyrian colonists in Samaria who feared Yahweh and served their own gods, or like those of whom Ezekiel elsewhere speaks who, the same day on which they had slain their children to their idols, entered the sanctuary of Yahweh to profane it (Eze 23:39). The captivity in Babylon put an end to Molech-worship, since it weaned the people from all their idolatries. We do not hear of it in the post-exilic Prophets, and, in the great historical psalm of Israel's rebelliousness and God's deliverances (Ps 106), it is only referred to in retrospect (Ps 106:37,38).
4. The Nature of the Worship:
When we come to consider the nature of this worship it is remarkable how few details are given regarding it in Scripture. The place where it was practiced from the days of Ahaz and Manasseh was the Valley of Hinnom where Topheth stood, a huge altar-pyre for the burning of the sacrificial victims. There is no evidence connecting the worship with the temple in Jerusalem. Ezekiel's vision of sun-worshippers in the temple is purely ideal (Eze 8). A priesthood is spoken of as attached to the services (Jer 49:3; compare Ze 1:4,5). The victims offered to the divinity were not burnt alive, but were killed as sacrifices, and then presented as burnt offerings. "To pass through the fire" has been taken to mean a lustration or purification of the child by fire, not involving death. But the prophets clearly speak of slaughter and sacrifice, and of high places built to burn the children in the fire as burnt offerings (Jer 19:5; Eze 16:20,21).
The popular conception, molded for English readers largely by Milton's "Moloch, horrid king" as described in Paradise Lost, Book I, is derived from the accounts given in late Latin and Greek writers, especially the account which Diodorus Siculus gives in his History of the Carthaginian Kronos or Moloch. The image of Moloch was a human figure with a bull's head and outstretched arms, ready to receive the children destined for sacrifice. The image of metal was heated red hot by a fire kindled within, and the children laid on its arms rolled off into the fiery pit below. In order to drown the cries of the victims, flutes were played, and drums were beaten; and mothers stood by without tears or sobs, to give the impression of the voluntary character of the offering (see Rawlinson's Phoenicia, 113 f, for fuller details).
On the question of the origin of this worship there is great variety of views. Of a non-Sem origin there is no evidence; and there is no trace of human sacrifices in the old Babylonian religion. That it prevailed widely among Semitic peoples is clear.
5. Origin and Extent of the Worship:
While Milcom or Malcam is peculiarly the national god of the Ammonites, as is Chemosh of the Moabites, the name Molech or Melech was recognized among the Phoenicians, the Philistines, the Arameans, and other Semitic peoples, as a name for the divinity they worshipped from a very early time. That it was common among the Canaanites when the Israelites entered the land is evident from the fact that it was among the abominations from which they were to keep themselves free. That it was identical at first with the worship of Yahweh, or that the prophets and the best men of the nation ever regarded it as the national worship of Israel, is a modern theory which does not appear to the present writer to have been substantiated. It has been inferred from Abraham's readiness to offer up Isaac at the command of God, from the story of Jephthah and his daughter, and even from the sacrifice of Hiel the Bethelite (1Ki 16:34), that human sacrifice to Yahweh was an original custom in Israel, and that therefore the God of Israel was no other than Moloch, or at all events a deity of similar character. But these incidents are surely too slender a foundation to support such a theory. "The fundamental idea of the heathen rite was the same as that which lay at the foundation of Hebrew ordinance: the best to God; but by presenting to us this story of the offering of Isaac, and by presenting it in this precise form, the writer simply teaches the truth, taught by all the prophets, that to obey is better than sacrifice-in other words that the God worshipped in Abraham's time was a God who did not delight in destroying life, but in saving and sanctifying it" (Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, 254). While there is no ground for identifying Yahweh with Moloch, there are good grounds for seeing a community of origin between Moloch and Baal. The name, the worship, and the general characteristics are so similar that it is natural to assign them a common place of origin in Phoenicia. The fact that Moloch-worship reached the climax of its abominable cruelty in the Phoenician colonies of which Carthage was the center shows that it had found among that people a soil suited to its peculiar genius.
LITERATURE.
Wolf Baudissin, "Moloch" in PRE3; G. F. Moore, "Moloch" in EB; Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, 241-65; Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, 352 ff; Buchanan Gray, Hebrew Proper Names, 138 ff.
Written by T. Nicol
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