Unfinished notes
"Thou shalt not give of thy seed to cause to pass through the fire for Moloch." Leviticus 18:10
"Moloch was an old Canaanites idol, called by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians Melkarth, Baal-melech, Malcom, and other such names, and related to Baal, a sun-god worshipped, like Kronos and Saturn, by the sacrifice of children. It was represented by a brazen statue, which was hollow and capable of being heated, and formed with a bull's head, and arms stretched out to receive the children to be sacrificed. From the time of Ahaz, children were slain at Jerusalem in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and then sacrificed by being laid in the heated arms and burned.
"...although, in the times of the later kings, children were actually given up to Moloch and burned as slain-offerings, even among the Israelites; it by no means follows from this, that 'a passing through to Moloch,' or 'passing through the fire'... signified slaughtering and burning with fire....
"...'causing to pass through fire' denoted primarily going through the fire without burning, a februation, or purification through fire, by which the children were consecrated to Moloch; a kind of fire-baptism, which preceded the sacrificing.... [F]ebruation was practiced among the most different nations without being connected with human sacrifices; and, like most to the idolatrous rites of the heathen, no doubt the worship of Moloch assumed different forms at different times and among different nations."
Keil-Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol 1, the Pentateuch (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1980), page 416-417
Bibliography: W. R. Smith, Rel. of Sem. 2d ed., pp. 372 et seq.;
Bäthgen, Beiträge zur Semitischen Religionsgesch. 1888, pp. 237 et seq.;
Moore, The Image of Moloch, in Jour. Bib. Lit. 1897, xvi. 161 et seq.;
M. J. Lagrange, Etudes sur les Religions Sémitiques, 1903, pp. 99-109.S. G. A. B.
Meaning: king, the name of the national god of the Ammonites, to whom children were sacrificed by fire
"He was the consuming and destroying and also at the same time the purifying fire. In Amos 5:26, "your Moloch" of the Authorized Version is "your king" in the Revised Version (compare Acts 7:43). ..."
Moloch has often been identified with Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. He was
probably also identified with Baal, and as a sun or fire god, as he was also
identified with the Assyrian/Babylonian "Malik", and at Palmyra "Malach-bel".
Moloch is also identified with Baal Hammon in Carthaginian religion.
Milton writes of him in Paradise Lost
"First, Moloch, horrid King, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears;
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children’s cries unheard that passed through fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain,
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His temple right against the temple of God
On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell."
- Paradise Lost, i. 391-405
Dictionnaire Infernal - Collin de Plancy (1863)
- paraphrased
"Moloch was the god of the Ammonites, portrayed as a bronze statue with a calf's
head adorned with a royal crown and seated on a throne. His arms were extended
to receive the child victims sacrificed to him. Milton wrote that Moloch was a
frightening and terrible demon covered with mothers' tears and children's blood.
"Rabbis claim that in the famous statue of Moloch, there were seven kinds of
cabinets. The first was for flour, the second for turtle doves, the third for an
ewe, the fourth for a ram, the fifth for a calf, the sixth for a beef, and the
seventh for a child. It is because of this, Moloch is associated with Mithras
and his seven mysterious gates with seven chambers. When a child was sacrificed
to Moloch, a fire was lit inside the statue. The priests would then beat
loudly on drums & other objects so that the cries would not be heard."
http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/delirium/mythology/moloch.asp
Bohemian Grove Employee Blows the Whistle on Inside Events: "Described as the 'Greatest Men's Party on Earth,' the members of the Bohemian Club and international elites have been gathering in their redwoods for over 100 years. Regular visitors include the Bushes, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Newt Gingrich, whilst past luminaries have included Former Presidents Regan and Nixon, together BEFORE they had even taken office.... [P]ast luminaries have included Former Presidents Regan and Nixon, together BEFORE they had even taken office....
"The most famous ritual that occurs at the Grove every year is the Symbolic Pagan Worship of Molech – the ‘god’ of Child Sacrifice. ... [P]olitical figureheads from around the world attend this sacrifice ceremony. German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote of his fondness for the Grove ceremonies in his Biography 'Men and Power'.... Former President Richard Nixon is on record questioning the activities at the Grove, making reference to the debase, decadent attitude as well as the homosexual activity there." See A Twist of Faith - Chapter 7
Computer game?
Moloch, Prince of War: Lord of Nephelus
http://www.godlike.com/ftp/users/hell/public_html/people/moloch.html
"Icy-cool in manner, Moloch's nearly perfect, beautiful Angelic appearance is hardened by the sheer force of the will that keeps at bay his overwhelming, emotional response to the physicality of Hell. It is as if you introduced an Angel into free will, and gave him all the delights of the flesh: Moloch is like a Mammon who denies himself excess but whose desires manifest in envy. In on-game legend, Moloch was the last of the Princes to awaken to Free Will back in Evinn, that force which allows creatures the power to feel desire...."
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ...You can play as Moloch the Corruptor, Catherine Madison, Ted Buchanan, or any of the Villains of the Week. Check out www.btvsccg.com for info about the Villains of the Week. You can, of course, also play with any of the established favorites as your Main Character like Buffy, Spike, or Willow. ..."
http://homepages.apci.net/~ipw4/archon/session_6.html