MOLOCH. – Name of a Semitic deity, from the common *melekh* “king”; the Septuagint, rendering 2 Kings 23:10.13 as *tò Moλóχ*, gave rise to the modern pronunciation, which never existed in living speech; the rabbis vocalized *Mōlekh* from the term *bōsheth* “ignominy, infamous object”; one must adhere to the pronunciation *melekh* or to the Phoenician *milk*.
In the Old Testament M. is always connected with human sacrifices, especially of children (Lev. 18:21; 20:2–5; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 32:35); they were slaughtered (Ezek. 16:21) and then placed on a gridiron (*tōpheth*) to burn, according to the typical Hebrew expression: *ha-’ābhîr… bá’ēsh lam-mōlekh* (2 Kings 23:10) or *ha-’ābhîr lam-mōlekh* (Lev. 18:21; Jer. 32:35) or even without the name of the god M., which is implied (Deut. 18:10; 2 Kings 16:3; 17:17; 21:6; Jer. 7:31; 19:5; Ezek. 16:21; 20:26.31; 23:37; etc.).
It is the Canaanite deity *Milk*, which appears in theophoric names of the el-’Amārnah letters; to it human sacrifices were offered, as attested by recent discoveries, especially at Gezer. *Milk* has been linked to Melqart (“King of the City”) of Tyre, and to Baal-Hammon, a deity to whom Phoenicians and Carthaginians, according to classical authors, sacrificed human victims, especially children. *Milk*, national god of the Ammonites, is the same name *Milk* with mimation.
The Mosaic law, with strict prohibition, sought to preserve Israel from this horrid Canaanite cult (Lev. 18:21; 20:2; Deut. 12:31; 18:10); and the prophets (cited passages from Jeremiah and Ezekiel) railed against the morbid deviation of popular religion, which in its syncretism practiced such abominations. For this cult the valley of Hinnom became infamously renowned in Israel (v. GEGENNA).
Recently, O. Eissfeldt attempted to explain M. as a common noun, “a kind of sacrifice,” based on 3 or 4 Punic inscriptions of the 3rd century A.D. (I). M. therefore would not be a deity: in the Bible the god to whom this bloody sacrifice was offered is Yahweh. This attempt, exegetically untenable, has been directly refuted, with regard to the Old Testament, by Fr. A. Bea.