Leviticus 18:21

Cp. Leviticus 20:1. Molech] ('king') the firegod of the Ammonites and Canaanites, and especially of the Phœnicians, to whom children were sacrificed in burnt-offering. Pass through the fire] see 1 Kings 11:5; 2 Kings 3:27; 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 32:35. The idea underlying child sacrifice is probably that of propitiating the deity by offering the most valued possession: see 2 Kings 3:27, and cp. the case of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:12). The penalty of this most inhuman form of worship was death by stoning: see Leviticus 20:2. It should be observed that the exact meaning of the expression 'pass through the fire' is uncertain. The rite may have been a kind of ordeal by which it was sought to ascertain the mind of the deity by observing whether the child passed through the fire unscathed or not.