Leviticus 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._ Whosoever ... giveth ... unto Molech - (see the note at Leviticus 18:21.) Molech in Hebrew has the article always prefixed. [The Septuagint renders it _ ARCHONTI_ (G758).] This was a more horrid crime than the one denounced in the former passage, for the commission of it was to be visited with capital punishment. It is called 'giving one's seed to Molech' - i:e., devoting children in sacrifice, consuming them by fire in honour of Baal or Chemosh (cf. Deuteronomy 12:31;

1-9 Are we shocked at the unnatural cruelty of the ancient idolaters in sacrificing their children? We may justly be so. But are there not very many parents, who, by bad teaching and wicked examples, and by the mysteries of iniquity which they show their children, devote them to the service of Satan, and forward their everlasting ruin, in a manner even more to be lamented? What an account must such parents render to God, and what a meeting will they have with their children at the day of judgment! On the other hand, let children remember that he who cursed father or mother was surely put to death. This law Christ confirmed. Laws which were made before are repeated, and penalties annexed to them. If men will not avoid evil practices, because the law has made these practices sin, and it is right that we go on that principle, surely they should avoid them when the law has made them death,...

Verse Leviticus 20:2. _THAT GIVETH_ ANY _OF HIS SEED UNTO MOLECH_] To what has been said in the note on Leviticus 18:21, we may add, that the rabbins describe this idol, who was probably a representative or emblematical personification of the solar influence, as made of brass, in the form of a man, with the head of an ox; that a fire was kindled in the inside, and the child to be sacrificed to him was put in his arms, and roasted to death. Others say that the idol, which was hollow, was divided into _seven compartments_ within; in one of which they put _flour_, in the second _turtle-doves_, in the third a _ewe_, in the fourth a _ram_, in the fifth a _calf_, in the sixth an _ox_, and in the seventh a _child_, which, by heating the stat...

Molech, literally, “the King”, called also Moloch, Milcom, and Malcham, was known in later times as “the abomination of the Ammonites” 1 Kings 11:5. He appears to have been the fire-god of the eastern nations; related to, and sometimes made identical with, Baal, the sun-god. The nature of the rite and of the impious custom called passing children through the fire to Molech is very doubtful. The practices appear to have been essentially connected with magical arts, probably also with unlawful lusts, and with some particular form of profane swearing. The rite in the time of Moses belonged to the region rather of magic than of definite idolatrous worship, and may have been practiced as a lustral charm, or fire-baptism, for the children of incest and adultery. Leviticus 20:2...

EXPOSITION The subject of Leviticus 18:1, is resumed in this chapter; but that which was before considered as sin only is now regarded as crime, and penalties are attached according to the heinousness of the offense. For example, the sin of "giving of his seed to Molech," or which is the same thing, "letting any of his seed pass through the fire to Molech," had been forbidden as a sin in Leviticus 18:21; now it is condemned as a crime. The various penalties assigned in this chapter are (1) _burning with fire _(Leviticus 18:14); (2) _stoning with stones _...

AGAIN THOU SHALT SAY TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... The body of the people by their elders, and the heads of their tribes; for the following laws were binding on them all: WHOSOEVER [HE BE] OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, OR OF THE STRANGERS THAT SOJOURN IN ISRAEL; everyone of the people of Israel, of whatsoever age, sex, or condition of life: and not they only, but the strangers and proselytes; and not the proselytes of righteousness only, but the proselytes of the gate, who, as well as the others, were to shun idolatry, and other impieties and immoralities after mentioned: THAT GIVETH [ANY] OF HIS SEED UNTO MOLECH; which Aben Ezra interprets of lying with an idolatrous woman, or a worshipper of Molech, the abomination or idol of the Ammonites, 1 Kings 11:7; of which see...

3. WARNINGS AGAINST SPECIAL SINS AND THEIR PENALTIES CHAPTER 20 _ 1. Warning against Molech--worship and familiar spirits (Leviticus 20:1)_ 2. Warning against cursing parents (Leviticus 20:9) 3. Criminal and vile connections (Leviticus 20:10) 4. Exhortations to obedience and separation (Leviticus 20:22) This chapter reveals the justice of God in dealing with criminals. The death penalty is most prominent. It is pronounced upon the following crimes: Molech worship; dealing with familiar spirits (spiritualism); different forms of incest and sodomy. Men advocate now the abolis

WORSHIP OF MOLECH, ETC. Offering children to Molech (see Leviticus 18:21 *) is to be punished by stoning; such a death emphasizes the repudiation by the whole community and involves everyone in the act, always serious, of killing a fellow-tribesman (_cf._ Joshua 7:25). Yahweh Himself will see that the sinner does not survive his crime even if he is not publicly punished; his whole family will be destroyed. Cursing parents is also a capital crime; in such a case, the dead man's blood does not cry from the earth; it is on his own head, _i.e._ its power to hurt comes to an end with his life (_cf._ 1 Kings 2:31; 1 Kings 2:44,

AGAIN. See Leviticus 18:21. This is so serious that it must be repeated. There, only. command; here, the penalty. CHILDREN. Hebrew sons. MOLECH. The king-idol. See note on Leviticus 18:21, where this law follows that on incest; while here it precedes it....

_Moreover_ This introduction shews that the words that follow do not stand in their original context, but are an extract from a body of laws. Leviticus 20:2 appear to be inconsistent. In 2 the offender is to be stoned by the people, in 3 he is to be cut off by some kind of divine visitation. Probably we may trace here the juxtaposition of two sources, while for the sake of harmonizing them Leviticus 20:4 were added....