(ְךֶלֹמ, molæk, LXX: Μολοχ/Moloch, Vulg.: Moloch). M. is most probably the name of a Canaanite deity to whom children were supposedly sacrificed. However, it is difficult to determine how M. fit into the Canaanite pantheon (Malik? Milkom? Adad-Milki?). Referring to the Phoenician-Punic term for a sacrifice, mlk/molk, Eissfeldt interpreted M. not as a god, but as a technical term for the sacrifice of children (or substitutes) [1]. But this view is contradicted by passages in which M. clearly referred to a god (cf. Lv 20:5).
The Hebrew Bible explicitly forbids sacri…