Moloch

18th-century depiction of the Moloch idol (Der Götze Moloch mit 7 Räumen oder Capellen. “The idol Moloch with seven chambers or chapels”), from Johann Lund's Die Alten Jüdischen Heiligthümer (1711, 1738).

Moloch is an Ammonite god Demonized in Hebrew lore. Moloch was probably identified with BAAL, and with the Assyrian/Babylonian Malik. King Solomon was said to have built a temple to Moloch.

To the Ammonites, Moloch was a Sun god and personified the detrimental effects of the Sun’s rays. He also was the cause of plagues. He was depicted as a bull-headed man with long arms sitting on a brass throne. Huge bronze statues of him were erected in his honor, and he was worshipped with human sacrifice rites in the belief that the people would be protected from disaster. The victims were thrown into fires built in hollow bellies of the bronze statue.

Moloch was called “the prince of the valley of tears,” a reference to Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom, where the sacrificial rites were said to take place. King Jeremiah defiled Topeth, and the sacrificial practices declined. The Hebrews called Moloch “the abomination of the Ammonites” (1 Kings 11:7).

In Kabbalistic lore, he is, with Satan, the first of the evil Demons of the Tree of Life. The ancient Greeks associated Moloch with Cronos, the god of time, who devoured his own children in order to prevent them from challenging his rule.

The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology – Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley