what does "that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech;" mean?

Question

The Book of Leviticus

Chapter 20

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

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.

3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.

what is Molech?

Answer 1

Molech according to ancient archeology was a religion that required the sacrifice of their first born. They threw the living babies into the fire which was burning in the lap of the animal like statue or God Molech.

Many nations worshiped this God and it became a snare to the Israelites because they didn't believe in human sacrifice.
God did not allow them to burn babies alive in worship.
He said in Jeremiah's time it was still going strong as a religion. It is recorded that to burn someone up alive never came up into his heart that they would do this terrible thing.
According to legend they played the drums real loud to muffle the screams of the babies so the mothers couldn't hear them and they told them God did not allow the babies to suffer.
They were going to paradise in heaven to be with Molech and his family. Finally God had the last of that religion destroyed. So like so many religions of the past it is no longer worshipped.
Many of the Arabic religions believed in sacrificeing the first virgin girl baby. By burning or burrying alive.
Which is no longer practiced either.
And you thought abortion was rough on babies.

Answer 2

Good question, Cazouka:

The two troubling words are "sojourn and Molech."

Sojourn means to travel and Molech is a Phonecian god. It was usually made of bronze with the body of a man and the head of a calf.

If you can believe this, even after the plagues against those who worshiped Baal, the calf god at Sinai, some Israelites offered their children to Molech. There was usually a fire burning in front, and the child was placed in the arms of the statue.

Such an abomination, for certain, and any family that practiced that pagan ritual was to be "cut off", meaning killed.

When God promised the Holy Land to Abraham, God told him it would not take place for 400 years, because the Iniquity of the Ammorites was not full. That means that Palestine would meet God's judgments in four centuries and none would be worth saving.

Alas, within another four centuries after Moses, Israel was sent into Babylon captivity and Israel became an "occupied" nation for such evil practices.

God is long-suffering, not wanting any to perish, but time is running out for this generation. A Bible code identifies the timing of the cosmic conflict at http://abiblecode.tripod.com

Blessings and AGAPE, Balaam

Answer 3

Molech was the name of one of the gods of the people who lived around the Israelites at the time of Moses. This god demanded and received (through the priests of their faith) child sacrifices or sacrifices of virgin girls, in which these children or young people were slaughtered in front of the idol of Molech, who was supposed to fulfill the desires of those who sacrificed to him. Many times people who did not have children of their own, would choose to sacrifice a child to Molech or in some cases sacrifice their own child in return to a fulfilled prayer made to Molech.

Moses was ordered by the Almighty to strongly stop this evil practice from spreading into the Israelites by very severe punishments, so that the influences of the nations around Israel are restricted from making inroads into the pure path that Moses was ordered to impart to the Jewish nation.

I hope this makes sense.

Answer 4

Molech was a pagan deity that was one of the few idols mentioned by name in the Bible.
Worship included giving over one's one children and having them passed through a fire in front of it.
Most Jewish commentators say that the children were not killed by the process (i.e. they were in between two fires without being burnt by them).
As the verse you quote mentions, worship of Molech is punishable by death.

Answer 5

Molech was a pagan god and people sacrificed their first born to him. Thru-out the OT God warned the Jews against worshiping the gods of the new lands they were in. As a nation they were often punished for idolatry. God never wanted human sacrifice as is clear in other OT scriptures.

Answer 6

Molech Bible Meaning

Answer 7

Molech was a pagan god that to worship him you had to burn your children to him God did not approve