Chapter 20 contains a list of penalties that are to be imposed for violating the laws the Lord has already instituted in the book of Leviticus.
The verses we'll study today have to do with a reprehensible Canaanite religious practice in which children were sacrificed to a pagan deity known as Molek. "The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites: 'Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. I Myself will set My face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name." (Leviticus 20:1-3)
You will sometimes see this god's name rendered as Molech, Moloch, Mollok, Milcom, or Malcam in various ancient texts. The origin of Molek worship begins so far back in time that very little is known about him but he appears to have been credited with providing success and monetary prosperity to families, hence the offering of their firstborn to him in order to secure a financially comfortable living in the future for the couple and the children that come later. If a family felt the offering of their firstborn didn't provide them with the prosperity they sought, more children might be offered. (Manasseh, one of the kings of the line of Judah, sacrificed two of his sons to Molek in the Bible.)
The root word of his name "mlk" appears to be the same from which is derived the Hebrew "melek" which means "king". If this is the case then Molek may not have been his proper name but a title. Some scholars think the worship of Molek was a form of Baal worship and that the Canaanites originally referred to him as "Baal, our king" and that they gradually began to worship him in his form as receiver of child sacrifices simply as "King". A further indication that Molek and Baal may have been one and the same is that the goddess Asherah (also known as Ashtoreth or Astarte) is credited with being the consort of Baal but also is mentioned as being the consort of Molek. We wouldn't expect two gods to share a mate, so it's possible that Molek worship was a facet of Baal worship.
The Lord says that anyone who offers a child in sacrifice to Molek has "defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name". If any of the Israelites engaged in this abominable practice, they were profaning the name of God because they were living in a way that made them look just like the heathen tribes of Canaan. This created the erroneous impression that the God of Israel was on board with child sacrifices and even approved of them, but as the Lord will say later in the book of Jeremiah when some of the people do take up this practice, "I never commanded---nor did it enter My mind---that they should do such a detestable thing." (Jeremiah 32:35) Harming a child is the ultimate depravity. A person has sunk as low as he can sink, spiritually and morally, when instead of protecting his child with his own life he instead offers up the life of his child to gain something for himself. The Lord doesn't want His name associated in any way with a wickedness so vile that it should never even enter the thoughts of man, much less be carried out. If the Lord's name begins to be associated with evil, who of an upright heart will ever seek Him? If He appears to be no better and no different than any of the pagan deities of the heathen cultures of the world, a person could conclude that it's no use to turn to Him and worship Him and follow His laws. A person who longs for something holy and admirable and good would never turn to the Lord because he'd have the impression that the Lord is just like all the rest. The Lord must defend His honor when a person profanes His name in this manner, and defending His honor means putting to death the one who committed such a crime against humanity.
The penalty for sacrificing a child to Molek is to be death by stoning. If the community doesn't carry out the death penalty on the offender, the Lord will turn against the man and his family, along with anyone else who approves of or turns a blind eye to such a heinous crime. "If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death, I Myself will set My face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek." (Leviticus 20:4-5)
If the community doesn't enforce the death penalty against a man who commits such a sin, the Lord will see to it that no financial prosperity comes to any man of Israel who offers his child in sacrifice. The Lord will cut off from this man and his family the pipeline of covenant blessings promised to the tribes of Israel. He will also cut off the flow of blessings from anyone who witnessed or has proof the man did such a thing but who failed to take action and obey the Lord's command to put such a person to death. A repulsive sin such as this should never take place, but if it does it has to be dealt with swiftly and harshly. It is to be considered a capital crime and I believe it is to be considered the worst crime a person can commit, since the Lord places it first in the list of crimes and punishments provided in Chapter 20. A society that fails to protect its most vulnerable citizens is a society that has fallen as low as it can go. And a society that willingly gives up its most vulnerable citizens is a society that has fallen into such astonishing depravity that we can't even stand to think about it. Nor can the Lord, who lamented in deep sorrow that His people had fallen into a practice that should never even enter the mind, much less be carried out by the hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment