Human Sacrifice, the Talmud, and the Moloch Problem Blood Ritual 3: Human Sacrifice, the Talmud, and the Moloch Problem Blood Ritual: — Blood ritual is fundamental to Judaism. Some blood sanctifies, some blood defiles. Let's see what the Talmud doctrines are. Navigate This Site Home Search Valentine Dilling Talmud The Rabbis Supplement Glossary Download Admin Text Version(Printer Friendly) Moloch as pictured by an unknown artist (6) Moloch was an idol worshipped by the Hebrews and some other people of the area. The priests burned a large fire within the idol, and according to a number of Biblical and Talmudic references, the Hebrews sacrificed their children to the god by throwing them — live — into the fire (the children were termed "thy seed," and the act, "pass[ing them] through the fire" in KJV). Accounts vary in details, e.g., the god was Canaanite in origin and only intermittently adopted by the Hebrews; the children were killed before they were burned (Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. Moloch); the god was Carthaginian and the children were cast into the fire by priests, not parents (Gustave Flaubert [5]); etc. Molk defined as "the practice of human sacrifice" "The rite of the human sacrifice 'Molk' as a [sacrificial] offering is peculiar of a mentality which didn't exist in the Greek or Roman society. "If Phoenicians thought that a God wanted the destruction of a town or a country, they didn't [hesitate] to offer him human lives, avoiding in this way the anger and the curse of the god and blaming on few people. "As they believed no other sacrifices better than this could appease the anger of that god, Carthaginians vowed themselves to the human sacrifices and in order to increase the value of the sacrifice, they offered even their children's life." — City of Castelvetrano-Selinunte (1) Thus we see that according to the above scholar, Molk (= Moloch?) was a word describing the practice of human sacrifice, rather than a specific deity. This conforms with the Catholic Encyclopedia's statement that the ancient Hebrews may have thought they were sacrificing their children to LORD God. (4) The writer for the City of Castelvetrano-Selinunte, (1) in saying that human sacrifice "didn't exist in the Greek or Roman society," was limiting his statement to the Classical Greeks, of course. Mask of Agamemnon, 16th Century BC Homer records the dilemma of Mycenaean king Agamemnon, who must either sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia, or give up his ambition to fight the Trojan War. Agamemnon chooses the sacrifice, but the daughter is saved by the goddess Artemis. (8) In retelling the story, Classical Greek playwright Aeschylus (Agamemnon) allows the girl to die. However, Aeschylus surrounds the incident with the strongest expressions of disapproval: "The chorus disapprove of his decision, and describe the sacrifice in sickening detail, as a murder repugnant to any normal human being. Agamemnon's feelings are perverted from the norm, as are those of all the characters in the trilogy (esp. Atreus, Thyestes, Clytemnestra, Orestes). The sacrifice is not only morally wrong, but futile: the sacrificer becomes the victim. Agamemnon is killed by Clytemnestra who is killed by Orestes." — James Hunter (9) The Book of Jeremiah, King James Bible 30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD. 31 For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, 32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. 34 But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. — Jeremiah 32:30-35 You can help in the battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way! Fight the forces of censorship and suppression of the Talmud, and bring about understanding between peoples of different faiths. Download this site to your desktop computer. Make CDs and distribute them to friends, neighbors, ministers, and community leaders. Email your favorite essay to your email list. Post your favorite essay to discussion forums. Print your favorite essays and give them to those not on the Internet. Flyers advertising Come-and-Hear.com can be distributed throughout your community. Genuine Come and Hear™ CDs do not contain executable programs. When making CDs, do not include any files that end in .exe, .com, .bat, .vbs, .doc, .pif, .sit, or .scr. The person receiving the CD should use his own browser to view the files. This helps to protect him from harmful programs and viruses. No one today seriously suggests present-day Jews sacrifice children to Moloch. Moloch (sometimes spelled "Molech") was an Old Testament god whom the Hebrews worshipped from time to time, and to whom they sacrificed their children. The Babylonian Talmud, however, still permits Jews to sacrifice children to Moloch — under certain conditions. LORD God Accepts Human Sacrifice First, let's get perspective. Some mistakenly believe human sacrifice is forbidden in the Old Testament. Certainly, some of the prophets railed against it. But in at least one book, LORD God accepts human sacrifice. And in another book, LORD God is appeased by human sacrifice. In the following account from the Book of Judges, the Israelite warrior Jephthah is about to set off to make war on the Ammonites. In payment for victory, Jephthah promises LORD God he will sacrifice the first "whatsoever" that comes from his house to greet him upon his return. Unless Jephthah keeps oxen, sheep, goats, or chickens in his living room, he must expect the promised victim will be a human being. Notice that Jephthah does not promise to sacrifice "an ox" or "a goat," etc. (7) And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. — Judges 11:30-31 (KJV) The first to pass through the doors of Jephthah's house upon his return is his only child, his beloved daughter. And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. — Judges 11:34-35 (KJV) Let us reflect for a moment. We know Jephthah vowed to LORD God to sacrifice "whatsoever" first came out of the door of his house. We suspect Jephthah plans to sacrifice one of his servants. But when the "whatsoever" turned out to be Jephthah's daughter, Jephthah is surprised. Notice his daughter's reaction: And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. — Judges 11:36 (KJV) She expresses no surprise that LORD God would accept a human sacrifice, nor does she protest; she does not say, "Father, let's use some common sense. You know LORD God is dead set against human sacrifice. He must have thought an ox would meet you on your return, or perhaps a goat, or one of the chickens. There must be a misunderstanding." Instead, she urges her father to keep his promise. She says: And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. — Jephthah agrees: And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. — Judges 11:38-40 (KJV) None but perfect animals are permitted to be ritually sacrificed in Judaism. Notice that Jephthah's daughter, too, is a perfect sacrifice — she is a virgin. Notice that LORD God does not stop this human sacrifice, as he stopped the sacrifice of Abraham's son. The Old Testament does not specify how Jephthah sacrifices his daughter, but following the correct methods for animal sacrifice, he would slit her throat first and drain her blood into a Temple service vessel; cut off her arms, legs, and head; cut the torso in sections, remove her entrails and wash them; pour, sprinkle, and smear her blood at prescribed points around the altar; and burn the flesh. Or of course, a priest might do this for him. Read Animal Sacrifice and the Third Temple for details. (11) LORD God is Appeased by Human Sacrifice In 2 Samuel 21, David is king over Judah. A famine oppresses the land; King David learns that LORD God is punishing Israel for King Saul's sin (Saul attacked the Gibeonites in violation of Joshua's treaty Joshua 9:15). Therefore, in order to relieve the famine, David must appease the Gibeonites. On negotiation, the Gibeonites demand to be given seven descendants of Saul to be hanged "unto the LORD." David picks two of Saul's sons and five of Saul's grandsons. Coincidentally, the five grandsons are the children of Michal, the woman David had wanted to marry (see 1 Samuel 18:25). David gives these Israelites to the Gibeonites so the Gibeonites can hang them. Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. — 2 Samuel 21:1-11 (KJV) LORD God did not explicitly request the hangings. But LORD God imposed an insufferable famine on the Israelites, LORD God named the Gibeonites as the people to be appeased, and the Gibeonites named the penalty. When it was done, LORD God apparently found the human sacrifice to be satisfactory: the chapter continues with accounts of battles, and the famine is not mentioned further. This sequence — an angry god causes a natural disaster, innocent life is slain to appease the god's anger, and the hardship ceases — this is the same sequence of events found in the human sacrifice rites of other primitive religions. The Moloch Prohibition With these precedents in mind, let us now look at two passages from the Old Testament concerning child sacrifice to the idol Moloch (or "Molech"). In the following passages, the words "seed" and "children" are synonymous. First, from Leviticus 18: King James Version And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. — Leviticus 18:21 (KJV) English Standard Version You shall not give any of your children to offer them (1) to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. — Leviticus 18:21 (ESV) An ESV footnote gives a literal translation of the original Hebrew phrase: "1. Hebrew to make them pass through [the fire]." Now let's look at Second Kings 23: King James Version And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. — 2 Kings 23:10 (KJV) English Standard Version And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. (1) — 2 Kings 23:10 (ESV) An ESV footnote gives a literal translation of the original Hebrew phrase: "Hebrew might cause his son or daughter to pass through the fire for Molech." Now let's look at the relevant cite from the Babylonian Talmud. (When excerpting the Talmud, we sometimes omit footnotes and non-germane text. The omission of text is indicated by an ellipsis […]. The full text and footnotes may be found by following the hot link at the end of the excerpt. It is our pleasure to make available the text of the complete tractates cited in this article, so you may read the Talmud in full context.) MISHNAH. HE WHO GIVES OF HIS SEED TO MOLECH INCURS NO PUNISHMENT UNLESS HE DELIVERS IT TO MOLECH AND CAUSES IT TO PASS THROUGH THE FIRE. IF HE GAVE IT TO MOLECH BUT DID NOT CAUSE IT TO PASS THROUGH THE FIRE, OR THE REVERSE, HE INCURS NO PENALTY, UNLESS HE DOES BOTH. — Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 64a Soncino 1961 Edition, page 437 Following the Mishnah is a discussion among the sages. One of the Talmud Sages, Rabbi Ashi, comments as follows: GEMARA. R. Ashi propounded: What if one caused his blind or sleeping son to pass through, (3) or if he caused his grandson by his son or daughter to pass through? — One at least of these you may solve. For it has been taught: [Any men … that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall he put to death … 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. Why is this stated? — Because it is said, there shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire. From this I know it only of his son or daughter. Whence do I know that it applies to his son's son or daughter's son too? From the verse, [And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man] when he giveth of his seed unto Molech [and kill him not: Then I will … cut him off.] — Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 64b Soncino 1961 Edition, page 439 Rabbi Dr. Freedman, one of the translators of the Soncino Tractate Sanhedrin, clarifies the passage. In a footnote, Rabbi Dr. Freedman confirms that the Talmud Sages use "seed" to denote living children, in the same sense as the Biblical translators understand the term in the above Biblical quotes. In this footnote, Rabbi Dr. Freedman paraphrases the question from Rabbi Ashi: Is 'thou shalt not cause to pass' applicable only to a son who can naturally pass through himself, but not to a blind or sleeping son, who must be led or carried, or does it apply to all? — Rabbi Dr. Freedman Other footnotes within the same context clarify the fine point of distinction being drawn in the Mishnah and subsequent debates among the sages: Lev. XVIII, 21. This proves that the offence consists of two parts; (i) formal delivery to the priests, and (ii) causing the seed to pass through the fire. — Rabbi Dr. Freedman (2) As two separate offences, proving that giving one's seed to Molech is not idolatry. The differences [sic] is, that if one sacrificed to Molech, or caused his son to pass through the fire to some other deity, he is not punished. — Rabbi Dr. Freedman (3) Following the Mishnah, Sanhedrin 64a and 64b contain a rousing debate between the Sages concerning: the circumstances under which worshipping an idol is idolatry, which idols may be worshipped without indulging in idolatry, which parts of child sacrifice in what combination are punishable, and how children may be sacrificed without violating Leviticus. Interested students should look up Sanhedrin 64a and 64b and read the entire text, including footnotes. The complete version of Come and Hear™ contains Sanhedrin 64a-64b at htp://www.come-and-hear.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_64.html. For those to whom Tractate Sanhedrin is not available, the relevant text is included in the Appendix: Extract from Sanhedrin 64a and 64b. The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia contains an entry on Moloch that is of interest. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that the children were burned "after the victims had been put to death" — without citing any authority. This statement is directly contradicted by Rabbi Ashi and by Rabbi Dr. Freedman in the passages quoted above, wherein they consider the case of "a blind or sleeping son, who must be led or carried" to the fire. (Paragraphing has been added to this Catholic Encyclopedia excerpt to aid in readability). The chief feature of Moloch's worship among the Jews seems to have been the sacrifice of children, and the usual expression for describing that sacrifice was "to pass through the fire", a rite carried out after the victims had been put to death. The special centre of such atrocities was just outside of Jerusalem, at a place called Tophet (probably "place of abomination"), in the valley of Geennom. According to III (I) Kings, xi, 7, Solomon erected "a temple" for Moloch "on the hill over against Jerusalem", and on this account he is at times considered as the monarch who introduced the impious cult into Israel. After the disruption, traces of Moloch worship appear in both Juda and Israel. The custom of causing one's children to pass through the fire seems to have been general in the Northern Kingdom [IV (II) Kings, xvii, 17; Ezech. xxiii, 37], and it gradually grew in the Southern, encouraged by the royal example of Achaz (IV Kings, xvi, 3) and Manasses [IV (II) Kings, xvi, 6] till it became prevalent in the time of the prophet Jeremias (Jerem. xxxii, 35), when King Josias suppressed the worship of Moloch and defiled Tophet [IV (II) Kings, xxiii, 13 (10)]. It is not improbable that this worship was revived unde… truncated (19,028 more characters in archive)