Encyclopædia Britannica Article

In some references, he is known as Molech, god of the Ammonites and Phoenicians to whom parents sacrificed their children

The name derives from combining the consonants of the Hebrew melech (“king”) with the vowels of boshet (“shame”), the latter often being used in the Old Testament as a variant name for the popular god Baal.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-90532...uery=Moloch&ct=


In the Bible, Moloch is listed as the God of the Canaanite, a god of fire to whom children were offered in sacrifice. He is also known as an Assyrian god. He is attested as early as the 3d millennium B.C., although most known references to him come from the later period represented by the Hebrew Bible, according to which Solomon and later Ahaz introduced the worship of him into Judah. He had a sanctuary at Tophet, in the valley of Hinnom S of Jerusalem.

http://www.answers.com/topic/moloch


Moloch also appears as one of the fallen angels in Milton’s Paradise Lost, and as a malevolent figure in other allegorical works of literature.

At the Jewish Encyclopedia

—Biblical Data:

In the Masoretic text the name is "Molech"; in the Septuagint "Moloch." The earliest mention of Molech is in Lev. xviii. 21, where the Israelite is forbidden to sacrifice any of his children to Molech. Similarly, in Lev. xx. 2-5, it is enacted that a man who sacrifices his seed to Molech shall surely be put to death. Then, curiously, it is provided that he shall be cut off from the congregation. In I Kings xi. 7 it is said that Solomon built a high place for Molech in the mountain "that is before Jerusalem." The same passage calls Molech an Ammonite deity. The Septuagint as quoted in the New Testament (Acts vii. 43) finds a reference to Moloch in Amos v. 26; but this is a doubtful passage. In II Kings xxiii. 10 it is stated that one of the practises to which Josiah put a stop by his reform was that of sacrificing children to Molech, and that the place where this form of worship had been practised was at Topheth, "in the valley of the children of Hinnom."

Nature of the Worship.

—Critical View:

The name "Molech," later corrupted into "Moloch," is an intentional mispointing of "Melek," after the analogy of "bosheth" (comp. Hoffmann in Stade's "Zeitschrift," iii. 124). As to the rites which the worshipers of Molech performed, it has sometimes been inferred, from the phrase "pass through the fire to Molech," that children were made to pass between two lines of fire as a kind of consecration or februation; but it is clear from Isa. lvii. 5 and Jer. xix. 5 that the children were killed and burned.



http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp...M&search=Moloch


Encylcopedia Mythica

Moloch was represented as a huge bronze statue with the head of a bull. The statue was hollow, and inside there burned a fire which colored the Moloch a glowing red. Children were placed on the hands of the statue. Through an ingenious system the hands were raised to the mouth (as if Moloch were eating) and the children fell into the fire where they were consumed by the flames. The people gathered before the Moloch were dancing on the sounds of flutes and tambourines to drown out the screams of the victims.



http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/mi...c/articles.html

Some images...






Baal

The antiquity of the worship of the god or gods of Baal extends back to the 14th century BCE among the ancient Semitic peoples, the descendants of Shem, the oldest son of Biblical Noah. Semitic is more of a linguistic classification than a racial one. Thus, people speaking the same or similar languages first worshiped Baal in his many forms. The word Baal means "master" or "owner". In ancient religions the name denoted sun, lord or god. Baal was common a name of small Syrian and Persian deities. Baal is still principally thought of as a Canaanite fertility deity. The Great Baal was of Canaan. He was the son of El, the high god of Canaan. The cult of Baal celebrated annually his death and resurrection as a part of the Canaanite fertility rituals. These ceremonies often included human sacrifice and temple prostitution.

Baal, literal meaning is "lord," in the Canaanite pantheon was the local title of fertility gods. Baal never emerged as a rain god until later times when he assumed the special functions of each. Although there is no equivalent in Canaan of the sterile summer drought that occurs in Mesopotamia, the season cycle was marked enough to have caused a concentration on the disappearing fertility god, who took with him the autumn rain clouds into the neither world.



http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/mi...c/articles.html

Wow, that's fascinating. I'd known of moloch in part due to personal interest, in part due to his appearance in a video game..(or one bearing his name) never knew too much about him though, truly interesting to learn more though.

He was in an early episode of Buffy

Seriously? I must've missed that one. Tell me more.

Info on Moloch is convoluted, and sometimes contradictory. I read that there was a legend of an earthly flesh-and-blood king named Moloch, to whom the same type of sacrifices were made.

It raises the question....Was Moloch a mortal tyrant, whose despotic rule involved child sacrifice? Or was this simply another myth that some bloodthirsty monarch latched onto?

In Egyptian myth, there is the falcon-headed god, Horus. But 'Horus' also means 'king or lord'. The most ancient Egyptian writings refer to earthly kings as 'Horus'...this was before the great pharaohs rose to power over a Greater Egyptian Kingdom.

Maybe the 'Moloch' title has similar significance.

Also, there are conspiracy theorists who preach about modern-day worship of Moloch. However, it's all hysterical, and largely anti-semitic crap about how the zionist shadow gov't/New World Order is doing something heinous.

Nothing factual or even particularly interesting. That's why i didn't include it here.

He went by Moloch the Corrupter, came out of a book, posessed a computer and made Willow fall for him via e-mail, and Giles and the one teacher lady (can't remember her name) found a way to get him back in the book from wence he was trapped in.

Early Seasons really good episode. that was one of my screen names on Yahoo! for the longest time.

Oh, that was like REAL EARLY in Season 1. Didn't recall that as being Moloch. The demon was stupid, but the story was OK. Jenny Calendar (Robia Lamorte) was the sexy librarian/gypsy woman.

Another questoon....Could Moloch have been one of the Nephilim?

Yeah that was her thanks man

Here's little something I found. Connecting Moloch to the infamous Bohemian Grove.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/janua...ceobsession.htm

First of all, the Bohemian Grove creeps me out...

Secondly, I just wanted to point out that at the bottom of the link provided by BigDaddy, there is a picture of Moloch that seems to associate Marijuana use with his worship. Pay attention children, drug use leads to child sacrifice and deviant lifestyle.

Two beliefs, both of the most vile and most evil.

One is that the destruction of a younger generation prosperity to the older generation, that killing the child guaratees the wealth of the parent.

The other is that the more evil and foul the sins of a person are the more pure and innocent the human blood sacrifice must be to wipe those sins clean from the guilty one.

If you look at how the future of this world is being sacrificed without care for the current ruling class to wallow in wealth, it is not hard at all to picture them as believers in Moloch, and woshippers of the image of the beast in one of his many forms.

I've read about the Bohemian Grove before, but only recently learned of the Moloch connection. This cult embodies every imaginable sin, crime, and vile act imaginable.

And dare we ask if it's a real, thriving underworld society, populated by the aristocratic elite?

Or just more paranoid drivel from the geeks who have watched way too many eps of 'X-Files'?

'Moloch' was indeed in Buffy, he was known as the 'corrupter' and was a thick set green coloured demon.