I take Moloch and Baal to be one and the same Idol, they were both names of supremacy and rule, בעל Baal signifieth a Lord or Master. And מלך Moloch, a King or Prince. They had both the same manner of sacrifice, they burnt their Sons for burnt-offerings unto Baal likewise, Jer. 19. 5. yea, they built the high places of Baal, which are in the Valley of Benhinnom, to cause their Sons and their Daughters to pass thorow the fire unto Moloch, Jer. 32. 35. In which Text the place of sacrifice is noted to be one and the same, common to both Idols, and Moloch put into the end of the verse, to explain Baal in the beginning thereof.
Some think them to be different, because the Planet Jupiter was worshipped under the name of Baal;[394] but the Planet Saturn is probably thought to have been worshipped under the name of Moloch. If we diligently observe Histories, we shall find such a confusion of the Planets, that the Sun, as it was sometimes called Baal, sometimes Moloch: so it was sometimes called Jupiter,[395] sometimes Saturn;[396] and concerning Baal this is evident: Hence Jupiter was called by the Phœnicians, Baal-samen, which name is derived from the Hebrew, and soundeth as much as Jupiter Olympicus, the Lord of Heaven. For Baal signifieth Lord, and Shamaim, Heaven. And what is this Lord of Heaven in the theology of the Heathens, other than the Sun? who may as well be stiled the King of Heaven, as the Moon the Queen. Yea, Sanchoniatho, as Eusebius in the forequoted place relates him, taketh all these three for one, namely, the Sun, Jupiter, and Baal-samen.
[394] August. super Judic. q. 10. Vide sis Eusebium de præpar. lib. 1. cap. 7.
[395] Plato apud. Macrob. Satur. l. 1. c. 23. ubi mendosè citatur è Timæo Platonis, quod est in Phædro.
[396] Assyrios Saturnum (quem & Solem dicunt) Junonemq; coluisse constat. Servius in Eneid. 1.
Concerning Saturn, it is apparent that the Sun was worshipped under his name: But I find some Expositers to interpret Moloch to be Mercury,[397] others Mars:[398] these are but few, and the grounds weak. It is therefore more generally and more probably thought that he was Saturn, because as to Moloch, so to Saturn, the Heathen people did sacrifice their Sons and Daughters.[399] Secondly, Saturns Image differed not much from Moloch’s. Of Saturns thus we read,[400] It was made of brass, wonderfull for its greatness, whose hands reaching towards the earth, were so hollow (ready to clasp) that the youths which were compelled to come unto him, did fall as it were into a mighty ditch full of fire. You shall read in a manner the same description of Moloch. Jalkut commenting on Jeremy, writeth thus:[401] Though all other houses of Idolatry were in Jerusalem, yet Moloch was without Jerusalem, in a place apart. How was he made? He was an Image of brass; he had seven Chappels, and he was placed before them, having the face of a Bullock, and hands spread abroad, like a man that openeth his hands to receive somewhat from another: and they set it on fire within, for it was hollow: and every man severally entred, according to his offering. After what manner? Whosoever offered a Fowl went into the first Chappel; he that offered a Sheep, into the second; a Lamb, into the third; a Calf, into the fourth; a Bullock, into the fifth; an Ox, into the sixth; and whosoever offered his Son, into the seventh. Thus Moloch and Saturn agree: First, in their sacrifice: Secondly, in the form of their Images. Now these seven chappels built for Moloch, may well resemble those seven gates[402] with which the Persians honored the Sun; and as the seven gates did, so might the seven chappels mystically express the seven Planets, whereof the Sun was Moloch, i. the King and Prince. When they sacrificed their sons unto this Idol, they did beat upon Tabrets and Drums, that the cry of the Child might not be heard by the Father. Thereupon was the place called תפת Tophet, from תף signifying a Drum, as likewise from the cry of the Children, it was called Gehenna, גיא signifying a valley, and נהם roaring or crying. Some may make the question, whether that the phrase, The fire of Gehenna, Matth. 5. 22. had its original from this fire, wherewith the children were burnt unto Moloch? I answer, that in this phrase there was not respect only unto this fire, though by the bitter cries and ejulations of poor infants, the restless torments in Hell might be shadowed, yet the perpetuity and everlastingness of hellish pains I take to be signified herein by allusion unto that other fire, kept continually burning for the consuming of dead carkasses, and the filth brought out of Jerusalem.[403] For Gehenna was reputed a contemptible place without the City, in the which they burnt, by means of a fire continually preserved there, the carkasses, filth and garbidge of the City. The Cabalists[404] treating of Gehenna, in this metaphorical sense, as it is applied to the pains of hell, do distinguish of it, saying, That there is Gehenna superiour; and inferiour, by the first they understand bodily torments inflicted upon the bodies of sinners in this world: by the second they understand the pains of the soul in the world to come. They say likewise[405] that there are Septem Gehennæ mansiones, Seven degrees or mansion places in Gehenna. 1. Infernus. 2. Perditio. 3. Profundum. 4. Taciturnitas. 5. Umbra mortis. 6. Terra inferior. 7. Terra sitiens. Of these seven receptacles, he that will mispend his time may read according to the quotation.
[397] מלך Molech dici volunt quasi מלאך Malach, (i.) Angelus, Nuncius. Proindè interpretantur Molech Mercurium Deorum nuncium.
[398] R. Levi. Lev. 18. 21.
[399] Macrob. Saturn. l. 1. c. 7.
[400] Euseb. de præpar. l. 4. c. 7.