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Iron Age II - King David and the First Temple Period
  • The Ben Hinom Valley and the Cult of Moloch. The Megalim Institute
    The Ben Hinom Valley and the Cult of Moloch. The Megalim Institute
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  • The Ben Hinom Valley. Photo: Max Richardson
Iron Age II - King David and the First Temple Period

The Cult of Moloch in the Valley of Ben-Hinom

“For the people of Judah have done what displeases Me – declares the Lord. They have set up their abominations in the House which is called by My name, and they have defiled it. And they have built the shrines of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinom to burn their sons and daughters in fire – which I never commanded, which never came to My mind. Jeremiah 7:30-31   Toward the end of the First Temple Period, idolatrous cults worshiping gods of neighboring nations sprang up in Jerusalem. One of those cults included the ritual of passing of children through fire as an offering to the Ammonite god Moloch (Milcom). The center of this worship was in the Valley of Ben-Hinom, mentioned by the angry words of the prophet Jeremiah, who warns that these actions will lead to the coming destruction.