Israelite Origins Proven by Pagan Custom (16 January 2018, 29 Tevet, 5778)
Article includes Rabbinical sources and remarks concerning the Laws about Moloch from a Shiur (Lesson) given by Rabbi David Feldman in Beitar Ilit in January 2017, Tevet, 5778.
Contents:
1. Pagan Practices and Exile of the Ten Tribes
2. What was MOLOCH in the Bible?
3. Moloch and Scripture
4. Differences of Opinion
5. Beltane and its Description
6. The Beltain was Moloch!
7. Moloch Today. Israelites will Repent!
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1. Pagan Practices and Exile of the Ten Tribes
The northern Israelites who became the Lost Ten Tribes had separated from Judah (1-Kings 12:9). Jeroboam their first king set up two golden calves, one in Beth-el and the other in Dan (1-Kings 12:28). He appointed priests from the common people who were not Cohens or Levites (1-Kings 12: 31). The Northern Israelites degenerated more and more. They adopted foreign pagan practices as well as inventing some of their own. They created a kind of synthesis between Hebrew traditions and Pagan Usage. Eventually they were exiled as punishment for these matters (2-Kings 17:7-18). In their places of Exile they continued what they had been doing. This included the worship of Baal as prophesied (Hosea 2:16-17). We trace the Lost Ten Tribes to the British isles and other parts of Western Europe. We later find in Ireland and Britain and other areas of Israelite re-settlement the pagan practice known as Beltane. The term "Beltane" means "Fire of Bel" i.e. of Baal. This is the same as the ancient practice of MOLOCH which was specifically prohibited (Leviticus 18:21, 20:2) and was associated with Baal (Jeremiah 32:35). Not only does the custom of "Beltane" in the west serve of proof of ancient Israelite Origin or at least association BUT it also helps us understand Biblical passages and clarifies questions of Scriptural interpretation.
The Canaanites in Lebanon i.e. the Phoenicians, also had the practice of moloch:
Moloch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch
Rabbinical tradition depicted Moloch as a bronze statue heated with fire into which the victims were thrown. This has been associated with reports by Greco-Roman authors on the child sacrifices in Carthage to Baal Hammon, especially since archaeological excavations since the 1920s have produced evidence for child sacrifice in Carthage as well as inscriptions including the term MLK, either a theonym or a technical term associated with sacrifice. In interpretatio graeca, the Phoenician god was identified with Cronus, due to the parallel mytheme of Cronus devouring his children.
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2. What was MOLOCH in the Bible?
One of the pagan practices the Israelites were to keep, even in their places of Exile was that of Moloch otherwise known in the west as Beltane.
Moloch was a form of idolatry probably originally practised by the Ancient Canaanites and later adopted by Israelites. The sources are divided as to whether the intention was to passing children through or over fires or sacrificing them in the fires.
In this case, as we shall see, all the different opinions were correct.
Moloch in Hebrew seems to combine two meanings:
1. The word seems to be cognate with "Meleck" i.e. King, Ruler
2. It also is understandable as connoting the Present tense of Holoc (i.e. Moleck) i.e. to move over, to conduct, to carry. The practice of "Moloch" could involve passing a person, animal, or thing over the fire.
The one word having links to two quite different word roots is not uncommon phenomenon in Hebrew etymology.
The god of the Ammonites (who to the east neighbored Israel and were related to them) was also known as Molech (1-Kings 11:7). This is understand there to be another form of the name "Milcom" the god of Ammon ( 1-Kings 11: 5, 33 2-Kings 23:13).
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3. Moloch and Scripture
Moloch had been expressly prohibited in Scripture.
Rabbi David Yehudah Joseph observed that:
The prohibition against the Moloch is connected to a warning that such offenses would lead to exile from the Land of Israel, cf.
Leviticus (NASB) 18:
21 You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD....
24 Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. 25 For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.... 28 so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. ...
Leviticus (NASB) 20:
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 You shall also say to the sons of Israel:
Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name. 4 If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death, 5 then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.... 22 You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. 23 Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. 24 Hence I have said to you, You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
More Sources:
2-Kings 23:
10 He [i.e.King Josiah of Judah] also defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech.
Jeremiah also speaks about the practice of Moloch and associates it with the worship of Baal (cf. the Hebrew Commentatories of Abarbanel and Malbim)..
Jeremiah 32:
35 They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
Nachmanides also emphasized the connection of Moloch to Baal worship.
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4. Differences of Opinion
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 64:a) quotes an opinion that in order to be liable for punishment (for performing the ceremony) the idol needs to be called Moloch. Another opinion says that "Moloch" refers to a religious practice that could be used in any other service of idolatry i.e. in the worship of other gods. A later commentator (Minchat Chinuch) stated that the prohibtion involved any forms of idolatry (no matter what it is called) that involved passing the seed. It is emphasized that only part of the offspring were to be so treated and not all of them. This apparently was what the idolaters required.
Opinions were divided as to whether the practice of Moloch entailed human sacrifice, i.e. literally burning the victim (see Nachmanides, Leviticus 18:21), or simply passing the child through the flame unharmed. The Commentary Soferno assumes the practice meant literally burning the victim alive. The aim he says was that by the parent sacrificing one of his children he hoped to ensure the future happiness and success of the others. Another opinion in the Talmud says that the child himself would jump over the fire unharmed. The Commentary of Rashi (Leviticus 18:23) says that Moloch meant a person would pass his son or daughter through the fire. He would do this, Rashi explains, by making two fires, one on each side, and pass his children between them.
We shall see that from what we know concerning the Beltane that all these different opinions were in fact applicable and reflected different aspects of the same form of worship.
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5. Beltane and its Description
The customs described concerning Moloch were to be repeated in those of the Beltane as practised in Western Europe.
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There was a feast known as "Beltane" which in Scottish means "Fire of Bel". The custom in Britain, Sweden, and northern Europe of jumping over fires and leading cattle, etc. through the smoke and flames at the feast of Beltane is a pagan Canaanite custom still practised until very recently in northern Europe, in Celtic and Scandinavian lands. Bel god of the Britons was also known as Belus or Belinus similar to Bel or Belus the Assyrian form of "baal"
JOHN JAMIESON, "An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language", Edinburgh, 1808, p. 163.
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It had been prophesied that the Israelites in their places of Exile would continue to worship Baal.
Hosea (NASB) 2:
16 It will come about in that day, declares the LORD , That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali.
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more.
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Beltane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane
Beltane is the anglicised name for the Gaelic May Day festival. Most commonly it is held on 1 May, or about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. In Irish the name for the festival day is La Bealtaine, in Scottish Gaelic La Bealltainn and in Manx Gaelic Laa Boaltinn/Boaldyn. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals.
Beltane is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature, and it is associated with important events in Irish mythology. It marked the beginning of summer and was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect the cattle, crops and people, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, and their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around the bonfire or between two bonfires, and sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire. These gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered .... Doors, windows, byres and the cattle themselves would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make a May Bush: a thorn bush decorated with flowers, ribbons and bright shells....
According to 17th-century historian Geoffrey Keating, there was a great gathering at the hill of Uisneach each Beltane in medieval Ireland, where a sacrifice was made to a god named Beil. Keating wrote that two bonfires would be lit in every district of Ireland, and cattle would be driven between them to protect them from disease.....
Food was also cooked at the bonfire and there were rituals involving it. Alexander Carmichael wrote that there was a feast featuring lamb, and that formerly this lamb was sacrificed. In 1769, Thomas Pennant wrote that, in Perthshire, a caudle [i.e. hot, thick. alcoholic drink] made from eggs, butter, oatmeal and milk was cooked on the bonfire. Some of the mixture was poured on the ground as a libation. Everyone present would then take an oatmeal cake, called the bannoch Bealltainn or "Beltane bannock" [A "bannock" is any article cooked or baked from grain]. A bit of it was offered to the spirits to protect their livestock (one bit to protect the horses, one bit to protect the sheep, and so forth) and a bit was offered to each of the animals that might harm their livestock (one to the fox, one to the eagle, and so forth). Afterwards, they would drink the caudle.
According to 18th century writers, in parts of Scotland there was another ritual involving the oatmeal cake. The cake would be cut and one of the slices marked with charcoal. The slices would then be put in a bonnet and everyone would take one out while blindfolded. According to one writer, whoever got the marked piece would have to leap through the fire three times. According to another, those present would pretend to throw him into the fire and, for some time afterwards, they would speak of him as if he were dead. This "may embody a memory of actual human sacrifice", or it may have always been symbolic. A similar ritual (i.e. of pretending to burn someone in the fire) was practised at spring and summer bonfire festivals in other parts of Europe.
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Beltane
ANCIENT CELTIC FESTIVAL
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Beltane
Beltane, also spelled Beltine, Irish Beltaine or Belltaine, also known as Cetamain, festival held on the first day of May in Ireland and Scotland, celebrating the beginning of summer and open pasturing. Beltane is first mentioned in a glossary attributed to Cormac, bishop of Cashel and king of Munster, who was killed in 908. Cormac describes how cattle were driven between two bonfires on Beltane as a magical means of protecting them from disease before they were led into summer pastures, a custom still observed in Ireland in the 19th century. Other festivities included Maypole dances and cutting of green boughs and flowers.
Cormac derives the word Beltaine from the name of a god Bel, or Bil, and the Old Irish word tene, 'fire.' Despite linguistic difficulties, a number of 20th-century scholars have maintained modified versions of this etymology, linking the first element of the word with the Gaulish god Belenos (Irish: Belenus).
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6. The Beltain was Moloch!
We see from the above that the practice of the Beltain involved the worship of Bel or Baal.
The worship of Moloch was also associated with Baal (Jeremiah 32:35).
The Lost Ten Tribes were exiled for practising pagan customs. These included the worship of baal (2-Kings 17:16). Many from the Ten Tribes were later to be found in the British Isles and the west. There too they worshipped Baal whom they called "bel" as the Assyrians and Babylonians did. This was predicted by the Prophet Hosea (2:16-17). A discussion of the practice of Moloch considers possibilities of human sacrifice by burning children alive in the fires, or of simply passing the children between two fires, or over the fires. So too, in the Beltain the fires were jumped over, or passed between, or the object to be blessed passed between. In the past human sacrifice had also been involved.
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7. Moloch Today. Israelites will Repent!
Modern Pagans in Britain are attempting to revive the Beltane. We have seen that the Beltane is the same as Moloch. The practice of Moloch in its extreme form was the offering up in fire of one of the offspring by the parents. It was intended that the rest of the family would be blessed as a reward. A modern parallel is perhaps to be found in sanctioned abortions. In this case a human fetus is killed and the dead body incinerated. The rationale is that the economic situation or mental health of the mother will be enhanced if less (or no) children have to be coped with. Beyond this we make take the analogy further and extend it to anything in which service of God is sacrificed for the sake of human comfort.
It is prophesied that in the End Times the Israelites will return and worship the God of Israel.
Hosea 2:
16 It will come about in that day, declares the LORD,
That you will call Me Ishi [i.e. My Man i.e. My Husband]
And will no longer call Me Baali.
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,
So that they will be mentioned by their names no more...
19 I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the LORD.