Nature God, the power of heat, life, and generation. The symbol of Baal was the sun, of Moloch the fire; the former worshipped with licentious rites, the latter with sanguinary ones; both however were ultimately the same Being, and their rites and symbols interchangeable. Human victims were offered to Baal 23 or to idols in general" as well as to Moloch, though the latter was more peculiarly the stern aspect to which they were the proper tribute". Thus Jeremiah says, “They built high places to Baal in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, in order to consecrate their sons and daughters to Moloch." 26 Moloch is not formally introduced until the time of Solomon, who, according to "the Kings," deserted Jehovah to follow the idolatry of his wives. In earlier times abnormal religion commonly takes the name of apostacy to Baal and his colleague Ashtaroth or Aschera. There were many separate forms or idols of Baal-worship, as Baal-Peor, Baal-Gad, Baal-Berith, i. e. "Lord of the Covenant," all comprised under the plural Baalim, as different modifications of the El worship under that of Elim or Elohim. The name of the deity signified but little if the notion of him was derogatory. The same acts and the same conceptions applied to Jehovah as to Baal. Self-mutilation was part of the ritual of both". Both were worshipped upon the same high places 28, and under the same idol forms in Samaria and in Jerusalem 29. There is no substantial reason why the great Syrian deity seated on the bull", should not be compared with Jehovah placed in the same posture" or figured under the same symbol "2, especially when we know that the 23 Jer. xix. 5. 2 Kings xvii. 16, 17. Isa. lvii. 5. Ezek. xvi. 36; xx. 31. 2 Kings xxiii. 10. 26 Jer. xxxii. 35. 27 1 Kings xviii. 28. Jer. xli. 5. Isa, lvi. 4. Matt. xix. 12. 28 Numb. xxii. 41. 29 Jer. vii. 9, 10. 30. Ezek. viii. 16; xxiii. 39. 2 Chron. vi. 13, 14. 30 Comp. Lucian de Syr. Deâ, ch. xxxi. 31 Psal. xviii. 10. 32 Comp. Hos. viii. 5, 6. Exod. xx. 23. Deut. xxxiii. 17. Neh. ix. 18. Tobit i. 5. 36 feast days of Baal were the same as Jehovah's 33, and that the Jehovah priests with the fanatical Jehu at their head, were not only idolators but murderers and robbers". Both deities were symbolized by the sun; Jehovah's continuing help was assured by continuance of day, or arrived with the heat of noon The propitiatory heads were "hung up before the Lord against the sun", and Joshua's captive kings remained on the gallows as a thankoffering until sun-down. The rites of the Hebrews were in many details identical with those of their neighbours ""; the obelisks or pillars" erected by a Phoenician artist in front of the Hebrew temple were obviously analogous to those of Hierapolis and Tyre"; and the chariots of the sun and sacred vessels of Baal first destroyed by Josiah were with strange pertinacity restored by his successor". It is precisely when the names formed from El begin to be exchanged for others formed from Jehovah 2, that the name of Moloch enters Hebrew symbolism, usurping the place of Jehovah even in his own temple13. 66 The Hebrews were sometimes said to have worshipped Uranus", and there is much in their rights and language to countenance the supposition". The Lord of Hosts is surrounded by thousands of saints or angels; his countenance is as light Winer, R. W. ii. 489, &c. and staves, Baalim or HaGesen. to Isa. xvii. 8), (Judg. ix. 6. Clem. Alex. 39 Joseph. Ant. xii. 5. 5. Spencer de Leg., book 3. 40 Herod. ii. 44. The consecration of stone pillars manim (Aμμovvar yeaμμara. Euseb. Pr. Ev. i. 9, p. 35. and Aschera, first performed by Jacob, was common in Palestine 2 Sam. xviii. 18. Ξυλα ίδρυιντο περιφανη και κίονας ξεστων ἐκ λίθων. Cohort. ad Gent. 4); pillars stood not only in the Jewish temple and in the streets, but throughout the country. Ghillany, 164. Jer. xxxii. 29. Ezek. vi. 6. 13; viii. 16; xxiii. 39. 412 Kings xxiii. 4, 5. 11. 32. 42 2 Sam. xii. 25. 2 Kings xxiii. 34. 43 1 Kings xi. 7. 2 Kings xxiii. 13. 44 Origen against Cels. v. 6, p. 234, Sp. 45 Supr. vol. i. pp. 124, 125. 128. 130. 139. ning, at his feet is the clear sapphire of the heavens"; he exhibits the universe to Moses by way of "pattern" for the tabernacle", and seated among flaming cherubim is saluted with early supplications at his advance from the east. His proper title in reference to his subjects is "Moloch," the King". But he is king of heaven above and earth beneath 50, as well as of his own people; he is the God whose strength is in the clouds, whose might thunders and lightens out of heaven", and also "the fire which once kindled in anger burns down to the lowest hell; which eats up the earth with its fruits, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.' It was probably the latter or subtelluric aspect which was specially signified by the Canaanitish Moloch; the Saturn who caused a man to be stoned for gathering sticks on his rest day "", and to whom each Sabbath the Arabian priests sacrificed an ox to avert his evil influence or "fierce wrath." 54 Jehovah sometimes revealed in the sun, like the horned Dionysus to whom he was not ill 46 Exod. xxiv. 10. "52 53 47 Comp. Fabr. Cod. Apoc. V. Test. ii. p. 120. Acts vii. 44. 49. 48 Called the "presence" or "face" of the Lord. Kitto's Biblical Dict. vol. ii. p. 550 (below). Comp. Ezek. xliii. 2; xliv. 1, 2; xlvi. 1. 12; viii. 16. Gen. ii. 8; iii. 24. Exod. xxxiii. 7. 10; comp. xxix. 42, 43. xvi. 14; and the practice of the Essenes. Philo de Vit. ii. 475. 485. Rhoer. to Porphyr. Abstin. iv. 12, p. 336. Wisd. xvi. 28. Joseph. War, ii. 8. 5 and 9. Psal. xix. 4. Lev. ix. 5; Mangey, 49 Numb, xxiii. 21. 1 Sam. xii. 12. Deut. xxxiii. 5. Psal. x. 16; xxix. 10. Hos. xiii. 10. 14. Isa. vi. 5; xliii. 15. Jer. xlvi. 18; xlviii. 15; li. 57. Mal. i. 14. Hence Jerusalem is the "city of the great King" (Matt. v. 35); or as Irenæus says (i. 26), of God. Comp. Ep. Barnabas, ch. xvi. Heb. xii. 22. Rev. iii. 12. 30 Gen. xxiv. 3. Josh. ii. 11. 51 1 Sam. vii. 10. 2 Sam. xxii. 14. Psal. xxix. 7; lxxvi. 8; lxviii. 33, 34; lxxvii. 18. Isa. xxix. 6; xxx. 27. 52 Deut. xxxii. 22. Jer. xv. 14. Comp. the "still voice" in 1 Kings xix. 12 with Isa. viii. 19; xxviii. 15; xxix. 4, and Psal. cxxxix. 8. "If I go up to heaven, thou art there; if I make hell my bed, behold there art thou!" 53 Numb. xv. 35. 54 Ghillany, p. 196. Comp. Lev. x. 6. Numb. i. 53; viii. 19; xviii. 5, and Jeremiah's phrase "watching for evil, not good;" xliv. 27, al. Lam. ii. 4, 5. 60 compared by Tacitus and Plutarch 55, changes to an Erebus or phantom of darkness, as in the wrestling with Jacob, and in Abraham's vision 56. While the Sun, or God of Heaven, was worshipped on hills or high places", the rites of Moloch were performed in valleys, as that of Hinnom, in pits 58, in watercourses 59, or in the sombre clefts and caverns of the rocks 6o, for Moloch was a fiery or thirsty power claiming his tribute of blood in cavities emblematic of his own drear habitation 61, an Orcus, whose sacrifices are called "messengers to hell," "2 and to whom were consecrated the wintry swine and dark-dwelling mouse 63. Jehovah too dwells in thick darkness, he waits till night to 62 55 Hist. v. 5. Sympos. 4, 5. Ghillany, p. 437. Movers, Phenizier, pp. 265. 541. 547. The horn was symbolical of light (Macrob. Sat. i. 19. Hab. iii. 4), hence the tauromorphic aspect reflected in Moses. Exod. xxxiv. 29. 177. Gesen. v. 56 Gen. xxviii. 11; xxxii. 24. Comp. Joel ii. 2; x. 31. God says to Israel, whose name is explained by the legend, "let me go for the day breaketh." So the dæmon Rakshakas of the Mahabharata are powerful only in the dark (Bohlen, das Alle Indien, i. 225. 263), and the shuddering horses of Mephistopheles dread the morning. 57 When Elijah rears Jehovah's altar on Carmel, and is answered by fire from heaven, the inference is that Jehovah is the true Baal or Lord. Psal. lxviii. 15. Hence the name 66 Baaljah." 1 Chron. xii. 5. 58 Tophet, the place of the burning, Isa. xxx. 33; probably a tumulus or pyre raised in a trench. Jer. vii. 29. 59 1 Kings xviii. 38. 40. Isa. lvii. 6. 60 Isa. lvii. 5. Many supposed derivations of the Phoenician Moloch, as Cacus, the Minotaur, Cronus, Geryon, &c. lived in caverns (Virg. Æn. viii. 192); the sacrifice of the infernal Deity was performed in a trench (λaxxos, or Belgès), into which the blood was poured. Comp. Exod. xxxiii. 22. Odyss. xi. 23. Horace, Serm. i. 8; and the nocturnal executions of the Spartans. Herod. iv. 146. 61 1 Kings xviii. 32. 40. Comp. the sacrifice to Trophonius, "is Bolgov." Paus. ix. 39. 4. 62 Isa. lvii. 9; xxviii. 15. 18. For sacrifice was the bridge of communication between two worlds; letters were thrown upon the burning victim, and his ambassadorial commission was recited in his ears before death. Herod. iv. 94. 63 Lucian, De Deâ. Syr. 54. Symp. Qu. 5. Herod. ii. 67. Strabo, xiii. 901. Elian, N. A. xii. 5. Plut. 1 Sam. vi. 18. Isa. lxv. 4; lxvi. 3. 17. Herod. ii. 141. Comp. the Erebus of the Carthaginians and Gaditani, Gil. Ital. i. 92. 64 Exod. xx. 21. Deut. iv. 11. 2 Sam. xxii. 12. 2 Chron. vi. 1. 72 ratify his covenant 65, by night appears out of the cloudy pavilion 66 from which his voice is heard". His attributes are twofold; he promises unbounded plenty, but his aspect is often portentous of sterility, making the heaven as brass, the earth as iron, and by fire eating up its fruits". Thus saith the Lord God, "Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the fruits of the ground; it shall burn and not be quenched."" As the Laphystian and Cretan gods similarly imaged by fire and sterility refused to restore fruitfulness until propitiated by blood,", it was necessary that the sons of Saul should be hung "before the Lord"" on account of a famine13, and hence probably the rain immediately following Elijah's massacre at the Kishon. Fire, the usual Moloch symbol, was the element whose purity and subtlety seemed nearest to God's nature, and through which man seemed to behold his offerings visibly devoured or received up into heaven, its power of rapid destruction answering to all that was most terrific in the divine attributes. Jehovah is repeatedly described as fire". "There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it."75 "Which of us," says the prophet," shall dare to make his dwelling with the devouring fire, who continue among the everlasting burnings?"" He is moreover a 66 devouring fire;" a fire which eats up his enemies and offerings", like the furnace fires to which superstition gave its victims 78. The Persian Magus cried to the 65 Gen. xv. 67 Deut. v. 22. 66 Numb. ix. 15. 68 Deut. xxviii. 23. 69 Deut. xxxii. 22. Comp. Esehyl. Eum. 825. 856, Bothe. 70 Jer. vii. 20. "Apollod. i. 9. 1; iii. 15. 5. 12 1 Sam. xxi. 6. 76 13 Comp. Lev. xxvi. 20. 1 Kings xviii. 40, 41. Zech. xiv. 17. Comp. Paus. vii. 19. 4. 74 Exod. xxiv. 17. Deut. iv. 24; ix. 3. Isa. vi. 4; xxxiv. 14. 45 1 Sam. xxii. 10. 13. Psal. 1. 3. 76 Isa. xxxiii. 14. 77 Numb. xi. 1. 18 Gen. xv. 17. 2 Kings i. 10. Exod. xix. 18. 2 Chron. vii. 1. Psal. xcvii. 3. Psal. xxi. 10. Ezek. i. 27. |