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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMatthew Poole Commentary - Leviticus 18:21 - 18:21
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Pass through the fire this was done two ways; either,
1. By burning them in the fire, of which see 2Ki_3:27 2Ch_28:3 Psa_106:37,38 Isa 57:5.
Or, 2. By making them pass between two great fires, which was a kind of illustration or consecration of them to that god; which latter seems to be here meant. See Poole "Deu_18:10", where the word fire, here understood, is expressed.
To Molech, or, Moloch; called also Milcom; an idol chiefly of the Ammonites, as appears from 1Ki_11:7 2Ki_23:13 Jer_49:1,3. This seems to be the Saturn of the heathens, to whom especially children and men were sacrificed. This is mentioned, because the neighbours of Israel were most infected with this idolatry, and therefore they are particularly cautioned against it, though under this one instance all other idols and acts, or kinds of idolatry, are manifestly comprehended and forbidden.
Neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God; either by joining him with, or by forsaking him for, such a base and bloody idol, whereby the name, honour, and service of God would be horribly defiled, and exposed to the scorn of the heathen, as if he were but one of the same kind with their mongrel deities.