Leviticus 18:21
And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 18:21 forbids Israel from giving any of their children to Molech by making them pass through fire as an idolatrous human sacrifice. The rite made children leap over an altar fire, where escape unharmed was taken as favor and acceptance by the idol and burning meant death as a sacrifice to appease an angry god. It was an idolatrous abomination and a violation of the sixth commandment that profaned the name of God by rejecting His worship for child-harming worship of other gods in hope of securing their favor. That same sin is repeated when parents offer their children to mammon, wealth, and love of the world by neglecting their religious upbringing, choosing homes and company for worldly advantage, and letting the world engross time and thought until spiritual life is sacrificed. What is sown in selfish love of the world is reaped in ungodly children with impiety and unbelief whom no promised miracle will deliver from temptations their parents chose, just as youth who give themselves to sexual vice sacrifice themselves on its altar to the ruin of health, mind, and conscience.
The Forbidden Molech Rite
The command forbids Israel to give any of their children to Molech by making them pass through fire, an idolatrous human sacrifice and worship of other gods that profanes the name of God. It condemns human sacrifice offered in idolatrous worship. Its warning stands among the abominations from which God intended to deliver Israel and keep His people separate.
The rite was a heathen custom in which children were made to leap over an altar fire, serving as an ordeal or as a sacrifice. If a child escaped unharmed he was treated as honored and favored by the idol. Survival of the fiery ordeal was taken as proof that the god accepted and rewarded them. If a child was burned he was killed and offered as a sacrifice to appease the supposedly angry god.
Some Israelites adopted this heathen custom, practicing this abomination themselves. It took place among the Israelites during periods of great apostasy, carried out under the belief that the gods' favor could be secured through human sacrifice. Apostate Jews made their children pass through fire to Molech.
God showed His displeasure against Israelites who practiced it and punished them by causing the fire to consume their children as they passed through it.
Idolatry and Divine Judgment
The offering of children by fire to Molech was an idolatrous abomination against God, from which He intended to deliver Israel and keep His people separate. Though forbidden, the abomination was also taken up by some Israelites themselves, especially in times of great apostasy. To give children to this rite profanes the name of God, turning from His worship to the worship of other gods in a worship that harms children. The child was made to leap through fire as an act of devotion, honored as favored if escaping unharmed and killed as a sacrifice if burned.
The prohibition stands with the prohibitions against seeking after wizards and communing with familiar spirits, joined to the call to holiness and obedience to God's statutes. Such child sacrifice is idolatry and at the same time a violation of the sixth commandment, done in the belief that the favor of the gods could be secured by human sacrifice. The destruction of those given to human sacrifice and idol worship showed that these practices had brought judgment upon the people.
Parental Application Today
The ancient sin of offering children to Molech is repeated when parents make a costly offering of their children to mammon, to wealth, to love of the world, and to worldly interests at the cost of their spiritual welfare and well-being. To denounce the Canaanites while doing this is to repeat their sin in modern form, neglecting upbringing and religious care and treating the loss of the soul as the price paid to a worldly god. This is done by neglecting the means of grace, by choosing a home for worldly interests rather than for moral and social atmosphere, and by failing to count the ark of God, their glory and defense, as essential. It is done by letting the world engross time and strength and thought until apathy steals over the soul, by permitting evil communications that contaminate children and kill tenderness of soul, by moving families into places of temptation, and by exposing them to harmful influences.
The prohibition means parents must not give their children over to worldly social customs, for home religion trains children as members of the Lord's family rather than devotees of society and protects them from being spiritually sacrificed. Parents who indulge their children's love of display and surrender godly discipline repeat the same evil by giving their children to Satan. The result is reaping what was sown through selfish love of the world: children grow up unloved and unlovely in character, ungodly, showing decided impiety and tendency to infidelity. God has not promised a miracle to deliver them from temptations their parents chose to surround them with, and the faith professed is not to blame for failing to save them, for parents reap the consequences of that neglect.
The image of sacrifice to Molech also applies to passion, when young people give themselves over to sexual vice as upon its altar, often without recognizing the danger. That self-sacrifice threatens health, happiness, and life, as well as soundness of mind, conscience, and moral sensibility.