The Curse Of The Moloch (1)
Norman A Rubin

 

"They built shrines to Baal in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom

to surrender their sons and daughters to Moloch.."

(Jeremiah 32:35)



INTRODUCTION

My dear readers:

The pages of this book will take you on a horrific journey to a strange and mysterious world - a world where those who believe in the forces of the supernatural fear the presence of demons, devils, shadow spirits and demi-gods. These haunted people are deeply frightened of evil tormentors that bring the curses of fever and shivers, the hideous terrors of the night, the loathsome scourge of the poisonous blight that creeps in the darkness, the destruction that destroys during the wakening hours. And, above all, they fear their eternal damnation in the hell-fires of Satan's nether regions.

Demons, devils, shadow spirits and demi-gods will be all about as you enter into the sphere of this story; there's no escaping them. When you turn the leaves of this book they will come up from the depths of your mind. They will be pictured with either a contorted evil face, spittle drooling mouths showing sharp fangs, flying on tattered wings or rushing about on cloven hooves. Their evil bodies will be seen draped in dismal coverings as black as the dark of a moonless night; their sulphurous smell will rank their surroundings; their harsh voices will be heard in the spellbound whispers that flow in the winds.

As you read on, there may be a slight rustling of the curtains, a faint creaking on the floorboards, the soft scratching on the window, or from somewhere, the distant sound of a chilling moan, not quite animal, not quite human....

But then my dear readers, you do not believe in the dark forces of the underworld...

Or do you??

Norman A. Rubin

Afula, Israel










PROLOGUE

The Cult of the Moloch or Molech "any cause to which dreadful sacrifice is made or destruction due."

Chambers Dictionary


MOLOCH or MOLECH

Moloch, a pagan fire god called in the Old Testament an idol of the Edomites, identified with the god of the Canaanites, whose believers introduced his worship into Judah and Israel. The Moloch was revered as the God of Fire to whom innocent children were sacrificed. His image was either bronze or iron, with a hollow body, the head of a calf and extended arms. Below the hollow body was a deep fiery pit, ever ready for the sacrificial lamb.

According to ancient mythology a royal king ruled throughout the agricultural year, and in an annual offering he was sacrificed by burning to appease the gods of fertility for a bountiful crop for the coming year. Within time the custom of offering the first-born offspring of a noble citizen of a community as an annual surrogate for the sacred king became in vogue. The child substitute, who died in the rites of sacrifice, had to be invested, at least for the occasion, with divine attributes of sacred royalty liberally endowed with supernatural powers or to be an image of the incarnation of a royal king.

In the passage of time the ceremonial rites of sacrifice to the royal king was linked with one of a sin offering. It was widely practiced by the past civilizations, "To the great god, a great sacrifice, breath for breath, blood for blood, life for life". The Canaanites, along with the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Moabites, the Aramaeans and others recalled the debts to their gods and offered their children as burnt offerings. The essential element of the ceremony was that the flesh which had become 'sin' should be taken away, destroyed. When the sin is got rid off, it is no longer between the gods and man. Thus the ritual sacrifice of the 'sin-offering' was a means by which the stain of sin of ancient man or of his community was removed.

The child, the sacrificial lamb, dressed in a simple white robe and crowned with wreath of olive branches, was brought to the altar with due ceremony. The child was then disrobed and placed on the idol's arms. It was quite probable the child was drugged and was unaware of his circumstances. After various rituals and cermonials were performed the head priest shoved or rolled the child into the fiery pit. During the rites of sacrifice, people danced to flutes, timbrels and the beat of the drum; they called out to their god of fire to accept their rich offering of the sacrificial lamb as it was for them the noblest sacred act for their transgressions.

Usually the first-born son was offered, since they were more valued as they were the first male of the loins. However, for a lesser sin, younger sons or daughters were offered as in the Biblical passage of Jephthah, the Gileadite. He solemly vowed that if God will deliver the Ammorites into his hands he will sacrifice the first person that greets him in his triumphant return, "who shall meet him with tambourines and dances but his daughter, and she his only child." (Judges 11).

The Hebrews under two kings of Judah, King Ahaz (733-727 BC) and King Mansseh (698-642 BC) followed this sacrifical ritual of their neighbors, "Children of sin you are, spawn of life... and sacrificing children in the gorges." (Isaiah 57:3-7). (Some historians claim that the cult of the sacrifice of children was brought into Ancient Israel at the time of Jezebel.)

Biblical sources state that children were made "to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto the Molech." Meaning they were sacrificed by burning to 'Molech' (Malik - the king which is the appellation of the pagan god). The ceremonial rites became firmly established at the time of King Manasseh and his son Amnon. "he even passed his son through the fire, adopting the abominable practices of the heathen..." (II Kings 16:3).

In Leviticus 20:2-5 the Lord warns Moses against those who give seed to the Molech and in I Kings 11:6-13 He rebukes Solomon for building a temple to Molech, "then Solomon did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord... He built a hill-shrine... for Molech, the loathsome god of the Edomites..."

..and in the New Testament the people are reminded of the days when their ancestors sacrificed to the Molech, "That was when they made the bull-calf, and offered sacrifices to the idol..." (Acts 7:41-43).

At the beginning of the time of King Josiah, within the framework of his reign activities, the shrines to the Moloch in ancient Israel were destroyed. He thus cleared away pagan abuses where human sacrifices were made; his reforms included the expulsion of the idol-priests that officiated in the Canaanite cult. "He brought in all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the hill-shrines where they had burnt sacrifices, and dismantled the hill-shrines to the demons.." (II Kings 23:4-20)



Through the ensuing years, men of the cloth falsely interpreted the meaning of the Biblical Moloch; they rendered the denotation of the sacrificial offering of the first-born to the royal king (Melek) as a symbol of retribution for sins and transgressions. This superstitious fear, which will commit believers or their children to walk through the 'Hell fires of the Moloch' when they sin or perpetrate wicked acts, had been branded in deep belief.

Even at the present day, throughout many backwood areas of various western countries threre is fear of the fire god, the Moloch. It is, coupled with the threat of damnation in the nether regions of the devil as a punishment for sinful acts, that is being emphasized forcefully by well-meaning preachers to their congregations through hell for leather bible-thumping sermons. In turn, the congregants pass this superstitous fear to their children.

"and they made their sons and daughters pass through the fire.."

Note: Distinction should be made between the sacrifice of children in ancient times as a sporadic deed at the time of crisis and distress such as the act commited by Mesha, King of Moab, who is said to have sacrificed his first born son, the heir to the throne, on the walls of the city (II Kings 3:26,27); an act of religious devotion as expressed in the story of Abraham's plan to sacrifice his only son Isaac (Genesis 22); and the Moloch religious cult which was for the Cananites and other believers an established institution being the awe inspiring of all sacred acts.





Chapter one

The still of the cold night, covering the darkened sphere of the city, was shattered by pealing bells set high in a steeple of a near distant church. They tolled somberly the twelve notes of midnight, calling out the faith of the hour. Birds of the daylight, woken by the tolling of the bells, circled about. They spread their shadowy wings under the full moon and drifted in the breath of the intermittent winds; at times the feathered creatures were silhouetted by the full moon, and at other moments concealed by the passing dark clouds.

The twelfth note was pealed, and the resonance of the ringing bells slowly faded out. The ghostly shapes of the winged creatures reappeared in the still of the night, as they flew back to their nesting place in the tall belfry.

The city once again reverted to the quiet of the night leaving the wafting shadow spirits of the murky gloom to dominate their haunts. The eerie darkness with its mysteries hovered over the cold and empty passages. A beaming light, in a deserted section of the metropolis, disturbed the menacing forces of the night terrors as they whisked through the night; it illuminated a room from an apartment on the second storey of a crumbling building. A large mouldy sign above the lower basement window indicated that the building was destined to a destructive end, and the evidence was in empty boarded apartments.

Two vacant vehicles lined the street near the building; the blue lamps on their roofs flashed their officiality. The spirits of the night hovered over them and wept their tears on the metal bodies, fogging the windows with their mist. The police cars stood empty to the silence of the night as their occupants had alighted, and had made their way to that room with the light to inquire and to investigate.

Within that room, lit by a naked dim bulb, a tense group of four men had arrived through the show of correct identification. They were in official uniform or badged with the authority of their office. They stood in a half-circle around a seated elderly couple. The care-worn eyes of the seniors showed signs of tiredness from the late hour; their robed covered night-clothes were in disarray from the haste of their awakening. Apprehension was etched on their lined faces as they nervously waited, poised to attention to the figures around them.

The police had come to this address through an excited message that was sent through the telephone voiced by a hysterical woman; a high pitched voice which screamed repeatedly, "He's a killin' her, he's a killin' her!!" The operator, who received the call, managed with patience to control the agitated caller. Slowly, but slowly the jumbled phrases blurted out, "Me and me man saw through th' window a man beatin' a woman wit' a heavy stick... an, an he was ah.. ah.. screamin' all over th' place." The operator was able to squeeze out the name and address from the caller; the information was immediately passed on to a fellow worker who sent out a signal to cruising police vehicles. Tension was relieved as the message was received, "Patrol car No. 23, near scene... will respond." The operator continued to soothe the nervous woman with the promise that a police vehicle is on its way, and that she should stay calm. After a few minutes a radio message came through, "Patrol car No. 23 reporting... woman lying on the street.. Head bashed in.. G-d all-amighty, what a mess.. b.. b.. blood everywhere..!"

The muderous remains had been removed, and the only visible signs of the killing were on the blood spattered sidewalk and the worn brick of the nearby building, neatly enclosed by an official yellow tape. The violent puzzle needed solution, and the police officers had come to the flat to find the correct pieces and to fit them accordingly. They took note that the alerted elderly occupants were positive witnesses to the shocking murder.

The officers relaxed their stance after a few minutes; two leaned their hefty frames against a nearby wall, and the third stood in a relaxed poise. Cigarettes were pulled from packs, but returned upon a signal of non-smoking by the householder.

The detective, in charge of the team, had found a spare chair, which he placed opposite the witnesses. Then he draped his ample body on to its hardness. His pudgy hands searched through the depths of his coat pockets until a small notebook was found. After a short pause in looking for a clean sheet through the worn pages, the detective directed his attention to the head of the household, a balding slightly stooped man in the late sixties. The investigator, poised with a stub of a pencil, waited to record the words of the witness as the first question was forwarded. The elder's tired eyes searched out the face of his interrogator as he tried to comprehend the inquiry; his twisting fingers showed signs of nervousness. The question was asked again. He shook his grizzled head in an attempt to jog his memory to remembrance. Then in a rush, his agitated voice spelled out the answer.

"Let me see! Ah, ah heard a' screamin' this night... Shook me frum me bed... Ah'll never fergit thet screamin' fer th' rest of me life... No siree! Scared th' bejesus out of me.. It waz jest two long screams, an' then 'nother short one... Heard it well enough.. Me good woman always leavin' a window r' two open at night for a bit o' fresh air.. By the saints above t'was a' terrible goings-on... a real misery."

"Ain't it so me love," he called, as he turned to his equally edgy wife for assent.

The pensioner continued in his words by telling that when he went to the open window and looked down in the dismal street, he saw a burly figure bending over a fallen woman. Deep horror was expressed by his excited voice as his slurred phrases told of how the man re-peatedly punished the victim with a large clump of wood or heavy pipe. Puzzling words stated that the attacker was mainly striking the poor creature's head, "Jess on her noggin', bam, bam, bam... Real bad ah tell you, real bad... Couldn't do a' thing, not a blessed thing... Blessed scared ah waz...Ah was jest rooted this h'yar spot an' starin' at what was happenin' down below in th' street.. Jesus, Jesus t'was mighty terrible... th' miz'rable woman.. th' beatin'."

 

 

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Copyright © 2002 Norman A Rubin
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"