Editing Moloch (section)

===In Judaism===
[[File:Moloch the god.gif|thumb|right|{{lang|de|Der Götze Moloch mit 7 Räumen oder Capellen}}; "The idol Moloch with seven chambers or chapels" in {{lang|de|Die Alten Jüdischen Heiligthümer}}, by [[Johann Lund]], early eighteenth century. The illustration contains elements derived from the medieval rabbinical tradition.{{sfn|Soltes|2021}}|388x388px]]
The oldest classical rabbinical texts, the [[mishnah]] (3rd century CE) and [[Talmud]] (200s CE) include the Leviticus prohibitions of giving one's seed to Moloch, but do not clearly describe what this might have historically entailed.{{sfn|Lockshin|2021}} Early [[midrash]] regarded the prohibition to giving one's seed to Moloch at Leviticus 21:18 as no longer applicable in a literal sense. The [[Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael]] explains that Moloch refers to any foreign religion, while [[Megillah (Talmud)|Megillah]] in the [[Babylonian Talmud]] explains that Moloch refers to the gentiles.{{sfn|Kasher|1988|p=566}} Likewise, the [[Late Antiquity|late antique]] [[Targum Neofiti]] and the [[Targum Pseudo-Jonathan]], interpret the verse to mean a Jewish man having sex with a gentile.{{sfn|Kugel|2012|p=261}} The earlier [[Book of Jubilees]] (2nd century BCE) shows that this reinterpretation was known already during the [[Second Temple Period]]; Jubilees uses the story of [[Dinah]] to show that marrying one's daughter to a gentile was also forbidden (Jubilees 30:10).{{sfn|Kugel|2012|pp=261-262}} Such non-literal interpretations are condemned in the Mishnah (Megilla 4:9).{{sfn|Lockshin|2021}}

Medieval rabbis argued about whether the prohibition of giving to Moloch referred to sacrifice or something else. For instance, [[Menachem Meiri]] (1249–1315) argued that "giving one's seed unto Moloch" referred to an initiation rite and not a form of idolatry or sacrifice.{{sfn|Lockshin|2021}} Other rabbis disagreed. The 8th or 9th-century midrash [[Tanḥuma#Tanḥuma B, or Yelammedenu|Tanḥuma B]], gives a detailed description of Moloch worship in which the Moloch idol has the face of a calf and offerings are placed in its outstretched hands to be burned.{{sfn|Lockshin|2021}} This portrayal has no basis in the Bible or Talmud and probably derives from sources such as [[Diodorus Siculus]] on Carthaginian child sacrifice as well as various other classical portrayals of gruesome sacrifice.{{sfn|Rundin|2004|p=430}}{{sfn|Moore|1897|p=162}} The rabbis [[Rashi]] (1040–1105) and [[Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor]] (12th century) may rely on Tanḥuma B when they provide their own description of Moloch sacrifices in their commentaries.{{sfn|Lockshin|2021}} The medieval rabbinical tradition also associated Moloch with other similarly named deities mentioned in the Bible such as [[Milcom]], [[Adrammelek]], and [[Anammelech]].{{sfn|Heider|1985|p=2}}