Editing Moloch (section)

===As a rite of passage===
A minority of scholars,{{sfn|Stavrakopoulou|2013|p=140}} mainly scholars of [[Punic]] studies,{{sfn|Xella|2013|p=265}} has argued that the ceremonies to Moloch are in fact a non-lethal dedication ceremony rather than a sacrifice. These theories are partially supported by commentary in the [[Talmud]] and among early Jewish commentators of the Bible.{{sfn|Stavrakopoulou|2013|p=140}} Rejecting such arguments, Paolo Xella and Francesca Stavrakopoulou note that the Bible explicitly connects the ritual to Moloch at the tophet with the verbs indicating slaughter, killing in sacrifice, deities "eating" the children, and [[holocaust (sacrifice)|holocaust]].{{sfn|Stavrakopoulou|2013|p=140}} Xella also refers to Carthaginian and Phoenician child sacrifice found referenced in Greco-Roman sources.{{sfn|Xella|2013|pp=265–266}}