📖 Biblical Definition
Child sacrifice was the defining abomination of the Canaanite nations and the sin that most provoked God's wrath against Israel when they adopted it. The practice of passing children through fire to Molech is repeatedly condemned: "You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God" (Leviticus 18:21). God declared this practice so evil that "it did not come into my mind" (Jeremiah 32:35). The destruction of children to serve adult desires — whether religious, economic, or personal — stands as one of the gravest sins in all of Scripture, and one of the primary reasons God judged both Canaan and apostate Israel.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster did not have a combined entry; sacrifice was defined as an offering to a deity, especially the killing of a victim on an altar.
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SAC'RIFICE, n. An offering made to God on an altar; anything consecrated and presented to God. Among pagans, the offering of animals or human victims to their false gods. Note: Webster understood that pagan sacrifice of human victims was the antithesis of the worship of the true God.
📖 Key Scripture
• Leviticus 18:21 — "You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech."
• Jeremiah 32:35 — "They built the high places of Baal...to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech."
• Psalm 106:37-38 — "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons."
• 2 Kings 23:10 — Josiah defiled Topheth so no one could burn children to Molech.
• Deuteronomy 12:31 — "They even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The spirit of Molech worship continues wherever children are destroyed to serve adult autonomy.
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The modern world recoils at ancient child sacrifice while practicing its own forms under sanitized language. Abortion destroys children in the womb for the sake of convenience, career, or autonomy — the same exchange the ancients made: the life of a child for the desires of the parent. The spirit of Molech has not vanished; it has been medicalized. Scripture's condemnation is absolute and admits no cultural exception. God judges nations that shed innocent blood, and no amount of legal sanction or euphemism changes the nature of the act. "These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you" (Psalm 50:21).
Usage
• "Child sacrifice to Molech was the sin that brought God's judgment on Canaan — the destruction of the innocent to serve the desires of the powerful."
• "Every culture that sacrifices its children on the altar of convenience follows the ancient pattern Scripture condemns with the strongest possible language."