The American Holocaust

The American Holocaust

1KI 11:1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

1KI 11:7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

1KI 11:23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 He gathered men around him and became the leader of a band of rebels when David destroyed the forces of Zobah; the rebels went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 25 Rezon was Israel’s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.

1KI 11:26 Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.

1KI 11:27 Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. 28 Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.

1KI 11:29 About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.

God had forbidden the Israelites to worship Chemosh or Molech. Both of them are the gods of fire, Chemosh is Moabite god and Molech is the Ammonite god. But what did they sacrifice to these gods? The people of Moab and Ammon sacrificed their firstborn sons to these gods. Some say the children were to pass through the fire, the fire would be on two sides and the children would walk through the middle. But that is not what Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel understood. It is clear from reading the prophets that the children were killed and burned. The whole point of the offering consisted, therefore, in the fact that it was a human sacrifice. For what reason? To bring blessing upon the family. The father, with his arms outstretched, holding his firstborn son, he walked toward this statue of a man with the head of a calf and turned down horns. The statue would have its arms out to receive the sacrifice. The child was put in a iron mold of Molech and placed in the fire. Now we see why God called this an abomination.

You say, how barbaric, you are repulsed that people acted in such a way. How can civilized people sacrifice their children in such a way? It is interesting you are repulsed in such a way. Actually you may even be taken back by the passage we read. How could such a smart man like Solomon, such a godly man as he was, turn to such a practice? How could Israel which had seen the mighty workings of God, turn to this detestable god, who is no god at all?