Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch
Sometimes called Molech, and sometimes Milcorn; it was the god of
the Ammonites, and the same with Baal: the one signifies king,
and the other lord; and was, no doubt, the same with the Apis or
Serapis of the Egyptians, and the calf of the Israelites.
Frequent mention is made of giving seed to Molech, and causing
the children to pass through fire to him. The account the Jews
give of this image, and of the barbarous worship of it, is this
F6:
``though all idolatrous places were in Jerusalem, Molech was without Jerusalem; and it was made an hollow image, placed within seven chancels or chapels; and whoever offered fine flour, they opened to him the first; if turtle doves or two young pigeons, they opened the second; if a lamb, they opened the third; if a ram, they opened the fourth; if a calf, they opened the fifth; if an ox, they opened the sixth; but whoever offered his son, they opened the seventh: his face was a calf's, and his hands were stretched out, as a man opens his hands to receive any thing from his friend; and they make him hot with fire, and the priests take the infant and put it into the hands of Molech, and the infant expires: and wherefore is it called Topher and Hinnom? Tophet, because they make a noise with drums, that its father may not hear the voice of the child, and have compassion on it, and return to it; and Hinnom, because the child roars, and the voice of its roaring ascends.''Others give a milder account of this matter, and say, that the service was after this manner F7; that
``the father delivered his son to the priests, who made two large fires, and caused the son to pass on his feet between the two fires,''so that it was only a sort of a lustration or purification by fire; but the former account, which makes the child to be sacrificed, and put to death, seems best to agree with the scriptural one. Now this idol was included in chancels or chapels, as in the account given, or in shrines, in tabernacles, or portable temples, which might be taken up and carried; and such an one is here mentioned: by which is meant, not the tabernacle of the Lord made by Bezaleel; as if the sense was, that the idolatrous Israelites, though not openly, yet secretly, and in their hearts worshipped Moloch, as if he was included in the tabernacle; so that to take it up means no other, than in the heart to worship, and to consider him as if he had been shut up and carried in that tabernacle; nor is it to be thought that they publicly took up, and carried a tabernacle, in which was the image of Moloch, during their forty years' travels in the wilderness; for whatever they might do the few days they worshipped the golden calf, which is possible, it cannot be received, that Moses, who was so severe against idolatry, would ever have connived at such a practice: this therefore must have reference to after times, when they sacrificed their children to him, and took up and carried his image in little shrines and tabernacles.
And the star of your god Remphan.
The Alexandrian copy reads "Raiphan"; some copies read "Raphan";
and so the Arabic version; others "Rephan"; the Syriac version
reads "Rephon"; and the Ethiopic version "Rephom". Giants, with
the Hebrews, were called "Rephaim"; and so Moloch, who is here
meant, is called "Rephan", and with an epenthesis "Remphan",
because of his gigantic form; which some have concluded from the
massy crown on his head, which, with the precious stones, weighed
a talent of gold, which David took from thence, ( 2 Samuel
12:30 ) for not the then reigning king of the Ammonites, but
Molech, or Milchom, their idol, is meant: this is generally
thought to be the same with Chiun in Amos; but it does not stand
in a place to answer to that; besides, that should not be left
untranslated, it not being a proper name of an idol, but
signifies a type or form; and the whole may be rendered thus,
"but ye have borne the tabernacle of your king, and the type, or
form of your images, the star of your god"; which version agrees
with Stephens's, who, from the Septuagint, adds the name of this
their king, and their god Rephan, or Remphan. Drusius
conjectures, that this is a fault of the Scribes writing Rephan
for Cephan, or that the Septuagint interpreters mistook the
letter (k) for
(r) , and instead of Cevan
read Revan; and Chiun is indeed, by Kimchi and Aben Ezra
F8, said to be the same with Chevan,
which, in the Ishmaelitish and Persian languages, signifies
Saturn; and so does Rephan in the Egyptian language: and it is
further to be observed, that the Egyptians had a king called
Remphis, the same with Apis; and this may be the reason why the
Septuagint interpreters, who interpreted for Ptolomy, king of
Egypt, put Rephan, which Stephen calls Remphan, instead of Chiun,
which they were better acquainted with, since they both signify
the same deity, and the same star; and which also was the star of
the Israelites, called by them (yatbv) , because supposed to have the government of
the sabbath day, and therefore fitly called the "star of your
god". Upon the whole, Moloch, Chiun, Rephan, or Remphan, and
Remphis, all are the same with the Serapis of the Egyptians, and
the calf of the Israelites; and which idolatry was introduced on
account of Joseph, who interpreted the dream of Pharaoh's kine,
and provided for the Egyptians in the years of plenty against the
years of famine, and was worshipped under the ox with a bushel on
his head;
figures which ye made to worship them;
in Amos it is said, "which you made for yourselves": meaning both
the image and the tabernacle in which it was, which they made for
their own use, to worship their deity in and by:
and I will carry you beyond Babylon;
in Amos it is beyond Damascus, and so some copies read here,
which was in Babylon; and explains the sense of the prophet more
fully, that they should not only be carried for their idolatry
beyond Damascus, and into the furthermost parts of Babylon, but
beyond it, even into the cities of the Medea, Halah, and Habor,
by the river Gozan; and here is no contradiction: how far beyond
Damascus, the prophet does not say; and if they were carried
beyond Babylon, they must be carried beyond Damascus, and so the
words of the prophet were fulfilled; and Stephen living after the
fulfilment of the prophecy, by which it appeared that they were
carried into Media, could say how far they were carried;
wherefore the Jew F9 has no reason to cavil at Stephen,
as if he misrepresented the words of the prophet, and related
things otherwise than they were; and so Kimchi interprets it, far
beyond Damascus; and particularly mentions Halah and Habor,
cities in Media, where the ten tribes were carried.