Horrifyingly real

The Prince of Lies hates us and hates our humanity: “for God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity, but through the devil’s envy death entered the world.” (Wis 2:23-24) So God warned the Israelites against, among others, the bizarre and demonic ritual of child sacrifice to the demon Molech [Moloch]: “You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” (Lev 18:21)

 Through the Prophet Jeremiah the Lord continued to condemn the abomination: “And they have built the high place of Topheth [Moloch], which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.” (Jeremiah 7:31) The 12th-century rabbi Rashi comments: “Tophet is Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved.”

The sacrifices took place in the Valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem, known as Gehenna, the metaphor Jesus would use for the pains of Hell. The beating drum distracting parents from the cries of their children is an eerie but important detail. The Devil needed a distraction as the evil was being done. He has become much more sophisticated today with diversionary tactics and we remain remarkably susceptible to them.

 -from the Catholic Thing post by Jerry Pokorsky