Milcom

Occurrences in Scripture

The name Milcom appears in 1 Kings and 2 Kings.

• 1 Kings 11:5, 33: Under the influence of his foreign wives, Solomon went after "Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites." Here "abomination" refers to an idol that God hates. Verse 33 presents this as a reason for the judgment by which the kingdom would be divided.
• 2 Kings 23:13: During his reforms, King Josiah defiled the high place (an altar and site of sacrifice set up on a hill) that Solomon had built for Milcom "on the right hand of the mount of corruption" before Jerusalem, so that it could no longer be used.

The New Korean Revised Version renders the same god as "Malcam" in Jeremiah 49:1, 3 and Zephaniah 1:5 (the KJV reads "their king" in Jeremiah and "Malcham" in Zephaniah). Jeremiah prophesies that Malcam will go into captivity together with his priests, and Zephaniah rebukes those who swear by the LORD while also swearing by Malcham.

Background

Milcom (Hebrew Milkom) is known as the national god of the Ammonites, who lived east of the Jordan. The name is generally thought to be related to the Semitic root meaning "king" (m-l-k). Inscriptions from the Ammonite region are also reported to contain a word that appears to be the name of this god.

According to a traditional view, "the mount of corruption," where Solomon built the high place, was the southern part of the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. Its exact location, however, has not been established.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

In the books of Kings, Milcom is mentioned alongside Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians. These deities symbolize the Israelite king's abandonment of the covenant through his adoption of the religions of neighboring peoples. This is portrayed as a violation of the commandment to have no other gods (Deuteronomy 5:6–10). Conversely, Josiah's removal of the high places stands as the representative scene of reform and return to the covenant.

The name Milcom does not appear in the New Testament. The warning against idolatry, however, continues there. Paul taught that an idol is nothing and that there is only one God (1 Corinthians 8:4–6), and 1 John closes with the words "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).

Interpretations and Debated Issues

• Is Milcom the same god as Molech? 1 Kings 11:7 states that Solomon built a high place "for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon." For this reason, some interpreters identify Milcom with Molech. Other scholars, noting that 2 Kings 23 treats the two names separately, regard them as distinct gods. The question remains unresolved in scholarship.
• Connection with child sacrifice: Leviticus forbids giving one's children to Molech. The biblical text, however, does not directly state that children were offered to Milcom. Sermons and popular materials sometimes merge the two gods and describe Milcom worship as child sacrifice, but this explanation rests on interpretation rather than on what the text records.
• "Their king" and Milcom: In Hebrew, "their king" (malkam) and Milcom are spelled very similarly. Some therefore argue that "king" in 2 Samuel 12:30 or Amos 1:15 should be read as Milcom. Ancient and modern translations render these passages differently.