Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. – Leviticus 20:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 9, 2018): Leviticus 20

Filmmaker John Carpenter, best known for his work within horror, action, and science fiction genres, commented that “The strongest human emotion is fear. It's the essence of any good thriller that, for a little while, you believe in the boogeyman.” Carpenter is wrong. The essence of every good thriller is not that we are enticed to believe that the boogeyman exists for just a little while; it is that we are reminded that boogeyman really does exist and that he, or she, might live right next door in every moment of our present. The boogeyman is an acknowledgment that we are a hurting and warped people, liable to make unholy alliances that are totally beyond the realm of reason. And we do it every day.

The Bible is filled with boogeyman. For modern readers, the chorus of boogeymen is often reduced to Satan and his disciples. But it is an injustice to the writers not to acknowledge the other boogeymen of the ancient world. And one of the worst was Molek. It is almost impossible to believable how deep a hold this boogeyman would get on Israel. Molek would, eventually, make his way to Jerusalem, and the people of the Holy City, rather than go to the Temple, would make their way outside the city to the Valley of Hinnom to sacrifice (kill) their children to his image. I get shivers of unbelief every time I think about such a sacrifice. Generations of children were stolen, not by some fictitious bad guy, but by a real-life boogeyman who had infected the minds of otherwise normal people.

As Canadian Thanksgiving passes, Canada celebrated their Thanksgiving yesterday; I am reminded of how much I have for which I am thankful. And at the top of my list are my children, and their spouses, and my four grandchildren. The thought of sacrificing any of them or allowing any of them to be stolen by a boogeyman like Molek is unthinkable. And yet, parent after parent would bring their precious children to burn them in the belly of this boogeyman. And they did it willingly and without shame or a sense of loss.

God makes it clear. The children are important. And anyone who would sacrifice their children should be sacrificed. And the truth is that most of us would agree, at least emotionally. In a culture that might have considered children to be disposable, God places his vote overtop of whatever it is that the people might believe. The children are valuable. Every child deserves to be protected, and while the boogeyman is very real, he should be nothing more than a figment of our imagination.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 21