MILCOM: The national god of the Ammonites according to I Kings xi. 5, 33; II Kings xxiii. 13. Additional passages where reference to Milcom is to be found are Jer. xlix. 1, 3, where Hebr. malcam, A. V. "their king," is to be pointed Milkom, " M ilcom "; and I Kings xi. 7, where the Hebr. Molek is clearly to be read Milkom, it being the only case in the Old Testament where Molek is read without the article, the word being there qualified by the phrase "the abomination of the Ammonites." There is a possibility that in Amos v. 26, Milkom is to be read for malkekem, "your king" (for the various renderings see Molech, Moloch), though the probabilities are against it; the passage is very difficult, and no generally accepted explanation has yet been given. For Zeph. i. 5 also see Mor.Bcn,

MOLOCH. The name is evidently derived by mimmation from the general West Semitic word melek, "king" (probable Phenician vocalization milk, elsewhere malik, malk), and has therefore approximately the same meaning. Another derivation proposed for the word is melek `am, "king of the people."

Nothing at all is known of the cult, and no mention of the deity has yet been found in inscriptions. There is no reason to assume that the practise of human sacrifice obtained among the Ammonites, the identity of " Moloch " and " Milcom " being a totally baseless supposition. It is noteworthy that the place of worship was on the Mount of Olives, while that of Molech was in the valley. From early times, until the present, dating back to the days of the making of the Septuagint and other Greek versions of the Old Testament, there has been confusion of this deity with Molech (Moloch), as is shown by the way in which the two names were rendered in those versions and in the Syriac (cf. Zeph. i. 5, where some texts of the Septuagint read Mekhom, i.e., Milcom). The confusion was due in part to the common root at the basis of the two forms, in part to the fact that the Ammonites as a people and consequently their worship disappeared in the migrations which overran the districts east of the Jordan just before the Christian era.

Geo. W. Gilmore.

Bibliography: For literature see Molech, Moloch.