Chief god of the Ammonites (I Kgs 11:5, 33; II Kgs 23:13). When King Solomon grew senile his Gentile wives influenced him to worship their gods, one of whom was Milcom (I Kgs 11:5). It was the Judeans' cult of the gods of the neighboring peoples, including the Ammonite Milcom, that made the Lord strip Solomon's descendants of their sovereignty over the ten northern tribes of Israel (I Kgs 11:1-13). Solomon surrounded Jerusalem with shrines dedicated to various deities including Milcom; these shrines remained in use until they were destroyed by King Josiah (II Kgs 23:13-14). Another reference to Milcom may be found in II Samuel 12:30 in the account of King David's conquest of Rabbah, the Ammonite capital: "Then he took the king's crown from his (the idol's) head�, and it was set on David's head." Here, however, the Masoretic text vocalized the Hebrew consonants mlkm as malkam "their king", which could refer instead to the mortal king of the Ammonites. Another reference to Milcom may be found in Zephaniah 1:5 where the Lord condemns those who swear both by the Lord and by "their king". Many scholars hold that the vocalization malkam "their king" ought to be corrected to Milcom. In this case Zephaniah 1:5, like the narrative concerning Elijah and the priests of Baal (I Kgs chap. 18), urges the people to choose between one of two deities; syncretism is unacceptable (cf Ex 20:3 ff). A final reference is found in the Septuagint translation of Jeremiah 49:1, 3. It is generally accepted that Milcom is a form of the common Semitic noun meaning "king" (Hebrew melek), and became an epithet of the head of the Ammonite pantheon. See also MOLECH.
Concordance
I Kgs 11:5, 33. II Kgs 23:13. Zeph 1:5
