MALCHAM 1. A name of the Am monite idol, commonly called Molech. The name Molech, Ob, is from the same root as 'Op, king,' and evidently of the same significa tion, having in all occurrences but one (t Kings xi. s) the article, 'ham-molech,' TT. Its pronun ciation being sufficiently supported by the ancient versions, it is probably a dialectic variation. Mal chain and Milcom, r6n, are two varieties, if we may depend upon the points, of a derivative with D formative' used as a proper name. According to the present punctuation, Malcham is identical with their king,' '60 with the suffixed pronoun of the third person plural masculine ; hence a diffi culty when the context is not positive.
The passages in which Malcham seems to be a proper name are the following Jer. xlix. I, 3 ; Amos v. 26 ; Zeph. i. 5 ; 2 Sam. xii. 3o. In Is. viii. 21, the meaning is doubtful. It is difficult to conjecture the reason for the use of more forms than one of the name of Molech. Perhaps one is
The Israelite, and another the Ammonite form. Some escape this difficulty by considering Malcham to be an appellative with the sense their king,' but this does not explain the variety Milcom.
2. A Benjamite, apparently of the descendants of Ehud, and son of Shaharaim, probably born in the land of Moab, but the passage is difficult, though :a connection with Moab is clear. Among his brethren, Jobab has a name also given to an Edomite, as well as to a Canaanite king ; and, still more remarkably, Mesha has a name also that of a Moabite king. The occurrence together of Mal •cham and Mesha in connection with Moab is con firmatory of the correctness of the former name, at least as far as its consonants are concerned, as ap plied to the Ammonite idol, for in such a passage it would not have been changed by intention, or by a mistake of the transcriber.—R. S. P.