Psalms 106:38 - Exposition

And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters. Infants, who could have committed no actual sin, were the ordinary victims in the Moloch sacrifices (see Jarchi on Jeremiah 7:31 ; Diod. Sic; Jeremiah 20:14 ; Dollinger, 'Judenthum und Heidenthum,' 1:427, Engl. trans.). Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan. Bloody offerings of this horrible kind were made, not only to Moloch, but also to Baal ( Jeremiah 19:5 ), to Chemosh ( 2 Kings 3:27 ), and perhaps to other deities. And the land was polluted with blood. Contrary to the commandment given in Deuteronomy 35:33, "Ye shall not pollute the laud wherein ye are." The "innocent blood" shed in the land is often declared to have been the especial cause of God's anger against Israel, and of his final casting away of his inheritance ( 2 Kings 24:4 ; Isaiah 59:7 ; Jeremiah 7:6 ; Jeremiah 22:3 , Jeremiah 22:17 , etc.).