Anammelech was a pagan god worshipped by the inhabitants of Sepharvaim, a region in Mesopotamia. When the King of Assyria captured the Northern Kingdom of Israel and exiled its people, he transplanted various foreign groups into the empty cities of Samaria. These new settlers brought their native deities with them, polluting the land with idolatry.
🏛️ The God of the Sepharvites
The worship of Anammelech is documented during the early period of the Samaritan settlement. The King of Assyria settled people from Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim into the land of Samaria:
“And the men of Cuth made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” (2 Kings 17:30-31, KJV)
The Sepharvites, who worshipped Anammelech, were settled in the region of Samaria. Their introduction of this deity was part of the tragic religious syncretism that plagued the area, leading to the mixed, corrupted religion of the later Samaritans.
🔥 The Abominable Rite
The most shocking detail about the worship of Anammelech is that it involved human sacrifice, specifically the ritualistic burning of children:
“…and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” (2 Kings 17:31, KJV)
This practice was a direct and grave violation of the Law of Moses, which absolutely forbade child sacrifice and declared it an abomination to the Lord (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 18:10, KJV). The fact that the settlers performed this act simultaneously for Adrammelech (likely a solar deity) and Anammelech suggests they were a divine pair worshipped together.
🔑 A Warning Against Idolatry
The inclusion of Anammelech in the sacred text serves as a stark historical and spiritual warning. The Lord allowed the people of Israel to be exiled because of their own long history of turning to idols. When the foreign nations were brought in, they established their own idolatrous cults, including the gruesome worship of Anammelech.
The narrative confirms that those who replaced Israel in the land still did not “fear the Lord, neither did they keep to their statutes, or to their ordinances, or to the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob” (2 Kings 17:34, KJV). Anammelech stands as a dark reminder of the depravity of pagan worship and the severe consequences of rejecting the true God.