Malcham

The umbrella term Malcham covers two distinct entries — a Benjamite name in the Chronicler's genealogies and a foreign deity sworn by in Zephaniah's indictment of Jerusalem. UPDV uses different forms for each: "Malcam" for the man, "Milcom" for the god.

Malcam, Son of Shaharaim

In the Benjamite genealogy of Chronicles, Malcam appears among the sons born to Shaharaim by his wife Hodesh in the field of Moab: "And Shaharaim begot children in the field of Moab, after he had sent them away; Hushim and Baara were his wives. And he begot of Hodesh his wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and Mesha, and Malcam, and Jeuz, and Shachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of fathers' [houses]" (1 Ch 8:8-10). He is named once, as one of seven brothers who become heads of family-houses; nothing further is recorded.

Milcom in Zephaniah

Zephaniah's opening oracle scans the apostasies in Jerusalem and lists, alongside Baal and the host of heaven, those who hedge their oaths between Yahweh and a foreign god: "and those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; and those who worship, that swear to Yahweh and swear by Milcom" (Zep 1:5). Swearing by both names is the indictment — the same mouth invoking Yahweh and the Ammonite deity. The name in UPDV here is Milcom; the same consonants underlie the Benjamite name in 1 Ch 8:9, but the contexts are unrelated.