Topheth

To’pheth. (place of burning), To’pheth, and once, To’phet, was in the southeast extremity of the "valley of the son of Hinnom," Jer 7:31, which is "by the entry of the east gate." Jer 19:2 . The locality of Hinnom is to have been elsewhere. See Hinnom. It seems also to have been part of the king’s gardens, and watered by Siloam, perhaps a little to the south of the present Birket el-Hamra.

The name, Tophet, occurs only in the Old Testament. 2Ki 23:10; Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:6; Jer 19:11-14. The New Testament does not refer to it, nor does the Apocrypha. Tophet has been variously translated. The most natural meaning seems that suggested by the occurrence of the word, in two consecutive verses, in one of which, it is a tabret, and in the other, Tophet. Isa 30:32; Isa 30:37.

The Hebrew words are nearly identical; and Tophet was, probably, the king’s "music-grove," or garden, denoting originally nothing evil or hateful. Certainly there is no proof that it took its name from the beating, to drown the cries of the burning victims, that passed through the fire to Molech. Afterward, it was defiled by idols, and polluted by the sacrifices of Baal, and the fires of Molech. Then, it became the place of abomination, the very gate, or pit, of hell. The pious kings defiled it, and threw down its altars and high places, pouring into it all the filth of the city, till it became the "abhorrence" of Jerusalem.

A spot in the valley of the son of Hinnom; S.E. and S.S.E. of Jerusalem; "by the entry of the E. gate" (Jer 19:2). (See HINNOM.) Infamous by the immolation in it of children to Moloch (2Ki 23:10; Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:2; Jer 19:6; Jer 19:11). (See HELL.) From toph, the "drums" beaten to drown the shrieks of the children made to pass through the fire to Moloch; rather tophet means tabret, so "tabret grove," i.e. music grove, as Chinneroth is "the harp sea"; or tuph "to spit," less probably; or from a root "burning" (Persian, Gesenins); or "filth" (Roediger). One of the chief groves in Hinnom; forming part of the king’s gardens, and watered by Siloam; Hinnom is placed by old writers E. of Jerusalem, answering to the month of the Tyropoeon, along the southern banks of the Kedron (Jerome De Loc. Hebrew).

Topheth was next defiled by idols, Baal and Moloch, with their inhuman sacrifices. Josiah threw down its altars and heaped here the filth of the city, so that, with its carcasses preyed on by worms and its perpetual fires for consuming refuse, it became a type of hell (Isa 66:24). In Kings and Jeremiah the article precedes, "the Topheth" In Isa 30:33 it is Tophteh, "tabret grove," as tupim in Isa 30:32 is "tabrets." Jeremiah (Jer 7:32; Jer 19:6) makes it prophetically "the valley of slaughter," i.e. the scene, no longer of slaughter of innocents (Jer 19:4), but of the Jewish men who so richly deserved their fate. In Isa 30:33 Topheth symbolizes the funeral pyre of Sennacherib’s army, not that it actually perished there, but the Assyrian forerunner of antichrist is to be burnt in ignominy whereas the Hebrew buried their dead. Satan is the king finally doomed to the fire with the lost (Mat 5:22; Mat 25:41; Mar 9:43-44).

Topheth (tô’feth), and once Tophet (tô’fet), place of burning, first applied to a deep part of the "valley of the son of Hinnom, Jer 7:31, "by the entry of the east gate." Jer 19:2. It seems also to have been part of the king’s gardens, and watered by Siloam. Tophet occurs only in the Old Testament. 2Ki 23:10; Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:6; Jer 19:11-14. The New does not refer to it. Tophet has been variously translated. The most natural meaning seems that suggested by the occurrence of the word in two consecutive verses, in one of which it is a tabret and in the other tophet. Isa 30:32-33. Tophet was probably the king’s "music-grove" or garden, denoting originally nothing evil or hateful. Certainly there is little evidence that it took its name from the drums beaten to drown the cries of the burning victims that passed through the fire to Molech. Afterward it was defiled by idols and polluted by the sacrifices of Baal and the fires of Molech. Then it became the place of abomination, the very gate or pit of hell. The pious kings defiled it, pouring into it all the filth of the city, till it became the "abhorrence" of Jerusalem. See Hell.

TOPHETH.—A term of uncertain etymology, designating some locality in one of the valleys near Jerusalem, very possibly in the Valley of Hinnom (2Ki 23:10), or near the point of juncture of the three valleys of Jerusalem. It was there that the Jews under Ahab and Manasseh performed the rites of human sacrifice (Jer 7:31-32), offering children to Baal, Molech, and other heathen gods. It was defiled by Josiah as a part of his religious reformation, and so came to be an abominable place where the refuse was destroyed, and thus a synonym of Gehenna (wh. see).

Shailer Mathews.

tō´feth (התּפת, ha-tōpheth, etymology uncertain; the most probable is its connection with a root meaning “burning” - the “place of burning”; the King James Version, Tophet, except in 2Ki 23:10): The references are to such a place: “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire” (Jer 7:31). On account of this abomination Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom should be called “The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury,” the Revised Version margin “because there shall be no place else” (Jer 7:32); see also Jer 19:6, Jer 19:12, Jer 19:13, Jer 19:14. Josiah is said to have “defiled Topheth” as part of his great religious reforms (2Ki 23:10). The site of this shameful place would seem to have been either at the lower end of the VALLEY OF HINNOM (which see), near where Akeldama is now pointed out, or in the open ground where this valley joins the Kidron.