Bible Dictionary
Tophet
Tophet was a place in the Valley of Hinnom associated with child sacrifice and later with burning and divine punishment. Because of these associations, it became a symbol of the place of judgment.
Definition
Tophet, or Topheth, was a place in the Valley of Hinnom associated with burning and abominable sacrifices. Because of these associations, it became a symbol of divine destruction and punishment.
Biblical Usage
Tophet is connected with the burning of sons and daughters in the fire and with prophetic announcements of judgment. Its imagery contributed to its representation as a place of punishment.
Historical Background
The name is variously connected with a drum or with burning. The place lay where the Valley of Hinnom bends eastward and was later associated with refuse, dead bodies, fire, and worms.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
=Topheth, from Heb. toph “a drum,” because the cries of children here sacrificed by the priests of Moloch were drowned by the noise of such an instrument; or from taph or toph, meaning “to burn,” and hence a place of burning, the name of a particular part in the valley of Hinnom. “Fire being the most destructive of all elements, is chosen by the sacred writers to symbolize the agency by which God punishes or destroys the wicked. We are not to assume from prophetical figures that material fire is the precise agent to be used. It was not the agency employed in the destruction of Sennacherib, mentioned in Isa. 30:33...Tophet properly begins where the Vale of Hinnom bends round to the east, having the cliffs of Zion on the north, and the Hill of Evil Counsel on the south. It terminates at Beer ‘Ayub, where it joins the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The cliffs on the southern side especially abound in ancient tombs. Here the dead carcasses of beasts and every offal and abomination were cast, and left to be either devoured by that worm that never died or consumed by that fire that was never quenched.” Thus Tophet came to represent the place of punishment. (See HINNOM.)