Tophet: =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
(Isaiah 30:33)ff 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.
