2 Kings 23:10

2Ki 23:10 And he defiled Topheth, which [is] in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

Ver. 10. And he defiled Tophet.] A pleasant valley near to Jerusalem, but, for the abominable abuse of it, taken afterwards for hell, {Isa 30:33 Mat 5:22} a place of torments, without end, and past imagination.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 23:10. He defiled Topheth — By throwing different kinds of filth and dead carcasses into it, and making it the burying-place of the city. Topheth was a place very near Jerusalem, where was the image of Molech, to whom some sacrificed their children, burning them in the fire, as the reader may see in the note on Lev 18:21; and to whom others, as many able interpreters think, only dedicated them, by making them pass between two fires, or by waving them, or making them jump over a fire. It is supposed to be called Topheth, from toph, a drum; because they beat drums at the burning of their children, that their shricks might not be heard. This place, near Jerusalem, was also called the valley of the sons of Hinnom, (2Ch 28:3,) from the yelling of the sacrificed infants. Thus Milton calls Molech: —

Horrid king, besmear’d with blood

Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears,

Though for the noise of drums, and timbrels loud,

Their children’s cries unheard, that pass’d through fire

To his grim idol. Par. Lost, book 1. 50:392.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:10 Topheth was a precinct in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, which lay southwest of the city of David and led into the Kidron Valley. The detestable rite of child sacrifice had occurred there. • Molech has been identified with a number of deities (see 1 Kgs 11:5, 7, 33) and with the name of a sacrifice offered to Baal (Jer 7:31-32; 19:5-6; 32:35).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which was a valley near to Jerusalem, and signifieth a taboret, because they smote on the taboret while their children were burning, that their cry should not be heard, Lev. 18:21, where after Josiah commanded carrions to be cast in contempt thereof.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Topheth--so called from Toph--a "drum." It is the prevailing opinion among Jewish writers that the cries of the terrified children made to pass through the fire in that place of idolatrous horror were drowned by the sound of that instrument.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. He defiled Topheth] St. Jerome says that Topheth was a fine and pleasant place, well watered with fountains, and adorned with gardens. The valley of the son of Hinnom, or Gehenna, was in one part; here it appears the sacred rites of Molech were performed, and to this all the filth of the city was carried, and perpetual fires were kept up in order to consume it. Hence it has been considered a type of hell; and in this sense it is used in the New Testament.

It is here said that Josiah defiled this place that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire. He destroyed the image of Molech, and so polluted the place where he stood, or his temple, that it was rendered in every way abominable. The rabbins say that Topheth had its name from תף toph, a drum, because instruments of this kind were used to drown the cries of the children that were put into the burning arms of Molech, to be scorched to death. This may be as true as the following definition: "Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, was a place near Jerusalem, where the filth and offal of the city were thrown, and where a constant fire was kept up to consume the wretched remains of executed criminals. It was a human shambles, a public chopping-block, where the arms and legs of men and women were quartered off by thousands." Query, On what authority do such descriptions rest?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Topheth.—Heb. the Topheth; i.e., the burning place, or hearth, if the word be rightly derived from the Persian tôften, “to burn.” The Hebrew word, however, has been so modified as to suggest a derivation from tôph, “to spit;” so that the epithet would mean “the abomination.” (Comp. 2Ki_23:13.) (Comp. also Job_17:6; Isa_30:33; and the Coptic tâf, “spittle.”)

The valley of the children of Hinnom.—Elsewhere called “the valley of the son of Hinnom,” and “the valley of Hinnom (Jos_15:8; Jer_7:31-32). Simonis plausibly explained the word Hinnom as meaning shrieking or moaning (from the Arabic hanna, arguta voce gemuit, flevit). “The valley of the sons of shrieking” would be a good name for the accursed spot. (Thenius suggests Wimmer-Kinds-Thal.)

That no man . . .—See Note on 2Ki_16:3.

To Moloch.—Heb., to the Molech (Molech is another form of melech, “king”). In 1Ki_11:7, the god of the Ammonites is called Molech, but elsewhere, as in 2Ki_23:13, Milcom, another variation of the same word. The feminine molecheth, “queen,” occurs as a proper name in 1Ch_7:18.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Topheth] See note on 2Ki_21:6, and on ‘passing through the fire to Molech’ see note on 2Ki_16:3.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun,.... Consecrated to it; these were not images of horses, as some have thought, but real living ones; and the kings that gave them for the service of the sun, and for sacrifice to it, very probably were Manasseh and Amon: that horses were sacred to the sun with many Heathen nations, as the Massagetae, a people in Scythia, and the Persians, and Babylonians, and Ethiopians, is affirmed by various writers (c): and from them the Jews received this notion. According to the Jewish commentators, these were horses provided for the worshippers of the sun to ride upon, and meet the sun in the morning at its rising, and pay their homage to it; but certain it is that the Heathen nations before mentioned slew the horses, and sacrificed them as burnt offerings to the sun, as is asserted by Herodotus (d), Xenophon (e), Strabo (f), Pausanias (g), Philostratus (h), and other writers (i); and so the Indians of India (k) sacrificed them to Apollo, the same with the sun; these being the swiftest of creatures, they offered them to the swiftest of their gods, as Herodotus and Heliodorus observe, in the places before referred to. The stables in which these horses were kept were

at the entering of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs; so that they reached from the temple to the suburbs of Jerusalem, to that part of them where this officer had a chamber, or lodgings, being in some place of power and authority there; though, according to L'Empereur (l), it is the same with Parbar, Ch1 26:18 and should not be rendered "suburbs", it being between the compass or wall of the temple, and the court:

and burnt the chariots of the sun with fire; these were either chariots, in which the king and his nobles rode, when they went to meet and worship the rising sun; or rather such as were sacred to the sun, as well as the horses, or Josiah would not have burnt them; they seem to be such in which the images of the sun were carried. Herodotus (m) makes mention as of sacred horses, so of a sacred chariot. Xenophon (n) speaks of the chariot of the sun as being of a white colour, and drawn in procession at the worship of the sun; as does also Pausanias (o) of a chariot, in which were the sun, Jupiter, and Juno, and near them other deities; which notion of sacred chariots the Heathens might take from the chariot of the cherubim Jehovah sat and rode in, Ch1 28:18.

(c) Justin e Trogo, l. 1. c. 10. Curt. Hist. l. 3. c. 3. Ovid. Fast. l. 1. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 26. Heliodor. Ethiop. l. 10. c. 6. 28. (d) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 216. (e) Cyropaed. l. 8. c. 23, 24. (f) Geograph. l. 11. p. 353. (g) Laconica, sive, l. 3. p. 201. (h) Vit. Apollon. l. 1. c. 20. (i) Vid. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21. (k) Laon. Chalcondyl. de Rebus Turc. l. 3. p. 108. (l) Not. in Misn. Middot, c. 2. sect. 3. No. 3. So Boehart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 10. col. 177. (m) Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 55. (n) Ut supra, (Cyropaed. l. 8.) c. 23. (o) Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p, 307.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Defiled, or declared it unlawful. (Menochius) --- Topheth may signify "a drum;" which the Jews say the idolaters beat, to prevent their childrens’ cries from being heard, when they were burning in the arms of Moloch. St. Jerome interprets it "latitude," as the vale was very wide, and beautifully adorned with gardens and springs. It formed a part of the vale of Josaphat and of Cedron; (Calmet) or the same valley went by these different names, as well as (Haydock) by that of Geh-hinnon, "the vale of Ennom," whence Gehenna is formed, and applied to hell, Matthew v. 22., and Mark ix. 44., &c. (Calmet) --- Yet some think that the term denotes a place of torment on earth, which those deserve who say, thou fool. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In the valley of the children of Hinnom; of which see Jos 15:8; Neh 11:30; Jer 7:31; 19:6,11.

To pass through the fire to Molech. See Poole "Lev 18:21"; See Poole "Deu 18:10".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Defiled Topheth — Probably by burning the bones of the priests who had offered human sacrifices there. Compare 2Ch_34:5. The word Topheth (usually with the article התפת,) occurs only in the Old Testament at the passages named in the margin, and designates the place in the valley of Hinnom, where human sacrifices were offered to Molech. Its derivation is uncertain. The rabbies say it is the same as toph, (תŠ) a drum, and is applied to the place where human sacrifices were offered, because drums were beaten there to drown the cries of the victims. Furst and others derive it from a root, תוŠ, to burn, and understand it as an altar-place for the burning of dead bodies. It is translated tabret in Job_17:7, but most interpreters agree that it there means spittle, or abhorrence, and is also, as a proper name, to be explained in a similar sense, and applied to the spot where human sacrifices were offered, because it was a place of abhorrence — a thing to be spit at.

The valley of the children of Hinnom — This has been usually identified with the valley on the west and south sides of Jerusalem; but Jeremiah says (Jer_19:2) it was “by the entry of the east gate, (Hebrews potter’s gate;) and Dr. Bonar (Smith’s Bib. Dict.) says, “Hinnom, by old writers, western and eastern, is always placed east of the city, and corresponds to what we call the mouth of the Tyropoeon, along the southern bed and banks of the Kedron, and was reckoned to be somewhere between the potter’s field and the fuller’s pool.” And Captain Wilson and M. Ganneau have concluded, from minute examinations, that the Kedron and Hinnom valleys are identical. But see note on Jos_15:8.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he defiled Topheth. "To-pheth" or "Tophet" was the name given to the place in the valley of Hinnom where the sacrifices were offered to Moloch. The root of the word is thought by some to be taph ( "a drum," because the cries of the children burnt there were drowned by the beating of drums. Others suggest as the root, tuph ( "to spit," because the place was "spat at" by the orthodox. But Gesenius and Bottcher derive it from an Aryan root, taph, or tap, "to burn," whence Greek qaptein tefra, Latin tepidus, Mod. Persian taftan, Sanskrit tap, etc., and regard the meaning as simply "the place of burning". (see the comment on Isa_30:33) Which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom. The valley of Hinnom, or of the sons of Hinnom, is generally allowed to be that which sweeps round the more western of the two hills whereon Jerusalem was built, in a direction at first south and then east, uniting itself with the Kidron valley a little to the south of Ophel. The origin of the name is uncertain; but it is most likely that the Beni-Hinnom were a tribe of Canaanites, settled on this side of Jerusalem in the time of Joshua. (Jos_15:8) The "valley" is a ravine, deep and narrow, withsteep, rocky sides. When the Moloch-worship first began in it we cannot say; but it was probably before the time of Solomon, who built a high place for Moloch, (1Ki_11:11) on one of the heights by which the valley is enclosed. (On the horrible profanations of the Moloch-worship, see (Jer_7:31, 32 19:4-13 32:35) After the Captivity, the valley of Hinnom Ge-Hinnom was reckoned an accursed and abominable place, a sort of earthly counterpart of the place of final punishment, which. thence derived its name of "Geheuna" (Geenna); . (see Mat_5:22, Mat_5:29, etc.) That no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch. (see the comment on 2Ki_16:3)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Topheth - Very near Jerusalem, where was the image of Molech, to whom some sacrificed their children, burning them in the fire, others dedicated them, making them pass between two fires. It is supposed to be called Topheth, from toph, a drum; because they beat drums at the burning of the children, that their shrieks might not be heard.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Topheth ... Ben Hinnom

place names (See: How to Translate Names)

cause his son or his daughter to pass through the fire as a sacrifice to Molech

"put his son or his daughter in the fire and burn them as an offering to Molech"

He took away

It might be best to translate so that the reader understands that other people, perhaps Hilkiah and "the priests under him" (2 Kings 23:4), might have helped Josiah do this. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the horses

Possible meanings are 1) real horses or 2) statues of horses.

had given to the sun

Here "given" represents being dedicated for worship. AT: "had used to worship the sun" (See: Metonymy)

Nathan-Melek

a man's name (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

burnt offering

fire

Molech

horse

chariot

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

The Tophes. This was the Molech, it is named [תפת] because priests would bang on drums [=תופים] so that the father should not hear the groans of the child when he was burned by the pagan image, Molech, they called it Tophes.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.