Tophet, topheth

A word of doubtful orit.'in, dis])uted etymology, rare occurrence, and somewhat uncertain meaning. Milton refers to it, and gives his idea of it in the lines — •The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thenoe And black Gehenna call'd, the type of hell.' PL I. 404, 406. It appears only in the OT, and is never reproduced in tne NT. It is not found in the apocryphal books, and its earliest occurrences in Christian literature seem to be in Euscbius (Onum.)

and 798 TOPHET, TOPHETH TOPHET, TOPHETH Jerome (on Jer 7'')- Even in the OT its range is very limited. It is peculiarly a term of Jeremiah's. It is found once in tlie historical books (2 K •23'"), once in the poetical books {.lob 17*), once in Isaiah in a modilied form (Is 3I.F), and elsewhere only in Jeremiah (7"' '■'■ 19^' '^' "■ ''').

Ewald is of opinion that the use of the term Topheth in the special sense wliich it luis in 2 Kings was not customary so early as Isaialrs time {Hist, of Israel, iv. 209, Longmans' tr.) The Hebrew form in all the occurrences but one is nrn. In the Isaianic pas- sage, however, it is nrirjj. This latter form is prob- ably constructed by extension from rjn, as we have n^'x from vx, nn;;'; from n?' (so Dillm. Jes. ad loc.) ; although some (e.g. Stade, Gesch. i.

610) have had recourse, in endeavouring to explain it, to such expedients as changing the vocalization so as to get HBEij ( = ' his Topheth '), or detaching the final n and connecting it (as the interrogation q) with the word that follows (see the Dictionaries, and Klost., Bredenk., Cheyne {SBOT\, Marti, et al.) The pro- nunciation of the word is uncertain.

In the Mas- soretic text the vocalization of bosheth, ' shame,' has probably been given it as a thing of evil name, and the LXX makes it Tapheth. In the ancient Versions, indeed, it takes different forms, e.g. Tkophclk (Vulg.), Td0c9 (LXX, Aq., Synim.), Qa(piB (LXX in some copies, Aq., Theod.), ©609 (Aq.) In Is 3U^ the rendering of the LXX is 6.ira.i.Tri8i)aTi or diraTTjOric-Q ; in Jer 19' Sidirruiris ; in Jer 19'^ 6 diaTitrTwv (in some copies) ; and in Jer 19" again SiaTTTiicrcu!

(in some copies). The AV makes it Tophet in all cases except 2 K 23'°, where it is Topheth. RV has Topheth throughout. The passage in Job may be at once discounted. There the word is an ordinary descriptive noun, formed probably from a root meaning to ' spit,' and so expressing something abhorred or abomin- ated.

Job describes himself as become 'an open abhorring ' (RV text), ' one in whose face they spit ' (RV margin) ; wrongly rendered by the AV ' I was as a tabrct,' on the supposition that n;n ' spitting' is akin to '•p 'timbrel.' In the other pa.ssages the word is a local name, and means properly ' the Topheth,' the article being attached to it except where it has the prepositions 5, ? connected with it.

Tlie extended form nn^ij, however, is anarth- rous, and is probably to be rendered ' a Topheth is prepared of old,' as in RV. In its various occurrences the terra is associated, directly or indirectly, with the valley of shameful name, known in the OT variously as ' the valley of Hinnom' (only in Jos lu" 18"'^ Neh ll"), 'the valh'y of the son of Hirinom ' (e.g.

Jos IS 18'*, 2 Ch 28^ 33», Jer 7"^ ig-"), 'the valley of the cliildren of Hinnom ' (2 K 23"> Kithlbh), or simply 'the valley' (Jer 2=» 31-'<'), in wliich the idola- trous Jews, especially in the times of Ahab and JIanasseh (of. 2 Ch 28'' SS'^), practised the cruel rites of the worship of Molech, and offered human sacrifices.

It is with reference to the reforms of Josiah and the steps which he took to defile the impious and horrid place, and prevent any man thereafter from making ' his son or his daughter to pa.ss through the fire to Molech,' that mention is made of Toiihctli in the narrative of the OT. The passage in 2 Kings is the passage of primary interest in the study of tlie term. But the pas- sages in the Prophets have also their contribution to make.

In the paragraph in Isaiah which gives the oracle concerning the destruction of Assyria, Jehovah is represented as Himself coming from afar to execute vengeance on the oppressors of Israel. His people look on and sing their song of gladness, while judgment is done upon their enemies certainly and comidetely.

The declaration of the certainty and completeness of the over- throw of the Assyrian takes the form of an announcement that for the king, or for his god, 'a Toplicth,' a place of burning and abhorrence like that in the unclean valley of Hinnom, ' ia prepared of old ' and ' made ready,' a place of fir« which Jehovah Himself hath made 'deep and large,' the pile whereof is ' lire and much wood ' j ' the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it' (RV).

It is a destruction utter and abhorrent, prepared and ordained in the Divine counsels. In .leremiah the associations and applications of the word are different. It is used in connexion with Judah's sin and the doom of Jerusalem. There is Ji retributive Judgment of God, the prophet declares, that is to overtake the stubborn, idolatrous, impenitent people, against which the sanctity of ShUoh and Jerusalem and the Temple wiU be no protection.

The place which witnessed their wickedness shall witness their punishment. Topheth and the valley of Hin- nom shall no more be known as such, but shall be called ' the valley of slaughter.' Where the Jews had built their high places and had made their children pass through the fire to Molech, there they shall see the awful defilement and over- whelming destruction of war (ch. 7'''''*'). This ia repeated in ch. 19''" in connexion with the figure of the broken vessel.

The city is to be polluted by appalling carnage ; the hardened people are to be punished with a destruction so terrible that Topheth shall be filled with their dead bodies ' till there be no place.' The new announcement, too, of retribu- tion that is made by Jeremiah in response to Pashhur's vengeance is introduced by the state- ment (ch. 19") that he 'came from Topheth whither the Lord sent him to propliesy.'

These being the occurrences of the word, what can be gathered with respect to the position and the exact sense of Tophethi Some have taken Topheth to be simply a synonym for Gehinnom. But it is clear that the two terms do not designate precisely one and the same thing. Several of the passages in view speak of Topheth as in the valley of Hinnom — a locality, or, it might be, an object in it. This does not settle, however, the question of the situation of Topheth.

It is still uncertain where the Hinnom Valley lay, and with what it is to be identified in the topography of the Holy City. Authorities are still divided on the ques- tion whether it is the valley to the east of Jeru- salem, the Kidron Valley (Sir C. 'Warren) ; the central valley, the Tyropoeon (Savce, Robertson Smith, Schwarz, etc.)

; or the Wailij er-Rabiibi or Rubdhch, the deep ravine to the west and south, between the slopes of the ' Ilill of Evil Counsel' and the steep sides of Zion (see article HiNNOM, Valley of). This leaves the precise position of Topheth in suspense. It is true that in the narra- tive of Josiah's reforms in 2 K 23 much is said of Kidron, but it does not follow that Topheth waa on the east of Jerusalem. Far less \.

aa that position be argued out from the statement in Jer 19^ that the valley of Hinnom is 'by the entry of the east gate,' as it is erroneously rendered by the AV. For the gate Harsith or Harsuth mentioned there is not the 'Sun-gate' or the 'east gate,' but probably the ' Sherd-gate,' ' the gate of potsherds ' (RV), so called perhaps from the fragments of potter's work scattered about there.

Neither does the allusion to ' the graves of the children of the people ' (2 K 23") carry us far, although Sir Charles Warren thinks we may infer from it that Topheth was near the common burial-place. Nor, again, ia much to be made of tradition.

Jerome describes the place as a green and fertile spot in the Huinom Valley 'watered by the springs of Siloam' — Ilium locum significat, qui Silom fontibus irrigatur el est ainoenus atque neinorosus hodieque hortorum prcebet TOPHET, TOPHETH TOU 799 delirias (on Jer 7"). This mifrlit point to its being at the mouth of tlie Tyroptuon or on the south of the Kidron.

Tradition, ajjiiin, places the site of Aceldama amonj; the rock-hewn tombs of the ' Hill of Evil Counsel,' and Eusebius speaks of ' the place tailed Thnphcth ' as if it had been rejjarded on to his own day as situate ' in the suburbs of /Elia,' near ' the Fuller's Pool and the Potter's Fielil or the place Aceldama' (Onom. sub voc. Qiiped), But there must have been some inconstancy in the traditional account, or either Jerome or Eusebius must have made a mistake.

For Jerome speaks of Aceldama as on the south {ad aiestralcm plagam montis Sion), while Eusebius says it was ii/ fiopeiott. If, however, the ' Potter's Field ' is ' the Field of Blood,' and the gate Hnrsitk (Jer 1'-) is the ' Sherd- gate,' Topheth might be located somewhere on the south and west oT Jerusalem and on the eastern side of the Hinnom Valley. Sir Charles Warren (cf. Smith's DB, sub voc.

'Hinnom') points out that where the Wady er-Rubdbch joins tlie Kidron there is ' an open plot of ground ' wliich might be ihe spot that Jarome identified with Toplieth. These references, however, are meagre, and leave as uncertain as to the strength or the antiquity of the tradition behind them. On the origin and etymology of the word much has l)een written that is doubtful, not to say purely fanciful. Some have attempted to connect it with the Greek OdirTciv in the phrase irupi diirTav (Ges.

), or with the Greek riJ^eiK and the Hebrew .n?i< = cook, D'yiPi = cooked pieces for oll'erings (cf. Lv 6"). Jerome, deriving it probably from nn^, interpreted it As = laiituclo. Some of the great Rabbis {e.g. Rashi and D.

Kiraclii) understood it to come from ''iS^ = stri/ce, beat, with reference to the supposed beating of dnims and other instruments to drown the cries of the sacrilicial victims in the cruel rites of the Molecli worship — a practice the alleged existence of which is not borne out by any sullicient evidence in ancient writers. Others nave had recourse to peculiar foreign forms, to Assyro-l'ersian roots, to the Egyptian Quvd or 6u$, etc. (Andr. Miillcr).

Some, again, have taken the original idea to have been that of beauty, with reference to Jerome's description of the place. With this in view, Rosenmiiller, e.g., was bold enough to connect it with n:-=to be fair, as if the primitive form had been ncia With a somewhat similar idea, others, pointin" to the mention in succession of tabrcts (o-yp) and Tophctli in Is 30^* ^, look again to the verb '\ZF.

=strike (a timbrel or the like), and attach to tlie word Topheth the sense of ' Music-grove,' as if it had been originally part of the royaJ garden, deliled at a later period by idol- worship and abominable, idolatrous sacrifice (II. Bonar in Smith's DJS). iJismissing these fanciful conjectures, we have to choose between two explanations which alone have much reason in them. One of these seeks the origin of the term in a root lin, Arabic i»_£ij = to .

ij>it out, and so to regard with contempt or loathing. In this case the idea will be that of 'place of abliorrence,' ' place of abomination ' (liottcher, Riehm, Pressel, etc.) This is favoured ty the fact that there does exist a descriptive noun njii, which appears to have this meaning, in Job 17'. The other explanation looks to a root ex- pressing the notion of burning, which is sujinoscd Ly some to show itself in a I'ersian toften (Ges.), in the Greek riippa, the Latin tepidus (Streanc).

In this case the idea would be that of ' place of burning.' This, again, is understood by some to refer to the disposal of the dead, by others to the ollcring of sacrilices, in particular to the burning of human sacrilices, as in the worship of Molech. The dilliculty in the way of the hrst of tlie.se suppositions is that, except in special cases (e.g. tliat of Saul, 1 S 31'- ; that of the victims of plague. Am G'° etc.), the Hebrew dead were not burned, but buried.

With regard to the seconii supposition, the question is whether, as it is ordin- arily put, it will suit the various passages. In the case of Is 3U^, e.g., Dillmann is of opinion that it is a vast human holocaust that is in view ; while Robertson Smith thinks that the imagery of the passage would be rendered discordant if the notion of the s,acrilice3 in the valley of Hinnom were introduced. The latter scholar, therefore, gives the question another ajiplicatiou.

lie seeks an Aramaic origin for the word, and he connects its use witii such sacrilices as the llarranian. He points to the fact that at the time when the term ' first appears in Hebrew, the chief foreign in- fluence in J udaran rehjjion was that of Daiiia.scus' (2 K 16). This, he tiiinks, makes the theory of an Aramaic origin not improbable.

He notices, further, that me Arabic word othfiyd and the Syriac tj'uyd are names for ' the stones on which a pot is set, and then for any stanil or tripod set upon a tire.' He supposes that a variant form tjath might have existed which would be quite according to analogy, and takes nsn to be an Aramaic term for ' a lireplace, or for the framework set on the tire to support the victim.'

He points out further, that among the Semites human sacri- fices were disposed of ordinarily by burning, and that the victims generally were not burned on the altar or within the sanctuary, but outside the city. His view, therefore, is that the passage in Isaiah refers to 'a rite, well known to Semitic religion, which was practised at Tarsus down to the time of Dio Chrysostom, and the memory of wliich survives in the (Jreek legend of Heracles-Melkarth, in the .

story of Sardanai)alus, and in the myth of queen Dido ' — the annual rite commemorating the death of the local god in lire. Thus ' the Topheth ' is taken to be the ' lireplace,' or pyre, the deep pit dug in the valley of Hinnom for the purpose of the most di>tinctive act in the performance of these horrid rites — the burning of the victims.

It may be added that Ewald, who places the deep valley of Ben-llinnom on the south of the ' long, broad ridge ' to which ' the ancient name of Zion origin- ally belonged,' takes Topheth to be a "lowing furnace in the valley, and regards cverytliing as pointing to the conclusion that it was Manasseh who first built it. LiTRRATrRB.

— Commentaries on the OT passaijes (Dillmann- Kittfl, Marti, and Skinnur on Isaiah, Dutini on Jerfntiali), the Lexicons, the Bilile dictionaries (Herzoj,''6 PRE, Kiehni's U Wli, Sniitli's DB, sub voc. ' Uiiniom,' 'Gelnnnoin,' ' CJehcnna') ; tlie books on the geography of the Holy Land (Rohinson, etc.); Ewakl's Ilixt. 0/ Iter. iii. pp. 123, 12-1, iv. ji. -JOS, etc., Longmans' tr. ; Bottclur's De Il\fenl, p. 86 ; W. It. Siuitli's Jiel. uj thf 6«ft.a pp. 372-378. S. D. F. SaLMOND.