2 Kings 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._ Topbeth - so called from Toph, a drum; the prevailing opinion among Jewish writers being 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. At the northeast angle of the city, on the slope nearest the city, where there are many Turkish graves, extending beyond the gate of Stephen, this part of the valley was called Hinnom. In it many cruel and idolatrous ceremonies were performed, and children passed through the fire to Moloch by their unnatural parents. The filth of the city was here collected and consumed; and from the fires that were continually kept burning for this purpose, its name was chosen as typical of hell, where "the fi...

4-14 What abundance of wickedness in Judah and Jerusalem! One would not have believed it possible, that in Judah, where God was known, in Israel, where his name was great, in Salem, in Zion, where his dwelling-place was, such abominations should be found. Josiah had reigned eighteen years, and had himself set the people a good example, and kept up religion according to the Divine law; yet, when he came to search for idolatry, the depth and extent were very great. Both common history, and the records of God's word, teach, that all the real godliness or goodness ever found on earth, is derived from the new-creating Spirit of Jesus Christ....

Verse 2 Kings 23:10. _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 inst

A parenthesis giving the earlier reforms of Josiah. 2 Kings 23:4 THE PRIESTS OF THE SECOND ORDER - This is a new expression; and probably refers to the ordinary priests, called here “priests of the second order,” in contrast with the high priest, whose dignity was reviving (2 Kings 12:2 note). THE VESSELS - This would include the whole apparatus of worship, altars, images, dresses, utensils, etc., for Baal, etc. (2 Kings 21:3 notes). The ashes of the idolatrous objects burned in the first instance in the “fields of Kidron” (i. e., in the part of the valley which lies nort

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 23:1 JOSIAH'S RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. HIS REFORMS AND DEATH. REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ. ACCESSION OF JEHOIAKIM. 2 KINGS 23:1 _Josiah_'_s renewal of the covenant_._ _The first care of Josiah, on receiving Huldah's message, which stamped the book found as the true "book of the covenant," was to call together a great assembly of the nation, which should be sufficiently representative of it, and renew the covenant between God and his people made originally a

AND HE DEFILED TOPHETH,.... A place so called, as is generally thought, from the beating of drums or timbrels in it, that the shrieks of the infants sacrificed here to Molech might not be heard by their parents, and they repent of delivering them to him, and take them away. So the Indians in India now, at the burning of wives with their deceased husbands, attend them with drums and trumpets; and at such time as the fire is put to the wood, the drums and trumpets make a terrible noise for fear their cries should be heard b; Isaiah 30:33 Jeremiah 7:31 this he defiled by casting any sort of filth or unclean thing into it, in contempt of the idolatry there committed, and to alienate the minds of men from it: WHICH IS THE VALLEY OF THE CHILDREN OF HINNOM; a valley that belonged

2. THE RESULTS OF THE REVIVAL AND THE DEATH OF JOSIAH CHAPTER 23:1-30 _ 1. The People hear the law (2 Kings 23:1; 2 Chronicles 34)_ 2. Josiah makes a covenant (2 Kings 23:3) 3. The great reformations (2 Kings 23:4) 4. The Passover celebrated (2 Kings 23:21; 2 Chronicles 35) 5. Further statements concerning Josiah (2 Kings 23:24

2 KINGS 23:3. BY THE PILLAR. COVENANT: for the word pillar see 2 Kings 11:14 and 1 Kings 7:21. In the latter passage it is used for the two great brazen pillars set up by Solomon before the porch of the Temple. In making the covenant the king takes the lead. The ceremony was accompanied by a sacrifice; hence the phrase in Heb. is to _cut_ a covenant (Genesis 15:17 *, Jeremiah 34:18) or divide the victims. The newly discovered volume is called (2 Kings 23:2) the

TOPHETH. the Topheth. First occurrence. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), put for anything abhorrent. VALLEY, &C. The junction of the three valleys uniting south of Jerusalem. The continual fires burning there gave the Greek name _Gehenna_ (from the Hebrew _Ge Hinnom =_ valley of Hinnom). MOLECH. Compare Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 7:32; Jeremiah 19:2. Prohibited Deuteronomy 18:10. Compare 1 Kings 11:7....

AND HE DEFILED TOPHETH— _Topheth_ תפת comes from תפ _top,_ a _musical instrument,_ a _drum_ or _tabor;_ and the place was so called, according to the general opinion of the Jews, because _drums_ or _tabors_ in this horrid valley were used to be beaten, in order to drown the cries and shrieks of the hapless little innocents who were burned alive to the idol _Molech._ Hence Milton, speaking of Moloch, calls him, ——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.—— MILTON'S Par. Lost, book 1: line 392....