Editing Tophet (section)

===In the Bible===
[[File:Valley of Hinom PA180093.JPG|thumb|200px|Tombs in the [[Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)|Valley of Hinnom]], the location of the tophet according to the Bible.]]
The tophet is attested 8 times in the Hebrew Bible, mostly to designate a place of ritual fire or burning, but sometimes as a place name.{{sfn|Stavrakopoulou|2013|p=139}} The connection to ritual fire is made explicit in {{Bibleverse|2 Kings|23:10|he}}, {{Bibleverse|Isaiah|30:33|he}}; and {{Bibleverse|Jeremiah|7:31-32|he}}. In 2 Kings, King [[Josiah]] {{blockquote|defiled Topheth, which is in [[Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)|the valley of the son of Hinnom]], that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.}} The text includes the destruction of the Tophet among Josiah's other removal of "deviant" religious practices from Israel as part of a far reaching religious reform.{{sfn|Stavrakopoulou|2013|pp=137-138}} However, the continued condemnation of both the tophet and related practices by prophets such as [[Jeremiah]] and  [[Ezekiel]] suggests that the practice may have continued after Josiah's reform, with a mention of the tophet by [[Isaiah]] suggesting it may have even continued after the [[Babylonian exile]].{{sfn|Heider|1999|p=584}} Prior to Josiah's reform, the ritual of passing a child through the fire is mentioned, without specifying that it took place at the tophet, as having been performed by the Israelite kings [[Ahaz]] and [[Manasseh of Judah|Manasseh]]:
{{blockquote|But [Ahaz] walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. ({{Bibleverse|2 Kings|16:3|he}})}}
{{blockquote|And [Manasseh] made his son to pass through the fire, and practised soothsaying, and used enchantments, and appointed them that divined by a ghost or a familiar spirit: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him. ({{Bibleverse|2 Kings|21:6|he}})}}
Both kings perform the sacrifices when faced with the prospect of wars.{{sfn|Bauks|2006|p=72}} The sacrifices appear to have been to [[Yahweh]], the god of Israel,{{sfn|Ackerman|1993}} and to have been performed in the tophet.{{sfn|King|1993|p=136}}

The tophet is condemned repeatedly by name in the [[Book of Jeremiah]], and the term is especially associated with that book of the bible.{{sfn|King|1993|p=136}} An example is at {{Bibleverse|Jeremiah|7:31–33|he}}:

{{blockquote|And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into My mind. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the {{LORD}}, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in Topheth, for lack of room.}}

Jeremiah associates the tophet with [[Baal]]; however, other sources all associate it with Moloch.{{sfn|Ackerman|1993}}

P. Xella argues that no fewer than twenty-five passages in the Hebrew Bible show the Israelites and Canaanites sacrificing their children, including passages in [[Deuteronomy]], (Dt. 12:13, 18:10), [[Leviticus]] (Lev. 18:21, 20:2-5), 2 Kings, [[2 Chronicles]], Isaiah, Ezra, [[Psalm 106]], and the [[Book of Job]].{{sfn|Xella|2013|pp=264-265}} In {{Bibleverse|2 Kings|3:26-27|he}}, king [[Mesha]] of Moab burns his first-born son as an offering while besieged by the Israelites:
{{blockquote|And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew sword, to break through unto the king of Edom; but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. And there came great wrath upon Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.}}
This act has been compared with Greco-Roman sources discussing the Phoenicians and Carthaginians engaging in the same or a similar practice in times of danger (see below). It appears to have been performed for the Moabite god [[Kemosh]].{{sfn|Bauks|2006|pp=70-71}}