TOPHETH . A term of uncertain etymology, designating some locality in one of the valleys near Jerusalem, very possibly in the Valley of Hinnom ( 2 Kings 23:10 ), or near the point of juncture of the three valleys of Jerusalem. It was there that the Jews under Ahab and Manasseh performed the rites of human sacrifice ( Jeremiah 7:31-32 ), offering children to Baal, Molech, and other heathen gods. It was defiled by Josiah as a part of his religious reformation, and so came to be an abominable place where the refuse was destroyed, and thus a synonym of Gehenna (wh. see).
Shailer Mathews.