Melachim Bais 23:10

10 And he made tameh Tophet, which is in the Gey of the ben Hinnom, that no ish might make his ben or his bat to pass through the eish to Molech.

Melachim Bais 23:10 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:10

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 F2; (See Gill on Isaiah 30:33) (See Gill on 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 to the posterity of a man of this name, near to Jerusalem, see ( Joshua 15:8 ) , hence the Greek word "geenna" for hell, in the New Testament:

that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to
Molech;
which piece of idolatry used to be committed in this place.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Agreement of Customs between the East Indians and Jews, art. 25. p. 85, 86.

Melachim Bais 23:10 In-Context

8 And he brought all the Kohanim out of the towns of Yehudah, and made tameh the high places where the kohanim had burned ketoret, from Geva to Beer Sheva, and broke down the high places at the she’arim (gates) that were at the entrance of the Sha’ar Yehoshua sar Ir, which were on one’s left at the Sha’ar HaIr.
9 Nevertheless the kohanim of the high places came not up to the Mizbe’ach Hashem in Yerushalayim, only they did eat of the matzot among their achim.
10 And he made tameh Tophet, which is in the Gey of the ben Hinnom, that no ish might make his ben or his bat to pass through the eish to Molech.
11 And he took away the susim that the Melachim of Yehudah had dedicated to the shemesh, at the entrance of the Beis Hashem, by the chamber of Natan-Melech the saris, which was in the colonnades, and set eish to merkevot hashemesh.
12 And the mizbechot that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the Melachim of Yehudah had made, and the mizbechot which Menasheh had made in the two khatzerot of the Beis Hashem, did HaMelech pull down, and remove them from there, and cast the aphar of them into the Kidron Valley.
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