Jeremiah 7:31

31 They have built the high places of Topheth^[a][b]in the Valley of Hinnom^[c][d]in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.^[e]

Jeremiah 7:31 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 7:31

And they have built the high places of Tophet
Where was the idol Moloch; and which place had its name, as Jarchi thinks, from the beating of drums, that the parents of the children that were burnt might not hear the cry of them: which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom; a valley near Jerusalem, and lay to the south of it, ( Joshua 15:8 ) ( 18:16 ) : to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire:
which was done, as Jarchi says, by putting them into the arms of the brasen image Moloch, heated hot. The account he gives of Tophet is this,

``Tophet is Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved:''

but in this he is mistaken; for "Tophet" was not the name of an idol, but of a place, as is clear from this and the following verse. There is some agreement between this account of Jarchi, and that which Diodorus Siculus ^F26 gives of Saturn, to whom children were sacrificed by the Carthaginians; who had, he says, a brasen image of Saturn, which stretched out his hands, inclining to the earth; so that a child put upon them rolled down, and fell into a chasm full of fire: which I commanded them not:
not in my law, as the Targum; nor by any of the prophets, as Jarchi paraphrases it; he commanded them, as Kimchi observes, to burn their beasts, but not their sons and daughters. The instance of Abraham offering up Isaac will not justify it. The case of Jephthah's daughter, if sacrificed, was not by divine command. The giving of seed to Moloch, and letting any pass through the fire to him, is expressly forbidden, ( Leviticus 18:21 ) ( 20:23 ) : neither came it into my heart;
it was not so much as thought of by him, still less desired, and much less commanded by him. Jarchi's note is,

``though I spoke to Abraham to slay his son, it did not enter into my heart that he should slay him, but to make known his righteousness.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Bibliothec. Par. 2. l. 20. p. 756.

Jeremiah 7:31 In-Context

29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vowand throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.

30 "For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight." [This is] the Lord's declaration. "They have set up their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.

31 They have built the high places of Tophethin the Valley of Hinnomin order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.

32 "Therefore, take note! Days are coming"-the Lord's declaration-"when [this place] will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a cemetery, because there will be no other burial place.

33 The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them off.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit of the fireplace
• [b]. Jr 7:32; 19:6,11-14; 2 Kg 23:10
• [c]. A valley south of Jerusalem
• [d]. Jr 19:2,6; 32:35; Jos 15:8
• [e]. Lit command, and it did not arise on My heart