2 Kings 23:10

10 Josiah also made Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom unclean so that people would never again sacrifice their sons or daughters by burning them to the god Molech.

2 Kings 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

2 Kings 23:10 In-Context

8 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah from Geba to Beersheba and made the places where those priests sacrificed unclean. He tore down the worship site at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the gate named after the mayor of the city. (The worship site was to the left of anyone going through the city gate.)

9 The priests of the illegal worship sites had never gone to the LORD's altar in Jerusalem. Instead, they ate their unleavened bread among the other worshipers.

10 Josiah also made Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom unclean so that people would never again sacrifice their sons or daughters by burning them to the god Molech.

11 He removed the horses that Judah's kings had dedicated to the sun god at the entrance of the LORD's temple. They were in the temple courtyard near the room of the eunuch Nathan Melech. He also burned the chariots of the sun god,

12 the altars that Judah's kings had made and placed on the roof of Ahaz's upstairs room, and the altars Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the LORD's temple. The king tore them down from there, crushed them, and dumped their rubble in the Kidron Valley.