Jeremiah 7:32-34 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

It shall be no more called Tophet, but The valley of Slaughter King Josiah first of all defiled this place, as the text speaks, 2 Kings 23:10; that is, polluted it by burying dead bodies in it, by casting filth into it, and scattering there the dust and ashes of the idols which he had broken to pieces and burned. And afterward, when great numbers died in the siege of Jerusalem, and the famine that followed upon it, it became a common burying-place of the Jews: see Jeremiah 19:6. Whereby was fulfilled that prophecy of Ezekiel 6:5, I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols. They shall bury in Tophet till there be no place Till it be entirely filled, and there be no vacant place left. The Vulgate reads this clause, “They shall be buried in Tophet, because there shall be no place,” which reading Houbigant approves. “The time shall come when there shall be so great a slaughter in Jerusalem, that, the graves being insufficient to bury the dead, they shall be forced to throw them into Tophet, and leave them without interment. This prediction received its last and perfect completion in the war of Nebuchadnezzar against the Jews, and that of the Romans against the same people. Josephus informs us, that in this latter war an infinite number of dead bodies were thrown over the walls, and left in the valleys round the city; insomuch, that Titus himself, beholding this spectacle, could not help lifting up his hands to heaven, and calling God to witness that he had no part in these inhuman practices.” In chap. 19., Jeremiah “repeats the same threatenings with more latitude and force; declaring that Tophet shall become the lay-stall of Jerusalem, and that Jerusalem herself shall be reduced to the condition of Tophet; that is to say, polluted and filled with dead bodies.” And in Jeremiah 31:40, he calls it the valley of the dead bodies. Then will I cause to cease the voice of mirth, &c. All kinds and degrees of mirth shall cease, all places shall be filled with lamentation and wo, their singing shall be turned into sighing, and they shall lay aside all things that are for the comfort of human society. The voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride Persons will have no encouragement to marry when they see nothing but ruin and desolation before their eyes.