And he defiled Topheth— Topheth תפת comes from תפ top, a musical instrument, a drum or tabor; and the place was so called, according to the general opinion of the Jews, because drums or tabors in this horrid valley were used to be beaten, in order to drown the cries and shrieks of the hapless little innocents who were burned alive to the idol Molech. Hence Milton, speaking of Moloch, calls him,
——Horrid king, besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears, Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud Their children's cries unheard, that pass'd through fire To his grim idol.—— MILTON'S Par. Lost, book 1: line 392.