Jeremiah 7:32 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

But The valley of slaughter— The reason of this name is given in the words immediately following; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place:—"Till it is intirely filled, and there is no vacant space left." Houbigant and the Vulgate render the last clause, And they shall bury in Tophet, because there shall be no place; "Every other place shall be full of carnage, and Tophet shall become the slaughtering-place of Jerusalem. There those dead bodies shall be cast out, to which they shall not deign to grant sepulture. 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 most perfect accomplishment 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 vallies 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. Josiah began to pollute Tophet, by casting filth into it, and scattering there the dust and ashes of the idols which he had broken to pieces and burned; See 2 Kings 23:10. Compare this with chap. 19: where 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. In chap. Jeremiah 31:40 he calls it, The valley of the dead bodies. See Calmet.