HINNOM, or Valley of Ben-Hinnom usually n.trrp ; and Palevva ; Ennom and Geennom, etc.), a well-known valley (N.4) or ; Sept. Ocipay, and also simply rendered in Greek letters Tat and 1,7; ; hence l'aiepua, Gehenna), de scribed in Josh. xviii. 16 as on the south side of Jebusi, that is, Mount Zion, on which the ancient stronghold of the Jebusites stood. The border of the tribe of Benjamin ran along this valley, from En-Rogel to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley westward,' at the north end of the plain of Rephaim (Josh. xv. 8). The topographical notice is here singularly minute and accurate. The valley of Hinnom, still called by its ancient name, though in an Arabic fon-n, 7ehennam commences in a broad depression in the rocky ridge, or plateau, west of Jerusalem. It runs in a south-easterly direction for about 70o yards towards the Yafa Gate, where it turns due south along the base of Mount Zion ; still keeping close to the base of the mount it sweeps round to the eastward and joins the Kidron at En-Rogel. Its total length is about a mile and a half Its banks have at first an easy slope, but they soon contract and become steep and rocky. South of Zion the right bank rises in broken Irregular cliffs of naked limestone, filled with excavated tombs, and having a few gmarled olives clinging. to the rocks here and there. On the side of the ravine, overhanging the point of junction with the Kidron, is Acaldema (Handbook for S. and P., i. 99 ; Robinson, B. R. i. 239; Barcklay, City of the Great Xing, 90).
The origin of the name Hinnom, or Ben-Hinnom, is unknown ; it may have been derived from some of its ancient possessors. The valley obtained wide notoriety at the scene of the barbarous rites of Moiech and Chemosh, first introduced by Solomon, who built an high place for Chemosh, the abomi nation of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem (Olivet) ; and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Amnion' (1 Kings xi. 7). The inhuman rites were continued by the idolatrous kings of Judah. A monster idol of brass was erected in the opening of the valley, facing the steep side of Olivet ; and there the infatuated inhabitants of Jeiusalem burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire—casting them, it is said, into the red-hot arms of the idol (Jer. vii. 31 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 3 ;
xxxiii. 6). No spot could have been selected near the Holy City so well fitted for the perpetration of these horrid cruelties : the deep retired glen, shut in by rugged cliffs ; and the bleak mountain sides rising over all. The worship of Molech was abolished by Josiah, and the place dedicated to him was defiled by being strewn with human bones : 'He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech . . . and he brake in pieces the images, and cut down their groves, and filled their places with the bones of men' (2 Kings xxiii. to, 14). The place thus became cere monially unclean ; no Jew could enter it. It was afterwards a public cemetery ; and the travellerwho now stands in the bottom of this valley, and looks up at the multitude of tombs in the cliffs above and around him, and which thickly dot the side of Olivet, will be able to see with what wondrous accuracy the prophetic curse of Jeremiah has been fulfilled—` Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor, The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but, The Valley of Slaughter ; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place' (vii. 32). We learn from Josephus that the last terrible struggle between the Jews and Romans took place here (Bell. yud. vi. 8. 5) ; and here, too, it appears the dead bodies were thrown out of the city after the siege (v. 12. 7).
The inhuman rites anciently practised in the Valley of Hinnom caused the latter Jews to regard it with feelings of horror and detestation. The Rabbins suppose it to be the gate of Hell (Light foot, Opera, ii. 286) ; and the Jews applied the name given to the valley in some passages of the Septuagint, PlErva, to the place of eternal torment. Hence we find in Matt v. 22, Whosever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of rip -ylEvvav roi3 arup6s—the Gehenna of fire.' The word is formed from the Hebrew Inr1 Valley of Hinnom.' The valley was also called Topheth (2 Kings xxiii. to ; Is. xxx. 33 ; Jer. vii. 31), either from spittle,' and it would hence mean a place to spit upon ;' or from runn, place of burning.' For other theories about the valley of Hinnom the student may consult Hengstenberg, Christolagy, iv. 40 seq., ed. 1858.—J. L. P.