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Page 42
Page 42
TitlePage 42
CreatorHolland, Frederick Whitmore, 1837-1880.
DescriptionSinai and Jerusalem; or, Scenes from Bible Lands: Illustrated by Twelve Colored Photographic Views, Including a Panorama of Jerusalem, With Descriptive Letterpress.
CaptionJust below this is the " Lower Pool of Gihon, " which is represented in the picture. The view is taken from the southern end of the pool, looking up the valley; and the arches of the aqueduct are just seen over the top of the wall beyond it. The high wall in the distance, on the right of the picture, is the north-west corner of the wall which surrounds Jerusalem. Below this pool the valley rapidly increases in depth, and becomes more rugged and wild, the hill on the south rising up in broken, irregular cliffs, in which many ancient tombs have been excavated. Tradition places here the site of the potter's field, where Judas Iscariot- was buried. But the lower portion of the valley is especially interesting to us, on account of its connection with the cruel rites practised by the worshippers of Baal and Molech, in the time of the idolatrous Kings of Judah. It was of this spot that the prophet Jeremiah writes (ch. vii. 31): " And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart." The statue of Molech is said to have been made of brass, with the body of a man and the head of an ox. It was hollow inside, and was fitted up with a large furnace, by which the whole statue could be made red hot. The children to be sacrificed were then placed in its arms, and so burnt to death, while drums were beaten to drown their cries. King Solomon first introduced this cruel worship, which continued to be practised here for nearly 400 years, until King Josiah put down the idolatrous priests, and " defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech" (2 Kings xxiii. 10). It afterwards became a burial-place; and the multitude of tombs that are still to be seen there show how literally were fulfilled the words of Jeremiah: " Behold, the days come when 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 " (ch. vii. 32).
Date1870
PublisherLondon: Printed by Jas. Truscott and Son, Suffolk Lane, City.
Subject.Topical (LCSH)Palestine -- Description and travel.
Sinai Peninsula -- Description and travel.
Jerusalem -- Description and travel.
Subject (Geographic)Palestine
Sinai Peninsula
Jerusalem
Original Item Locationhttp://library.uh.edu/record=b3601783~S11
RepositorySpecial Collections, University of Houston Libraries
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