Deep and narrow ravine with steep and rocky slopes, southwest of Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion, to the north, from the Mount of Evil Counsel and the plateau of Rephaim to the south.
This valley is mentioned in the Bible for the first time in Joseph. 15:8; 18:16, where the border between Judah and Benjamin becomes.
On the high place of Tophet, in the Valley of Hinnom, fathers passed their children through the fire, as a sacrifice to Molech. Ahaz and Manasseh committed this abominable crime (2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6).
Jeremiah announced that God would punish this wickedness in a terrible way, leading to such a massacre of Israelites that the valley would be called the Valley of Slaughter (Jer. 7:31-34; 19:2, 6; 32:35).
Josiah desecrated the high place, in order to disable it for idolatrous rites and to stop sacrifices (2 Kings 23:10).
Because of its horrible human sacrifices, and also because of its desecration by Josiah, and possibly because garbage began to be burned there as well, this valley came to represent an image of sin and curse.
An alteration of the Hebrew name "Gë ben-Hinnõm" (Ge-Hinnõm) gave the term Gehenna, which became the name used to designate the place of eternal punishment.
Meaning of HINNOM
Deep and narrow ravine with steep and rocky slopes, southwest of Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion, to the north, from the Mount of Evil Counsel and the plateau of Rephaim to the south.
