Topaz (J^'^'^'Qjpitdah', apparently of non-Heb. ety- mology; Sept. TondZi-ov ; Yulg. topaziits'), a gem which was the second stone in the first row of the high-priest's breastplate (Exod. xxviii, 17 ; xxxix, 10). It was one of the jewels that adorned the apparel of the king of Tyre (Ezek. xxviii, 13); it was the bright stone that garnished the ninth foundation of the heavenly Jerusa- lem (Rev. xxi, 20). In Job xxviii, 19, where wisdom is contrasted with precious articles, it is said that " the pit- dah of Ethiopia shall not equal it." It is, according to most ancient versions, the topaz (roTTficfov; Josephus, roTrasOc)) which most of the ancient Greek writers de- scribe as being of a golden yellow color (Strabo, xvi, 770 ; Diod. Sic. iii, 39) ; while Pliny {Nist. Nat. xxxvii, 32) states that its color is green. The topaz of the an- cient Greeks and Romans is generally thought to be our chrysolite, while their chrysolite is our topaz. Chryso- lite, which is also known by the name of olivine and peridot, is a silicate of magnesia and iron ; it is so soft as to lose its polish unless worn with care (Mitchell and Tennant, Mineralogy and Crystallograpln/. p. 512). See Chrysolite. Bellermann, however {Die Urim und Thummim, p. 39), contends that the topaz and the chrys- olite of the ancients are identical with the stones de- noted by these terms at the present day. The topaz is a precious stone having a strong glass lustre. Its pre- vailing color is wine-yellow of every degree of shade. The dark shade of this color passes over into carnation red, and sometimes, although rarely, into lilac; the pale shade of the wine-yellow passes into grayish, and from yellowish-white into greenish-white and |>ale green, lin- eal, and celadon-green. It may thus be difficult to de- termine whether the pitdah in the high-ijriest's breast- )ilate was the yellow topaz; but that it was a topaz there is little reason to doubt. In the passage cited from Job the pi/ da h is connected with Ciish ; and as the name Cush includes Southern Arabia and the Arabian (iulf, the intimation coincides with the statement of Pliny and others, that the topazes known to them came from the Topaz Island in the Red Sea ( /Jist. A'at. xxxvii, 8; comp. xi, 29), whence it was probably brought by the Phrenicians (comp. Ezek. xxviii, 13). See Ethi- opia. Pliny adds, in exjjlanation of the name, that the island where these precious stones were procured was surrounded by fogs, and was, in consequence, often
TOPHEL
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TOPLADY
sought for by navigators; and that hence it received its name, the term " topaziu" signifying, in the Troglo- dyte tongue, " to seek" (?).
It may be remarked that Bohlen seeks the origin of the Hebrew word in the Sanscrit language, in which pita means "yellowish,"' "pale;" and, as Gesenins re- marks, the Greek TOTrdZ,iov itself might seem to come from the Hebrew mSIJ by transposition into tniiS {Thesaur. p. 1101). See Braunius, l)e Vestitu, p. 508; Hofmann, Minei-ul. i, 337 ; Pareau, Comment, on Job, p. 333; li'iiter, Erdkuiide, ii, 67b. — Kitto; Smith. See Gkm.
To'phel (Meb. id. bsh. mnrtar; Sept. To^oX ; Vulg. Thophel), a place mentioned in Dent, i, 1 as a boundary (? on the N. E.) of the great Sinaitic desert of Paran. It has therefore been with great probability identified with Tufileh (conip. Schwarz, Pahest. p. 210) on a wady of the same name running north of Bozra towards the north-west into the Glior and stmth-oast corner of the Dead Sea (Robinson, Bibl. Res. ii, 570). This latter is a most fertile region, having many springs and rivulets flowing into the Ghor, and large plantations of fruit- trees, whence figs are exported. The bird katta, a kind of partridge, is found there in great numbers, and the steinbock pastures in herds of forty or fifty together (Burckhardt, lloly Lund, p. 405, 406)." The brook Tufi- leh, or its immediate neighborhood, is still the recog- nised boundarj' between Edom and Moab (Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 57).
To'phet (Heb. To'pJieth, TSn, spittle, as in Job xvii, G; i. e. abominable, or, perhaps, place of burning ; Jer. vii, 32 [second time]; xix, 11, 12; with the art., 2 Kings xxiii, 10 [" Topheth"] ; Jer. vii, 31, 32 ; xix, 6, 13, 14; once Tophteh', nnan, Isa. xxx, 33; Sept. Tw- fk^, Ta(pe^, and (3o(p!^d ; Vulg. Tophet, Topheth), a place near Jerusalem, where the ancient Canaanites, and af- terwards the apostate Israelites, made their children to pass through the fire to Moloch (comp. Psa. cvi, 38; Jer. vii, 31). It is first mentioned, in the order of time, by Isaiah, who alludes to it as deep and large and hav- ing an abinidance of fuel (xxx, 33). He here evidently calls the place where Sennacherib's army was destroyed Tophet, by a metonymy ; for it was probably overthrown at a greater distance from Jerusalem, and quite on the opposite side of it, since Nob is mentioned as the last station from which the king of Assyria should threaten Jerusalem (x, 32), where the prophet seems to have given a very exact chorographical description of his march in order to attack the city (Lowth's Transl. notes on xxx, 33). In the reformation of religion by king Jo- siah, he caused Topheth to be defiled in order to sup- press idolatry (2 Kings xxiii, 10). The means he adopt- ed for this purpose are not specified, whether by throw- ing all manner of filth into it, as well as bv overthrow- ing the altars, etc., as the Syriac and Arabic versions seem to understand it. The prophet Jeremiah was or- dered by God to announce from this spot (xix, 14) the approaching captivity, and the destruction, both by the siege of the city and by famine, of so man}' of the peo- ple, whose carcasses should be here buried, as that it should " no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter" (vii, 31, 32; xix, (3, 11-14). In all succeeding ages blood has flowed there in streams; corpses, buried and unburied, have filled up the hollows; and it may be that underneath the modern gardens and terraces there lies not only the debris of the city, but the bones and dust of millions — liomans, Persians, Jews, (ireeks, Crusaders, Moslems. Once the royal music grove where Solomon's singers, with voice and instrument, regaled the king, the court, and the city; then the Temple of Baal, the high-place of Moloch, resounding with the cries of burning infants ; then (in symbol) the place where is the wailing and gnashing of teeth. Once prepared for Israel's king as one of his choicest villas ; then degraded and defiled till