TOPHETH OF CARTHAGE

TOPEHTH

Greetings from ancient Carthage!

On our recent trip through the beautiful and incredibly diverse country of Tunisia, North Africa, we had the opportunity to visit the ruins of Carthage, including the gruesome Phoenician cemetery. Here tens of thousands of children are believed to have been sacrificed to the Canaanite god Baal Hammon and his consort. But let's start at the beginning...

Phoenicia, a name given by the Greeks, refers to a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean coast between Syria and Israel, roughly corresponding to modern-day Lebanon. Its principal cities were Sidon and later Tyre, both of which played important roles in Bible history.

The Phoenicians were Canaanites*, and their religion revolved around the gods Baal and Ashtoreth, whose cults included sexual immorality and abhorrent rites of child sacrifice, which led Jehovah to decree their destruction along with other Canaanite tribes. However, the Asherites, who were assigned the territory of the Phoenicians, did not expel them but instead settled among them (Judges 1:31, 32). Later, David developed business relations with the Phoenicians and Solomon went even further by marrying Sidonian women as did King Ahab who's Sidonian princess Jezebel zealously promoted Baal worship in Israel (2 Sam. 5:11; 1 Kings 5:1, 9:26-28, 11:1, 4-6; 2 Chron. 9:21; 1 Kings 16:30, 31).

Jezebel's father, Ethbaal (Ithobaal I), founded a new dynasty and ruled over Phoenicia in the 9th century B.C.E. It was during his reign that Phoenicia established new colonies in North Africa, including a settlement that eventually became Carthage. Wherever the Phoenicians went, they brought their abhorrent religious practices with them, and so Carthage became a major center of Baal worship, with Baal Hammon (possibly meaning "Lord of the Brazier") as its chief deity. He was a weather god, believed to be responsible for the fertility of vegetation, and his female cult partner was Tanit, a local manifestation of Ashtoreth.

One of the most shameful practices of the Carthaginian religion was child sacrifice. In 1921, archaeologists uncovered a site now known as Topheth, named for the Biblical term found in 2 Kings 23:10 and Jeremiah 7:31. Excavations revealed more than 20,000 urns in multiple layers containing the cremated remains of infants and some animals (offered as substitute sacrifices) buried beneath stelae inscribed with votive dedications. While some archaeologists have questioned whether this cemetery was used for ritual sacrifice (mainly because the only written sources are non-Punic), most agree that the site represents a typical Topheth, where from the 8th to the 2nd century B.C.E., Carthaginian parents sacrificed and buried their children.

* The terms Phoenician, Canaanite, and Sidonian are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the same people.

The practices of the Phoenicians were undoubtedly shocking, but Judean king Manasseh caused the Israelites "to do worse than the nations that Jehovah had annihilated from before the Israelites” (2 Chronicles 33:9). Jehovah was not exaggerating when He said of Israel: “They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent ones. They built the high places of Baal in order to burn their sons in the fire as whole burnt offerings to Baal, something that I had not commanded or spoken of and that had never even come into my heart” (Jeremiah 19:4).

The archaeological evidence found at ancient Carthage helps us understand why Jehovah commanded the elimination of the Canaanites and why He did not leave the Israelites unpunished for their involvement in such horrific crimes.

Read more here: w86 10/1 p. 25 ➥, it-1 pp. 738-739 ➥.

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To wrap up, here’s a little glimpse into our Tunisian road trip.