Tophel

Tophel is one of several wilderness sites named in the geographic preface to Deuteronomy, fixing the location where Moses delivered his final addresses to Israel.

A waypoint east of the Jordan

The setting is given in the opening verse of Deuteronomy: "These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah across from Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab" (De 1:1). Tophel appears in this list as one of the bounding markers of the encampment region, sandwiched between Paran and Laban. The text records nothing further about the site itself; it serves only to fix the wilderness setting of the Mosaic discourses that follow.