Gehenna
Gehenna | |
---|---|
Gehinnom Valley of Hinnom | |
Location in Jerusalem, south of Mount Zion | |
Naming | |
Native name | גיא בן הינום (Hebrew) |
Geography | |
Coordinates | 31°46′6.3″N 35°13′49.6″E / 31.768417°N 35.230444°E |
Rivers | Gey Ben Hinnom Stream |
The Valley of Hinnom, Gehinnom (
The valley surrounds the Old City of Jerusalem and the adjacent Mount Zion from the west and south. It meets and merges with the Kidron Valley, the other principal valley around the Old City, near the Pool of Siloam which lies to the southeastern corner of Ancient Jerusalem. The northwestern part of the valley is now an urban park.
The place is first mentioned in the
In later rabbinic literature, "Gehinnom" became associated with divine punishment in Jewish Apocalypticism as the destination of the wicked for the atonement of their sins.[6][7] The term is different from the more neutral term Sheol, the abode of the dead. The King James Version of the Bible translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word hell.
Etymology
The Hebrew Bible refers to the valley as the "Valley of the son of Hinnom" (Hebrew: גֵּיא בֶן־הִנֹּם),[1][8] or "Valley of Hinnom" (גֵי־הִנֹּם).[9] In Mishnaic Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic languages, the name was contracted into Gēhīnnōm (גֵיהִינֹּם) or Gēhīnnām (גֵיהִינָּם).
The name "Gehenna" derives from the Koine Greek transliteration (Γέεννα) found in the New Testament.[10]
Geography
The exact location of the Valley of Hinnom is disputed. George Adam Smith wrote in 1907 that there are three possible locations considered by historical writers:[11]
- East of the Old City (today identified as the Valley of Josaphat)
- Within the Old City (today identified as the Tyropoeon Valley): Many commentaries give the location as below the southern wall of ancient Jerusalem, stretching from the foot of Mount Zion eastward past the Tyropoeon Valley to the Kidron Valley. However, the Tyropoeon Valley is usually no longer associated with the Valley of Hinnom because during the period of Ahaz and Manasseh, the Tyropoeon lay within the city walls and child sacrifice would have been practiced outside the walls of the city.
- Wadi ar-Rababi: Dalman (1930),[12] Bailey (1986)[13] and Watson (1992)[14] identify the Wadi al-Rababi, which fits the description of Joshua that the Hinnom Valley ran east to west and lay outside the city walls. According to Joshua, the valley began at Ein Rogel. If the modern Bir Ayyub in Silwan is Ein Rogel, then Wadi ar-Rababi, which begins there, is Hinnom.[15]
Archaeology
Child sacrifice at other Tophets contemporary with the Bible accounts (700–600 BCE) of the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh have been established, such as the bones of children sacrificed at the Tophet to the goddess Tanit in Phoenician Carthage,[16] and also child sacrifice in ancient Syria-Palestine.[17] Scholars such as Mosca (1975) have concluded that the sacrifice recorded in the Hebrew Bible, such as Jeremiah's comment that the worshippers of Baal had "filled this place with the blood of innocents", is literal.[18][19] Yet, the biblical words in the Book of Jeremiah describe events taking place in the seventh century in the place of Ben-Hinnom: "Because they [the Israelites] have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind; therefore, behold, days are coming", declares the Lord, "when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter".[20] J. Day, Heider, and Mosca believe that the Moloch cult took place in the valley of Hinnom at the Topheth.[21]
No archaeological evidence such as mass children's graves has been found; however, it has been suggested that such a find may be compromised by the heavy population history of the Jerusalem area compared to the Tophet found in Tunisia.[22] The site would also have been disrupted by the actions of Josiah "And he 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 23). A minority of scholars have attempted to argue that the Bible does not portray actual child sacrifice, but only dedication to the god by fire; however, they are judged to have been "convincingly disproved" (Hay, 2011).[23]
The concept of Gehinnom
Judaism
Hebrew Bible
The oldest historical reference to “the Valley of the Son of Hinnom” is found in the Book of Joshua (15:8 and 18:16) which describe tribal boundaries.[4] The following reference to the valley is at the time of King Ahaz of Judah, who, according to 2 Chronicles 28:3, “burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire”.[4] Later, in 33:6, it is said that Ahaz's grandson, king Manasseh of Judah, also “caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom”. Debate remains as to whether the phrase "cause his children to pass through the fire" referred to a religious ceremony in which the Moloch priest would walk the child between two lanes of fire, or to literal child sacrifice wherein the child is thrown into the fire.
The Book of Isaiah does not mention Gehenna by name, but the "burning place" (30:33) in which the Assyrian army is to be destroyed, may be read "Topheth", and the final verse of Isaiah which concerns those that have rebelled against God (Isaiah 66:24).
In the reign of Josiah a call came from Jeremiah to destroy the shrines in Topheth and to end the practice (Jeremiah 7:31–32, 32:35). It is recorded that Josiah destroyed the shrine of Moloch on Topheth to prevent anyone sacrificing children there (2 Kings 23:10). Despite Josiah's ending of the practice, Jeremiah also included a prophecy that Jerusalem itself would be made like Gehenna and Topheth (19:2–6, 19:11–14).
A final purely geographical reference is found in Neh. 11:30 to the exiles returning from Babylon camping from Beersheba to Hinnom.
Targums (Aramaic translations)
The ancient Aramaic paraphrase-translations of the Hebrew Bible known as Targums supply the term "Gehinnom" frequently to verses touching upon resurrection, judgment, and the fate of the wicked. This may also include addition of the phrase "second death", as in the final chapter of the Book of Isaiah, where the Hebrew version does not mention either Gehinnom or the Second Death, whereas the Targums add both. In this the Targums are parallel to the Gospel of Mark addition of "Gehenna" to the quotation of the Isaiah verses describing the corpses "where their worm does not die".[clarification needed][24]
Rabbinical Judaism (with apocryphal/pseudo-religious texts)
The worst part of Gehenna is called Tzoah Rotachat. Achan is held up by the rabbis as a model of the penitent sinner; because his public confession and subsequent punishment saved him from eternal doom in Gehenna. "Every culprit before he is to meet his penalty of death", says the Mishnah Sanh. vi. 2, "is told to make a public confession, in order to be saved from Gehenna's doom". Thus Achan confessed to all his sins when he said: "Of a truth I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and thus and thus I have done." That his avowal saved him from eternal doom may be learned from Joshua's words to Achan: "Why hast thou troubled us? So may the Lord trouble you this day," which are taken to mean "in the life that now is, so that thou mayest be released in the life to come" (Sanh. 43b-44; see also Ḳimḥi on Josh. v. 25).'[35]
The specific rabbinical term for heresies, or religious divisions due to an unlawful spirit, is minim (lit. 'kinds [of belief]'; the singular min, for "heretic" or "Gnostic," is coined idiomatically, like goy and
The traditional explanation that a burning rubbish heap in the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem gave rise to the idea of a fiery Gehenna of judgment is attributed to Rabbi
There is evidence however that the southwest shoulder of this valley (
In time it became deemed to be accursed and an image of the place of destruction in Jewish folklore.[45][46]
Eventually the Hebrew term Gehinnom
Maimonides declares, in his 13 principles of faith, that the descriptions of Gehenna, as a place of punishment in rabbinic literature, were pedagogically motivated inventions to encourage respect of the Torah commandments by mankind, which had been regarded as immature.[50] Instead of being sent to Gehenna, the souls of the wicked would actually get annihilated.[51]
Christianity
Ethiopian Orthodox Old Testament
Frequent references to "Gehenna" are also made in the books of Meqabyan, which are considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.[52]
New Testament
In the King James Version of the Bible, the term appears 13 times in 11 different verses as Valley of Hinnom, Valley of the son of Hinnom or Valley of the children of Hinnom.
In the
Christian usage of Gehenna often serves to admonish adherents of the religion to live righteous lives. Examples of Gehenna in the Christian New Testament include:
- Matthew 5:22: "....whoever shall say, 'You fool', shall be guilty enough to go into Gehenna."
- Matthew 5:29: "....it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna."
- Matthew 5:30: "....better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into Gehenna."
- Matthew 10:28: "....rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul [Greek: ψυχή] and body in Gehenna."
- Matthew 18:9: "It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than with two eyes to be thrown into the Gehenna...."
- Matthew 23:15: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you... make one proselyte...twice as much a child of Gehenna as yourselves."
- Matthew 23:33, to the Pharisees: "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of Gehenna?"
- Mark 9:43: "It is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into Gehenna into the unquenchable fire."
- Mark 9:45: "It is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into Gehenna."
- Mark 9:47: "It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into Gehenna."
- Luke 12:5: "....fear the One who, after He has killed has authority to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, fear Him."
Another book to use the word Gehenna in the New Testament is James:[55]
- James 3:6: "And the tongue is a fire,...and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by Gehenna."
New Testament translations
The New Testament also refers to
Treatment of Gehenna in Christianity is significantly affected by whether the distinction in Hebrew and Greek between Gehenna and Hades was maintained:
Translations with a distinction:
- The fourth century Ulfilas (Wulfila) or Gothic Bible is the first Bible to use Hell's Proto-Germanic form Halja, and maintains a distinction between Hades and Gehenna. However, unlike later translations, Halja (Matt 11:23) is reserved for Hades,[57] and Gehenna is transliterated to Gaiainnan (Matt 5:30), which surprisingly is the opposite to modern translations that translate Gehenna into Hell and leave Hades untranslated (see below).
- The late fourth century Latin Vulgate transliterates the Greek Γέεννα "gehenna" with "gehennæ" (e.g. Matt 5:22) while using "infernus" ("coming from below, of the underworld") to translate ᾅδης (Hades]).
- The 19th century Young's Literal Translation tries to be as literal a translation as possible and does not use the word Hell at all, keeping the words Hades and Gehenna untranslated.[58]
- The 19th century Arabic Van Dyckdistinguishes Gehenna from Sheol.
- The 20th century New International Version, New Living Translation and New American Standard Bible reserve the term "Hell" only for when Gehenna or Tartarus is used. All translate Sheol and Hades in a different fashion. For a time the exception to this was the 1984 edition of the New International Version's translation in Luke 16:23, which was its singular rendering of Hades as Hell. The 2011 edition renders it as Hades.
- In texts in Greek, and consistently in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the distinctions present in the originals were often maintained. The Russian Synodal Bible (and one translation by the Old Church Slavonic) also maintain the distinction. In modern Russian, the concept of Hell (Ад) is directly derived from Hades (Аид), separate and independent of Gehenna. Fire imagery is attributed primarily to Gehenna, which is most commonly mentioned as Gehenna the Fiery (Геенна огненная), and appears to be synonymous to the lake of fire.
- The New World Translation, used by Jehovah's Witnesses, maintains a distinction between Gehenna and Hades by transliterating Gehenna, and by rendering "Hades" (or "Sheol") as "the Grave". Earlier editions left all three names untranslated.
- The word "hell" is not used in the New American Bible,[59] except in a footnote in the book of Job translating an alternative passage from the Vulgate, in which the word corresponds to Jerome's "inferos," itself a translation of "sheol." "Gehenna" is untranslated, "Hades" either untranslated or rendered "netherworld," and "sheol" rendered "nether world."
Translations without a distinction:
- The late tenth century Wessex Gospels and the 14th century Wycliffe Bible render both the Latin inferno and gehenna as Hell.
- The 16th century Tyndaletranslated both Gehenna and Hades as same English word, Hell.
- The 17th century King James Version of the Bible is the only English translation in modern use to translate Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna by calling them all "Hell."
Many modern Christians consider Gehenna to be a place of eternal punishment.
Islam
The name given to Hell in Islam, Jahannam, directly derives from Gehenna.[63] The Quran contains 77 references to the Islamic interpretation of Gehenna (جهنم), but does not mention Sheol / Hades (abode of the dead), and instead uses the word "Qabr" (قبر, meaning grave). In Muslim tradition, graves are considered gates to the otherworld, both paradise and hell.[64]: 122 Muslim authors proposed that Hell co-exist with the contemporary world somewhere underground, and tried to locate an entrance to hell, and proposed that one of its gates lies in the Valley of Hinnom.[64]: 255
Jahannam itself is only the name of the upper most layer of hell, preserved for Muslim sinners. Even those who uphold the eternity of hell believe that Jahannam will be eventually destroyed.[65]
See also
- Araf (Islam)
- Christian views on Hell
- Heaven in Judaism
- Heaven in Christianity
- Jahannam, the realm of punishment for the evil in Islam
- Jannah, the final abode of the righteous in Islam
- Jewish eschatology
- Hell in the arts and popular culture
- Gehenna (disambiguation)
- Gehenna (comics)
- Gehenna (Dungeons & Dragons)game
- Gehenna (World of Darkness)game
- Matarta
- Outer darkness, New Testament term
- Purgatory
- Spirit world (Latter Day Saints)
- Spirits in prison, New Testament term
- Tzoah Rotachat, location in Gehenna (Gehinnom) where the souls of Jews who committed certain sins are sent for punishment
- World of Darkness (Mandaeism)
- World of Light
References
Citations
- ^ a b Masterman, Ernest W. G. "Hinnom, Valley of". International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 July 2021 – via InternationalStandardBible.com.
- JSTOR 3259194.
- ISBN 0-8264-1316-1. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-86554-373-7.
- Joshua 15:8, passim; II Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 2:23; 7:31–32; 19:6, 13–14). For this reason the valley was deemed to be accursed, and 'Gehenna' therefore soon became a figurative equivalent for 'hell.'"
- ^ Kohler, Kaufmann; Ludwig Blau (1906). "Gehenna: Sin and Merit" Jewish Encyclopedia: "It is frequently said that certain sins will lead man into Gehenna. The name 'Gehenna' itself is explained to mean that unchastity will lead to Gehenna ('Er. 19a); so also will adultery, idolatry, pride, mockery, hypocrisy, anger, etc. (Soṭah 4b, 41b; Ta'an. 5a; B. B. 10b, 78b; 'Ab. Zarah 18b; Ned. 22a)."
"Hell". Catholic Encyclopedia: "[I]n the New Testament the term Gehenna is used more frequently in preference to hades, as a name for the place of punishment of the damned.... [The Valley of Hinnom was] held in abomination by the Jews, who, accordingly, used the name of this valley to designate the abode of the damned (Targ. Jon., Gen., iii, 24; Henoch, c. xxvi). And Christ adopted this usage of the term." - ^ ISBN 9780812218626.
- ^ "Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 28:3 - New International Version". Bible Gateway.
- ^ "Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 28:3 - English Standard Version". Bible Gateway.
- ^ Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.
- ^ Smith, G. A. 1907. Jerusalem: The Topography, Economics and History from the Earliest Times to A.D. 70, pages 170-180. London.
- ^ Dalman, G. 1930. Jerusalem und sein Gelande. Schriften des Deutschen Palastina-Instituts 4
- ^ Bailey, L. R. 1986. Gehenna: The Topography of Hell. BA 49: 187
- ^ Watson, Duane F. Hinnom. In Freedman, David Noel, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, New York Doubleday 1997, 1992.
- ^ Geoffrey W. Bromiley, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: "E–J." 1982.
- ^ Geoffrey W. Bromiley International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Q–Z, 1995 p. 259 "Stager and Wolff have convincingly demonstrated that child sacrifice was practiced in Phoenecian Carthage (Biblical Archaeology Review, 10 [1984], 30–51). At the sanctuary called Tophet, children were sacrificed to the goddess Tank and her .."
- ^ Hays 2011 "..(Lev 18:21–27; Deut 12:31; 2 Kgs 16:3; 21:2), and there is indeed evidence for child sacrifice in ancient Syria-Palestine." [Footnote:] "Day, Molech, 18, esp. n. 11. See also A. R. W. Green, The Role of Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East (SBLDS 1; Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1975)."
- ^ P. Mosca, 'Child Sacrifice in Canaanite and Israelite Religion: A Study on Mulk and "pa' (PhD dissertation. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1975)
- ^ Susan Niditch War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence 1995 p. 48 "An ancient Near Eastern parallel for the cult of Molech is provided by Punic epigraphic and archaeological evidence (Heider:203)
- ^ "Jeremiah 19:4 Context: Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they didn't know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents".
- ^ (J. Day:83; Heider:405; Mosca: 220, 228), ... Many no doubt did as Heider allows (269, 272, 406) though J. Day denies it (85). ... Heider and Mosca conclude, in fact, that a form of child sacrifice was a part of state-sponsored ritual until the reform of the ..."
- ^ Richard S. Hess, Gordon J. Wenham Zion, City of Our God. 1999, p. 182 "The sacrifices of children and the cult of Molech are associated with no other place than the Hinnom Valley. ... of Jerusalem, the Jebusites (brackets mine). As yet, no trace has been located through archaeological search in Ben- Hinnom or in the Kidron Valley. ... Carthage was found in an area of Tunis that has had little occupation on the site to eradicate the evidence left of a cult of child sacrifice there."
- ^ Christopher B. Hays Death in the Iron Age II & in First Isaiah 2011 p. 181 "Efforts to show that the Bible does not portray actual child sacrifice in the Molek cult, but rather dedication to the god by fire, have been convincingly disproved. Child sacrifice is well attested in the ancient world, especially in times of crisis."
- ISBN 978-0716506195
- Babylonian Talmud Rosh Hashanah16b:7a, Berachot 28b
- Sanhedrin10:2
- ^ Soṭah, 10b
- ^ Hyvernat & Kohler 1901, p. 133.
- ^ "ASk the Rabbi Query..." www.thehebrewcafe.com. 23 July 2021.
- ^ "AMON, KING OF JUDAH - JewishEncyclopedia.com". jewishencyclopedia.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ [According to Louis Ginzburg's Legends of the Jews ".. For repentance he was given no time, for death cut him off in the fullness of his sinful ways...That the full measure of punishment was not meted out to Amon-his evil deeds were such that he should have forfeited his share in the World to come-was due to the circumstance of his having a pious and righteous son..". See Legends of the Jews p.281
- ^ "Jehoiakim | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
- ^ "Legends of the Jews pp.104-105".
- ^ Sotah 4b
- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ Deuteronomy 14:1
- ^ Sifre, Deuteronomy 96
- Rosh Hashana17a
- ^ Pesachim 24 168b
- Rosh Hashana17a
- halakhictradition, and he who pronounces in full the Ineffable Name—all these have no share in the world to come"
- ^ Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud and Midrasch, 5 vols. [Munich: Beck, 1922–56], 4:2:1030
- ^ Lloyd R. Bailey, "Gehenna: The Topography of Hell," Biblical Archeologist 49 [1986]: 189
- ^ Gabriel Barkay, "The Riches of Ketef Hinnom." Biblical Archaeological Review 35:4–5 (2005): 22–35, 122–26.
- ^ "The place where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch was originally in the "valley of the son of Hinnom," to the south of Jerusalem (Josh. xv. 8, passim; II Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. ii. 23; vii. 31–32; xix. 6, 13–14). For this reason the valley was deemed to be accursed, and "Gehenna" therefore soon became a figurative equivalent for 'hell'." Gehenna –Jewish Encyclopedia By Kaufmann Kohler, Ludwig Blau; web-sourced: 02-11-2010.
- ^ "gehenna." Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. 27 Aug. 2009. Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gehenna.
- ^ "Gehinnom". Judaism 101.
Gehinnom is the Hebrew name; Gehenna is Yiddish.
- ^ "Hell". Judaism 101.
The place of spiritual punishment and/or purification for the wicked dead in Judaism is not referred to as Hell, but as Gehinnom or She'ol.
- ^ "Judaism 101: Olam Ha-Ba: The Afterlife".
- ^ Maimonides’ Introduction to Perek Helek, ed. and transl. by Maimonides Heritage Center, p. 3–4.
- ^ Maimonides’ Introduction to Perek Helek, ed. and transl. by Maimonides Heritage Center, pp. 22–23.
- ^ "Torah of Yeshuah: Book of Meqabyan I - III". July 11, 2015.
- ^ "Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for geenna (Strong's 1067)"". Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ^ "G5590 – psychē – Strong's Greek Lexicon (NKJV)". Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ "G1067 – geenna – Strong's Greek Lexicon (KJV)". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ "Translations for 2Pe 2:4". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ Murdoch & Read (2004) Early Germanic Literature and Culture, p. 160. [1]
- ^ "YLT Search Results for "hell"". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ "BibleGateway – hell [search] – New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE), 4th Edition". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ Metzger & Coogan (1993) Oxford Companion to the Bible, p. 243.
- ISBN 978-1401678302.
- ISBN 978-0281047178.
- ^ Richard P. Taylor (2000). Death and the Afterlife: A Cultural Encyclopedia. "JAHANNAM From the Hebrew ge-hinnom, which refers to a valley outside Jerusalem, Jahannam is the Islamic word for hell."
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-50637-3.
-
First published online: 2012
First print edition: ISBN 9789004161214, 1960-2007
Sources
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hyvernat, Henry; Kohler, Kaufmann (1901–1906). "ABSALOM ("The Father of Peace")". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
External links
- Short guide to today's Valley of Hinnom, with biblical story
- Columbia Encyclopedia on the Valley of Hinnom
- Biblical Proper Names on the Valley of Hinnom
- Gehenna from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
- The Jewish view of Hell on chabad.org
- Olam Ha-Ba: The Afterlife Judaism 101
- What Is Gehenna? Archived 2016-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Ariela Pelaia, About religion, about.com
- What is Gehenna Like?: Rabbinic Descriptions of Gehenna Archived 2016-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Ariela Pelaia, About religion, about.com
- A Christian Universalist perspective from Tentmaker.org
- A Christian Conditionalist perspective on Gehenna from Afterlife.co.nz