You Think It’s Hot Here? Check Out Gehenna

It’s hot. Maybe not as hot as the devil’s basement, but it’s hot. There’s a record-setting global heat wave north of the equator. Apparently, the entire northern hemisphere is working on its tan.

As of this past Wednesday, Phoenix broke a 50 year record–19 consecutive days with temperatures reaching at least 110 degrees. An airport in Iran posted a heat index of 152 degrees, and California’s Death Valley came within two degrees of the hottest air temperature recorded on Earth.

This may be a poor transition, but it seems like a good time to talk about Hell. And I’m not talking about a holiday dinner with the in-laws. I’m talking about the good old-fashioned place where the Bible says we don’t want to go. The abyss. The inferno. The bottomless pit.

If you conduct deep research (i.e, Google) to answer the question, “How many references to Hell are there in the Bible?,” the answer is not as straightforward as you might think.

It’s not that the Google experts can’t count, but there’s just not a simple response. The answer depends, among other things, on which translation of the Bible you’re using and which language that translation uses.

I am a language expert only as much as Wikipedia research allows me to be. For the sake of this article, let’s stick to the King James version–we all know that the KJV is the most serious and real translation available. Kidding.

According to the Massachusetts Bible Society, in the King James Version of the Bible, the English word “hell” occurs 54 times–31 in the Old Testament and 23 in the New Testament. But to complicate and confuse matters, those 54 occurrences represent four different words in the original languages. Here’s a quick summary of what I learned from the Massachusetts Bible Society.

Sheol All 31 Old Testament references to Hell in the KJV refer to the Hebrew word Sheol. There’s not really a good modern English translation of the word because “the understanding of death and the afterlife that it represents is an ancient and not a modern idea in Jewish and Christian thought.”

The much-simplified explanation is that Sheol is a gray, shadowy grave pit where all humans (and animals!) go after death, not just the wicked. It is not a fiery place of torment.

Gehenna Twelve of the New Testament references to Hell are a translation of the Greek word Gehenna. Unlike Sheol, Gehenna was an actual location, a valley just outside the city of Jerusalem.

Gehenna was considered to be cursed because of its historical association with child sacrifice, and it eventually became the trash pit for the city, which meant it was constantly burning. The word Gehenna evolved to mean a place where the wicked were tormented in a never-ending fire.

Hades Ten of the New Testament references to Hell are from the Greek word Hades, the name of the Greek god of the underworld. When the wicked died, they went to Hades, while the righteous had eternal life. There was no fiery torment in Hades, except for one mention in Revelation: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (20:14).

Tartaroo  In 2 Peter 2:4, the word hell is translated from the Greek word tartaroo. In Greek mythology, Tartarus was both a deity and a place of torment. Tartarus was located deep below Hades “and was a place of torment for the worst of the worst—especially those who posed a threat to the gods.” Fire was not necessarily part of the equation.

Now that you know more about Hell than you really wanted to know, let’s look at a few examples from Scripture. From the Old Testament:

When Jacob’s sons handed him Joseph’s bloody coat, Jacob cried out, “Surely I will go down to the grave [Sheol] in mourning for my son.”  (Genesis 37:35)

David called upon the Lord to save him from his enemies: “The sorrows of hell [Sheol] compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me.” (Psalm 18:5)

From the belly of the whale, Jonah prayed: “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell [Sheol] cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” (Jonah 2:2)

When an angry contingency of Israelites spoke against Moses and Aaron, God took matters into His own hands: “And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up…. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit [Sheol] and the earth closed upon them….” (Numbers 16:32-33)

And now from the New Testament:

Jesus refers to Hell (Gehenna) twice in the Sermon on the Mount. “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca [worthless], shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire [Gehenna].” (Matthew 5:22)

“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [Gehenna].” (Matthew 5:29)

The concept of a fiery afterlife for the wicked is referenced in both Matthew and, not surprisingly, in Revelation:

Matthew 13:49-50  “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 18:9  “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Revelation 20:10  “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Revelation 20:15  “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Whether we call it Hell or Gehenna or Hades or Tartaroo, it’s not where we want to end up. Next week, maybe global warming will ease up and I’ll be inspired to write about Heaven. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with two Scripture passages Bible that point the (only) way to the perfect option:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)