Gehenna

The Valley of Hinnom in 2005 from Mount Zion.

In Judaism, Gehenna (or Ge-hinnom) is a fiery place where the wicked are punished after they die or on Judgment Day. Gehenna also appears in the New Testament and early Christian writings, and is known in Islam as Jahannam.

The word derives from Hebrew: גי(א)-הינום Gêhinnôm (also Guy ben-Hinnom (גיא בן הינום) meaning the Valley of Hinnom's son. The valley forms the south-west border of ancient Jerusalem and stretches from the foot of Mt. Zion, eastward, to the Kidron Valley. It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. Originally it referred to a garbage dump in a deep narrow valley right outside the walls of Jerusalem where fires were kept burning to consume the refuse and keep down the stench. It is also the location where bodies of executed criminals, or individuals denied a proper burial, would be dumped. In addition, this valley was frequently not controlled by the Jewish authority within the city walls; it is traditionally held that this valley was used as a place of religious child-sacrifice to Moloch by the Canaanites outside the city (comp. Jer. 2: 23).

Like Sheol, Gehenna is sometimes translated as Hell.

Hebrew Bible

Gehenna is mentioned in the Tanakh in several places, notably Josh. 15: 8, 18: 16; Neh. 11:. 30, 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; 2 Kings 23:10; the southwestern gate of Jerusalem, overlooking the valley, came to be known as "The Gate of the Valley" (שער הגיא). Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2-6; 32:35; the Book of Jeremiah (2:23) speaks of Jerusalemites worshipping Moloch and committing abominations, foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem:

"19:2. And you shall go out to the Ben-Hinnom Valley which is at the entrance of the Harsith Gate, and you shall call there the words that I will speak to you. 19:3. And you shall say; Hearken to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; so said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold I am bringing evil upon this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle. 19:4. Because they forsook Me and they estranged this place and burnt incense therein to other gods, which they had not known, they, their forefathers, and the kings of Judah, and they filled this place with the blood of innocent people. 19:5. And they built the high places of Baal to burn their children with fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command, neither did I speak nor did it enter My mind. 19:6. Therefore, behold days are coming, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter."

According to the Hebrew Bible, pagans once sacrificed their children to idols in the fires in Gehenna, and this was an abomination; in 2 Kings, 23:10, King Josiah forbade the sacrificing of children to Moloch at Gehenna (though Baal is not mentioned in this particular verse). Rashi claims that the Tophet (תופת) was the Molech. Since priests would bang on drums (תופים) so that the father would not hear the groans of the child when he would be burned by the hands of the pagan image, Molech, they called it Topheth.

There are stories of fires that were kept burning via the adding of brimstone (sulfur). Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible Volume I, explains,

“It became the common lay-stall garbage dump of the city, where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals, and every other kind of filth was cast.”

The dump was full of rotting garbage which sent up a stench that could be smelled for miles.

Rabbinic tradition

Gehinom (Gehenna), according to rabbinic literature, is a place or state where the wicked are temporarily punished after death. The godly, meanwhile, await Judgment Day in the bosom of Abraham. “Gehenna” is sometimes translated as "hell", but the Christian view of hell differs from the Jewish view of Gehenna. Most sinners are said to suffer in Gehenna no longer than twelve months, but those who commit certain sins are punished forever.[1]

New Testament

It is often mentioned in the New Testament of the Christian Bible as the place of condemnation of unrepentant sinners. For example, in the Book of Matthew, 23:33, Jesus observes,

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Jesus used the word gehenna, not hell, and his audience understood gehenna was an allegorical phrase likening the fate of the "generation of vipers" to that of garbage; the Revised Standard Version of the Bible has a footnote after the word hell reading:

^w Greek Gehenna

The King James Version of the Bible speak of “hellfire” and of being “cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched." The original Greek scriptures of the New Testament actually used the word gehenna, which tended to become hell in English.

The New Testament seems to draw a distinction between Sheol and "Gehinnom", or Gehenna. The most "hellish" notion in Jewish tradition is the Biblical word Gehinnom, later interpreted to refer to a place of condemnation. But the source of the word is most interesting. Gei Hinnom was the valley of Hinnom (Joshua 15:8, 18:16; II Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31; Nehemiah 11:30), a place where children were sacrificed to the Canaanite god Moloch. In Islam, this same word became Jahannam, an Islamic term for Hell.

Islam

The word Gehenna (Gehennem, Jahannam) also occurs in the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, as a place of torment for sinners or Islamic equivalent to hell.

According to Islamic accounts, during the Day of Judgement all men and women are made to cross over a deep abyss, whence the flames of Jahannam (Gehenna) leap up, on al-Sirât (الصراط), a thorny bridge so thin that it cannot be seen. It is said in thge Hadiths that crossing the bridge is such a difficult task, because the bridge is as thin as a strand of hair, and as sharp as the edge of a sword. The believers and those destined for paradise are able to cross quickly and safely, seeing it as a thick stone bridge, whereas others fall off this hair-thin bridge into Gehenna.

Moreover, the Hadiths state that the prophet Muhammad will be allowed to intercede on behalf of all of humankind at this time. Additionally, a believer will be allowed to plead for members of his family and for his loved ones. However, throughout the discourse regarding the ultimate destiny, the consistent tenet is that being sent to paradise or to Jahannam (Gehenna) is a matter in Allah's hands alone. God is thus the ultimate arbiter and qadi (judge) as to who goes to Jahannam (Gehenna) and who is rescued.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Balfour, Walter. Inquiry Into the Scriptural Import of the Words Sheol, Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna: All Translated Hell. Kessinger Publishing, 2003. ISBN 978-0766159464
Fudge, Edward W. The Fire that Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment. Backinprint, 2000. ISBN 978-0595143429
Turner, Alice K. The History of Hell. Publisher: Harvest Books, 1995. ISBN 978-0156001373

External links

Note: Tanakh quotes are from the Judaica press Tanach. New Testament quotes from the Bible in this article are from the King James Version.

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

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