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ioned Bible "hell"-the literal
ever-burning inferrio, the place of
eterna! torment of the damned!
Or is it?
Did you ever notice that the
Greek word used by the writers of
the New Testament for this third
hell is
gehenna?
It comes from the
Hebrew
Gai Hinnom,
meaning
"valley of Hinnom." Hinnom is a
deep, narrow ravine located to the
south and west of Jerusalem.
It
is
to
this
hell that I recently trav–
eled.
But what does this valley have to
do with the t raditional Christian
concept of " hell"? The answer may
surprise you!
Lunc h In He ll
Gehenna- the valley of Hinnom–
is today a relatively pleasant place.
In recent years, grass and even
sorne ftowers have taken over por–
tions of the valley floor, and there
are plenty of trees to provide shade
from the scorching sun (see photos
on these pages).
1 descended into the valley by
means of a rocky dirt path. A small
dog- no three-headed Cerberus!–
barked briefly, then retu rned to
scavenging in a small cave near the
path. Further on down the valley
two boys were kicking a soccer ball
between them.
l sought refuge from the heat of
the noon sun under a large tree,
and took out my lunch. A few birds
carne by for a handout. The sur–
roundings were not unlike those of
a typical city park.
After enjoying a leisurely
lunch, 1 headed up out of the val–
ley and proceeded unimpeded
toward the J affa Gate. My mem–
ory of the valley is one of a pleas-
December 1981
ant and re laxing haven in t he
midst of a hot and tir ing walking
tour of Jerusalem.
Gehenna, in short, is a far cry
from the hell of Dante or from
what this valley was like in J esus'
day!
The valley was not always such a
pleasan t place. In the Old Testa–
ment it was a place of abominable
pagan ri tes, including infant sacri–
tice.
lt
was there that the apostate
kings Ahaz and Manasseh made
thei r children "pass through the
tire" to the god Molech. The rites
were speci fically celebrated in
Tophet, the "place of abhorrence,"
one of the chief groves in the val–
ley.
King Josiah of ancient J udah
tinally put an end to these abom–
inations. He defiled the valley,
rendering it ceremon ially unclean
( 11 Kings 23: 10). Later the valley
became the cesspool and city
dump of Jerusalem- a repository
for sewage, refuse and animal car–
casses. T he bodies of despised
criminals were also burned there
a long with t he rubbish. Fires
burned continuously, feeding on a
constant supply of garbage and
refuse.
Aceldama, the "tield of blood"
purchased with the money Judas
received for the betrayal of Christ
(Matt. 27:8), was also in part of the
valley of Hinnom.
Gehenna-and the Lake
o f
Flre
What, then, does this valley called
gehenna
have to do with hell?
The answer may
su q~rise
you.
Notice: At the end of this age, at
the crisis at t he end of this world's
civilization, the prophesied Beast
of the book of Revela–
t ion- a Satan-inspired
political dictator- and a
m iracle-working reli–
g ious f igu re, the False
Prophet, wor king with
him wi ll resist the re–
establ ishment of the gov–
ernment of God by
fighting against Jesus
Christ at His Second
Coming. Their fate is
revealed by the apostle
Jo hn: "And the beast
was taken, and with him
the false prophet. ... T hese both
were cast alive into a
lake of jire
burning with brimstone" (Rev.
19:20).
Where wi ll this temporary lake
of tire- this "hell"- be?
The prophet l saiah wrote of
th is lake of ti re prepared for the
Beast: "For Tophet [in the valley
of Hinnom] is ordained of old:
yea, for the king it is prepared; he
hath made it deep and large: the
pile thereof is fire and wood; the
breath of the Lord, like a stream
of brimstone, doth kind le it" ( l sa.
30:33).
One thousand years later, Satan
himself will be cast into this rekin–
dled fiery lake where the Beast and
False Prophet were cast! (See Rev–
elation 20:1 0.)
But what of the wicked who have
died over the many millenni;i?
Does the Bible say that they are
now
suffering fiery punishment for
their sins in a lake of fire?
Absolutely not!
In the sequence of Revelation
20- read it for yourself- the
incorrigibly wicked are resurrected
to be thrown into the lake of fire
after Satan
ís
cast there!
Read it,
in Revelat ion 20:15.
Where Are the Wlcked Now ?
In the well-known parable of the
tares (weeds), Jesus Christ made it
plain that it is in the
distant future
and not now that the wicked are
committed to the flames: "As
therefore the tares are gathered and
burned in the tire; so sh'all it be
in
the end of this world.
The Son of
man shall send forth bis angels, and
they shall gather ... them which
do iniquity; And shall cast them
into a furnace of fire: there shall be