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The teaching about HELL as a place ofUNDENDING BODILY TORMENT does NOT

come from THE BIBLE

..from the free commentary which you can download athttp://sites.google.com/site/freecommentary

Summary:The word 'hell' does occur in the English Bible, but it carries a different ideafrom that of a fiery place of unending torment. The word itself is a mis-translation of the Greek 'Gehenna' which was an above groundlocation.'Gehenna' is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew 'Valley of Ben Hinnom', aplace to which several end-times prophecies of slaughter are attached.

('Hell' as a place of fiery torment intended for the unending torture of peoplecan be found in other writings, e.g. the Aeneid, Enoch, the Koran, Dante, andespecially is found in our own imaginations. But this concept is not to be foundin the Bible. See for yourself if you can find it there.)

WHAT WOULD 'GEHENNA' HAVE MEANT TO A FIRST-CENTURY JEW?

(..adapted from the Topic Notes about Hell in the free commentary)

(1) An ever-burning rubbish dump. The gate on the south wall of Jerusalemwas described in 'rubbish' terms:

Neh 2:13 And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward thejackal's well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem,which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.

It was also called the 'Potsherd Gate', because the potter worked there and hehad plenty of broken pottery to contribute.

It is possible that Jesus, when asked 'Where, Lord?' about the coming of theLord while sitting on the Mount of Olives facing Jerusalem, simply raised hisleft hand, pointing to vultures over the nearby rubbish dump, and answered...

Luk 17:37 And they answering say unto him, Where, Lord? And he saidunto them, Where the body is, thither will the eagles also be gatheredtogether.

This would line up with Old Testament predictions of the Valley of Ben-Hinnom,Gehenna, as being the place of dead bodies, the Valley of Slaughter see next

point.

(2) The Valley of Ben-Hinnom. 'Ge-henna' is its Greek equivalent so a firstcentury Jew would think of Jeremiah's Ben-Hinnom prophecies.

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This valley was where Israel sacrificed humans in their idolatrous andunacceptable worship of Baal. And so appropriately, in return, there areprophecies of slaughterfor those who slaughtered humans there. Though theprophecies originally applied to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in586BC, they still have relevance for the end-times -- prophecies have arecurring nature. The message is: 'The end-times will be a repeat of the 586BC

disaster'. The prophecies now relate to the end-times battle of Armageddon. Inthat battle an enormous number of dead are to be eaten by birds and beasts,Rev 19:17-18... so that the valley is renamed 'the Valley of Slaughter'.

Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,saith Jehovah: they have set their abominations in the house which iscalled by my name, to defile it. 31 And they have built the high places ofTopheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons andtheir daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it intomy mind. 32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall

no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but Thevalley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place tobury. 33 And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds ofthe heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten themaway.

Jer 19:2 and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by theentry of the gate Harsith [Potsherd Gate], and proclaim there the wordsthat I shall tell thee; 3 and say, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O kings ofJudah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the Godof Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whosoeverheareth, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and haveestranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, thatthey knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and havefilled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the highplaces of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal;which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that this place shall nomore be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but Thevalley of Slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah andJerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before

their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their life: and their deadbodies will I give to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beastsof the earth.

(3) Topheth... You can see from the above that 'Ben-Hinnom' is the equivalentof 'Topheth' where idolaters burned their sons and daughters. As aproportionate punishment, as outlined in Jeremiah 19, they (idolaters) will beleft for dead in the same place.In another prophecy, Isaiah 30 describes Topheth as the place 'of fire andbrimstone' where the King of Assyria is punished:

Isa 30:31 For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian bedismayed; with his rod will he smite him... 33 For a Topheth is prepared of

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old; yea, for the king it is made ready; he hath made it deep and large; thepile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream ofbrimstone, doth kindle it.

Notice how the prophecy uses figurative terms, like 'rod' 'pile' 'wood' 'breathlike brimstone'. There is more to the words than face value.

Though this prophecy appears to be talking of the Assyrian king Sennacherib,it should be noted that Sennacherib did not die like this -- he was murdered byhis sons.

(4) The 'Potters'Field ' (just past the Potsherd Gate, in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom) where Judas committed suicide. This was also where Judas wasburied. It then became known as 'Akeldama' or 'Field of Blood' and wasdesignated as 'a burial ground for strangers':

Mat 27:3 Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that he was

condemned, repented himself, and brought back the thirty pieces of silverto the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, I have sinned in that I betrayedinnocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? see thou to it. 5 And hecast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed; and hewent away and hanged himself. 6 And the chief priests took the pieces ofsilver, and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is theprice of blood. 7 And they took counsel, and bought with them thepotter's field, to bury strangers in. 8 Wherefore that field was called, thefield of blood, unto this day. 9 Then was fulfilled that which was spokenthrough Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces ofsilver, the price of him that was priced, whom certain of the children ofIsrael did price; 10 and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lordappointed me.

Zec 11:12-13 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire;and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirtypieces of silver . 13And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that Iwas prized at by them. And I took the thirtypieces of silver, and cast themunto the potter, in the house of Jehovah.

(5) A place of unquenchable fire, just outside the city in the new heavens and

new earth... described in Isaiah 66, which Mark identifies as 'Gehenna':

Isa 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make,shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your nameremain... 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of themen that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die,neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto allflesh.

Notice that worms can live there. Either the worms or the fire, or both, aremetaphorical (for death and destruction). (The next point shows how thisvalley will be holy, in the next age.)

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Mar 9:47 And if thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out: it is good forthee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having twoeyes to be cast into hell [Gehenna]; 48 where their worm dieth not, andthe fire is not quenched. 49 For every one shall be salted with fire.

This 'salt' may be the result of the fire and brimstone -- sulphur salts falling on

Israel and surrounding countries in the end-times.

It should be noted at this point that the idea of 'unquenchable fire' or'continual burning' is most often to be found in talking of constantly burningsacrificial fires. And Topheth was a place of sacrifices. I.e. The idea of burningcontinually in 'hell-Topheth', is more likely one of tit-for-tat justice: You whoburned human sacrifices in Topheth will likewise be continually burned ashuman sacrifices in Topheth. See the article 'Sacrificial Imagery in Revelation'at Rev 14:11 for other examples of 'continual burning' relating to sacrificalimagery.

Possibly this is the same as the Lake of Fire outside the city, reserved forBabylon and the Beast's army (not for everyone, see notes at Rev 21:8), in thenew heavens and new earth described in:

Rev 21:8 But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, andmurderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, theirpart shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is thesecond death.

Rev 22:15 Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators,

and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth andmaketh a lie.

(6) The unnamed place just outside the walls of Jerusalem, described inJeremiah 31, prophesied to be restored:

Jer 31:38 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the city shall be builtto Jehovah from the tower of Hananel unto the gate of the corner.39 And the measuring line shall go out further straight onward unto thehill Gareb, and shall turn about unto Goah. 40 And the whole valley of thedead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kidron, untothe corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto Jehovah; itshall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.

Note that Jerusalem's traditional place for burying bodies was, and still is, theKidron Valley (which adjoins the Valley of Ben-Hinnom):

2Ki 23:6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah,without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brookKidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves ofthe common people.

(7) A place where the soul, as well as the body, can be destroyed:

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Mat 10:28 And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able tokill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and bodyin hell.

The Luke passage about this warns the disciples about the Pharisees (it istalking of religious sinners, not the rank and file of the population):

Luk 12:1 In the mean time, when the many thousands of the multitudewere gathered together, insomuch that they trod one upon another, hebegan to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of thePharisees, which is hypocrisy... 4 And I say unto you my friends, Be notafraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they cando. 5 But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hathkilled hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

'Gehenna'/ 'Hell' is here contrasted with mere biological destruction. It is called'fearful', but not described as 'eternal torture'.

There are several ways in which 'unending fire' does not really mean'unending'. Firstly it can mean sacrificial fire. Secondly it can be limited to oneage. Thirdly it can mean 'destroyed'. Fourthly it can mean 'for a lifetime'. It issimply a bad translation, to jump to supplying 'eternal; forever and ever;unending' when there is so much doubt as to whether our translators aregiving us the best interpretation or not.

THE CONCLUSION

The end-times picture of Gehenna has more to do with prophecies of the battleof Armageddon, between the Christ and the antiChrist, which takes placearound Jerusalem, Rev 20:9, than with a place of everlasting hell-fire oreternal sadistic torments for Unbelievers. The climax of Armageddon is the fireand brimstone which Yahweh pours on the Devil and his followers, Rev 20:10,just like occurred at Sodom -- a temporary and earthly event. Thus the valleyjust outside the city will, in the end-times, becomes filled with bodies; and 'thePotters Field', the 'burial ground for strangers' as named in Judas' time, is anadditional prediction, in addition to Jeremiah's prediction, of Gehenna in theEnd-Times.

To find out what the Bible does teach about who goes to Hell, and what itconsists of, download the complete free commentary.