Introduction
The netherworld is a physical place but not the one most people think. The "hell" that Jesus alluded to was the Hinnom Valley near Jerusalem. Its Hebrew name is Ge-Hinnom (H2011), while the Greek one is Geenna (G1067)—which scholars anglicize as "Gehenna." Out of the countless number of Bible versions, only the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) and Young's Literal Translation (YLT) interpret "Gehenna" accurately (see here & here). However, if biblical interpreters were to translate Geena instead of either paraphrasing or transliterating it, our scriptures would read "Hinnom" instead of "hell" or "Gehenna." The Ge- prefix means "valley" (H1516). Look at the Bible with first-century eyes and imagine Jesus telling us, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in [Hinnom]" (Matt. 10:28). Not quite as scary, right? Wait and see why Jesus alluded to the Hinnom Valley as a symbol of God's final judgment. Sometimes, even geographical locations have an evil reputation. Consider our foreboding thoughts about places such as Auschwitz, the Bermuda Triangle, or even the local cemetery in our time. In the minds of first-century Jews, the Hinnom Valley stood for all of these: cruelty, disappearances, holocausts, mass graves, and sadism.
Hinnom: Burning & Sacrifice
There are eleven Old Testament references to the "Valley of Ben Hinnom" (see here). This site was initially allocated to the tribe of Judah when the Israelites arrived in the Promised Land. They seized the territory from the Jebusites with the intent of establishing the Hebrew faith in a region of pagan idolatry (see Exod. 3, 23:23, 33:2, 34:11; Deut. 7:1, 20:17; Josh. 3:10). However, the author of Joshua explicitly wrote, "Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah" (Josh. 15:63). In their failure, the Israelites not only lived among the pagans that God intended for them to conquer but also started worshiping their idols and intermarried with them (see Ezra 9:1-2). While many commentators read the Joshua text as a story of genocide, the actual history is not so simple. The main reason that God told the Israelites to occupy the Promised Land was to stop the abhorrent practices of nations such as the Jebusites. Their main evil was child sacrifice, usually in the Hinnom Valley. During his sweeping reforms, King Josiah destroyed the altars on Topheth, where the priests would burn children alive in dedication to the idol Molek (see 2 Kgs. 23:1-20). The prophet Jeremiah lamented this horrible atrocity (see Jer. 7:31-32) and even recorded God's anger:
So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter (Jer. 19:6). . . . They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin (Jer. 32:35).
Gehenna: Beyond the Grave
If Jesus' warnings to the Pharisees were about the Hinnom Valley, they would have little meaning to us today. When reading scripture, it is sometimes difficult to separate what still applies to us and what stays in its original context. In the narrative force of Jesus' lesson, he accused the Judean religious leaders of idolatry, both in a spiritual and political context. The Pharisees turned their backs on God by rejecting the Messiah and trusting their self-righteousness and Roman privilege. The main image of the Hinnom Valley that Jesus applied was a graveyard—its use in the first century. In ancient times, Hinnom was a mass grave for child sacrifice. However, the Jewish people designated the area as a cemetery after the exile due to its association with death. Hakeldama (G184), the "Field of Blood" where Judas Iscariot died, was also located in the Hinnom Valley. Luke of Antioch used this theme to symbolize Judas' condemnation, as Peter said, "Judas left to go where he belongs" (Acts 1:25).
According to the Law of Moses, the Pharisees took special precautions in keeping themselves ritually clean (see Matt. 23:25-26; Mark 7:1-5). Part of this Law was to avoid touching a corpse and walking in graveyards (see Num. 19:11-13; Luke 11:44). When Jesus accused them of being "whitewashed tombs" that looked pretty on the outside but contained death on the inside (see Matt. 23:27), he was telling them that God views their sins as equally heinous as the Hinnom Valley's history. The symbolism behind the undying worms and the unquenchable fire (Mark 9:48; cf. Isa. 66:24) refers to both the worms that feed on decaying bodies in the grave and the use of flame to accelerate the decay process. Spiritual death implies an experience of neglect and immolation without relief.
Netherworld: Sheol, Hades & Tartarus
Sheol (H7585) was a term for the netherworld in the Hebrew scriptures. However, contemporary interpreters often leave Sheol untranslated because it was an actual region in Hebrew cosmology, not just a metaphor. Older translations use "grave" to translate Sheol, but this word describes a realm of the dead, not just a plot where one's body decays. The Septuagint (LXX) writers understood the Greek idea of Hades as a fair equivalent of Sheol, so they applied it. The parallel between Sheol and Hades continued in the New Testament with the concept of the underworld. However, this region was not "hell" in the sense of eternal punishment but a place where each soul became a "shadow" of its former self. The Greeks also described Tartarus, where the Titans were thrown into eternal dungeons for torment. This realm was reserved for the most evil of gods and human beings. Tartarus appears in the LXX translation of Job and the extra-biblical and non-canonical book of Enoch. In the New Testament, it was only recorded once as the passive verb tartaroō (G5020, "send into Tartarus"). When Peter wrote, "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell [Greek: tartarōsas], putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment" (2 Pet. 2:4), he had the condemnation of the watchers in the book of Enoch in mind (see 1.1-16; 2.54-69). This coincides with Jesus' harshest words on hellfire:
Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me" (Matt. 25:41-43).
First-century Jews did not have a systematic view of heaven and hellfire as we Christians do today. Instead of yearning for "heaven," they looked forward to living in "Abraham's bosom." In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus contrasted the destinations of the righteous and the evildoers. In his teaching, Jesus did not say much about "Abraham's bosom" other than it has a boundary that keeps the people from the netherworld out. Interestingly, the rich man asks for mere water, meaning not even basic necessities are fulfilled in "this place of torment" (Luke 16:19-31).
Conclusion
In our Western culture, we generally over-spiritualize the concepts of hellfire and final punishment. We typically overlook the physical geography of Gehenna in the here and now, too readily ignoring the grave that awaits us all. In many church circles, people say, "Hell is eternal separation from God." The scriptures never teach this idea, but the exact opposite. For example, King David lamented, "If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. . . . If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you'" (Ps. 139:8, 11-12). You read that correctly—God is still present in the darkness of Sheol. Even older versions mention "hell" at Psalm 139:8 (e.g., KJV).
John son of Zebedee wrote in Revelation, "[They], too, will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name" (Rev. 14:10-11). In other words, God's presence torments the wicked and the unrighteous, not eternal separation from him. We should not view this "Gehenna of fire" as coming from an angry God who delights in sending people to the netherworld for eternity but prideful evildoers who have always rejected him. If specific individuals hate God in the present, then why would they be happy with him in the future—for eternity? As Jesus himself warned us, "Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full" (Matt. 6:2). Nevertheless, Paul of Tarsus said, "[They] received in themselves the due penalty for their error" (Rom. 1:27).
Prayer
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe; we thank you for this night when Jesus broke the bonds of death and Hades and arose victorious from the grave. How incredible and beyond our knowing is your mercy and steadfast love for us; to redeem a slave, you gave a Son. Indeed, the providence of Adam's sin was obliterated by Christ's death. How holy is this night when evil is put to flight and corruption is washed away. It restores innocence to the fallen and joy to those who mourn. It casts out pride and hatred and brings peace and comfort. Amen.
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