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Gehenna (or Gehenom or Gehinom), in Jewish eschatology, is a fiery place where the wicked are punished after they die or on Judgment Day[1]. Gehenna also appears in the New Testament and early Christian writing, and appears in Islam as Jahannam.
The word traces to Greek, ultimately from Hebrew: גי(א)-הינום Gêhinnôm (also Guy ben-Hinnom (Hebrew: גיא בן הינום) meaning the Valley of Hinnom's son. The valley forms the southern border of ancient Jerusalem and stretches from the foot of Mount Zion, eastward, to the Kidron Valley. It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8.
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Originally it referred to a garbage dump in a deep narrow valley right outside the walls of Jerusalem (in modern-day Israel) 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.
Like Sheol, Gehenna is sometimes translated as Hell.
Hebrew Bible observations
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It is mentioned in the Tanakh in several places, notably 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" (Hebrew: 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." In Hebrew:וְיָצָאתָ אֶל-גֵּיא בֶן-הִנֹּם אֲשֶׁר פֶּתַח שַׁעַר החרסות (הַחַרְסִית) וְקָרָאתָ שָּׁם אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר-אֲדַבֵּר אֵלֶיךָ: וְאָמַרְתָּ שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר-יְהוָה מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה וְיֹשְׁבֵי יְרוּשָׁלִָם כֹּה-אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הִנְנִי מֵבִיא רָעָה עַל-הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר כָּל-שֹׁמְעָהּ, תִּצַּלְנָה אָזְנָיו: יַעַן אֲשֶׁר עֲזָבֻנִי וַיְנַכְּרוּ אֶת-הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וַיְקַטְּרוּ-בוֹ לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יְדָעוּם הֵמָּה וַאֲבוֹתֵיהֶם וּמַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה וּמָלְאוּ אֶת-הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה דַּם נְקִיִּם: וּבָנוּ אֶת-בָּמוֹת הַבַּעַל לִשְׂרֹף אֶת-בְּנֵיהֶם בָּאֵשׁ עֹלוֹת לַבָּעַל אֲשֶׁר לֹא-צִוִּיתִי וְלֹא דִבַּרְתִּי וְלֹא עָלְתָה עַל-לִבִּי: לָכֵן הִנֵּה-יָמִים בָּאִים, נְאֻם-יְהוָה וְלֹא-יִקָּרֵא לַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה עוֹד הַתֹּפֶת וְגֵיא בֶן-הִנֹּם כִּי אִם-גֵּיא הַהֲרֵגָה: |
 The Hebrew root word for Gehenna, gay' (גיא),
nm. ravine, valley, gorge, glen, gulch, coulee 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.
Pharisaic tradition
Gehenna was the place where the wicked awaited judgment day in fiery torment. The godly, meanwhile, were said to await Judgment Day in the bosom of Abraham.
Rabbinic tradition
The Rabbinic tradition arose after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. In general, it moved away from traditional Judaism's emphasis on an earthly future for Israel toward the concept of reward in the life to come. Gehinom (Gehenna), according to rabbinic literature, is a place or state where the wicked are temporarily punished after death. “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.
New Testament
In the synoptic gospels Jesus uses the word Gehenna to refer to the place where sinners are punished after death:
- 22"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.
29"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
30"And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. -Mat 5:22, 29, 30
- 28"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Mat 10:28
- 9"And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. -Mat 18:9
- 15"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
33"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? -Mat 23:15, 33
- 43"And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
45"And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.
47"And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell -Mark 9:43, 45, 47
5"But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! -Luke 12:5
In these passages, and also in James 3:6, the word is uniformly rendered "hell," the Revised Version placing "Gehenna" in the margin.
In the Book of Matthew, 23:33, Jesus observes,
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” The word gehenna is also found in the epistle of James, where it is said to set the tongue on fire.
Most Christians understand gehenna (hell) to be a place of eternal punishment. On the other hand, annihilationists, understand gehenna to be a place where sinners are utterly destroyed (like garbage in a burning dump), not tormented forever.
The New Testament also refers to Hades as a destination of the dead and of those who will not be exalted in heaven (Matthew 11:23). However, hades is portrayed as a different place from Gehenna.
Hades
- Mat 11:23 "And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
- Luk 10:15 "And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
- Luk 16:23 "and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
- Act 2:27 "'For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
- Act 2:31 "he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
- Rev 1:18 "and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
- Rev 6:8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
- Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
- Rev 20:14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
The King James version of the Bible (and other translations as well) 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.
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.
- « "gehenna." Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. 27 Aug. 2009. .
- « Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for geenna (Strong's 1067)".
- « Metzger & Coogan (1993) Oxford Companion to the Bible’’, p. 243.
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Timothy Past