Heeding Jewish Myths
In Titus 1:10-14, Paul wrote the following to his co-laborer in the faith: “For many are insubordinate, vain praters and imposters,
especially those of the Circumcision, who must be gagged, who are subverting
whole households, teaching what they must not, on behalf of sordid gain. One of
them, their own prophet, said: “Cretans are ever liars, evil wild beasts, idle
bellies.” This testimony is true. For
which cause be exposing them severely, that they may be sound in the faith, not
heeding Jewish myths and precepts of men who are turning from the truth.”
As is evident from the
part of this passage that I placed in bold, Paul clearly had no tolerance for
“Jewish myths,” and instructed Titus to expose “severely” those in the faith
who were heeding such myths. What I will be arguing in this third and final installment of my study on “Gehenna” is that the decision to translate Gehenna as
“hell” betrays a preference for Jewish myths over the truth revealed in Scripture.
As argued in the previous installment, the
term translated “hell” in most English Bibles is the name of a
well-known locality near Jerusalem, and is never employed in the Hebrew
Scriptures to mean anything other than the place with which every Jew in
Christ’s day would’ve been familiar (i.e., Hinnom Valley). I further argued
that it is in this valley that the prophecy found in the closing verse of
Isaiah will be fulfilled. Here, again, is the argument with which
I presented the reader in part two of this study:
1. The place where “their worm shall not die” and “their fire
shall not be quenched” is the place where “the corpses of the mortals who
transgressed against [God]” will reside and undergo destruction (Isaiah 66:24).
2. According to Christ in Mark 9:42-48, “Gehenna” is the location
where “their worm shall not die” and “their fire shall not be quenched.”
3. The “Gehenna” of which Christ spoke is the location where “the
corpses of the mortals who transgressed” referred to in Isaiah 66:24 will
reside and undergo destruction.
But if Christ was referring to a
literal valley into which literal corpses will be cast when he used the term
“Gehenna,” why has the word been translated “hell” in most English Bibles? In
order to answer this question, we need to consider the meaning of the word
“hell” itself. And I can think of no better authority on this subject than what
is, arguably, the biggest and oldest promoter of the doctrine of hell within
the Christian religion: the Roman Catholic Church.
The term hell is cognate to “hole” (cavern) and “hollow”.
It is a substantive formed from the Anglo-Saxon helan or behelian, “to hide”. This verb has
the same primitive as the Latin occulere and celare and the Greek kalyptein. Thus by derivation hell
denotes a dark and hidden place. In ancient Norse mythology Hel is the
ill-favoured goddess of the underworld. Only those who fall in battle can enter
Valhalla; the rest go down to Hel in the underworld, not all, however, to the
place of punishment of criminals.
After
this brief history on the origin of the word “hell,” we’re then provided with
four different meanings of the term that have been distinguished by
theologians. However, the article informs us that, according to “the strict
sense of the term,” hell denotes “the place of
punishment for the damned, be they demons or men.”
Thus, when a translator chooses to
use the term “hell” (rather than the transliterated word “Gehenna”), they have
actually taken the liberty of interpreting
the original Greek word for the reader rather than simply translating the word for the reader. For, again, the literal
meaning of the term is an actual valley that borders the old city of Jerusalem
to the south. So the English word “hell” is no more an accurate or
appropriate translation of the Greek word Gehenna
than it would be of the Greek words Ioudaia
(“Judea”) or Hierousalem
(“Jerusalem”). But again, why would a translator even choose to interpret
Gehenna as “hell?” What’s the connection?
Concerning
the connection between “hell” (the supposed “place of punishment for the damned”)
and the term “Gehenna,” the article goes on to say:
“…in the New Testament the
term Gehenna is
used more frequently in preference to hades,
as a name for the place of punishment of the damned. Gehenna is the
Hebrew gê-hinnom
(Nehemiah 11:30), or the longer form gê-ben-hinnom (Joshua 15:8),
and gê-benê-hinnom (2
Kings 23:10) “valley of the sons of Hinnom”. Hinnom seems to be the name of a
person not otherwise known. The Valley of Hinnom is south of
Jerusalem and is now called Wadi er-rababi. It was notorious as the
scene, in earlier days, of the horrible worship of Moloch. For this reason it
was defiled by Josias (2 Kings 23:10), cursed by Jeremias (Jeremiah 7:31-33),
and held in abomination by the Jews, who,
accordingly, used the name of this valley to designate the abode of the damned
(Targ. Jon., Gen., iii, 24; Henoch, c. xxvi). And Christ adopted this usage of the term” (bold mine).
According
to the above quotation, it is “the Jews” who used the name of the literal
Valley of Hinnom “to designate the abode of the damned” (with two examples of
this figurative usage of “Gehenna” by the Jews being referenced). And then
we’re told that “Christ adopted this usage of the term.”
Now,
we do know that, by the time of
Christ, certain Jewish sects had come to believe that a place of torment
awaited the wicked after death. For example, this was the view of the Pharisees
(who were, of course, Christ’s most public opponents during his earthly
ministry). In this supposed post-mortem place of retribution, it was thought
that the “immortal souls” of the wicked would be either endlessly tormented or (eventually)
annihilated. Concerning
the beliefs of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, the Jewish historian, Josephus,
wrote: “They believe that souls have an immortal
rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments,
according as they have lived virtuously or according to vice in this life; and
the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison (eirgmon aidion),
but that the former shall have power to revive and live again” (D. Ant.
18.14-15).
Here we
find that the Pharisees believed the subterranean place of punishment for
wicked immortal souls was an “eternal (aidion)
prison.” And in another place (B. War 2.162-64), Josephus wrote
that the Pharisees “say that all souls are
imperishable, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other
bodies, but that the souls of bad men
are subject to eternal punishment.”[1] In
contrast with the doctrine of the Pharisees, we’re told by Josephus that the
Sadducees “take away the belief of the immortal
duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades.” From
these quotes it is evident that the rewards and punishments which the Pharisees
thought would be meted out to people in the afterlife would take place “in
Hades.”
Having
shown that at least some Jews in Christ’s day (e.g., the Pharisees) believed in
a post-mortem, subterranean place of judgment, let’s now consider the two
claims found at the end of the excerpt from the Catholic Encyclopedia article,
as quoted above:
1. The
Jews used the term Gehenna to designate the abode of the damned.
2. Christ adopted this usage of the term.
Concerning
the first claim, the Jewish Rabbi David Kimhi (c. 12th century A.D.) wrote: ”And
it [Gehenna] was a despised place where they cast filth and corpses, and
there was there perpetually a fire for the burning of the filth and the bones
of the corpses. On account of this, the judgment place of the wicked is
parabolically called Gehenna.” Thus, according to
Rabbi Kimhi, the term Gehenna began to be used “parabolically” to refer to the
“judgment place of the wicked” (i.e., the subterranean place of punishment to
which it was thought the wicked went after death). But when did this term begin
to be used “parabolically” to refer to the supposed place of post-mortem
judgment in which certain Jews (i.e., the Pharisees) believed? For in order for
Christ to have “adopted” this usage, it had to have been fairly commonplace
before the start of his public ministry (or at least it had to have become so
by the time his public ministry began).
When we begin to try and determine when,
exactly, the term Gehenna began to be used figuratively (or “parabolically”) by
the Pharisees to refer to a subterranean “judgment place of the
wicked” (or “abode of the damned”), it soon becomes clear that there is no
conclusive evidence that any of
Christ’s contemporaries actually used the term in this way. And even if some did, we have even less reason to believe that the term was
so commonly and widely used in this way that those to whom Jesus spoke would’ve
understood the term in no other way except
for as a reference to this place (rather than as a literal reference to the
actual valley of Hinnom).
The
article provides two references in support of its claim that “the Jews” used
the term Gehenna to “designate the abode of the damned.” The first reference is
to the so-called “Targum of Jonathan.”[2] According
to Sefaria.org, the date of the composition of this work “is disputed,” and it
“might have been initially composed in the 4th century CE.” We’re
also told that “some scholars date it in the 14th Century.” Even the
earliest date that I’ve seen suggested for the composition of this work (which
is sometime in the second century) is too late for it to be understood as
evidence that the Jews in Christ’s day used the term Gehenna as a figurative designation
for “the abode of the damned.”
The
second quote is from the apocryphal “Book of Enoch.” Although there is evidence that 1 Enoch was, in fact,
written before the time of Christ, the term “Gehenna” does not even appear in
the passage referenced in the article (nor does it appear in the rest of the
book). Rather, in the passage referenced, we’re told that “Enoch” sees a
certain valley existing between two mountains which is “deep, but not wide,” which
consists of “a strong rock,” and which has a single tree planted within it. After
the brief description of this valley, we’re then told by “Uriel” (one of Enoch’s
angelic guides) that the wicked “shall be collected” in this valley, and that
it will be “their territory” in “the latter days.” However, not only is this
valley not identified as “Gehenna,” it doesn’t even geographically match the
actual Gehenna that formed the southern border of the old city of Jerusalem (and
even if this valley is to be
understood as Gehenna, it’s clear from the way it’s depicted that it’s intended
to be understood as a literal valley, and not as a figurative depiction of some
other place).
These, then, are the two
references which the author of the Catholic Encyclopedia article apparently
understood as supporting the theory that, in Christ’s day, the term Gehenna was
used by the Jews to designate “the abode of the damned.” However, neither of
these references can be understood as conclusive evidence that
any of the Pharisaic contemporaries of Christ actually used the term “Gehenna”
as a figurative reference to “the abode of the damned” (let alone that the term
was so commonly used in this way that those to whom Jesus spoke would’ve
understood the term in no other way except for as a reference to “the abode of
the damned”). And this fact is problematic for the theory that
Christ “adopted” the Pharisee’s figurative usage of the term. For how could
Christ have adopted a figurative usage of the term Gehenna that didn’t actually
exist before or during his public ministry? [3]
But let’s suppose (just
for the sake of argument) that the Pharisaic contemporaries of Christ regularly
used the term Gehenna in a figurative way to refer to the subterranean “abode
of the damned” in which they believed. Do we have any good reason to believe
that Christ would have sanctioned as
true the Pharisees’ beliefs concerning this place? Before we answer this
question, let’s consider another question: How did these Jews come to
believe in the place of post-mortem punishment for the wicked that they began
to figuratively refer to as “Gehenna?” From what source did these Jews get their information concerning the “abode of the damned”
in which they believed?
The only Jewish literature
which was binding on the Jews as authoritative before and during Christ’s public
ministry was that which constituted those inspired writings which Christ called
the “Law and the Prophets” and “the word of God.” Christ spoke as if the books
that comprise our “Old Testament” Scriptures had been completed by his day, and
ought to have been considered inspired canon to the Jewish people. In Jesus’
day, this collection of inspired writings was the standard of truth by which
all Jewish beliefs and practices were to be measured. And nowhere in the Hebrew
Scriptures does Gehenna ever
figuratively refer to a subterranean place of punishment for the disembodied
souls of the wicked. Every time we read of this geographical location in the
Hebrew Scriptures, it’s a literal reference to the geographical location. The
Hebrew Scriptures are completely silent concerning any sort of figurative usage
of “Gehenna.” And not only this, but these inspired writings are just as silent
concerning the existence of a subterranean place of punishment for the
disembodied souls of the wicked. That is, the very existence of the place which
certain Jews came to figuratively refer to as “Gehenna” is not even revealed in
their own inspired Scripture.
So where did their
information concerning this place of punishment come from? Well, insofar as the
subterranean place of punishment for the wicked in which the Pharisees believed
is not revealed in their own inspired Scripture, it ultimately doesn’t matter
where they got their information from. All that matters is that the source from
which they derived their information concerning this place is a non-inspired
one. And this means that their beliefs concerning this place of punishment do
not correspond with what God himself had revealed to them in their inspired
Scriptures, and - as such - could not possibly have had God’s authoritative
approval. It is simply irrelevant what the views expressed in the Jewish
literature or oral tradition of Christ’s day were if they did not have their
origin in the writings that Jesus understood to be inspired and authoritative.
If the views held by the Jews of Christ’s day concerning a place they
figuratively referred to as “Gehenna” were derived from an uninspired source,
then it’s neither very reasonable nor very honouring to Jesus to say he would
have subscribed to them.
In fact, Christ explicitly
rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for holding to and teaching
things that were foreign to their own inspired Scriptures. In Mark 7:6-13, for
example, we find Christ accusing the scribes and Pharisees of “teaching for
teachings the directions of men,” of leaving “the precept of God” and
“holding the tradition of men,” of “repudiating the precept of God, that [they]
should be keeping [their] tradition,“ and of “invalidating the word of God
by [their] tradition.” And in addition to the specific examples Christ
provided, Christ added that “many such like things” were these religious
leaders doing! Their teachings concerning the subterranean place of judgment in
which they believed (and which they, at some point, began to figuratively refer
to as “Gehenna”) can, therefore, be understood as just another way in which they
invalidated the word of God by their tradition.
[1] The words translated “eternal punishment” in this quotation from
Josephus are aidios timoria,
and must not to be confused with the words found in Matthew 25:46 (which,
despite being commonly translated as “eternal punishment,” are different Greek
words entirely - i.e., kolasin
aionios, or “chastening eonian”).
[3] It could be
objected that, in the Babylonian Talmud (c. 450 – 550 AD), we’re told that the
two Pharisaical “schools of thought” (i.e., “Beit Shammai” and “Beit Hillel”)
had doctrinal positions concerning “Gehenna” (see Rosh Hashana 16b-17a: https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.16b?lang=bi). It’s true
that both “Beit Shammai” (“House of Shammai”) and “Beit Hillel” (“House of
Hillel”) existed before and during Christ’s public ministry. However, it must
be kept in mind that these two schools continued in existence after the time of Christ’s public
ministry as well (with “Beit Shammai” continuing until the close of the first
century and “Beit Hillel” continuing after that). So it could very well be the
case that these Pharisaical schools began using the term Gehenna in a
figurative sense after Christ’s
public ministry had already ended. Moreover, the codification of the Talmud took place in the 5th century,
and the quotes as they appear in this work could have undergone some editing
over time, with glosses being added to reflect the vocabulary of the time at
which the Talmud was codified. In any case, it doesn’t follow that this
figurative usage of “Gehenna” was common or well-known before or during the
time of Christ’s earthly ministry.
Very good series on Gehenna, Aaron. Your assertion concerning the Pharisees view of Gehenna, "it ultimately doesn’t matter where they got their information from" is so true. If the basis of any teaching is outside of the Scriptures, it's not important to me, definitely not important enough to alter the clear teaching of the Scriptures.
ReplyDeleteI recently commented on an annihilationist's YouTube video where the presenter proclaimed the virtue of "sola scriptura," right after he had used words and ideas from the Targum as the main support for his teaching on the second death.
Aaron, you're doing valuable work, keep going.