Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ssc-vax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!david From: david@ssc-vax.UUCP (David Norris) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Hell: Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna Message-ID: <21@ssc-vax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 30-Mar-84 18:47:26 EST Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.21 Posted: Fri Mar 30 18:47:26 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 31-Mar-84 09:37:48 EST Organization: Boeing Aerospace, Seattle Lines: 58 DEC strikes again! We recently had a 4Mb board installed, and the installer put the Unibus cable on backwards. As a result, the disk files were scrambled beyond recognition and we are operating on files a couple of weeks old. This is a two-fold apology; one to submitters in general, as I can't respond to any of your latest articles, and one to the fellow to whom I am now responding. He disagreed with me on the subject of "Hell" in the Old Testament, in which I responded to Jon White, who believed that it didn't appear there. I don't have your name, and I lost the original article, but I have some notes from some research into the subject. I don't think we disagree at all! It is a fact that the word "Hell" appears in the Old Testament, in fact it appears 65 times. It is translated from the Hebrew word "Sheol." The confusion lies in the meaning of the word Sheol; and, if I understand you correctly, that it does not mean Hell in the modern meaning of that word. And you are correct. As usual, knowledge will help to clarify the confusion: We must first dispense with the picture of Hell as given to us in the Middle Ages and stick to the source document: The Bible. First, the Old Testament. "Sheol" is translated 31 times as "grave", 31 times as "hell", and 3 times as "pit." It's usual meaning is "place of the dead." As such, we might expect that good people and wicked people would be there, and we do find this in various verses; the "good" Sheol is referred to as Abraham's bosom in such verses as Psa. 16:10, 30:3, and the wicked portion is mentioned in Numbers 16:33 and Job 24:19 (more references on request). Now to the New Testament. Jesus often refers to "Hell" as "Gehenna," or the valley of Hinnom. It was there that the rites of Moloch (infanticide) were conducted by pagan Jews, and where dead bodies were thrown and burnt. Jesus often used this as imagery of the "second death." "Gehenna" is used 12 times by Jesus in such verses as Matt. 5:22,29,30. "Hades", or Sheol, is also used by Christ in Matt. 11:23, 16:18. (again, full data on request) Christ's resurrection seems to have changed the status of Sheol. We are told in Ephesians that after Christ preached to the souls in Hell, he "led a multitude of captives" when He left. This sheds new light to the crucified thief, who was told by Jesus that he would, on that day, be with Him in Paradise. About the Essenes, I'm not sure how they fit into your discussion. From what I know of them, they were a Jewish monastic sect which began about 200 B.C. and didn't last very long. They were essentially Pharisees, whom Jesus sharply criticized, adhering strictly to the letter of the law, forbidding the anointing of oil (Jesus approved of this, it seems), etc. In summary, then, it appears that Jesus referenced the Sheol (Hades) of the Old Testament, describing it as the "first death." He goes on to explain the "second death" at the Day of Judgement, and uses the imagery provided by the burning bodies at the valley of Hinnom to illustrate (Christ often used such imagery in His teachings). That the Biblical Hell is an unfriendly doctrine, I don't propose to dispute. If this is what Jon meant by saying that the word "Hell" doesn't appear in the Old Testament, I apologize. -- David Norris :-) -- uw-beaver!ssc-vax!david