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GEHENNA

(Gk. géenna; Lat. Gehenna)

The “valley of Hinnom” (from Heb. gê hinnōm), a ravine (Wadi er-Rabâbi) S and SW of Jerusalem, meeting with the Kidron Valley at En-rogel. Early traditions locating the valley in the Wadi Kidron are not satisfactory. The English NT usually translates the Greek term as “hell.” The OT often combines “hinnom” with “sons (or ‘son’) of” (NRSV “Ben-hinnom”), suggesting a possible origin in a family name.

The valley became a place of idol worship and child sacrifice during the period of the Monarchy (2 Kgs. 23:10; Jer. 32:35). The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed that the valley would become known as the “valley of Slaughter” where Yahweh would judge and punish his people (Jer. 7:30-32; 19:2, 6). Joel also envisions God’s judgment as occurring in a valley just outside the city of Jerusalem (Joel 3:2, 12, 14[4:2, 12, 14]; Isa. 30:29-33; 66:24). By the time of the Maccabees, the valley was the appropriate location in which to burn the bodies of one’s enemies (cf. 2 Esdr. 7:36). 1 Enoch viewed “the accursed valley” of God’s judgment as outside the city of Jerusalem, the center of the world (e.g., 1 En. 27:1).

By NT times the idea of Gehenna had made a full transformation to an otherworldly place of future punishment for the wicked. The valley itself may have become a place where trash was dumped and burned, thus an “unclean” location. (This interpretation has been questioned.) In theory, one could not go directly from the Hinnom dump to the temple because of the worshipper’s unclean status. This status of uncleanness (“cut-off”) and the past association of the valley with a place of judgment combined to create a metaphor for “hell.”

An alternative view is that the altars for pagan worship in the valley of Hinnom involved the funneling of the victim’s blood directly into the earth to satisfy the gods. This may have evolved into a tradition that this was an entrance into the underworld (the opposite of Jacob’s discovery of the staircase entrance to heaven).

By the time of the NT writers, the idea of a “hell” (gehenna) had developed into a physical place where God’s enemies would suffer punishment and destruction in both body and soul (e.g., Matt. 10:28; 23:33). Slaughter, burning, and shedding of blood all became symbols for this punishment (Matt. 5:22; Mark 9:43-47).

See Hinnom.

Stephen Von Wyrick

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GEHENNA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)