GEHENNA (" Valley of Hinnom "): Originally
the name of the deep valley south of Jerusalem,
later a name given to the place of torment. The
full form of the name (" valley of the son of Hinnom ") appears in
II Kings xxiii. 10.
Hinnom
is otherwise unknown. From Old Testament references and from the accurate description of its
position in
Enoch xxvi. 1-5,
it is identified with the
present Wadi al-Rababah. At the end of the preexilic period Moloch-worship was carried on there,
and Josiah desecrated the place
(II Kings xxiii. 10)
but without permanent effect
(
Jer. vii. 31-32, xix. 2-6, xxxil. 35).
Jeremiah announced that this valley was in future to be called " valley of
slaughter," because the enemies
were to kill there
the fleeing inhabitants of Jerusalem and leave
their bodies unburied
(
Jer. vii. 32, xix. 6).
Isa. Ixvi. 24 states that the In the Old Testament
carcasses of the men that transgressed
and shall in future be before the gates of Je
Apocrypha. rusalem for an amazement to every one
because " their worm shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched."
Dan. xii. 2
even goes beyond
Isa. lxvi. 24,
and is illustra ted by the contemporaneous description in
Enoch xc. 26-27,
according to which after Israel's redemption
an abyss filled with fire is to be opened
south of Jerusalem, into which ungodly
Israelites
are to be thrown after submitting to judgment.
According to
Enoch xxvi. 1- xxvll. 3,
this very valley of Ben-hinnom was conceived as the place
of future judgment and punishment of impious
Israelites. Thus it became customary to call the
place of punishment of the Jewish wicked "valley
of Hinnom." The name was retained after the idea
of the place of punishment in the last day had
severed itself from thatlocalityand its connotation.
expanded to mean a place of punishment for all
men. There is no trace that the name of the Ben
hinnom valley was transferred to the place of
punishment after death, for according to
Enoch xc. 24-25
besides the fiery abyss near Jerusalem there
was a second fiery abyss, appointed for the fallen
angels and the "shepherds of the nations." In
the second prechristian century there comes into
view a
different fate of the pious and impious in
the other world, which begins after death.
Enoch xxii. 10 sqq.
speaks of a twofold place for the
impious in Hades. The Apocalypse of Baruch,
xxxvi. 11, distinguishes between the (lesser) torment
of the impious before the last judgment and the
greater after it.
The place of the former is called
Gehenna (xlix. 10). According to IV
Ezra vii. 80-87,
the ungodly dead are in a restless state of
anxious expectation of coming torment; according
to vii. 36, the iake of torment and the oven of
Gehenna become
manifest only at the end. Ac
cording to Josephus
(Ant. XVIII., i.
3; War, II., viii. 14), the Pharisees made the everlasting punishment
of the ungodly begin with their death.
AS to the locality of the place of punishment, different views
prevailed. It was easiest to seek the place of the
impious in Hades under the earth. This was the
view of the Pharisees (Josephus,
Ant. XVIII., i. 3) and of Josephus (War, III., viii. 5; cf.
Enoch li. 1;
Apocalypse of Baruch xxi. 24; IV
Ezra vii. 32).
According to Enoch xxii. (cf. xxi. 1, 2), this place
lies outside of heaven and earth. The place of
everlasting punishment after the last judgment
was located by
the Pharisees under the earth. In
this case a connection between this place and the
Ben-hinnom valley could easily be made by seeking
in this valley one of the gates to hell. The old notion
of the judgment-place in the Ben-hinnom
valley near Jerusalem was never completely given
up only that the locality was differently fixed.
The thoughts about the final fate of the ungodly
can be understood from Israelitic assumptions,
but there can be no doubt as to foreign influences,
especially Greek.
In the New Testament the Grecized form of the
word is found only in the synoptic Gospels and
Jas. iii. 6.
By "Gehenna of fire" (R. V., margin,
Matt. v. 22, xviii. 9:
Mark ix. 477;
In the New this "valley" is more accurately
Testament. designated. The fire is called "
unquenchable "
(
Matt. iii. 12;
Mark ix. 43;
Luke iii. 17)
and "everlasting"
(
Matt. xviii. 8, xxv. 41).
It is placed in opposition to the
" dominion of God " or " eternal life " and denotes
the state which falls to the final lot of the ungodly,
and this, according to
Matt. x. 28,
affects both soul and body. The fire is here to be taken literally,
whereas"the outer darkness"
(
Matt. vi. 23,
etc.) is figurative. The devil and his angels are appointed
for the like death by fire according to
Matt. xxv. 41,
the demons according to
Matt. viii. 29.
The same idea of the final destiny of the ungodly is also found
in
Heb. x. 27 sqq., xii. 29,
in
Jude 7;
and in
Rev. xix. 20, xx. 10, 14; xxi. 8.
Whereas it is supposed that death is the lot of both good and bad and the
different lot of each can show itself only in events
which do not occur
at death, Paul taught that
death is the wages of sin and therefore a passing
anomaly for the righteous to which he must sub
mit as being in the flesh, but that it is the lasting
lot of the ungodly. The Gospel and Epistles of John
speak indeed of a coming day of judgment (v. 29;
I John iv. 17)
for which the unrighteous "rise,"
but in xv. 6 a punishment of apostates with fire is
mentioned figuratively only, so that it can not be
stated how the literal statement would read.
(G. Dalman.)
Bibliography:
The best single book covering the subject
is R. H. Charles, Critical Hist. of Doctrine of a Future
Life, London, 1899. For detailed
study of the Jewish
non-canonical ideas consult the literature under
Pseudepigrapha;
A. Hilgenfeld, JudiscAe Apocalyptik, Jena,
1857; A. Wünsche, Die Vorstellungen vom Zuatande der
Seele each dem Tode each Apokryphen, Talmud and
Kirchenvtitern, in JPT, vi (1880), 355-383; J. Hamburger,
Real-Encyklopedie, ii. 1252-57, Strelitz, 1883; A. Lowy,
in PSBA, x (1888), 333-342; D. Castelli, in JQR, i
(1889), 314-352; T. K. Cheyne, Origin and Religious
Content of Psalter, pp 381-452, London, 1891; F.
Schwally, Dae Leben nach deco Tode, pp. 142-147, 174-177, Giessen, 1892; R. Kabiseh, Die Eschatologie des
Paulus, Göttingen, 1893; E. Haupt, Die eachatologieden
Aussagen Jesu, Berlin, 1895; F. Weber, Jüdische Theologie, pp. 341-344, Leipsic, 1897; E. Stave;-Ueber den Eintlum des Parsismus auf das Judenthum, Harlem, 1898;
P. Carus, Hist. of the Devil, Chicago, 1900; H. Guthe,
Kurzes BibelwOrterbuch, pp. 271-274, Tübingen, 1903;
DB, ii. 119-120; JE, v. 582-584. Ezra Abbot's Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, originally appended
to W. R. Alger's Hist. of the Doctrine of a Future Life, but
published separately, New York, 1871, is exhaustive for the earlier literature.
