From: Ben Crick (ben.crick@argonet.co.uk)
Date: Tue Dec 30 1997 - 21:15:59 EST
On Mon 29 Dec 97 (21:54:20 +0100), furuli@online.no wrote:
> The OT information about GE HINNOM and the words of Jesus about GEENNA
> accord with, or even suggest a rubbish heap, but the evidence is in no
> way conclusive. I also remember an article I read some years ago
> (perhaps in "Biblical Archaeologist") about someone digging in GE
> HINNOM without finding any traces of trash or ashes. Adding the
> different rabbinic and pseudepigraphic traditions about GEENNA to the
> uncertainty whether the valley really was a trash heap, we have reasons
> to transcribe the word and let the readers decide, rather than use even
> the relatively neutral rendition that you suggested.
Dear Rolf, and Dear David:
Was it at Topheth that "someone" tried an archaeological "dig"?
I was thinking of Mark 9:44, 46, 48 which quote from Isaiah 66:24 (verses
44 and 46 are not in the best manuscripts).
The Valley of Hinnom was where the worshippers of Molech offered their
firstborn children to Molech by "passing them through the fire". They
called this place Topheth. King Ahaz began the practice (2 Chronicles 28:3)
and it was continued by Manasseh, son of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 33:6).
ToPheTh (root T-P-T) is the word for a *fireplace*. Jeremiah, the compiler
of 1&2 Kings, pointed TPT with the vowels of BoSheTh, (shame, ignominy), to
make the word ToPheTh. "Molech" likewise can be construed as the consonants
of MeLeKh (king) with the vowels of BoSheTh.
When Hilkiah the priest rediscovered the Book of the Law hidden in the
Temple, king Josiah began his crusade to cleanse Judah of idolatry:
"And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom,
that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire
to Molech" (2 Kings 23:10).
Jeremiah refers to this in Jeremiah 7:31-34. Josiah caused Topheth to
become the municipal trash heap of Jerusalem, where all the city waste
was burnt. It bred maggots and was a health hazard, so the fires were
kept burning day and night to eliminate disease. But the wet waste went
on breeding maggots until the fire reached it; hence the observation,
"the worm [maggots] dieth not, and the fire is not quenched". What a
perfect metaphor for the Hell of Fire. See also Jeremiah 19:6, 32:35.
This is the concept which is brought over into the New Testament vocabulary.
The "Valley of Hinnom" /GeY-HiNNoM/ is GEENNA by transcription into Greek.
"Hell" is understood as Gehenna, not She'ol/Hades which is a sort of remand
prison for disembodied souls awaiting the "2nd Resurrection" to judgment and
condemnation (Revelation 20:5-6; 12).
Christ's parable (if it is a parable) of Dives and Lazarus has the rich
man in "hell" (hAIDHS) saying he is "tormented in this flame". Commentators
suggest that this is not the fires of Gehenna or Tartaros (2 Peter 2:4),
but the metaphorical fire of remorse and bitter regret (Luke 16:23-24).
The "Lake of Fire" of Revelation 20 is terribly final. The Second Death
is "eternal death": there is no return or resurrection therefrom. Opinions
differ as to whether it is the "torment" which is eternal, or the "death"
which is eternal. Clearly "death" ends all "torment", I would have thought.
TO PUR TO AIWNION (TARTAROS?) was indeed intended for the devil and his
angels (Matthew 25:41). So Satan, the Beast and the false Prophet are the
first to go in. Then follow all whose names are not written in the Book of
Life. Finally "death and hell" are cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation
20:10-15). There is no more death, and no more hell HADHS. The "Last Enemy"
is no more.
That's a big connotation-load for GEENNA in any language. Leave it
transliterated, not translated, as a new "technical term" in the target
language.
Happy New Year!
-- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF <ben.crick@argonet.co.uk> 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick/htm
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