AMONG the passages which trouble many sincere souls is Mark 9:43-48. There are two reasons for this; namely, not the best translation and a misunderstanding of the terms used. Verses 44 and 46 are identical with verse 48, and are omitted by the best ancient authorities. We quote verses 43 and 48, as in the revised versions:—
“And if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off: 7it is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. . . . Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
Let us study three of the terms used, and ascertain their literal meaning as well as their use in other scriptures. By this we may determine their meaning here.
1. The term “hell.”—The word rendered “hell” in the New Testament, with one exception, comes from either “Hades,” meaning the state, condition, or abode of the dead, both righteous and wicked, or “Gehenna” “the valley of the son of Hinnom.” The latter term is used to represent the place of future punishment. The word “hell” in our text comes from “Gehenna.”
The origin of this term is the name of a valley just south of Jerusalem called also “Tophet,” by Jeremiah. 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31-34. Here Sennacherib’s army of 185,000 men were slain. Here also children were offered in fire to the horrible god Moloch. Because of this it was used by the city of Jerusalem as a place in which were cast the filth and offal of the city and the carcases of animals and malefactors. Upon this mass of corruption worms constantly preyed, and the remainder was consumed by constant fires which were kept burning for the purpose. The Valley of Hinnom (in Hebrew) or Gehenna (in Greek), thus became the symbol of destruction and annihilation of all that was corrupt and vile, but never a place of eternal torment where the things cast into it were eternally preserved to be eternally burning. The place was set apart for the purpose of the destruction of what was cast into it; and that which was cast into it was not cast in to be preserved, but to be destroyed.
2. The term “unquenchable fire” (not “where the fire is not quenched” as in the common version), comes from the Greek words, pur asbestos, “fire unquenchable,” that is, fire which effectually burns what it preys upon, which ordinary means do not quench. Eusebius says that after Cronion and Julian (two martyrs) were tortured in various ways, they were consumed in “an unquenchable fire” (puri asbestos). “The pur asbestos,” says Wetstein, denotes such a fire as can not be extinguished before it has consumed and destroyed all.
Two Biblical illustrations of its use will suffice. In Jer. 17:27, the Lord tells Judah that if they will not “hallow the Sabbath day” in the city of Jerusalem, “then I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” The fulfilment of this is recorded in 2 Chron. 36:19-21. The Chaldeans “burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, . . . to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah.” Jeremiah predicted the fire which should not be quenched; the Chaldeans kindled the fire, and the fire burned the temple and palaces and went out. But it did its work. And therefore we read of the wicked, likened to the chaff: “He will gather the wheat into the garner, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” Matt. 3:12.
3. The “worm” that “dieth not” is already made plain to the candid reader. In the Valley of Hinnom it consumed the carcases and filth on which it preyed. In the future place of punishment it will consume the “carcases” (“dead bodies,” A. R. V.) of the men who have transgressed against God, and will not die till it has done its work. To the wicked the fire will be everlasting and unquenchable and the worm undying; his last moments of consciousness will witness and feel them both operative. “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation to all generations.” Isa. 51:8.
Truly, “the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of Jehovah shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; in smoke shall they consume away.” Ps. 37:20.
Friends, readers, fellow-sinners, will you choose to be the chaff, the refuse, or the wheat? Is it sin and death, or righteousness and life?
“Tormented Forever and Ever” will be our next study.