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HELL

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 12, 1860

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 16, No. 4.

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HELL.

The word hell in the New Testament is translated from three words, all of them having a different meaning. These words are hades, gehenna, and tartarus. "Hades" means the grave, or state of the dead, "gehenna," the place of future punishment, or lake of fire, and "tartarus" the abode or condition of the fallen angels. As these three words which have different meanings, are all translated by the word hell, which now has only one meaning, and so gives the Bible reader a wrong idea, we will give the remarks of some good critics, and every instance in which they occur. And,
1. "Hades" never means the place of punishment. Its primary meaning is, "an unseen place, the grave, pit, region of the dead," &c. See Grove's Gr. & Eng. Dic. Dr. Clarke says of hades, "The word hell, used in the common translation, conveys now an improper meaning of the original word; because hell is only used to signify the place of the damned. But the word hell comes from the Anglo Saxon, helon, TO COVER." And Dr. Campbell also says, hell "at first denoted only what was secret or concealed."
We will now give each instance in which hades occurs, its translation being in italics. Let the reader bear in mind that in each case it means the grave, pit, or state of the dead.
Matt. xi, 23. shall be brought down to hell; xvi, 18. the gates of hell shall not prevail Luke x, 15. shall be thrust down to hell. xvi, 23. in hell he lifted up his eyes, Acts ii, 27. wilt not leave my soul in hell, 31. his soul was not left in hell, 1 Cor. xv, 55. O Grave, where is thy victory? Rev. i, 18. have the keys of hell and of death. vi, 9. was Death and Hell followed xx, 13. death and hell delivered up the dead 14. death and hell were cast into
This is a complete list of the use of hades, and the reader may decide whether it means a place of "torment," or as the word signifies, the pit, the sepulchre, and state of the dead in general.
The word generally rendered hell in the Old Testament is sheol. It occurs 63 times, and is translated hell 31 times, grave 30, and pit 3 times. Hades is its inspired translation in the New Testament. We will now give every reference to sheol, that the industrious Bible student may, if he chooses, examine the subject to its fullest extent.
Prof. Stuart of Andover, Mass., gives the following criticism on this word; "The meaning of sheol which lies upon the face of the sacred record (if I may thus speak), is indeed that of grave, sepulchre, under world, or state of the dead."—Exegetical Essays, p. 112.
2. "Gehenna." Greenfield in "The Polymicrian Greek Lexicon to the New Testament," defines this as follows: "Properly the valley of Hinnom [2 Kings xxiii, 10] south of Jerusalem, once celebrated for the horrid worship of Moloch, and afterwards polluted with every species of filth, as well as the carcasses of animals, and dead bodies of malefactors; to consume which, in order to avert the pestilence which such a mass of corruption would occasion, constant fires were kept burning." The Saviour has used this word to denote future punishment. It is found only in the following texts, and is usually addressed to the Jews.
Matt. v, 22. shall be in danger of hell fire.
  1. whole body should be cast into hell
  2. " " " " " " "
x, 28. to destroy both soul and body in hell. xviii, 9. two eyes to be cast into hell fire. xxv, 15. more the child of hell than yourselves. 33. can ye escape the damnation of hell? Mark ix, 43. having two hands to go into hell.
  1. having two feet to be cast into hell.
  2. having two eyes to be cast into hell;
Luke xii, 5. hath power to cast into hell; Jas. iii, 6. it is set on fire of hell.
We will now quote a critique on this word and give its use in the Old Testament. Mr. Ellis (a Hebrew and Greek scholar) says, "Gehenna is not a Greek word, it does not occur in any classical author; it is merely the Grecian mode of spelling the Hebrew words which are translated, 'The Valley of Hinnom.'" It is found in the following places: Josh. xv, 8; xviii, 16; 2 Kings xxiii, 10; 2 Chron. xxviii, 3; xxxiii, 6; Jer. vii, 31, 32; xix, 2, 6; xxxii, 35. From history and prophecy we perceive that Gehenna is not a place where the wicked are now being punished, nor will it ever be a place where they will be kept alive in perpetual torments. God surnamed the place [Jer. vii, 32] The Valley of Slaughter, and to affirm that the wicked will be kept alive there forever is to charge God with naming it inappropriately!
The valley of Hinnom was a delightful vale planted with trees, watered by fountains, on the south-east of Jerusalem, by the torrent Kedron. Here the idolatrous kings of Judah placed the brazen image of Moloch which had the face of a calf, but the rest resembled a man with extended arms. The idolatrous Jews were accustomed to sacrifice, not only doves, rams, calves and bulls, but often their own children. This valley was likewise called Tophet, a detestation, an abomination; from Toph, to vomit with loathing. Others derive it from Toph, a drum; because the perpetrators of these horrible sacrifices beat drums that the shrieks of the infants who were burned should not be heard. The pious king Josiah caused it to be polluted, and made it a place of desecration, of loathing and horror. There were cast all kinds of filth, together with the carcasses of beasts, and the unburied bodies of criminals who had been executed. Continual fires were necessary, in order to consume these, lest the putrefaction should infect the air; and there worms were always feeding on the remaining relics. Here may be seen the origin of the expression, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
3. "Tartarus." This word occurs only in 2 Pet. ii, 4. "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." Grove's Gr. & Eng. Dic. defines tartarus to be "the infernal regions, hell of the poets, a dark place, prison, dungeon, jail;" but Dr. Scott says its meaning "must not be sought from the fables of heathen poets, but from the general tenor of the Scriptures." Dr. Bloomfield says it is "an intensive reduplication of the very old word tar, which in the earliest dialects seemed to have signified DARK." It may mean a condition rather than a locality. The parallel text in Jude says, "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains, under DARKNESS unto the judgment of the great day."