Sheol vs Gehenna - Biblical basis for the shift?

Question

I am curious as to when the abandonment of the concept of Sheol took place, and what Biblical basis there was for Gehenna to be adopted in it's place.

Sheol was a place where everyone was supposed to go when they died, whether good or bad, and they'd remain there until Judgement day.

Gehenna was a fiery place of punishment for the wicked. It is what is equated with Hell.

To me, the concept of Gehenna seems to have been inspired by the Valley of Hinnom, a valley close to ancient Jerusalem. It was a place where the bodies of criminals and those who didn't receive a proper burial were left. This is also where the garbage was dumped, which was constantly being burned. Previously it had been a place of human sacrifice by the Canaanites.

This to me sounds like the concept of Hell - a fiery place where the wicked and go once they die. Was there a Biblical reason for the change in belief (divine revelation?), or did the people just adopt an idea they could relate to?

If my definition of Sheol and Gehenna are incorrect, what is their correct definitions? Both words are used in the Bible but in several cases seem to mean two different things, even though they're both commonly translated to english as "Hell". Really, that's the part which confuses me.

If Gehenna came about around the time of Jesus's crucifixion, why did he use it when speaking before being sacrificed? The people seemed to understand this was where the wicked went, but if Sheol was the destination for the dead up to that point this would have been a radical change in their understanding of the afterlife. Plus it wouldn't have been in effect until after he was crucified.

Answer 1

Actually, gehenna is a symbolic reference to total destruction, not a place of fiery torment.
Gehenna in Jesus day, was the dump outside of Jerusalem where the people took their trash and burned it. By adding sulphur to the fires, they ensured the total destrustion of the trash. Jesus spoke uiseing illustrations, and his gehenna illustration was to teach us that those who were to be destroyed, would be destroyed like the trash at gehenna. That is, totally destroyed. The very idea that God would burn his creation in eternal fire, is a grafting of of religious concepts borrowed from the ancient Babylonians, by way of the Greek mythology that was everywhere in Palestine at the time of Jesus. (That is why the New Testament is written in Greek).
God himself had condemned the ancient Jews for doing as the pagans did by burning their children on the fire to the false god molech, and baal.
A true God of love would never burn his creation for eternity based upon a short period of sinning lasting no more than 100years.
Gehenna, as previously stated symbolized total destruction. A god of love and justice, would only make us die, meaning no longer exist.
The book of Romans tells us, the wages of sin is death. So, the Bible is clear when it comes to our punishment. Once we have died, our debt for sinning has been paid in full, and there is no basis for eternal torment thereafter.

(She´ol).

The common grave of mankind, gravedom; not an individual burial place or grave (Heb., qe´ver, Jg 16:31; qevu·rah´, Ge 35:20), nor an individual tomb (Heb., ga·dhish´, Job 21:32).

While several derivations for the Hebrew word she´ohl´ have been offered, apparently it is derived from the Hebrew verb sha·´al´, meaning “ask; request.” Regarding Sheol, in A Compendious Hebrew Lexicon, Samuel Pike stated that it is “the common receptacle or region of the dead; so called from the insatiability of the grave, which is as it were always asking or craving more.” (Cambridge, 1811, p. 148) This would indicate that Sheol is the place (not a condition) that asks for or demands all without distinction, as it receives the dead of mankind within it.—Ge 37:35, ftn; Pr 30:15, 16.

The Hebrew word she´ohl´ occurs 65 times in the Masoretic text. In the King James Version, it is translated 31 times as “hell,” 31 times as “grave,” and 3 times as “pit.” The Catholic Douay Version rendered the word 63 times as “hell,” once as “pit,” and once as “death.” In addition, at Isaiah 7:11 the Hebrew text originally read she´ohl´, and it was rendered as “Hades” in the ancient Greek versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, and as “hell” in the Douay Version.—See NW ftn.

There is no English word that conveys the precise sense of the Hebrew word she´ohl´. Commenting on the use of the word “hell” in Bible translation, Collier’s Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28) says: “Since Sheol in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word ‘hell,’ as understood today, is not a happy translation.” More recent versions transliterate the word into English as “Sheol.”—RS, AT, NW.

GEHENNA

(Ge·hen´na) [Gr. form of the Heb. Geh Hin·nom´, “Valley of Hinnom”].

This name appears 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and whereas many translators take the liberty to render it by the word “hell,” a number of modern translations transliterate the word from the Greek ge´en·na.—Mt 5:22, Ro, Mo, ED, NW, BC (Spanish), NC (Spanish), also the footnotes of Da and RS.

The deep, narrow Valley of Hinnom, later known by this Greek name, lay to the S and SW of ancient Jerusalem and is the modern-day Wadi er-Rababi (Ge Ben Hinnom). (Jos 15:8; 18:16; Jer 19:2, 6; see HINNOM, VALLEY OF.) Judean Kings Ahaz and Manasseh engaged in idolatrous worship there, which included the making of human sacrifices by fire to Baal. (2Ch 28:1, 3; 33:1, 6; Jer 7:31, 32; 32:35) Later, to prevent such activities there in the future, faithful King Josiah had the place of idolatrous worship polluted, particularly the section called Topheth.—2Ki 23:10.

No Symbol of Everlasting Torment. Jesus Christ associated fire with Gehenna (Mt 5:22; 18:9; Mr 9:47, 48), as did the disciple James, the only Biblical writer besides Matthew, Mark, and Luke to use the word. (Jas 3:6) Some commentators endeavor to link such fiery characteristic of Gehenna with the burning of human sacrifices that was carried on prior to Josiah’s reign and, on this basis, hold that Gehenna was used by Jesus as a symbol of everlasting torment. However, since Jehovah God expressed repugnance for such practice, saying that it was “a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart” (Jer 7:31; 32:35), it seems most unlikely that God’s Son, in discussing divine judgment, would make such idolatrous practice the basis for the symbolic meaning of Gehenna. It may be noted that God prophetically decreed that the Valley of Hinnom would serve as a place for mass disposal of dead bodies rather than for the torture of live victims. (Jer 7:32, 33; 19:2, 6, 7, 10, 11) Thus, at Jeremiah 31:40 the reference to “the low plain of the carcasses and of the fatty ashes” is generally accepted as designating the Valley of Hinnom, and a gate known as “the Gate of the Ash-heaps” evidently opened out onto the eastern extremity of the valley at its juncture with the ravine of the Kidron. (Ne 3:13, 14) It seems obvious that such “carcasses” and “fatty ashes” are not related to the human sacrifices made there under Ahaz and Manasseh, since any bodies so offered would doubtless be viewed by the idolaters as “sacred” and would not be left lying in the valley.

Therefore, the Biblical evidence concerning Gehenna generally parallels the traditional view presented by rabbinic and other sources. That view is that the Valley of Hinnom was used as a place for the disposal of waste matter from the city of Jerusalem. (At Mt 5:30 Ph renders ge´en·na as “rubbish heap.”) Concerning “Gehinnom,” the Jewish commentator David Kimhi (1160-1235?), in his comment on Psalm 27:13, gives the following historical information: “And it is a place in the land adjoining Jerusalem, and it is a loathsome place, and they throw there unclean things and carcasses. Also there was a continual fire there to burn the unclean things and the bones of the carcasses. Hence, the judgment of the wicked ones is called parabolically Gehinnom.”

Answer 2

The root of the Hebrew word "Sheol" is question, hence, when one dies, you go down into the "unknown."

Your description of Gehenna is right on target. However, there is no mention of an afterlife in the Hebrew Bible and up until the time of the Romans, Jews believed that punishments and rewards were meant to come in their lifetime.

During the Roman occupation, it was obvious that either the Torah was wrong about those punishments/rewards, or perhaps they were to come later.... That's when the concept of an afterlife occurred (borrowed from Helenism). The Jews were doing everything right, yet they were being punished. The Romans were vicious tyrants and they were being rewarded. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. Hence, some moved on to other gods, some became Christian, and some came to believe in an afterlife.

In the 12th Century, Maimonides suggested that it was wrong to do good deeds for the sake of a reward. Helping others was the reward in and of itself.

All of this sort of goes hand-in-hand with "why do bad things happen to good people?" and vice versa.

Obviously this is my extremely simplified version!
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Answer 3

I think the philosophical shift from Sheol as a neutral place (like the Greek Hades) to Gehenna as a metaphor for a place of punishment (Hell) is related to the Babylonian exile and the expansion of Persia under Cyrus the Great. The religion of Persia at the time was Zoroastrianism, which had a profound effect on Judaism (and therefore Christianity). Zoroastrianism is a strongly dualistic religion with emphasis on good vs. evil. These ideas were absorbed by the Jews, resulting in our modern concepts of heaven/hell, God vs. Satan, etc. I suspect the effect is more pronounced in Christianity, which was "born" in this environment, as opposed to Judaism, which already had strong scriptural, historical, and philosophical foundations on its first exposure to Zoroastrianism. (No value judgment implied.)

According to Wiki, it sounds as though Sheol is used far more often in the Tanakh (Hebrew scripture) than Gehenna. But how many of those references to Gehenna are really metaphoric, as opposed to describing actual events in the Valley of Hinnom itself? From the answers given by Christian posters above, the New Testament seems to use Gehenna metaphorically ("Hell," as opposed to the Valley of Hinnom), so the transition presumably had taken hold by the Roman period.

Answer 4

Gehenna was the valley outside of Jerusalem where the Romans buried their garbage as well as burn the dead bodies of the criminals that they crucified. It was their intention to remove Jesus' body from the cross after He had died and put His body, as long with the other 2 criminals that were crucified next to Him that day, in Gehenna and burn them. John and Joseph M. (can't remember his last name) pleaded with Pontius Pilate to ldet them have Jesus' body for a proper burial. Pontius allowed them to take His body. It was Joseph M. that gave up his burial tomb to Mary to let her put His body in it for a proper burial, instead of His body going to Gehenna.

Sheoul is only spoke about in the Old Testament. The souls of the dead stayed there until Jesus died and went to Sheoul to show Himself to them. The souls that believed He was the real Messiah were taken to Heaven when Jesus' resurrected. The souls that didn't believe went to Gehenna (word for hell-fiery hole). In the New Testament hell is spoken about by Jesus' Himself. He didn't name it hell nor Gehenna. It was the fiery hole, place for the damned, etc.

There was never a Biblical change in beliefs. Sheoul and Gehenna are two different things. After Jesus' resurrection, Sheoul stopped existing. The souls there were either resurrected to Heaven or damned to hell. Gehenna was the valley where the garbage, animals remains and dead bodied were all buried once a week before the Sabbath. The name later become the word for hell. "Hell" is the English (Roman) word for fiery hole or pit.

Answer 5

The Gehenna fire referred to in the bible is for Satan and I BELIEVE two others, one of whom is the the false prophet.I don't remember the other off hand. IF the wicked are thrown into the Gehenna fire, and at this point in time I have no evidence that they will, they will be burned up that they may become ashes under the feet of the righteous. Nowhere in the bible so far in my research is mentioned an ever burning hell for humans. Other "hells" are in reference to the grave.

Answer 6

I like the question!

Jesus used the term Gehenna in almost exactly the way you describe it. The important thing to understand about it in his time was that it was not merely garbage that was dumped there... It was the parts of the sacrificial animals which were unclean and therefore unable to be purified on the altar. Those pieces were fit for nothing but to be thrown onto the fire which consumes but is never satisfied. Stunningly evocative imagery isn't it?

I think, my opinion, that it's not all about punishment, but about purification. To speak of eternal punishment misses a very large part of the point Jesus was making. (Again, just my opinion and many will disagree with me, I'm sure).

Peace to you.

Answer 7

I believe that Sheol may have been a holding place...Abraham's bosom and across the chasm, was Hell. I believe when Jesus rose from death, then the saints rose with Him (Matthew 27:52). So then Hell (Gehenna) expanded and took the space.

Answer 8

Have you read the parable of the Rich Man and Lazrus? There is no reason to assume that the New Testament abandoned Sheol at all. The idea of "fire" had to do with the Last Judgment, when the glory of God would fill the earth and torment the unrepentent. It wasn't until many centuries after Christ that western European Christianity adopted the idea of Heaven and Hell.

Answer 9

You seem to have some of your concepts right. Sheol is the place of the dead . Gehena ( fron the valley of hinnom ) is the place of eternal torment.

Answer 10

The fourteenth-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri is perhaps most responsible for modern misconceptions of hell. His famous poem The Divine Comedy is divided into three sections: Paradise, Purgatory and Inferno. The latter section describes the ancient Roman poet Virgil guiding Dante on a journey through hell. At the entrance to Dante’s hell is the foreboding sign: "Abandon All Hope, You Who Enter Here" (Inferno, A New Verse Translation, Dante Alighieri, ed. Elio Zappulla, Canto III, p. 39). Virgil tells Dante about his tour of hell, "I’ll be your guide, and you will follow me, and I will lead you through a world of pain where dead souls writhe in endless agony and clamor, as they cry, to die again." (Canto I, p. 24).
Dante continues his journey through various compartments of hell and writes, "So in the ditch, far down below the arch on which we stood, there bubbled viscous pitch… I only saw the bubbles rise and burst, the huge mass heave, contract, heave, and contract repeatedly" (Canto XXI, pp. 189–190).
The poet then sees someone consigned to hell, "The sinner plunged into the pitch… They pricked the sinner with a hundred prongs" (Canto XXI, pp. 190–191).
Dante wrote The Divine Comedy as an allegory, to teach certain principles and lessons. The content also reflects the politics and history of Dante’s contemporary Italy. His poem is not a literal reflection of the Bible’s teaching on hell! Sadly, many have come to believe Dante’s descriptions are more or less accurate. They are not!
Yes, in one sense the valley of Hinnom is "hell" as described in the Bible. But in another sense the word "hell" can be misleading, because there are actually three Greek words, and one Hebrew word, which your English-language Bible translates as "hell." Gehenna is just one of the four. Many Bible students become confused by the different references to "hell" and their different meanings. There are four words for "hell" in your Bible, with three different meanings. To properly understand the Bible’s teaching about hell, you must first ask, "Which hell are we talking about?"
The Hebrew word that your King James Version often translates as "hell" is sheol—which simply means "grave" or "pit." It does not denote a place of ever-burning fire. This word occurs 65 times in the Old Testament, and is translated 31 times as "grave," another 31 times as "hell" and three times as "pit." The New International Version of the Bible always translates sheol as "grave"—never as "hell." The word sheol simply means a "pit" or a "grave."
So, if we ask, "Who is burning in sheol (the pit, or the grave)?" the answer is: No one!
In addition to gehenna, two other Greek words are translated as "hell" in your Bible. The Greek word hades, like the Hebrew sheol, simply means "grave" or "pit." It does not mean a place of ever-burning fire. If you have a copy of the New King James Version, or the New International Version, you will see that the translators often leave the word hades untranslated.
The fourth word translated as "hell" in your Bible is based on the Greek word tartarus. This word denotes a condition of restraint, and it applies not to human beings, but rather to fallen angels:.... "God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment" (2 Peter 2:4).
"The verb tartaroo, translated ‘cast down to hell’ in 2 Pet. 2:4, signifies to consign to Tartarus, which is neither Sheol nor hades nor hell, but the place where those angels whose special sin is referred to in that passage are confined ‘to be reserved unto judgment’; the region is described as ‘pits of darkness.’" (An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, W.E. Vine, p. 300).
So, as you have seen, "hell" can describe three very different places or conditions. It can describe a pit or grave (sheol or hades). It can refer to a place of fiery judgment (gehenna). It can indicate the confinement of fallen angels (tartaroo). As you can see, using the one word "hell" to convey all three of these meanings can cause confusion, and does not accurately communicate the truth of the Bible.
There is a future lake of fire that will burn up, consume, and annihilate the wicked forever. That fire will purify the earth for the new heavens and earth promised in Revelation 21.

Answer 11

"Sheol was a place where everyone was supposed to go when they died, whether good or bad, and they'd remain there until Judgement day."
And what do you think happened to them on Judgment Day?