HADES -- GREEK

The abode of the dead in Greek mythology, Hades was originally the god of the underworld (also named Pluto). Hades was a brother of Zeus. He was the abductor of Persephone and thus the cause of winter. His realm, which was called by his name (and also called Tartarus), was the dark land where the dead existed. Odysseus entered that realm and fed the ghosts with blood to get directions back home (Homer’s Odyssey 4.834). Originally the Greeks thought of hades as simply the grave -- a shadowy, ghostlike existence that happened to all who died, good and evil alike. Gradually they and the Romans came to see it as a place of reward and punishment, an elaborately organized and guarded realm where the good were rewarded in the Elysian Fields and the evil were punished (so described by the Roman poet Virgil, 70-19 BC). “Hades” became important to the Jews as the typical term used by the translators of the Septuagint to render the Hebrew name “Sheol” into Greek. This was a very suitable translation for the Hebrew term, for both words can signify the physical grave or death (Genesis 37:35; Proverbs 5:5; 7:27), and both originally referred to a dark underworld (Job 10:21-22) where existence was at best shadowy (38:17; Isaiah 14:9). Sheol is described as under the ocean (Job 26:5-6; Jonah 2:2-3) and as having bars and gates (Job 17:16). All people go there whether they are good or evil (Psalm 89:48). In the earlier literature there is no hope of release from Sheol/Hades. C. S. Lewis describes this concept well in The Silver Chair: “Many sink down, and few return to the sunlit lands.” Of course, all these descriptions are in poetic literature; how literally the Hebrews (or the Greeks, for that matter) took their descriptions of Hades/Sheol is hard to say. They may have simply used the older picture-language of Greek poetry to describe that for which prose words were inadequate. Jew and Greek alike came in contact with Persia-the Jews at the time the postexilic writers were composing their books (for example, Malachi, Daniel, and some psalms), and the Greeks somewhat later (they fought the Persians 520-479 BC and conquered them 334-330 BC). Whether because of Persian influence on these groups or not, during this period, the idea of reward and punishment after death developed, and Sheol/hades changed from a shadow land to a differentiated place of reward and punishment for both Greeks (and Romans) and Jews. Josephus records that the Pharisees believed in reward and punishment at death (Antiquities 18.1.3), and a similar idea appears in 1 Enoch 22. In these and many other cases in Jewish literature, Hades stand for the one place of the dead, which has two or more compartments. In other Jewish literature, Hades is the place of torment for the wicked, while the righteous enter paradise. Thus, by the beginning of the New Testament period, Hades have three meanings:

(1) death,
(2) the place of all the dead, and
(3) the place of the wicked dead only. Context determines which meaning an author intends in a given passage.

All these meanings appear in the New Testament. In Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15, Yeshua speaks of Capernaum’s descending to Hades. Most likely he simply means that the city will “die” or be destroyed. “Hades” means “death” in this context, as “heaven” means “exaltation.” Revelation 6:8 also exemplifies this: Death comes on a horse, and Hades (a symbol of death) comes close behind. This personification of Hades probably comes from the Old Testament, where Hades/Sheol is viewed as a monster that devours people (Proverbs 1:12; 27:20; 30:16; Isaiah 5:14; 28:15, 18; Habakkuk 2:5). Matthew 16:18 is a more difficult use of Hades. The church will be built upon a rock and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Here the place of the dead (complete with gates and bars) is a symbol for death: Believers may in fact be killed, but death (the gates of Hades) will no more hold them than it held the Moshiach. He who burst out of Hades will bring his people out as well. This is also the meaning of Acts 2:27 -- quoting Psalm 16:10 -- the Moshiach did not stay dead; His life did not remain in Hades; unlike David, he rose from the dead. It is uncertain in either of these cases whether Hades is simply a symbol for death or whether it means that the Moshiach and the believer actually went to a place of the dead called Hades; probably the former is intended. Whatever the case, since the Moshiach did rise, He has conquered death and hades. He appears in Revelation 1:18 as the one holding the keys (the control) to both. Two New Testament passages refer to Hades as the place where the dead exist: Revelation 20:13-14 and Luke 16:23. In Revelation 20 Hades is emptied of all who are in it (either all dead or the wicked dead, depending on one’s eschatology)-the resurrection is complete. When the wicked are judged and cast into the lake of fire (Gehenna), Hades is also thrown in. Luke 16:23, however, clearly refers to Hades as the place of the wicked dead. There the rich man is tormented in a flame, while the poor man, Lazarus, goes to paradise (Abraham’s bosom). Hades, then, means three things in the New Testament, as it did in Jewish literature:

(1) Death and its power are the most frequent meaning, especially in metaphorical uses.
(2) It also means the place of the dead in general, when a writer wants to lump all the dead together.
(3) It means, finally, the place where the wicked dead are tormented before the final judgment.

This is its narrowest meaning, occurring only once in the New Testament (Luke 16:23). The Bible does not dwell on this torment -- Dante’s picture in The Inferno draws on later speculation and Greco-Roman conceptions of Hades more than on the Bible.

SHEOL – JEWISH

The Hebrew term for the place of the dead. In ordinary usage it means “ravine,” “chasm,” “underworld,” or “world of the dead.” In the Old Testament it is the place where the dead have their abode, a hollow space underneath the earth where the dead are gathered in. Synonyms for Sheol are “pit,” “death,” and “destruction” (Abaddon). Sheol is a place of shadows and utter silence. Here all existence is in suspense, yet it is not a nonplace, but rather a place where life is no more. It is described as the Land of Forgetfulness. Those who dwell there cannot praise YHVH (Psalm 88:10-12). In Revelation it is called the “bottomless pit” presided over by Abaddon, the prince of the pit (Revelation 9:11). It is not however, a place where YHVH is entirely absent; there can be no escape from YHVH even in Sheol (Psalm 139:8). This omnipresence of YHVH is graphically described in Job: “Sheol is naked before YHVH, and Abaddon has no covering” (Job 26:6). A similar thought is expressed in Proverbs: “Sheol and Abaddon lie open before Adonai, how much more the hearts of men!” (15:11). In both texts Sheol and Abaddon are used interchangeably. Abaddon means literally “destruction,” but in Revelation it is used as a personal name. In the Bible, death is not a natural occurrence. It violates the principle of life, which is a gift from YHVH. Sheol is therefore not only a place of rest but also of punishment. Korah and his associates who instigated rebellion against Moses were swallowed up by the open pit and perished in Sheol (Numbers 16:30-33). Fear of death is natural to man; Sheol therefore serves as a symbol of the journey without return (Psalm 39:12-13). King Hezekiah of Judah laments on his sickbed: “In the noontide of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years” -- Isaiah 38:10. Sheol, as conceived in the Old Testament, differs from the later doctrine of hell or hades in that it is the place where all the dead are gathered indiscriminately, both the good and the bad, the saints and the sinners. To die means to be joined to those who have gone before. When a Jew dies, he is “gathered unto his people” (compare Genesis 25:8, 17; 35:29; 49:29). Beyond Sheol there seemed to be no hope -- see Ecclesiastes 9:10. The utter despondency of death is expressed pathetically in the book of Job: “I go whence I shall not return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is as darkness” (Job 10:21-22). Yet this is not Job’s last word. He also knows of the power of YHVH, which reaches beyond the grave: “For I know that my Redeemer lives...; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see YHVH” (19:25-26). The idea that the dead abide in the underworld persists in the Old Testament. The incident in the case of Saul with the medium of Endor (1 Samuel 28:11) is a good illustration. Samuel is brought “up out of the earth” to be consulted by the king at a time of crisis. Such necromancy was strictly prohibited both by the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:9-11) and by the king himself (see 1 Samuel 28:3, 9). Apparently, those in the underworld, though separated from the living, were thought to be familiar with the affairs of men. Sheol is roughly equivalent to the Greek word often found in the New Testament, Hades, as that which also describes the place of the dead.

GEHENNA

Gehenna is a word derived from the Hebrew phrase “the Valley of [the son(s) of Hinnom.” The name properly designates a deep valley marking the boundaries of the territories of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Joshua 15:8; 18:16). It is commonly identified with Wadi el-Rababi that runs from beneath the western wall of the Old City, forming a deep ravine south of Jerusalem. The place became notorious because of the idol worship practices that were carried out there in the days of Judah’s kings Ahaz and Manasseh, especially involving the heinous crime of infant sacrifices associated with the Molech (Milcom) ceremonies (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6). The spiritual reformation of King Josiah brought an end to these sinister proceedings -- 23:10. The prophet Jeremiah referred to the valley in picturing YHVH’s judgment upon his people (Jeremiah 2:23; 7:30-32). Because of all that, the valley appears to have been used for the burning of the city’s refuse and the dead bodies of criminals. Interestingly, a well-established tradition locates the scene of Judas’s suicide and the consequent purchase of the Potter’s Field on the south side of this valley. The ravine’s reputation for extreme wickedness gave rise, especially during the time period between the Old and New Testament, to use of its name as a term for the place of final punishment for the wicked (Isaiah 66:24). Yeshua Himself utilizes the term to designate the final abode of the unrepentant wicked (Matthew 10:28). Since Gehenna is considered a fiery abyss (Mark 9:43), it is also the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15) to which all the godless will ultimately be consigned (Matthew 23:15, 33), together with satan and his demons -- Revelation 19:20. Gehenna must be carefully differentiated from other terms relative to the afterlife or final state. Whereas the Old Testament “Sheol” and New Testament “Hades” uniformly designate the temporary abode of the dead (before the last Day of Judgment), “Gehenna” specifies the final place where the wicked will suffer everlasting punishment.