Four Words For Hell

The Bible has four words for hell in it--each of them with unique history and imagery.

Old Testament

Sheol--(at least 12 times)

Place of the dead. Although some are rescued from it, it seems that at least some Old Testament Biblical Writers seem to think that the dead all went to the same place. In the Psalms sometimes this is translated "the pit". The imagery is hunting imagery.

In the stone age people often hunted communally. One way they did this was to create a hole in an inescapable place called the Pit. The animals were herded into a corner until the only thing they could do was accidentally fall into the camoflaged pit. Two tools were used to do this. First a crowd of men that had a kind of funneling effect. The crowd drives you to your death. Also, the temptation of bait. Often our appetites lead us to our destruction, or so the biblical imagery teaches us. Then the hunters would then stone the animal until it was dead. This is the picture of eternal perdition in the Old Testament.

The other option was salvation, which literally means to move into a Wide Open Space (yes just like the Dixie Chicks song). The idea being that you escaped the mob herding you to your immanent death, and ran into a wide open space where you could once again frolick and play, and eat and drink. You are free to go where you want and do what you want. This is the picture of eternal life.

New Testament--

Gahenna--(10 times)
This is literally where the word hell comes from. The valley of henna. The original translators got their ns and ls mixed around, and thus the term.

The valley of Henna at one time was a place where idolotors offered their children as sacrifices.

It was a constantly burning garbage pit. People brought their garbage and human waste there to be burned. They also brought the bodies of criminals of people who were considered unworthy of a proper burial. It was visible from Jerusalem, which was built on top of Mount Moriah in Israel. It was a living metaphor about what life without God was like.

Hades--(4 times)

Borrowed from Greek literature. It is interesting to note how Hebrew and Christian thought on hell is influenced by the beliefs of those around them. It is also interesting to note how uniquely Jesus and the Hebrew people formed their theology of the afterlife in this conversation. Perhaps the communication of the gospel has always been embedded in dynamic conversation with culture. To believe this however, means that true faith both speaks a challenging word and a redemptive word to culture. Not merely affirming it.

Tartarus--1 time

The lower hell of Greek mythology, where the most wicked and unredeemable went. While everyone human spent some time in Hades, the worst punishment was to be banished with all the other utterly wretched in Tartarus. This occurs in 2 Peter 3:4.