An Exercise in Refuting False Doctrine
One of the complaints about the doctrine of Hell is that it cannot be found in the Old Testament. The charge goes something like this: “The doctrine of Hell was developed by later generations of Christians, who wrongly interpreted and amplified New Testament imagery. This New Testament imagery is not about Hell. If it were, it would be built on the Old Testament witness to Hell, and there is none.” Others would claim there is no harmony whatsoever between Old Testament and New Testament teachings on the matter. They would see the New Testament as much a deviation from the Old as the Quran is from both… just another evolutionary advancement in religion. How can we read Jesus’ teachings and the Apostles’ writings as supporting the conscious eternal torment of the wicked if the Old Testament would contradict such ideas? Here are some samples of complaints:
Our view that you die and your soul goes to heaven or hell is not found anywhere in the Old Testament, and it’s not what Jesus preached.
Bart Ehrman
If you look for “hell” in the Bible, you’re in for a long, fruitless search for origins, facts, definitions and explanations. Why? Because the Hebrew prophets never mentioned a place where human beings would writhe in eternal torment, gnashing their teeth forever. Nor did the Hebrew prophets ever mention even the slightest possibility of suffering after death. Isn’t that extremely odd, if there really is a hell and God wanted us to know how to avoid it?
Michael Burch
Obviously these men make big claims. There are plenty of erroneous presuppositions baked into these claims and apologetic attacks against the notion of Hell, but we can take them on at face value. Four questions will serve us in our Old Testament component of this study. In this post we’ll cover the first.
Where are the Images of Hell in the Old Testament?
We’ve surveyed some of the imagery used by Jesus and His Apostles to explain Hell. Smoke, torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth would all be found in the Old Testament, but I think we’ll make best use of our time by examining Gehenna, Fire and the Worm.
Gehenna
Much is made by critics of the doctrine that the term Jesus uses for Hell is “Gehenna.” This is a known valley outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It was actually located southwest of Jerusalem and was first mentioned as “the valley of Hinnom” by Joshua in the list of tribal allotments (Joshua 15:8; 18:16). As a valley, what went on in that rift could be kept somewhat secret. So there began a robust cult center to the worship of Molech. Many little children were horrifically destroyed in this valley, sacrifices to demons (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; Jeremiah 32:34-35). God’s justice would be satisfied later via lex talionis. There in that same valley God would affect a great slaughter of the Jews. Its name was in fact changed to “the valley of slaughter”
Jeremiah 7:32 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. (cf. Jeremiah 19:16).
During the days of Josiah, the wicked practice of infant sacrifice and Molech worship was ended. The cult shrines in this valley were utterly destroyed, and the valley itself was repurposed as a place to dump all kinds of garbage and dung. It was fairly easy to access from the “Dung Gate” in the southern wall of Jerusalem. Because there was always trash being added, the fire was always kept burning. One can then see how such a wicked place, desecrated and full of fire began to be used as a metaphor for the punishment of the wicked.
Take for example Isaiah 30:33 which references the valley of Hinnom by its other name, For Tophet was established of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Kindles it.
So we discover the metaphor was prophetically put in place even before the days of Josiah and Jeremiah. The “king” has prepared this valley, made it deep and large. Was there some ancient king in Israel who excavated the earth and created a new valley? So which “KING” prepared this place. Jesus tells us that God prepared a place for the devil and his angels. Notice that this prophecy has no interest in Josiah’s trash burning programme. This Tophet is set on fire by the very breath of Yahweh, a river of brimstone. When the whole context is read (Isaiah 30:27-33) we discover that God is delivering an oracle of judgment through Isaiah against Assyria. For clarity’s sake, 2 Kings 19 tells us that when God’s angel killed 185,000 of the Assyrians, they were currently engaged against Libnah, and nowhere near Tophet.
So, when Jesus used the term, “Gehenna” was He being literalistic? Was He referencing something topographical or something theological? Was He being materialistic or metaphorical? When we read the context of His statements we see that He is being theological, utilizing metaphors to instruct the people about the eternal state of the wicked. Not only that, He was using established Old Testament imagery which spoke of God’s fiery judgment on the wicked.
Fire
Jesus and His Apostles talk about “fire” in connection with Hell. Somehow, “fire” is central to the conscious eternal punishment of the wicked. This seems second nature to those raised in traditional orthodox churches. It’s worth pondering why that is. The basis of this theological metaphor is the Old Testament. Can we think of any instances in the Old Testament where “fire” is manifested as the expression of God’s offended holiness, the display of His wrath?
Several times in Deuteronomy 4 we hear of God’s fire. God spoke to Israel from the fire, to their terror (Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 23-24; 33, 36). Moses warned them to avoid idolatry in verse 24, For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. The danger to the wicked is immediately and persistently felt. How can sinful people remain in proximity to a Holy God? Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” When Isaiah sees the LORD high and lifted up in Isaiah 6:1-7, the whole throne room is a mass or roiling flame. The only salvation for the unclean prophet is more fire, mediated fire from the altar. A live coal is placed upon his lips and he is sanctified.
Given that the holiness of God is as a consuming fire, it makes sense that the directed wrath of God, flowing from God’s offended holiness, is manifested as fire. The Psalms repeat this theme several times (Psalm 11:6; 18:8; 79:5; 83:14; 89:46; 97:3; 106:18; 140:10). Reading through the minor prophets only encourages this connection of fire with God’s judgment. Amos 1 is especially instructive in this regard. If there is need to speak of the conscious eternal punishment of the wicked, “fire” is the preeminent biblical metaphor. This is not because fire can be applied as an especially cruel form of torture, not at all! The predominance of “fire” in Biblical teaching about judgment has to do with the manner in which God has revealed His holiness as both light-casting and sin-consuming. Fire expresses both the clarifying and the cleansing aspects of God’s holiness, whether mediated through the Messiah or rendered as wrath. It is only when our examination of the Biblical data is man-centered that we take offense at the “especially cruel imagery” of eternal flames.
Worm
Our last image to examine takes us to two passages in Isaiah. Each one deserves reading and reflection. The first occurs as a taunt against the king of Babylon. The state of the wicked after death, as they are tormented, is made into a cartoon meant to demonstrate the fragility of arrogant kings.
Isaiah 14:9-11 “Hell from beneath is excited about you, To meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, All the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones All the kings of the nations. 10 They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? 11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.’
We will certainly discuss the varied uses of “Sheol” in an upcoming lesson. For now, note that the message is about humbling the proud. We can leave this cartoon simply as a mockery of the king by pointing at his maggot riddled body, the same as every other dead king. However, as we will discuss, there’s a whole lot of difference for the wicked’s anticipation of Sheol and the persistent hope of the righteous. For now, we see the image of maggots and worms.
The next passage comes as the final word of Isaiah. After a sweeping vista of New Covenant hopes, we read that part of the shalom of the righteous will be that God’s justice is eternally rendered against the wicked.
Isaiah 66:18-24 “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. 19 I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. 20 Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. 21 And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,” says the Lord. 22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
The corpses are there, but somehow the wicked yet experience a worm and a fire which do not end. Jesus takes up this image and fully explains the matter, as we have already seen.
