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Steve Says

In Matthew 5 when Jesus is talking about anger he says, “Whoever says, ‘you fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” The Greek word that we translate as hell is Gehenna. The literal translation for Gehenna is “the valley of Hinnom”. So, the actual translation of this passage should be, “whoever says, ‘you fool!’ will be liable to the fire of the valley of Hinnom.”

So, what is the valley on Hinnom? We first read about this valley as it is listed as a boundary between tribes of Israel as they are dividing up the promised land in the book of Joshua (15:8, 18:16). This valley sits just south of Jerusalem. But the sin that the valley of Hinnom is known for begins in 2 Chronicles 28 during the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah. At the introduction for Ahaz it says,  

“He even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”

(2 Chronicles 28:2b-3)

 

Later, Ahaz’s Grandson, Manasseh king of Judah, is said to have “caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom”. Indicating that Hinnom was used in a religious ceremony to the false god of Molech.  

The book of Isaiah does not use the name Gehenna for the valley but instead refers to it as “the burning place” in which the Assyrian army is to be destroyed. In the book of Jeremiah God declares that this valley will no longer be called the valley of the son of Hinnom but will be called the valley of slaughter (Jer. 7:30-33). In Jeremiah 19 God curses the valley and everything in the valley because of the sacrifices to other gods that were made there. 

Photo by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash