The word 'hell' is used (2) as equivalent to rdpTapo! in the verbal form Tafn-apuiaas in 2 I' 2' (cf. Jude"). In that ]i.issage it is retained by theKV', though it miglit be better rendered 'cast them down to Tartarus.' The particular case in view- there is that of the punishment of fallen angels, and the word is applied to the intermediate scene and condition of iienalty in which those oH'cndcrs are ilet.'iiiicd, held in chains of darkness, in reserve for the linal judgment. In this one instance the NT adopts the heathen terra for ' hell' — the word which in Plato (Phced. 113 E) designates the place into which the incurably corrupt are hurled with a view to their endless imprisonment ; and which in Homer (Iliad, viii. 13, etc. ) is the name given to the murky abyss, Ij'ing as deep beneath Hades as earth is beneath the sun, in which the sins of iusur"entaiid defeated immortals, Kronos, lapetos, and the Titans, are punished.
In this the paragraph in question, together with the corresponding passage in the Ep. of Jude (v."), attaches itself to iiieas on the subject of the ])uiush. liient of angels, which have a considerable place in die literature of Judaisni. especially the apocalyp- tic writings. These ideas assumed strange and amorphous forms, unlike anything in the NT, as regards both the jjlace ami the nature of the penalty. The Book of Jubilees and the Apocalypse of Barucli, e.g., both speak of the fallen angels as ' tormented in chains,' and the former represents them as bound in the depths of the earth until the day of the great judgment (Bk. of Jub u-'" 7-*" 22-1 24" etc., Apoc. of Bar 56'»"). The Book of Enoch dilates at greatest length on these things. Enoch is described as receiving a commission to announce the impending judgment of the fallen angels. Their leader, Azizel, is doomed to be covered with darkness until the great day of judg- ment. The prison in which they are conlined until the day of decision consigns them to the linal retribution, is seen by Enoch. It is described as dill'erent from the abyss of fire, in the extremest tlepth of earth, into which they are in the end to be cast, and in certain parts of the book this pre- liminary place of punishment is represented, as was the case also with the Tartaros of the Greeks, as in the void at the end of heaven and earth (Bk. of Enoch 10« 13" 18" 2F 54« 9u-<).
The word 'hell' is used (3), and more properly, as the equivalent of felvtia, the designation of the place and state of the just retribution reserved for the finally impenitent after the judgment. This word ftivva. (less correctly, in view of its derivation from the Aramaic, 7fci'>'a), Gehenna, occurs twelve times in the NT, and for the most part only in the Synoptists. It is not found in tlie Jobannine writings, nor in the l!k. of Acts, nor in any of the Epistles except once in one of the Catholic Epp. (Ja 3"). But in the Synoptical Gospels it is fouud eleven times, and in a variety
of phrases — 'in danger of the Gehenna of fire (.\lt ry--), ' to be cjist into Gehenna' (.Mt S-"-*' 18», Mk I)"'"), to 'destroy . . . in tlehenna' (Mt lU-''), ' the child of (ichenna' (Mt 23"*), the ' damnation ' or 'judgment of Gehenna' (Mt 23^), to 'go into t;chenna ' (Mk 'J«), to ' cast into Gehenna ' (Lk 1'2''). It is found, therefore, in each of the three Synop- tists. In all the instances of its u.se in the Go.spels it is given as a word from Christ's own lips, and in one case we have the parallel narrative of Mt and Mk (Mt IS'-', Mk 9"). It belongs to the tradition common to the first two evangelists, and there is every reason to believe that it forms part of the primitive report of Christ's words. Hence the importance of defining with all due care its precise sense, point, and connotation.
'I'his term Gehenna, yeifya, which is the solemn NT designation of hell, represents the Aram, o;--) and the lleb. ciri k'j 'the valley of Hinnom' (Neh 1 1^), more fully ci—;: ■? ' the valley of the son of Hinnom' (Jos 15" IS'", 2 Cli iS\ Jer 7*-), and -ja -3 Dii 'the valley of the children of Hinnom' (2 K 23'°, ace. to the Kelhib). It is taken oy some to mean the ' vallej' of howling' or 'the valley of lamentation,' Dj-'j being su]>posed to come from an obsolete [i^ ( Arab, hanna, ' cry ' or ' wail '). But far more probably the //innoOT is a personal name. The place so named after one unknown was a deep narrow gorge in the vicinity of Jerusalem, under- stood to be on the south side, forming a continua- tion of the valley of Gihon and separating the hill of Zion from the 'hill of Evil Counsel' It is usually identified with the modern Wady er-Rchiiln, though this is contested hy some (see Cornier in Enci/c. Brit. xiii. 640). It is repeatedly mentioned in tlie OT. The border of Judah is described as going up ' by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite . . . and to the toji of tlie mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward' ; while the border of Benjamin is said to have ' come down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of lliiiiujin ' and to have 'descended to the valley of Hinnom to the side of Jebusi on the south' (.Jos 15" IS'" ; cf. Neh 11**). It is de-scribed as ' by theentiyof the East gate' (Jer 19-), and as having the valley of Tojihet or Topheth in it (2 K '23'", Jer 7^' ly). Jerome speaks of it as having been of old a pleasant place, and as having again in his own time the attraction of gardens. But under Aliaz, Manasseh, and Amon it was made the scene of the gross and cruel rites of heathen worship, idolatrous Jews passing their children tlHonj.'li the fire there to JIolucli (2 Ch '28" 33», .Jer 7''). Hence king Josiah, when he put down the idolatrous jiriests who had burned incense to Baal under the ajiostate kings of Judah, aho ' deliled Topheth, which is in the valley of lh« children of Hinnom, that no man might make his sou or his daughter to pass through the lire to Molech ' (2 K 23''- ">). It was al.so declared by Jeremiah that the place should be ' no more called Tojihel, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter' (Jer 19"). After ita pollution by the pious son of Amon it became an object of horror to the Jews, and is said to have been made a receptacle for bones, the bodies of beasts and criminals, refuse and all unclean things (so Kinichi). The terrible associations of the place, the recollections of the horrors perpetrated ui it and the defilement inflicted on it, the firea saiil to have been kept burning in it in order to consume the foul and corrupt objects that were thrown into it, made it a natural and unmistak- able symbol of dire evil, torment, wasting jienaJty, aljsolute ruin. So it came to designate the place of future punishment, and the Talinudic theology spoke ot the door of hell as being in