LiTKRATURE. — E. von DobscHiitz, Christian Life in th» J'riinltive Church, Eu';-. tr., London and N.Y., 1904; W. Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis, N.Y.,
LADY
LAMB
681
1907, ch. iii. ; F. Delitzsch, Jeivixh Artisan Life in the Time of Christ, London, 1902, ch. ix. § 3 ; A. B. D. Alexander, The Ethics of St. Paul, Glasgow, 1910. For Greek view of labour : E. Barker, Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle, London, 1906, ch. viii. § 1. For Roman : W. Warde Fowler, Social Life rtt koine, do. 1908, ch. ii. For Jewish : Pirqe Aboth, ed. Taj'lor, do. 1877, p. 18 ; of. Delitzsch, op. cit. ch. ii.
C. T. DiMONT.
LADY.— See John, Epistles of.
LAKE OF FIRE.— That particular conception of future punishment represented as ' tlie Lake of Fire ' is found only in the Apocalypse of St. John among tlie ChristiF,n writings of the Apostolic Age. For a fuller account of the early history of the conception see ' Introductory ' and ' Christian ' sections of ' Cosmology and Cosmogony' in ERE, and ' Hinnom, Valley of,' in HDB ; and, for the fuller discussion of the general subject, artt. Hell and Fire in the present work. It will be sufficient to sum up briefly here the facts concerning the origin of the conception.
Both the Babjlonianand the Persian cosmogonies contain the conception of the future destruction of the world by fire, closing an a?on or period in the history of the world. But, while Persian escha- tology shows tiie presence of the conception of penal fire (cf. SBE v. 125 fl'.), there is, according to H. Zimmern [KA'P, 1902-03, p. 643), no trace of the conception in early Babylonian religion. Hence the presence of the idea in Jewish prophetic es- ehatology is held by many scholars to be due to Persian rather than to Babylonian influence.
1. In Jewish eschatology we find three related conceptions, each possibly a ditierent topographical setting of the same central idea :
(1) The conception of the Valley of Hinnom ('5 Diari) as a place of fiery torment for the wicked during the Messianic Age ; cf. Is 66^"'^*, where the proximity of the place of punishment to Jerusalem shows that the Valley of Hinnom is intended.
(2) The conception of a fiery stream issuing from Jahiceh, or from His throne ; cf. Is 30^^ Dn 7'". This form may possibly have links of connexion with the ancient conception of Jahweh as a volcano-god.
(3) The conception of a valley or sect of fire and sulphur ; cf. Is 34', where the topographical setting is in Edom. This conception goes back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which again is con- nected by Gunkel (Schopfung und Chaos) and Jeremias with the Babylonian cosmology (cf. A. Jeremias, The OT in the Light of the Ancient East, Eng. tr., 1911, ii. 40 f. ; M. Jastrow, The Bel. of Bab. and Assyr., 1898, p. 507). The whole valley of the Dead Sea is still called by the Arabs Wddy en-Ndr, ' Valley of Fire.'
The conception as it appears in the Apocalypse is related rather to the forms (2) and (3) than to the Gehenna conception.
2. In the Apocalypse we have again three distinct conceptions.
(1) Hades (see artt. Hades, Hell), an inter- mediate place or state whose existence ends at the close of the millennial kingdom. Death and Hades are cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev 20^*). Hades is not connected distinctly with the idea of punish- ment in the Apocalypse.
(2) The Abyss (20^), in which the dragon is bound during the millennial reign (cf. 9" and Lk 8^^).
(3) The Lake of Fire, mentioned as existing before the beginning of the millennial kingdom (19-"), the place into which the beast and the false prophet are cast after their defeat by the Lamb. It is also the place into which the devil is cast after the defeat of Gog and Magog (2Q^% Then, at the close of the Final Judgment, death and Hades are cast into the Lake of Fire (20") ; and, lastly, everyone not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire (20^®). An
additional statement (2F) describes those who have their part in tiie Lake of Fire ; cf. the description of those who are without the city (22'^).
3. The relevant passages in the contemporary apocalyptic literature are: 2 Bar. xliv. 15 ('the dwelling of the rest who are many shall be in the fire,' in contrast to the blessing of the righteous in the new age [xliv. 12]), xlviii. 39, 43, lix. 2, Ixiv. 7 (of Manasseh), Ixxxv. 13 ; 2 Es. vii. 36 (' the pit of torment' and 'the furnace of Gehenna,' as the abode of the wicked after the 400 years' Messianic kingdom) ; Ass. Mos. x. 10 (the enemies of Israel are seen in Gehenna). Hence in the apocalyptic literature contemporary with the Apocalj' pse the precise form of the conception does not appear.
i. In the same way the passages in the Pauline Epistles, Hebrews, 2 Peter, and the Apostolic Fathers are all vague and general. Fire is one of the accompanying features of the Parousia ; it is the real or metaphorical agent of punishment for the wicked, and only in 2 Peter do we find the definite conception of a final conflagration which will destroy the old heavens and earth.