As we know, Jesus could be really tough on those men of faith who were consistently hypocritical. Time and again he used harsh words when he spoke to them and the Gospels paint a picture of these religious men pitted against Jesus and his message of love and forgiveness. We find one of the highlights (or is that lowlights?) of this sub-plot in Matthew 23 where we find our next two examples of Jesus using the word Gehenna. In verse 15 Jesus takes a pot shot at the missionary endeavours of the Pharisees and says that those they convert end up being ‘twice as much a son of hell [Gehenna] as’ them. Then in verse 33 he asks them how they intend escaping ‘the sentence of hell [Gehenna]’.

Though commentators disagree whether Jesus spoke the whole of chapter 23 in one sitting, as it were, or whether they are individual sayings brought together in one place, there is no doubt that Matthew the gospel editor wanted to make a strong statement about the Pharisees and Jesus’s attitude towards them. It amounts to a robust accusation about their life, their values, and in particular their hypocrisy. It amounts to a pretty damning judgement upon their life. Should we not, therefore, accept the interpretation of Gehenna as a place of eternal judgement upon these who refuse to accept Jesus as Messiah?

Before agreeing to such a conclusion, however, we should notice that as part of this passage (which extends to chapter 24) Jesus prophesises the destruction of the Temple (24:1-2) and says that judgement was coming upon that generation (23:36). We now know how correct that prophecy was for we know how the Romans utterly destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in 70AD following the Jewish revolt. The judgement Jesus speaks about, therefore, was not meant for a day set far off in some future end times, but in the ‘here and now’ of their lives.

If we interpret the passage this way, then how do we now interpret Jesus’s use of ‘Gehenna’? Can it be interpreted as a metaphor for an eschatological place of eternal judgement? I would suggest not. Better to see it as Jesus making an historical reference to a previous day of judgement upon Israel by a foreign power, Babylon. It is in prophesying about the overpowering of Israel by Babylon which Jeremiah first refers to the valley of the sons of Hinnom (Jeremiah 19:11-14). And in Jeremiah the ‘judgement of Gehenna’ is not the end times judging of individuals for their sins but the judging of a nation under the hands of the foreign power. And it is a judgement in the here and now rather than in and for eternity.

To conclude, in Matthew 23, however strong the judgement against the religious leaders of the time, Gehenna is not being used to refer to a place of eternal conscious torment but is a reference to the original valley where Israel was judged. And as we know, this judgement was not for eternity but was followed by a restoration.

This post forms part of a series looking at ‘hell’. The previous post can be found here.


Share