The term hell as written in the Holy Bible originally meant “to cover or conceal” and is thought by many to be a fitting translation for what was called Hades in Greek and Sheol in Hebrew. Hell, some say, came to be referred to exclusively as a place of never-ending torment in the English language a number of years after the first Bible writings.
Here I attempt to tell you why.
In general terms, the “Old Testament” which is basically the Hebrew Bible, was first written in Hebrew, on the other hand, the “New Testament” was primarily written in Greek. The most widely accepted translated version of both books of the Bible is the King James Version (KJV), first published in 1611.
So the term Hades in the first Old Testament is a Greek word which really means “un-seen” (also said to be Greek hell) but is typically translated in the KJV as hell; Sheol is a traditional Hebrew term used in both the New and Old Testaments which was originally used to describe someone’s grave; this term too was translated to the word hell in the KJV. In short, when King James ordered his scribes to translate the bible they invariably used the term “Hell” to replace both terms, Hades and Sheol.
Just so you will know; there is another Greek term, “gehenna” that is often used in the original Greek New Testament that was translated into English as hell. Perhaps the best example of this is the passage in Matthew 18:9 wherein Jesus said: “And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell (Gehenna) fire”.
You should also know that the term Gehenna occurs 12 times in the New Testament; it is the name of a valley located in Jerusalem called the Valley of Hinnom Babylon , the Jews turned the site into the city dump, for the city of Jerusalem
I think you must ask the obvious question that comes to mind; why would King James’ Scribes do such a thing, apparently quite readily? After all, the King had directed them to translate the Bible, not to do a re-write. I recall reading someplace that in the Old Testament alone the word Sheol is translated 31 times to hell, 31 times to grave, and 3 times as pit. I’m guessing that the Christian Church’s teachings had a major impact in this action by the Scribes.
I’m trying to submit this information in a written form / concept so that you can clearly understand understand or grasp the way things were, so here’s another thing I think you should know: You see, the ancient Hebrews viewed the universe as having three parts or realms, as did other folks of that era.
The first part was the upper realm or the Heavens which was the exclusive dwelling place of God and his divine angelic court, as well as the place of the sun, moon, planets, and stars.
Second, was the realm of the earth below, described in the first chapter of Genesis as “the dry land.” This is where mortals lived; it was shared with all the other forms of plant and animal life.
And third, below the earth (as everyone knew in those days, the earth was round along the edges but otherwise flat) was the dark realm of the dead, which was called Sheol by the Hebrews and Hades by the Greeks.
If your wondering where such concise ideas about the 3 earth realms came from, take a quick look at Psalms 115:16-18 in the Old Testament; it puts it something like this: “The heavens are Yahweh's (the Hebrew God’s name) heavens, but the earth he (God) has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise Yahweh, nor do any that go down into silence (referring to the dead here again). But we (the living) will bless Yahweh from this time forth and for evermore.”
It is of considerable significance that the vast majority of the ancient Hebrews did not even believe that dead folks had an immortal sole that survived the grave. In short they believed that when you’re dead you’re dead, end of story. According to their beliefs, human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made from “dust of the earth,” and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). For all intents and purposes, death was the end. This way of thinking is further upheld by a passage in Psalm 115:17 which basically says, the dead go down in “silence”, they do not participate, as do the living, in praising God.
The point of order here is why would the Hebrew faith have a place such as Hell if they in fact believed that death was the end of the line?
Enter Jesus Christ, and much later the text we all call the New Testament. By all historical accounts Jesus did not speak King James English. In actuality it is argued by many, that the Son of God did not once address his father by the pronoun “thou,” nor did he ever utter the words “hell,” “crumpets,” or “London Nazareth , not Nottingham , so he quite naturally spoke Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic, which is a Hebrew dialect; perhaps all three, I doubt that anyone today knows for sure. Regardless, this caused a good deal of mistaken ideas or beliefs regarding what he had to say about hell.
The fact remains, that neither I nor the majority of you (the average reader) have or is likely to attain the ability to read ancient Greek or Hebrew writings such as the original Old and New Testaments. Couple this fact with the knowledge that there is no shortage of opinions on the subject; some say the King James translation is flawless; others insist the opposite is true. I for one have come to believe the King James Holy Bible translation if flawed mightily, and on more subjects than hell. What do you think?
Sources ...
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Origin-of-Hell-by-Ben-Dench-090422-959.html http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/people/jtabor/future.html http://www.gtft.org/Library/priddy/ibi_4_2.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna http://www.godsplanforall.com/jesusdidnotteachhell
Just the tip of the iceberg, I am certain. So many inconsistencies. Hell is other people. Particularly the ones who claim to know the words and intentions of a god.
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