Gehenna and other Urban Legends of the Old World

[Praxeas]

6. Gehenna was a burning trash dump outside Jerusalem.
I’ve used this illustration many times. But there isn’tevidence to support this idea. Still, because it seems like a reasonable explanation for the origin of the Hinnom Valley as “hell,” commentators and preachers have accepted it. It’s possible that the verdict may still be out on this one, but not if Todd Bolen is right (http://blog.bibleplaces.com/2011/04/myth-of-burning-garbage-dump-of-gehenna.html):
“The explanation for the ‘fire of Gehenna’ lies not in a burning trash dump, but in the burning of sacrificed children. Already in Old Testament times, the Valley of Hinnom was associated with the destiny of the wicked. That the valley was just outside the city of Jerusalem made it an appropriate symbol for those excluded from divine blessing.”
http://trevinwax.com/2011/04/27/urban-legends-the-preachers-edition/

Others include the robe around the high priests leg and The eye of the needle

[Praxeas]

Yesterday Louis McBride (http://bbhchurchconnection.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/was-gehenna-a-smoldering-garbage-dump/) raised the issue (HT: BibleX (http://www.bibleexposition.net/2011/04/gehenna.html)). He writes:
I consulted over a dozen study Bibles on Matthew 5:22 (http://biblia.com/bible/niv/Matthew%205.22) and no less than eight of them made a reference to the rubbish heap. Almost every major commentary on Matthew that mentions Gehenna also spoke of the garbage dump. I’ve always thought that this was an established fact.
Then he quotes Peter Head, G. R. Beasley-Murray, and Lloyd Bailey in tracing the origin of this notion to Rabbi David Kimchi in AD 1200. Specifically, Bailey states:
[Kimchi] maintained that in this loathsome valley fires were kept burning perpetually to consume the filth and cadavers thrown into it. However, Strack and Billerbeck state that there is neither archeological nor literary evidence in support of this claim, in either the earlier intertestamental or the later rabbinic sources.


http://blog.bibleplaces.com/2011/04/myth-of-burning-garbage-dump-of-gehenna.html

[pelathais]

6. Gehenna was a burning trash dump outside Jerusalem.
I’ve used this illustration many times. But there isn’tevidence to support this idea. Still, because it seems like a reasonable explanation for the origin of the Hinnom Valley as “hell,” commentators and preachers have accepted it. It’s possible that the verdict may still be out on this one, but not if Todd Bolen is right (http://blog.bibleplaces.com/2011/04/myth-of-burning-garbage-dump-of-gehenna.html):
“The explanation for the ‘fire of Gehenna’ lies not in a burning trash dump, but in the burning of sacrificed children. Already in Old Testament times, the Valley of Hinnom was associated with the destiny of the wicked. That the valley was just outside the city of Jerusalem made it an appropriate symbol for those excluded from divine blessing.”
http://trevinwax.com/2011/04/27/urban-legends-the-preachers-edition/

Others include the robe around the high priests leg and The eye of the needle


I suppose that this is a follow up on the "bin Laden in a Burning Hell" thread. I sort of got sidetracked for a few days and lost interest in that one...

But you do make a good point. There are many "urban legends" which have helped to frame many of our "traditional beliefs." Still, I suppose any kind of "fire" in the Valley of Hinnom would suffice for the Mike Blumes and David Norrises of the world to make their point, be it the fires of Molech or fire from someone's discarded Firestone chariot wheel.

For me, the whole "Hell Fire of Gehenna" thing is founded upon too many ambiguities and assumptions. It's fine if folks reach that conclusion, in my thinking, because ultimately there truly will be a Judgment that will be of some concern for everyone - and it is this Judgment that I think Jesus had in mind when He spoke of "Gehenna." This current debate appears to be just a quibble about timing ... all in my humble opinion, of course.