The following article is part of the "Biblical Obscurities" blog series by Mike Velthouse, author of Journey Through the Psalms. For years, Mike has been writing articles for his church's monthly newsletter on a number of "obscurities" within the Bible. We will be reprinting many of those articles here on the RFPA blog. Join our email list here to receive a notification in your inbox for new additions to this blog series! PCs: Wikimedia Commons, Adobe Stock.

“…where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched…” (Mark 9:48)

Sometimes the Bible takes us to scary places. Think of the cottage of the witch of Endor, which King Saul visited at night, hoping she would bring back the spirit of the dead Samuel (1 Samuel 28). Or remember the cemetery in the land of the Gadarenes, where a demon-possessed man lived at night among the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones, before Jesus healed him (Mark 5). We are going to visit another such scary place today.

Imagine leaving the southwest corner of the part of Old Jerusalem, near what was known as Mount Zion. Once we go beyond the city walls, we look south at a grassy valley below, surrounded on both sides by hills as far as the eye can see. We notice the grassland give way to a rocky landscape with a foreboding look. If we dare continue on our path, we would see the rough vista descend into a ravine marked with narrow crypts, grottos, and hollowed-out cavities in its ragged and craggy sides. 

This area was known in the Bible as the Valley of Hinnom (or the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, or the Valley of Ben-Hinnom), named after a Jebusite called Hinnom, whose family owned this land back before the time of Joshua (Joshua 15:8). The Jebusites were eventually conquered by King David (2 Samuel 5:6); thus this land became part of the Israelite nation. The Hebrew name "Gei Ben Hinnom" translates to the English word "Gehenna."

In the New Testament, Gehenna is synonymous with hell (also called Sheol). Jesus employed this word (“hell”) eleven times as the name for the place of ultimate and eternal fiery destruction and separation for those outside of the Kingdom of Christ.

"Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell [Gehenna]." (Luke 12:5)

But to understand how Gehenna became a Jewish metaphor for the place of final punishment, we need to go back to the Old Testament and learn what happened in this Valley of Hinnom.

During the reign of King Ahaz (735-720 B.C.), Judah had turned from God and the worship of him. Ahaz was an anxious and insecure king who put his trust in other countries' gods, hoping they would protect him from enemies. One of these gods was Molech. In a particular part of the Valley of Hinnom, called Tophet, Ahaz had an altar made for Molech, hoping to appease Molech enough to save Judah from Syria.

"Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire.” (2 Chronicles 28:3)

This appeasement involved the king and others putting their children into the shrine of Molech, a god who is pictured with the head of a bull and with outstretched arms, seemingly eager to take children into his fiery gut. One can imagine the sound of the priests banging their drums in unison during such sacrifices, trying to drown out the screams of the children. And in this same valley two generations later, King Manasseh offered his children on this fiery altar to Molech (2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33).

But God graciously gave the Kingdom of Judah one last good king, Josiah, who “defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter to pass through the fire to Molech” (2 Kings 23). King Josiah destroyed the altar of Molech in Tophet to prevent anyone from sacrificing children there ever again. To purge the place of any remnants of what was done there, Josiah turned the area into Jerusalem’s garbage dump, which it remained until captivity and then continued to be used as after the captives returned.

The prophets also spoke about this place in their prophecies of judgment. Jeremiah called it the "valley of the dead bodies” (31:40), the “high places of Tophet” (7:31), and “the valley of slaughter” (19:6). Isaiah described the end of those who continue to transgress against God: “their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh” (66:24), and the future children of Judah knew precisely to what the prophet was referring.

As this dump grew year after year and was added to daily, think about the smells emanating into all the surrounding areas from decayed animal corpses, decomposing garbage, and incinerated substances. Think about the fires that may have initially started naturally but never went out because new trash was added daily. Think of the animals that filled the dump: crows, flies, maggots, and worms. Can you see how Gehenna became synonymous with hell? The fires here never stopped. The worms here "never died" as they continued to reproduce more and more.

One of the great phrases from the Protestant Reformation was “out of darkness, light." For us to step out of the darkness of earthly Gehenna, let's now see how this relates to the light of our Lord Jesus Christ and his exaltation.

Rome customarily deposited the dead bodies of those Jewish criminals they crucified into the shameful garbage dump of Gehenna. They did not allow families to take back the bodies and give them a proper burial. When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus asked Pilate for Jesus’ body (Mark 15), Pilate curiously acquiesced. Whether out of conscience, guilt, or pity, Pilate allowed these men to give their Lord’s body an honorable burial. You can see this as a fulfillment of Psalm 16:10, “…neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” What could be more corrupt than our Savior’s body being thrown into the fires of Gehenna? Instead, Jesus was given the burial of a king. His body was taken by a wealthy man, wrapped in fine linen, and anointed in spices. It was placed in a magnificent tomb that had never been used before. Indeed, this fulfilled Isaiah 53:9; the suffering servant "made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.” We see God’s providence behind all this, as he did not allow his Son’s body to be burned in Gehenna. In a sense, after a life of humiliation, Jesus’ exaltation began when his body was taken down from the cross.

Jesus, as our elder brother, walked on this earth and experienced everything we do. He was humiliated, he suffered, he was tempted, he died, and he arose again. One of the reasons he did so was to assure us that we can persevere through all these things. Because Jesus avoided the earthly Gehenna, we can have the comfort that, as his chosen elect, we will also avoid the spiritual Gehenna of hell.

Sometimes the Bible takes us to scary places. But we know the scary place we visited today has been conquered by Jesus. And we know that by the grace of God, those who are in Christ Jesus have been saved unto eternal life with him in heaven.

“For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.” (Psalm 86:13)

Like what you've read? Click the image below to read more from author Mike Velthouse in the thirty-day devotional Journey Through the Psalms, available now on rfpa.org and in Christian bookstores near you!