The hell of the Bible isn't quite the same as our modern idea of a fiery afterlife, but there are still enough creepy piles of bones and imprisoned souls to keep you up at night.
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00:00The hell of the Bible isn't quite the same as our modern idea of a fiery afterlife, but
00:04there are still enough imprisoned souls to keep you up at night.
00:08Even though it sometimes gets translated as hell, Sheol is best understood to mean the
00:12grave. It's referenced in Genesis chapter 37 or the realm of the dead below in Deuteronomy
00:1832. Mentioned 66 times in the Old Testament, Sheol has informed our modern vision of hell.
00:23Even though the Hebrew Bible has no firm conception of an afterlife, Sheol was envisioned as a
00:27kind of dark, shadowy realm under the surface of Earth. It's not hard to see how this heritage
00:32influenced the evolution of hell over time, especially since Christianity grew from Judaism.
00:37Sheol is still eerie in its own right, especially because Hebrew writers tended to describe
00:41it in dire and terrifying ways. As the second book of Samuel, chapter 22, says,
00:46"'The cords of the grave coiled around me. The snares of death confronted me.'"
00:50According to Psalm 18,
00:51"'As one plows and breaks up the earth, so are bones that have been scattered at the
00:55mouth of the grave.'"
00:57In these passages, Sheol sounds like a physical place. But other passages, like the first
01:01book of Samuel, chapter 28, imply that it's instead populated by intangible beings. This
01:06vagueness and the lack of certainty it implies about life after death are perhaps the most
01:10frightening aspects of Sheol.
01:12Gehenna offers some familiar elements of our modern conception of hell in the form of suffering
01:16and purification by fire. Gehenna is actually a real geographical place, specifically the
01:22Valley of Hinnom, a little bit west of Jerusalem, between the Old City and Mount Zion. In the
01:26Old Testament, Hinnom was where the Canaanite worshipers of the god Moloch engaged in child
01:31sacrifice by fire. When New Testament writers referenced Gehenna, they had this shared history
01:36in mind. They used it as a shorthand for the damnation and hellfire that follows defiance
01:40of God's ways. As the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, puts it,
01:43"'It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two
01:47feet and be thrown into eternal fire.'"
01:50"'Fire! Look upon my fearful glory!'
01:56Meanwhile, James, chapter 5, says,
01:58"'The tongue also is a fire. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's
02:02life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.'"
02:05With everything that went on there, it's not too much of a stretch to see why Gehenna and
02:09hell go hand in hand.
02:11One of the more curious biblical words that was translated into English as hell is Tartarus.
02:16If you're familiar with Greek mythology, then you probably know Tartarus as one of
02:19the grim components of the Greek underworld of Hades. A bit like the aforementioned Sheol,
02:24Tartarus didn't start as the realm of the dead, but instead as a deep, subterranean
02:28prison for the Titans when the gods of Olympus overthrew them. It's basically a pit opposite
02:33to the sky.
02:34This is the tradition that New Testament writers were likely drawing on when they referenced
02:38Tartarus to describe their new religion. They went one step further, though, as they equated
02:42the Greek Titans to fallen heavenly angels, with Tartarus being the holding cell where
02:46they'd wait for the much-anticipated end of days. As the Second Epistle of Peter, Chapter
02:512, reads,
02:52"'For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them
02:56in chains of darkness to be held for judgment.'"
02:58Essentially, Tartarus is an aimless land of limbo, which for some might be more torturous
03:03than outright torture. But good news. For us, at least, it's not for humans.
03:08Biblical writers also used the Greek term Hades in their writings. To the ancient Greeks,
03:12Hades was the place of the dead, a misty, faded, grayed-out version of the world above.
03:16It was also a physical location where Greek mythical heroes actually visited, as well
03:20as the name of the god of the dead who was the king of the underworld.
03:24Despite its physical nature, Hades was notably populated with souls. So basically, it presents
03:29a same-spirit-body dichotomy that has long characterized Judaism, and by extension, Christianity.
03:34When used by New Testament writers, Hades more or less means the realm of disembodied
03:39souls. It shows up in the book of Revelation chapter 1 when Jesus says,
03:42"'I am the living one. I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever, and I hold
03:47the keys of death and Hades."
03:49The New Testament Hades isn't described in detail very much, but Greek conceptions are
03:53creepy enough to have left a lasting impression of an isolated, sad, and gloomy place filled
03:58with wandering souls.
03:59"'I am Hades.'"
04:04You knew we weren't going to leave out some revelation, right? Let's all jump into the
04:07Lake of Fire. Not literally.
04:10That mention of fire might bring to mind modern visions of Hell as a place filled with flames,
04:14but as we said before, Hell doesn't really exist in the Bible. When people think about
04:18Hell nowadays, they're essentially taking Sheol, Tartarus, Hades, and Gehenna and mashing
04:23them into the Lake of Fire. As Revelation chapter 20 explains, no soul is currently
04:28hanging out in the Lake of Fire — whatever and wherever that is.
04:32As a familiar Christian tale goes, Jesus will come back to Earth, judge people, and toss
04:36unbelievers into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the permanent destruction
04:40that frames other afterlives as temporary waiting rooms. Revelation 20 even says that
04:45Hades itself, the place of the disembodied dead, will be tossed into the Lake of Fire,
04:49presumably because it will no longer be needed.
04:52But despite fire being associated with physical pain, burning, and agony, its connection with
04:56modern Hell isn't quite so clear-cut. The second epistle to Thessalonians chapter 1
05:01describes existence in the Lake of Fire as,
05:03"...shut out from the presence of the Lord."
05:05Whatever that means is left up to the imagination of the reader.