Why no mention of a fiery Hell in the Old Testament?

[David1967]

As someone raised in a very Fundamentalist Christian denomination that preached more about Hell fire than Heaven, and more wrath of God than love and compassion of God, I was always curious why such a terrible place was not mentioned in the Old Testament.

 

[Augustus]

As someone raised in a very Fundamentalist Christian denomination that preached more about Hell fire than Heaven, and more wrath of God than love and compassion of God, I was always curious why such a terrible place was not mentioned in the Old Testament.

Because it was a medieval creation?

 

[Emi]

Hell didn't exist in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Torah, which does not have hell.

 

[Rise]

Many have said that we have more references in the Bible to Jesus talking about hell, fire, punishment, judgement etc than we do about Heaven and eternal life.
I haven't done the count for myself as to the exact numerical difference in references, but suffice to say that Jesus talked quite a lot about the subject as a warning to people.
If Jesus felt the need to warn people about it, why wouldn't someone preaching in his name do the same?

Does Jesus also talk about the love of God? Yes. He is the walking embodiment of it. Yet in Revelation we see Jesus will be returning with a sword and his robe dipped in blood, to execute righteous vengeance on the earth. Revelation 19:11-20 We see the judgement of God embodied in Jesus's second coming.

What do we see in the prophets? Warning of judgement, and the consequences. Even reference to the ultimate judgement God will bring at the end, where wrath is poured out on all the evil nations of the world.
Daniel 12:2 would be a clear reference to the fact that this judgement has eternal ramifications.

Do the prophets also talk about the love of God? Yes. In fact, it was because Jonah knew God was so good and loving that he refused to preach a warning of judgement to Ninevah because he didn't want that evil city to repent and be spared from wrath (Jonah 4:2). It is the goodness of God that is meant to bring us to repentance (Romans 2:4). To someone who has spurned the goodness of God and taken it for granted, a warning of judgement becomes necessary - and even then we see in the Bible they don't always heed it

The warning of judgement, if done with the right heart, is itself an act of love meant to turn someone away from destruction.

Because it was a medieval creation?

No, it's not. Aside from the fact that the concept is clearly expressed in the new testament itself, which we know goes back long before that time period; We can see the concept vividly detailed in the apocryphal writings we've recovered from both before and not long after the time of Christ - The Book of Enoch (2nd century BC) and the Apocalypse of Peter (2nd century AD).

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

As someone raised in a very Fundamentalist Christian denomination that preached more about Hell fire than Heaven, and more wrath of God than love and compassion of God, I was always curious why such a terrible place was not mentioned in the Old Testament.

Hell is a post-Biblical (post-Torah) attempt to address the problem of evil in a manner reflecting Persian (Zoroastrian) influence.

 

[Godobeyer]

Hell is a post-Biblical (post-Torah) attempt to address the problem of evil in a manner reflecting Persian (Zoroastrian) influence.

Hi Jay
how about heaven or paradice in Judiasm ?
i mean hereafter (life after death)

 

[Lyndon]

Hell didn't exist in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Torah, which does not have hell.

The first five books of the OT are the Torah, the rest of the books, most of the OT, is not the Torah.

 

[Emi]

The first five books of the OT are the Torah, the rest of the books, most of the OT, is not the Torah.

The first five books is actually the Torah, while the rest focuses mostly on Jewish teachings, which is why there is no hell included.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Hell is a post-Biblical (post-Torah) attempt to address the problem of evil in a manner reflecting Persian (Zoroastrian) influence.

Hi Jay
how about heaven or paradice in Judiasm ?
i mean hereafter (life after death)

Much the same.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Hell didn't exist in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Torah, which does not have hell.

Then Christians hijacked it, and made up their own story and invented Hell.

 

[Deidre]

Hell is discussed in the OT, but the reader gets the sense that it was more of a place for the dead, and not necessarily a place for ''punishment.''

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Hell is discussed in the OT, ...

No, שְׁאוֹל is discussed in the Torah.

 

[Deidre]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol

Again, this isn't like the hell that the NT is speaking of, at least not yet.

 

[Neo Deist]

As someone raised in a very Fundamentalist Christian denomination that preached more about Hell fire than Heaven, and more wrath of God than love and compassion of God, I was always curious why such a terrible place was not mentioned in the Old Testament.

The concept of hell was a creation by The Church centuries after Jesus' death, for the purposes of fear mongering. The Church holds a lot of power, influence and wealth. When you "hold the keys to salvation" you can guarantee a steady cash flow from your members. The idea that an all loving, merciful God would send you to burn in hell for eternity is just ridiculous, but The Church has been cashing in on it for eons. Besides, how does a non-corporeal spirit burn and feel pain? It has no physical substance! Obviously the early Church was banking on the fear of fire, as people at that time were often burned at the stake.

The imagery of hell comes from fictional works like Dante's Inferno and Paradise Lost, neither of which are to be taken literally (hence fiction). But people continue to believe in this fairy tale place of burning and torment.

The 1611 KJV took the Hebrew sheol, the Greek hades, the idea behind Gehenna (Gehinnom), and the Greek Tartarus and lumped them all into the same meaning (which is incorrect) and called it "hell."

Lastly, people need to actually read the Bible and not just listen to what random preacher X keeps repeating from tradition (often erroneously). The idea of an eternal torment comes from a combination of:

Revelation 20:10 - And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Revelation 20:15 - Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

At first glance, the natural assumption is that we would also have an eternal torment. But, let's look at this verse:

Revelation 20:14 - Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

Fire consumes (destroys). The Bible says that in paradise there would be no more death. So in verse 14, death (the act of dying) and hades (the grave) would be destroyed (done away with), never to happen again. So if death and hades are destroyed, why not people who were thrown there as well? The only ones that the Bible says are tormented forever are the devil, beast and false prophet. Anything else is just an assumption and is subject to personal interpretation.

Granted, the Book of Revelation almost did not make canon. John wrote it while in exile on the Isle of Patmos, and who is to say he was not delusional. The BoR could very well be the ramblings of a mad man.

 

[Rise]

The Book of Enoch is known to go back at least to the 2nd century BC, and the copies found at Qumran are said to potentially be as old as the 4th century BC. Which only tells us how old that manuscript is, and not even how far back the record of the text goes before that copy.

Given those facts: you can't claim that traditional concepts of hell were even a post-christian invention, much less that it came about centuries after Christ.

 

[Neo Deist]

The Book of Enoch is known to go back at least to the 2nd century BC, and the copies found at Qumran are said to potentially be as old as the 4th century BC. Which only tells us how old that manuscript is, and not even how far back the record of the text goes before that copy.

Given those facts: you can't claim that traditional concepts of hell were even a post-christian invention, much less that it came about centuries after Christ.

Judaism does not have the concept of hell as eternal torment (Jews can correct me if I am wrong). Judaism is MUCH older than Christianity. But this has nothing to do with "hell" because the theme of good vs. evil, reward and punishment, is found on every populated continent on the planet, and dates back thousands of years. It is a human nature thing.

 

[Lyndon]

Hinduism and Buddhism, which predate Christianity by 500-2000?? years have very real descriptions of Hells and horrible places one can go when reborn or reincarnated, so Hell as Christians think of it was described in detail by Hindus and Buddhists long before Christianity. Hell did not originate in the Middle ages, at least not in the East.

 

[Augustus]

No, it's not. Aside from the fact that the concept is clearly expressed in the new testament itself, which we know goes back long before that time period; We can see the concept vividly detailed in the apocryphal writings we've recovered from both before and not long after the time of Christ - The Book of Enoch (2nd century BC) and the Apocalypse of Peter (2nd century AD).

OK, the fiery hell is a concept that was largely a late antique development based on limited scriptural reference but, especially during the medieval period, became a central point of theology for certain Christians in a way that approaches the modern stereotype.

It was not invented out of nothing, but traditional understandings of hell were unlikely to be the fiery hell with devil and pitchfork stereotype that we have today. That's how I assume the OP intended his question anyway.

 

[wizanda]

I was always curious why such a terrible place was not mentioned in the Old Testament.

Due to mixed up metaphors....

• Gehenna is translated as hell, and is here; it was a garbage dump set fire to, where they'd also chuck dead bodies, thus the stench references.
• Tartarus (also translated as hell) used by Simon peter, is from Greek Mythology a place below Hades, where angels and gods, would be imprisoned, that was full of fire.
• Sheol/Hades/Hell are the Jewish/Greek/Norse descriptions of the dark underworld, below ours... a misty place, a place of lost souls.
• The Pit references in the parable of wicked husbandmen, and Isaiah is a reference to Sheol being a dark underworld.
• The fire to come repeated by Yeshua/Daniel/Isaiah/Zechariah/Ezekiel/etc, is this world where it shall be as Gehenna, it is prophesied in most religions globally, here will be washed with fire...So yes it is there in the Tanakkh (Old Testament), people are just not comprehending what all the references mean about the 'Great day of the Lord'.
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[Jayhawker Soule]

The concept of hell was a creation by The Church centuries after Jesus' death, for the purposes of fear mongering.

Ignorant nonsense. See, for example, here. Unless you're willing to argue that the Synoptics were penned "centuries after Jesus' death" you're simply pontificating on things about which you appear to know very little.