January 21st, 2021
Psalm 62:5–12; Jeremiah 19:1–15; Revelation 18:11–20
The lectionary has paired together today one of Jeremiah’s prophecies of Jerusalem’s destruction and the fall of “Babylon the Great” in Revelation. It may seem weird to pair and compare Jerusalem with an apocalyptic Babylon, but the context in Jeremiah makes clear just how Jerusalem has fallen from its place as God’s chosen dwelling place.
Specifically, children had been sacrificed in the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna to other gods. This valley would be forever tainted by the memory of such terrible actions. In fact, even today this valley still holds this evil memory.
When the New Testament speaks of a future judgment it calls that place Gehenna, often translated into Hell. Does this mean that Hell “isn’t real?” Certainly not, but especially if Gehenna is a new concept, we would do well to pay attention to the language and concepts the Bible uses, and not the ones our culture uses.
So why does the New Testament use this word Gehenna? The evil that many wicked people had done will be turned back on them, and this is typified in perhaps the most terrible evil in the Bible, Gehenna. Apocalyptic literature was a common genre of writing in the centuries before Jesus and shortly after, writings like 1 Enoch, the Animal Apocalypse, and others which John the Revelator follows in style in the book of Revelation we have in our Bible. This genre of literature commonly picks up on archetypes in familiar texts, and uses those names, details, and features to describe a similar, but usually more cosmic, future that is coming.
So will Hell look like the Hell that many of us imagine? It’s maybe impossible to say. But in the destruction of Babylon in Revelation, the people of God rejoice because “God has judged her, with the judgment she imposed on [the people of God].” The point is not a sort of eye for eye retribution, but rather to inspire hope that the God who we see revealed in Jesus Christ has not abandoned us, and will ultimately deliver us and usher in true justice in the world.
