Hell, Hades & HaSatan – Yoel Halevi
Is there an evil entity in the world who is an adversary to God? What is Sheol? What does the Tanakh have to say about the underworld or an afterlife?
Is there an evil entity in the world who is an adversary to God? What is Sheol? What does the Tanakh have to say about the underworld or an afterlife?
This is a program that most Christian and Messianic leaders need to listen to and heed. THERE IS NO PRESENT DAY PLACE OF FIERY ETERNAL TORMENT CALLED ‘HELL’! The Christan and Messianic traditional view of HELL is as pagan as Sunday, Christmas and Easter. Early Church fathers such as Augustine, Tertullian and Jerome were all pagan converts that brought their paganism with them, Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation being the most influential of the lot via his use of various forms of the Latin word ‘inferno’ in place of the Greek word Hades which produces obvious pictures in the mind of the uniformed reader.
There are four words in the KJV translated as ‘hell’. They are;
1) Sheol, which is a Hebrew word which means ‘depths’.
2) Hades, which is a Greek word used to translate the Hebrew word Sheol. Hades also means ‘depths’ but brings along with it Greek mysticism which addresses what takes place in the depths of the underworld after death according to Greek mysticism.
3) Tartaroo, which is a Greek word which means ‘pit’ or ‘abyss’. It is used in reference to a place of bondage for fallen angels.
4) Gehenna, which is also a Greek word used to translate the Hebrew phrase ‘valley of Hinnom’, a refuse dump just south of Jerusalem.
If a person is willing to throw out the Greek mysticism connected to the Greek word ‘hades’ you can then look without finding a ‘present day play of fiery eternal torment’ in our bibles. Truly, ‘hell’ has no place in our bibles today and there are a few translations which do not have the word ‘hell’ in them.
The plan of YHWH is to save ALL MANKIND, it will not be thwarted! Even though ALL MANKIND will be saved eventually there are two resurrections, the first of which is that of the Bride of Messiah, the Elect. They are those of the ‘better resurrection’. Truly YHWH is ‘ENDLESSLY MERCIFUL’! HalleluYAH and AMEIN!!! More information can be found at http://tentmaker.org/
Two thoughts: Would like to know your take on the RichMan and Lazarus PARABLE in the gospel of Luke.
Also, it occurred to me, if it is an abomination and against Torah to pass our children through the fire, then isn’t the doctrine of burning in hell forever against Torah? Why would God pass His children through the fire? Seems like he’d be the hypocrite of hypocrites.
Excellent program. Thank you so much Yoel and Jono.
Joseph – it was just that – an allegorical parable… nothing more.
In terms of burning in fire… those statements actually first came from the prophet Isaiah that the fire would never be quenched for the rebellious. By definition though – someone who rejects God’s covenant is not His child.
I agree that people put too much emphasis on evil forces. God is always ultimately in control. He can stop anything at anytime.
As far as Sheol – yeah that’s Greek mythology of “Dante’s Inferno”. David is clear in the psalms that even if he made his bed in Sheol – he still couldn’t hide from Yahweh.
Does anyone know of any good books on this subejct?
G’day Derrick, honestly, go to the source, the Tanakh, and examine all relevant passages using a word search, a concordance, or a good cross-reference tool and come to a conclusion. There is no end to wacky opinions on the topic and I find it much easier to reason with related verses. Study well! 😉
Thanks for the insight Jono and Yoel.
One question: How does the serpent in Genesis relate to the topic? Is this similar to what you both discussed in regards to Job, or was it simply a serpent that deceived Adam and Eve?
Thnaks
Shalom J. Padilla,
Just piping in here but the snake in the garden was simply that, a talking snake. Snakes obviously have lost their ability to talk but still have the ability to affect us greatly, just as the Scripture says. Maybe designed so we don’t forget?
Shalom,
Dev
Wow! Good stuff! Finally someone discussing and agreeing with what I THOUGHT I’d been finding…or not finding (burning for eternity in some place called hell)…in some cases, in the words. Thank you so much!
Shalom all,
To Ken Alder: for your own good, please stay away from the website to which you posted a link. James 2:19 says, “You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.” There are those who may believe that “hell” is not a place of eternal torment, but whose words, actions and way of life do not please the Almighty. They will not be good influences upon the ones who sincerely seek to know and OBEY truth.
To Jono,
About that website link, the owner of that website is contentious, anti-semitic and anti-nomian, among his other offenses. I know whereof I speak. To discuss this further, you may email me.
Thank you – this is an excellent discussion.
Greetings folks.
Some of you have asked if there are any good books on this topic. Obviously we need to read the Tanak and make discerning interpretations. However, there are many many cultural and historical connections that shore up the truth of no Satan found in the Scriptures. Reading the Tanak is great but adding a research based treatment of the passages has been helpful to many readers of my books. Please consider exploring the four volume “Imagine No Satan” series. I will happily send out any of the volumes for free in e-book form if you’re interested. It is always hard to shamelessly plug one’s own books but readers are finding answers to every reference to Satan in the Tanak and the Brit in this work. I always tackle the issue from the following perspective. If there is none Like Yahweh how can Satan exist and be so much like God? Is it not dualism to believe in a second lesser deity like being? And after that thought, I consider, if there is no Satan, devil, or demons, there has to be a possible answer for all those references in the Bible. What was the writers intention and how did audience relevance play into the message that was first spoken then written by the author.
All the best
James R. Brayshaw
G’day Jono & Yoel,
I appreciate your perspective since I am learning to de-greekify my understanding of my Creator and his Torah. I enjoyed the Heaven and Hell segment very much, thank you! However, in making some of the assertions about HaSatan one passage sticks out for me that seems to describe the sin and fall of a “Guardian Cherub” in Ezekiel 28:12-19.You guys didn’t mention this at all. Here we have a divine being described with access to the throne room of Elohim who is cast out and destroyed from the Earth. I realize that is is supposed to be the King of Tyre, but how could he have been “in Eden” or have “perfect beauty”, etc? I would love to hear you do an hour on this piece of scripture Jono. Bring in some heavy hitters in the Hebraic tradition like Yoel, Ira and Nehemia to break apart this very deep bit of Scripture, I bet it would be very enlightening in this complex question about Heaven, Sheol, demons and HaSatan.
Be Blessed,
-Chris Dees
G’day Chris, Thank you for your question. We didn’t mention the passage because it is clearly about the King of Tyre while employing figurative speech. Think of this, in order for the reference of “Eden” to seem relevant to to the topic one must first adopt a traditional Christian presupposition and apply it to the text. That is to say that the snake in Eden was a character by the name of Satan. Genesis makes no such claim, it simply says it was a snake.
Jono,
I see your point, however there are multiple references to perfection and the divine here:
Verse 11: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. – Perfection outside of Heaven????
Verse 14: You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. – I thought “the stones of fire” exist only on the way from Mount Zion into Heaven. (Book Of Enoch)
This looks like multiple witnesses to something created that was of the host of heaven and not human. Something in the spirit world that was perfect, yet succumbed to sin? It seems unlikely to me that this is a purely allegorical/metaphorical passage based on these very non-human, no earthly descriptions. Just my 2 cents…
Thanks,
-Chris Dees
Interesting that the angel/man that fought with Jacob didn’t want to reveal his own name.