Thursday, 27 December 2018

Gehenna

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gehenna - the Greek name given for Hell; from the Hebrew Gei Hinnom, the name of a valley on the south-west of Jerusalem where the rubbish was burned. Matthew records Yeshua as talking about "the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei Hinnom" (Matthew 5:22, CJB).

Talking about hell has fallen out of favour in recent years - the world doesn't find it encouraging or positive - and is generally unhelpful in Jewish circles. But it reminds me of Micahel Wyschogrod, who wrote that he is profoundly grateful to Karl Barth for teaching him about the sinfulness of Israel described in the pages of the Bible. Without Barth, Wyschogrod explains, he would not have understood about this as the repeated and all-encompassing sin of Israel is simply not talked about in the Jewish world - this may give us a different way to converse with our Jewish friends and neighbours who don't yet know Yeshua.