Now, as we have shown that the word sheol does not signify a place of endless misery in the Old Testament, so neither can the word nades signify such a place in the New. And in Now, no 2. The first time hades occurs in the New Testament, it is used in reference to the city of Capernaum; of which city our Lord says, it "shall be brought down to hell." See Matt. 11: 23. Luke 10: 15, he says it "shall be thrust down to hell." one will pretend that the city of Capernaum was to be thrust into a place of endless misery in a future world. The word hades is used here in a figurative sense, to denote desolation and destruction. Adam Clarke says, "The word here means a state of the utmost woe, and ruin, and desolation, to which these impenitent cities should be reduced. This prediction of our Lord was literally fulfilled; for, in the wars between the Romans and the Jews, these cities were totally destroyed; so that no traces are now found of Bethsaida, Chorazin or Capernaum.” 3. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16: 19— 31, this word is used to denote the degradation and misery which came on the Scribes and Pharisees (of whom the rich man is the parabolic representative), when they died to all the privileges of the legal dispensation, were cast out of the gospel kingdom, and were brought into a lower state of degradation than they fancied the publicans and sinners (of whom the beggar is the parabolic representative) to be in. All the figures of this parable are drawn from the heathen notions respecting Elysium and Tartaros. Now, had our Lord believed the views of the heathen in regard to hades and its different apartments to be correct, he would not have drawn the figures of a parable from those views. Indeed, any attempt to do this would be to convert that which was designed for a parable into a literal relation of facts. that 4. The soul, or person, of Jesus Christ is spoken of as having been in hell. See Acts 2: 27, 28. Jesus was in hades, is, the grave, to be sure, after death; but does any man believe that he went to a place of endless misery after death? 5. In Rev. 6: 8, hell is spoken of as being in this world. "And I looked, and behold, a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." 6 Mankind are spoken of as being delivered from hell. Rev 20. 13, "And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them." Now, if the hell here spoken of was in a future state of existence, one thing is certain, those who were in it were not alive, but dead. How, then, could they suffer misery there? Another thing is very evident those who were in it were delivered from it, and no intimation is given that they were ever sent back again. If this text has reference to the literal resurrection, then the meaning simply is, that death and the grave, or hades, were to deliver up their dead. But it is not probable that the text refers to a literal resurrection. What John saw, he saw in a vision; and the vision is not to be interpreted literally any more than his other visions recorded in the same book. 7. In Matt. 16 18, we are told that "the gates of hell (hades) shall not prevail against the church of Christ." But, are we to understand by this that the gates of a place of endless misery should not prevail against his church? What danger was there of this? The word gates here is evidently used to signify power. Death, the common enemy of mankind, was in a thousand forms assailing the subjects of Christ's church, and he himself was to be brought under his dominion, and be made the subject of his pale realm. But a complete victory was to be obtained over death, and mankind were to be delivered from his power. Hence the powers of death and the grave could not prevail against the church of Christ. 8. In Rev. 1: 8, we are informed that Christ has "the keys of hell and of death." But has Christ the keys of a place of endless misery, in a future state of existence, called hell? Is it not supposed, by those who believe in such a place, that an all-powerful evil spirit, called the devil, has possession of those keys? If the keys of hell here mean the keys of a place of endless misery, over which such a being as we have just spoken of reigns, then Jesus must be the door-keeper for the devil. But who can believe this? No one. Jesus has the keys of death and of the grave; he can therefore enter the dominion of these powers, and deliver mankind from their cold and iron grasp. 9. The usage of hades in the New Testament exhibits as plain a resemblance to the grave, as sheol of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, as we have seen, the gates that guarded the entrance to the buri l-places of the Jews, are mentioned in connection with sheol. The same is true of hades in the New Testament. See Matt. 16: 18. We have seen, too, that the keys, by which these gates were opened, are mentioned in connection with sheol. This is also true of hades. See Rev. 1: 18. Again, the inmates of sheol are said to be the dead, the slain. So are the inmates of hades. See Rev. 20: 13. Once more; sheol is used as an emblem of degradation, moral impurity, punishment, etc. So, also, is hades. See Matt. 11: 23; Luke 10: 15, and 16: 23. If it be asked here "How could the quiet and peaceful grave be made an emblem of misery ?" I answer, we have before stated that the grave is a place of physical impurity, corruption and defilement. Hence it is a very appropriate emblem of moral depravity and degradation. And, as misery is the constant and invariable attendant of moral impurity, hence the idea of misery is associated with it. Besides, death precedes, the grave follows in quick succession. The act of dying is generally attended with pain; hence the agonies of dying are associated with the grave. In the common English ver. sion of the Scriptures the grave is used as the emblem of cruelty. See Solomon's Song 8: 6, "Jealousy is cruel as the grave.” 10. Hades, like sheol, is destined to be destroyed. 1 Co. 15: 55, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave (hades), where is thy victory?" If the reader will examine the connection of this text he will see that Paul was treating upon the subject of the literal resurrection of the dead. He shows that all mankind will be raised from the state of death, be changed from "mortal to immortality," from " corruption to incorruption," from "weakness to power," from "natural to spiritual," from "dishonor to glory," and that "death shall be swallowed up in VICTORY." Then he says the triumphant exclamation shall be made, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Paul undoubtedly had his eye on the passage which we have quoted from Hosea 13: 14, “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave (sheol), I will be thy destruction." What is signified by one of these passages is also signified by the other; and hence hades and sheol, in whatever way these terms may be understood, are destined to be destroyed. 11. The last we hear about hades in the New Testament it was "cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20: 14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." If the reader will examine the chapter of this book on the lake of fire, he will see that this lake of fire was in this world, and that the phrase "lake of fire" is used in the book of Revelation to signify total and entire destruction. To cast persons into the lake of fire, was to completely destroy them from off the earth. To cast death and hades, the grave or hell, into the lake of fire, was to completely destroy them, so that they would never more exist. For no one pretends that either death or the grave will exist in another world. But this language is highly figurative. Death, and the state of mortality, may be said to have been destroyed when Christ burst the bands of death, rose triumphant from the grave, and brought life and immortality to light. Hence Paul, speaking of Christ, says, "Who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." The believers in this gospel can look forward prospectively to the time when death and the grave shall be destroyed, and be no more forever. 12. Dr. Doddridge, on Rev. 1: 18, and Parkhurst, who quotes from Lord King's History of the Creed, chapter 4, says: "Hadees, or Haidees (as it is spelt in Homer or Hesiod), obscure, dark, invisible, from a, negation, and idein, to see. The invisible receptacle or mansion of the dead in general. Our English, or rather our Saxon, word hell, in its original signification (though it is now understood in a more limited sense), exactly answers to the Greek word hades, and denotes a concealed or unseen place; and this sense of the word is still retained in the eastern, and especially in the western counties of England; to hele over a thing, is to cover it." Dr. Campbell says: "As to the word hades, which occurs in eleven places of the New Testament, and is rendered hell in all except one, where it is translated grave, it is quite common in classical authors, and frequently used by the Seventy, in the translation of the Old Testament. In my judgment, it ought never, in Scripture, to be rendered hell, at least in the sense wherein that word is universally understood by Christians. The word hell, in its primitive signification, denoted only what was secret or concealed.” - Prelim. Dis. 6, part 2. Dr. Hammond says: "Among profane writers, it is clear that the word (hades) signifies not the place of the damned, no, nor any kind of place, either common to both or proper to either bliss or woe, but only the state of the dead." Annot. in loc. Donnegan defines this word thus: "Invisible; not manifest, concealed; dark, uncertain." Donnegan's Lexicon, p. 19. Dr Adam Clarke says: "The word hell, used in the common translation, conveys now an improper meaning of the original word; because hell is only used to signify the place of the damned. But, as the word hell comes from the Anglo-Saxon helan, to cover, or hide, hence the tiling or slating of a house is called, in some parts of England (particularly Cornwall), heling, to this day; and the covers of books (in Lancashire), by the same name, so the literal import of the original word hades was formerly well expressed by it." - Com. in loc. Concessions such as these, from such men, ought to satisfy every candid man that the words sheol and hades have been very generally and very greatly misunderstood. At the close of our remarks on Gehenna the reader will find some additional facts on this subject. TARTAROS. more "This word means that prison of the heathen, hades, in which they supposed that tyrants and other wicked beings were tormented in various modes. The word does not occur in the Bible. But in 2 Peter 2: 4, a verb, derived from this word, is used, tartaroosas, and is rendered cast down to hell,'literally, tartarused them. It is evidently a figure, used to denote severe punishment, imprisonment in a dark place." Tartaros was one of the departments of hades; and as we have shown that hades itself is to be destroyed, of course tartaros must cease to exist also. Hence it cannot be a place of endless misery. For an explanation of 2 Peter 2: 4, see our remarks on Jude 1: 6. It is there shown that the angels who are said to have been tartarused were human messengers, and that the punishment which was inflicted on them was of a temporal nature. As the word tartaroosas occurs but once in the Bible, no further remarks on it are necessary. For if sheol, hades nor Gehenna, either of them, signify a place of endless misery, of course it will not be pretended that tartaroosas signifies such a place. GEHENNA. Professor Stuart, of Andover College, says of this word: "The word Gehenna is derived, as all agree, from the Hebrew words Gee Hennom." To this, and in the opinion that this word signifies the valley of Hinnom, a place, near Jerusalem, where a continual fire was kept burning, to destroy the filth and dirt of that city, the following writers are all agreed: Adam |