Ge-Hinnom
The Hebrew name Ge-Hinnom, more rarely also Ge-Ben-Hinnom (גֵי־הִנֹם respectively גֵי־בֶּן־הִנֹם) is a place name in biblical Judea, rendered in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) in the Greekised form Gehenna. The Hebrew term literally means "Gorge (Ge) of Hinnom" or "Gorge of the Son (Ben) of Hinnom".
In biblical times, the gorge was located in the border area between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, between the Refaim Valley and Ein Rogel. Gehinnom is first mentioned in the Book of Joshua as a deep, narrow ravine at the foot of the walls of Jerusalem. (Joshua 15:8) The ravine lies to the south of the Old City of Jerusalem, extending from the foot of Mount Zion eastward to the Kidron Valley, and can still be visited today. In royal times, child sacrifices were offered to Moloch in Gehinnom as well as in Tophet. The prophet Jeremiah condemned this cult several times and predicted that for this reason Tophet and Gehinnom would be called the "Valley of Murder". (Jeremiah 19:6)
Metaphorically, Gehinnom refers to a place of punishment for the wicked after death or the entrance to the underworld, to hell. In this meaning, the term is also used in the New Testament in the Greekised form Gehenna. The Arabic equivalent in the Koran is Jahannam.
In the anthroposophical context Gehenna also means the purification fire of the soul after death, which is also called Kamaloka (Indian).
Literature
- Encyclopedia Judaica, Volume 7, p. 357.
- Klaus Bieberstein: Die Pforte der Gehenna. Die Entstehung der eschatologischen Erinnerungslandschaft Jerusalems. In: Bernd Janowski u.a. (Hrsg.): Das biblische Weltbild und seine altorientalischen Kontexte (Forschungen zum Alten Testament; 32). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, ISBN 3-16-147540-2, p. 503-539.
