Does the concept of Hell come from the Israeli name for a junkyard fire?
I heard it years ago in a television documentary. Is it true?
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3 Answers
My dictionary lists no definition containing anything like what you ask.
The term for hell in the New Testament is Gehenna, which comes from the Hebrew “ge’henom” meaning “valley of Hinnom” which was a place outside Jerusalem associated with pagan child sacrifice in fire. The area was said to be cursed because of that and was used later as a place where the city’s waste was burned. In the NT it’s associated with hell, which seems to also be a convolution with the OT “sheol” (which was more like an underworld where all the dead go and not specifically a place of punishment).
Keep in mind that the term Armageddon is simply a bastardization of the Har Megiddo. (meaning: Mount Megiddo)
Megiddo wikipedia article is now an archaeological site in northern Israel but it was a major city and commercial crossroads in Ancient times.
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