Part 2: Hades
The last article discussed the use of sheol in the Old Testament. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint) translates sheol with the Greek word Hades. Obviously, the intended meaning of the word doesn’t change with the translation, so whatever particular meaning we derived in the last article regarding sheol fully applies to Hades, at least as it was understood in the Old Testament. The reverse is also true, that the understanding of Hades in the Greek can inform our understanding of sheol—at least as it was when the last books of the Old Testament were written. The word Hades was also used to translate other words as well (“darkness” in Job 38:17; “silence” in Psalm 94:17; and “the pit” in Isaiah 38:18 and elsewhere).
According to Greek myth, Hades was the somewhat unpleasant abode of the dead. Everyone was believed to go there after death, regardless of how one lived their life, though later Greek myth divided Hades into three regions, where the dead were divided based on how they had lived. Clearly, this is different from what Christians believe about Hell. This is an example of Christians taking over something that was already in use and changing its meaning (just as Christmas had existed previously as a pagan winter holiday). This means care must be given to how we interpret Hades, not letting Greek mythological ideas slip past us, nor assuming that Jesus’ use of the word indicates agreement with the Greek concept.
Hades only appears 9 times in the New Testament (half in Revelation). Matthew often uses the image of fire in relation to Hell (Matthew 13:40, 42, and 50; 25:41-46). He also uses the well-known phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” to describe the suffering of eternal judgment (Matthew 22:13; 24:51, among others). This phrase and the fire of judgment are not necessarily used in relation to Hades, specifically, however. Matthew also records Jesus teaching that Hell is a place of eternal fire prepared for Satan and his followers (Matthew 25:41), though again, this is without using the word Hades.
Luke’s gospel also includes an intriguing description of Hades and Heaven in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). While it can be tempting to draw conclusions about the afterlife from this passage, doing so is probably stretching the purpose of this passage beyond Jesus’s intent. First, there is evidence of a rabbinic tradition that uses a similar set-up (someone in Heaven facing someone in Hell), which supports the likelihood that Jesus was merely using a well-known instructive genre to make a separate point. It is also very unlikely that souls can communicate between Heaven and Hell. Thus, it is unlikely that we can take anything more from this parable than the main point that if people reject God’s message in life, there are no second chances. Luke also refers to Hell as the “abyss” (Luke 8:31). There is no reason to think that this place is different from Hades. It is also interesting that Legion begged Jesus not to send him/them there when being cast out.
Finally, it is worth pointing out that compared to sheol in the Old Testament, Hades is used much less often, and with poetic or metaphorical language that makes it difficult to conclude much more than it being a place of eternal punishment for Satan and his followers (which includes fallen angels and unbelievers). Very often, eternal punishment was described with no place name at all in the New Testament. Next time we will finish our analysis with a review of the other New Testament word for Hell: Gehenna.
