Jewish Fables
A significant proportion of
common modern mythology about the nature of Hell has been
derived from apocryphal writings of the few centuries just
before and after the time of Christ on Earth in the first
century. Some of these were written by Jews, some written
by early Christians who were obviously using earlier Jewish
writings as part of their source material.
For an
extensive overview of the nature and content of
apocryphal writings, see the article
"Where Angels Fear to Tread" on the companion website
Answers About Angels. For a summary of historical and
modern Jewish speculation on the nature of Hell and the
Afterlife, see "The Jewish View of Hell"
elsewhere on this website.
The following excerpts from such
writings are provided as a sample of this type of literature. At
this early date you can see the extra-biblical notion that
individuals are tortured for eternity in Hell with "customized"
tortures that reflect the nature of the sin that loomed largest
in their life. The first two excerpts are from Jewish writings,
the third from an early Christian apocryphal writing which is
thought to date to the second century AD.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/journals/jras/1893-15.htm
Hebrew visions
of Hell
I.
THE REVELATION OF MOSES. (A.)
Heaven, Hell, and Paradise.
(Gedulath Mosheh, Amsterdam,
1854, v. Jellinek, Beth-hammidrash, II. pp. x., xiv. ff., and
xix-xx.)
35.
Moses saw there men tortured by the angels of destruction. Some
of the sinners were hanged by their eyelids, some by their ears,
some by their hands, and others by their tongues, and they cried
bitterly. And he saw women hanging by their hair and by their
breasts and in such like ways, all were hanging by chains of
fire.[1]
36.
And Moses asked the Lord of Hell, and said "Why are these hanged
by their eyes and by their tongues and are so fearfully tortured
and so sorely punished?" And the master of Hell answered:
"Because they looked with an evil eye at fair women, and at
married women, and at the money of their friends and neighbours,
and gave false witness against their neighbours."[2]
37.
Also saw he in Hell men hanging by their sexual organs and their
hands were tied, and he asked: "Why do these hang?" The Lord
answered: "Because they committed adultery, and stole, and
killed, and murdered."[3]
38.
He saw other men hanging by their ears and their tongues, and he
asked: "Why are these hanging by their ears and tongues?" And he
answered: "Because they neglected the study of the law, and
talked slander and vain words and empty words.[4] The
women are hanging by their hair and breasts, because they used
to uncover their breasts and their hair before the young men and
desired them, and came thus to sin."[5]
39.
Hell cried then with a bitter and loud voice, and said to the
Master of Hell: "Give me the sinners, thatI may
destroy them." For Hell is always hungry and never satisfied,
and crieth always for the sinners to devour them, but hath no
power over the righteous.[1]
40.
Moses went further and saw two sinners hanged by their feet with
their heads downwards, and they cried by reason of the torture
of Hell, and their bodies were covered with black worms, each
worm 500 parasangs long. And these sinners cry and lament,
saying: "Woe unto us, for the terrible punishment of Hell; would
we could die." But they cannot die [as it is said: "They long
for death but it cometh not" (Job
iii. 21)].[2]
41.
Moses asked the master of Hell: "What acts have these
committed?" And he answered: "These are those who swore falsely,
and profaned the Sabbath, and despised the learned, and
persecuted the orphans; and gave bad names to their neighbours,
and bare false witness. Therefore hath God delivered them to
these worms to take vengeance on these sinners." And Moses
asked: "What is the name of this place?" And he answered: "Aluka
[as it is said; Aluka hath two daughters" (Prov.
xxx. 15)].[3]
42.
Moses went then to another place. There the sinners were lying
on their faces; and he saw two thousand scorpions swarming over
them and stinging them and torturing them, and the sinners cried
bitterly. Each scorpion has 70,000 mouths, and each mouth 70,000
stings, and each sting has 70,000 vesicles filled with poison
and venom, and with these are the sinners imbued and thus are
they tortured; and their eyes are sunk in their sockets for fear
and dread, and their cry: "Woe unto us, for our sins, and for
the day of judgment."[4]
43.
And Moses asked: "What have these committed?" And he answered:
"These have wasted the money of others; they have taken bribery,
and elevated themselves above others; they have put their
neighbours publicly to shame; they have delivered up their
brother Israelite to the gentile;[1] they denied the
oral Law and maintained that God did not create the world.
Therefore God has handed them over to the scorpions to be
avenged on them."[2]
44.
He saw there another place where the sinners stood up to their
knees; the name of that place is Tit hayaven ("miry
clay,"
Ps. xl. 3). Angels of destruction tie them up with chains of
iron and lash them with fiery whips, and they take fiery stones
and break with them the teeth of the sinners, from morning until
evening, and during the night they prolong their teeth again to
the length of a parasang in order to break them anew next
morning; [as it is said: "Thou hast broken the teeth of the
wicked" (Ps.
iii. 8)]. And the sinners cry: "Woe unto us, woe unto us!"
but nobody takes pity on them.[3]
45.
Moses asked the master of Hell: "What have these committed?" He
answered: "They ate all kinds of forbidden fruit and gave them
to Israelites to eat; they were usurers, and apostates and
blasphemers; they wrote the ineffable name of God for Gentiles;[4]
they had false weights; they stole money, and ate on the fast
day of Kippur [for whosoever eats blood, or reptiles, or worms,
and does not keep away from them is punished by being cut off],
these are for ever punished in Hell, and therefore God hath
delivered them to the angels of destruction to chastise them.[5]
46.
[He saw there further how they punish the wicked with fire and
snow; and torture them terribly.] The Lord of Hell said then to
Moses: "Come and see how the wicked are punished in Hell with
fire." Moses answered: "I dread to go." But the Lord of Hell
answered: "Go and dread naught," [as it is said: "Yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no
evil" (Ps.
xxiii. 4)].
47.
And Moses stood up to go, and he saw the Shekina moving
before him, so that he should not be in dread of the angels of
destruction. Each of these is full of eyes, and hath fiery
chains in his hands, and his length is 500 years' journey.
48.
Moses went and saw how the wicked were punished by fire, being
half in fire and half in snow, with worms crawling up and down
their bodies and a fiery collar round their necks, and having no
rest,[1] except on Sabbath days and Festival days.[2]
All (the other) days they are tortured in Hell. Of these speaks
the verse: "And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases
of the men that have transgressed against me, for their worm
shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched" (Isaiah
cxvi. 28 {sic
lxvi. 24}).
49.
And Moses asked the angel of Hell: "What have these committed?"
And the angel answered: "This is the punishment for those who
have committed adultery, sodomy, idolatry, and murder, and who
have cursed their parents. Therefore hath God delivered them to
the angels of destruction to be avenged on them."[3]
And Moses asked: "What is the name of this place?" And he
answered: "The name of it is Abadon."
50.
Thereupon Moses went up (to heaven) and said: "May it be Thy
will, O Lord, my God, and God
III.
THE REVELATION OF R. JOSHUA BEN LEVI. (A.)
Paradise, Hell.
(Orhot
Hayim II. Cod. 52, Montefiore College, f. 281b-282b;
Cod. 28, Jews' College, London, f. 145b-147a;
Jellinek, Beth-hammidrash, II. 48-51; with Agadath
Bereshit, Warsaw, 1867, fol. 51a-b; Kolbo, §
120; Zunz, Gottesdienstl. Vortraege, p. 141, No. e.)
20.
R. Joshua, son of Levi, tells further: "I asked the Messiah to
allow me to look into Hell, but he did not allow me, as the
righteous should never behold Hell." So I sent to the angel
called Komm that he might describe Hell for me. But it
was impossible, for at that moment R. Ismael, the high priest,
and R. Simeon, son of Gamaliel, and ten just men were killed,
and the news reached us, so I could not go with the angel. I
went afterwards with the angel Kipod and the light went
with me up to the gates of Hell, and the Messiah came with me,
and they were open. The sinners who were there saw the light of
the Messiah, and rejoiced, and said to one another: "This will
bring us out from here."[1]
21.
I saw compartments of ten miles length and of five width, full
of pits of fire, and these consume the sinners, and after their
destruction they are again made whole and fall again into the
fire. In that compartment are ten nations from the Gentiles, and
Absalom presides over them. These nations say one to another:
"Our sin is that we have not accepted the Law; but what is your
sin?" And the other answers: "That is also our sin, we are like
you." They say then to Absalom: "Why
[1. Ev.
Nicodem.]
p. 596
art thou punished, seeing that thou as well as thy parents hast
accepted the Law?" And he answers them and says: "Because I did
not hearken to the commandments of my father." Angels stand
close by and with their staves drive them back into the fire and
burn them. Then they hurry to Absalom to beat him also, and to
burn him; but a voice calls out to them: "Do not beat him and do
not burn him, for he is from the seed of Israel, who said 'We
will do and hearken,' and he is the son of my servant David." So
they leave him upon his seat and honour him with the honour of a
king. They bring out afterwards the sinners from the fire just
as if they had not been burnt and the fire had never touched
them; and they burn them again. This they repeat seven times,
three times at day and four times at night. Absalom alone is
saved because he is the son of David.
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/apocalypsepeter-mrjames.html
Apocalypse of
Peter
Uriel (Urael)
the angel of God shall bring forth the souls of those sinners
(every one according to his transgression: perhaps this clause
should end the preceding paragraph: so Grebaut takes it) who
perished in the flood, and of all that dwelt in all idols, in
every molten image, in every (object of) love, and in pictures,
and of those that dwelt on all hills and in stones and by the
wayside, whom men called gods: they shall burn them with them
(the objects in which they dwelt, or their worshippers?) in
everlasting fire; and after that all of them with their dwelling
places are destroyed, they shall be punished eternally. ...
Then shall men
and women come unto the place prepared for them. By their
tongues wherewith they have blasphemed the way of righteousness
shall they be hanged up. There is spread under them unquenchable
fire, that they escape it not.
Behold, another
place: therein is a pit, great and full (of . . ) In it are they
that have denied righteousness: and angels of punishment
chastise them and there do they kindle upon them the fire of
their torment.
And again
behold [two: corrupt] women: they hang them up by their neck and
by their hair; they shall cast them into the pit. These are they
which plaited their hair, not for good (or, not to make them
beautiful) but to turn them to fornication, that they might
ensnare the souls of men unto perdition. And the men that lay
with them in fornication shall be hung by their loins in that
place of fire; and they shall say one to another: We knew not
that we should come unto everlasting punishment.
And the
murderers and them that have made common cause with them shall
they cast into the fire, in a place full of venomous beasts, and
they shall be tormented without rest, feeling their pains; and
their worms shall be as many in number as a dark cloud. And the
angel Ezrael shall bring forth the souls of them that have been
slain, and they shall behold the torment of them that slew them,
and say one to another: Righteousness and justice is the
judgement of God. For we heard, but we believed not, that we
should come into this place of eternal judgement.
And near by
this flame shall be a pit, great and very deep, and into it
floweth from above all manner of torment, foulness, and issue.
And women are swallowed up therein up to their necks and
tormented with great pain. These are they that have caused their
children to be born untimely, and have corrupted the work of God
that created them. Over against them shall be another place
where sit their children [both] alive, and they cry unto God.
And flashes (lightnings) go forth from those children and pierce
the eyes of them that for fornication's sake have caused their
destruction.
Other men and
women shall stand above them, naked; and their children stand
over against them in a place of delight, and sigh and cry unto
God because of their parents, saying: These are they that have
despised and cursed and transgressed thy commandments and
delivered us unto death: they have cursed the angel that formed
us, and have hanged us up, and withheld from us (or, begrudged
us) the light which thou hast given unto all creatures. And the
milk of their mothers flowing from their breasts shall congeal,
and from it shall come beasts devouring flesh, which shall come
forth and turn and torment them for ever with their husbands,
because they forsook the commandments of God and slew their
children. As for their children, they shall be delivered unto
the angel Temlakos (i.e. a care-taking angel: see above, in the
Fragments). And they that slew them shall be tormented
eternally, for God willeth it so.
Ezrael the
angel of wrath shall bring men and women, the half of their
bodies burning, and cast them into a place of darkness, even the
hell of men; and a spirit of wrath shall chastise them with all
manner of torment, and a worm that sleepeth not shall devour
their entrails: and these are the persecutors and betrayers of
my righteous ones.
And beside them
that are there, shall be other men and women, gnawing their
tongues; and they shall torment them with red-hot iron and burn
their eyes. These are they that slander and doubt of my
righteousness. Other men and women whose works were done in
deceitfulness shall have their lips cut off, and fire entereth
into their mouth and their entrails. These are the false
witnesses (al. these are they that caused the martyrs to die by
their lying).
And beside
them, in a place near at hand, upon the stone shall be a pillar
of fire, and the pillar is sharper than swords. And there shall
be men and women clad in rags and filthy garments, and they
shall be cast thereon, to suffer the judgement of a torment that
ceaseth not: these are they that trusted in their riches and
despised the widows and the woman with fatherless children . . .
before God.
And into
another place hard by, full of filth, do they cast men and women
up to the knees. These are they that lent money and took usury.
And other men
and women cast themselves down from an high place and return
again and run, and devils drive them. [These are the worshippers
of idols] and they put them to the end of their witst (drive
them up to the top of the height) and they cast themselves down.
And thus do they continually, and are tormented for ever. These
are they which have cut their flesh as [apostles] of a man: and
the women that were with them . . . and these are the men that
defiled themselves together as women. (This is very corrupt: but
the sense is clear in the (Greek.)
And beside them
(shall be a brazier ?) . . . and beneath them shall the angel
Ezrael prepare a place of much fire: and all the idols of gold
and silver, all idols, the work of men's hands, and the
semblances of images of cats and lions, of creeping things and
wild beasts, and the men and women that have prepared the images
thereof, shall be in chains of fire and shall be chastised
because of their error before the idols, and this is their
judgement for ever. (In the Greek they beat each other with rods
of fire: and this is better.)
And beside them
shall be other men and women, burning in the fire of the
judgement, and their torment is everlasting. These are they that
have forsaken the commandment of God and followed the
(persuasions ?) of devils.
(Parts of these
two sections are in the Bodleian Fragment. At this point the
Akhmim fragment ends. The Ethiopic continues :)
And there shall
be another place, very high (corrupt sentences follow. Duensing
omits them: Grebaut renders doubtfully: There shall be a furnace
and a brazier wherein shall burn fire. The fire that shall burn
shall come from one end of the brazier). The men and women whose
feet slip, shall go rolling down into a place where is fear. And
again while the fire that is prepared floweth, they mount up and
fall down again and continue to roll down. (This suggests a
narrow bridge over a stream of fire which they keep trying to
cross.) Thus shall they be tormented for ever. These are they
that honoured not their father and mother and of their own
accord withheld (withdrew) themselves from them. Therefore shall
they be chastised eternally.
Furthermore the
angel Ezrael shall bring children and maidens to show them those
that are tormented. They shall be chastised with pains, with
hanging up (?) and with a multitude of wounds which
flesh-devouring birds shall inflict upon them. These are they
that boast themselves (trust) in their sins, and obey not their
parents and follow not the instruction of their fathers, and
honour not them that are more aged than they.
Beside them
shall be girls clad in darkness for a garment and they shall be
sore chastised and their flesh shall be torn in pieces. These
are they that kept not their virginity until they were given in
marriage, and with these torments shall they be punished, and
shall feel them.
And again,
other men and women, gnawing their tongues without ceasing, and
being tormented with everlasting fire. These are the servants
(slaves) which were not obedient unto their masters; and this
then is their judgement for ever.
And hard by
this place of torment shall be men and women dumb and blind,
whose raiment is white. They shall crowd one upon another, and
fall upon coals of unquenchable fire. These are they that give
alms and say: We are righteous before God: whereas they have not
sought after righteousness.
Ezrael the
angel of God shall bring them forth out of this fire and
establish a judgement of decision. This then is their judgement.
A river of fire shall flow and all judgement (they that are
judged) shall be drawn down into the middle of the river. And
Uriel shall set them there.
And there are
wheels of fire and men and women hung thereon by the strength of
the whirling thereof. And they that are in the pit shall burn:
now these are the sorcerers and sorceresses. Those wheels shall
be in a]l decision (judgement, punishment) by fire without
number.
Thereafter
shall the angels bring mine elect and righteous which are
perfect in all uprightness, and bear them in their hands, and
clothe them with the raiment of the life that is above. They
shall see their desire on them that hated them, when he
punisheth them, and the torment of every one shall be for ever
according to his works.
And all they
that are in torment shall say with one voice: have mercy upon
us, for now know we the judgment of God, which he declared unto
us aforetime, and we believed not. And the angel Tatirokos (Tartaruchus,
keeper of hell: a word corresponding in formation to Temeluchus)
shall come and chastise them with yet greater torment, and say
unto them: Now do ye repent, when it is no longer the time for
repentance, and nought of life remaineth. And they shall say:
Righteous is the judgment of God, for we have heard and
perceived that his judgment is good; for we are recompensed
according to our deeds.
This site contains a collection
of articles, on the topic of Hell and the Afterlife, that may
each be used independently for research purposes. But it also is
designed as a systematic, sequential overview of the whole
topic, which can be read like a book.
For those who would like to take
advantage of this perspective of the content, the articles are
arranged in the
Reading Guide as they would appear as chapters in a book, along
with a few reference chapters at the end such as would appear in
a book Appendix.
Use the
links below to go to the next article, previous article, or
first article
in the Reading Guide sequence.
←
→
Previous
Next
←←
Back to Beginning
PLEASE
NOTE:
No single short article can comprehensively cover
any aspect of the topic of Hell. If you have
questions or concerns regarding the material in this
article, be sure to first read through the site
FAQ before writing to the
author. It may already specifically address the very
points you are wondering about.
Unless otherwise
noted, all biblical references in this and other articles on the
Is It True What They Say About Hell? website are from the
New International Version (NIV).
All of the articles on this
Is it true what they say about Hell? website were written by Pam Dewey, with
the support and sponsorship of Common Ground Christian
Ministries. For more of Pam's inspirational and educational
writings, visit her Oasis
website.
All website content
© 2007, Pam
Dewey and Common Ground Christian Ministries
All rights reserved. Material may
be copied for personal use of the site visitor. For permission
to copy for any other purposes, please contact the author at
oasis7@gmail.com
