{Into hell, into the unquenchable fire} (eis t(886e) geennan,
eis to p(9672) to asbeston). Not Hades, but Gehenna. Asbeston is
alpha privative and sbestos from sbennumi to quench. It
occurs often in Homer. Our word asbestos is this very word. Mt
18:8 has "into the eternal fire." The Valley of Hinnom had been
desecrated by the sacrifice of children to Moloch so that as an
accursed place it was used for the city garbage where worms
gnawed and fires burned. It is thus a vivid picture of eternal
punishment.
|