Gehenna to Hell

[rogue06]

That doesn't really answer my question. Were the Jews under the impression hell was a doddle before Jesus compared it to Gehenna?

I don't think that the one follows the other any more than thinking that the Jews thought the heaven was crappy before Jesus compared it to finding treasure

[whag]

Not that I know of. For all I know, it might have been a garbage dump... I just can't be dogmatic about it. Incidentally, I find it interesting that Jeremiah 7:32-33 predicts it would become a place to burn corpses.

That verse seems to be about burial of a large amount of corpses, plentiful enough to feed carrion. It doesn't mention burning. Was the number of executions really so large to warrant that hyperbole about no room?

32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

[37818]

That verse seems to be about burial of a large amount of corpses, plentiful enough to feed carrion. It doesn't mention burning. Was the number of executions really so large to warrant that hyperbole about no room?

32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray [them] away.

It was understood to be a place of burning.

[whag]

31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray [them] away.

It was understood to be a place of burning.

That's not a prediction that the valley would become a place where criminals would be burned on a trash heap. Rather, it's saying that because of the human sacrifice committed there, there'll be such an abundance of dead people that there'd be no room to bury them, which would leave a feast for carrion. Was there really such an abundance of executed criminals in Judea?