the rest of its body resembled that of a man. It was hollow within; and being heated by fire. children were laid in its arms and were there literaly roasted alive. We cannot wonder then at the severe terms in which the worship of Moloch is everywhere denounced in the Scriptures. Nor can we wonder that the place itself should have been called Tophet, that is abomination, detestation, (from Toph, to vomit with loathing.) Jer. xxxi. 32; xix. 6. 2 Kings xxiii. 10. Ezek. xxiii. 37, 39. After these Sacrifices had ceased, the place was desecrated and made one of loathing and horror. The pious king Josiah caused it to be polluted, 2 Kings xxiii. 10; that is, caused to be carried there the filth of the city of Jerusalem. It would seem that the custom of desecrating this place, thus happily begun, was continued in after ages down to the period when our Saviour was on earth. Perpetual fires were kept up, in order to consume the offal which was deposited there. And as the same offal would breed worms (for so all putrifying meat of course does,) hence came the expression, Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. It is admitted that the Jews of later date used the word Gehenna to denote Tartarus, that is, the place of infernal punishment. The question here to be discussed, is, whether this name is literally employed in the New Testament,' &c. &c. Thus far the professor.

A still higher authority, perhaps as high as can be adduced in such a case, is Schleusner, the cele

1 Exegetical essays on several words relating to Future Punishment, pp. 140, 141,

brated German author of the Lexicon on the New Testament. He says, 'Gehenna, originally a Hebrew word, which signifies the valley of Hinnom, is composed of the common noun Gee (valley,) and the proper name Hinnom, the owner of this valley. The valley of the sons of Hinnom was a delightful vale, planted with trees, watered by fountains, and lying near Jerusalem on the southeast by the torrent Kedron. Here the Jews placed that brazen image of Moloch, which had the face of a calf, and extended its hands as those of a man. It is said, on the authority of the ancient Rabbins, that, to this image, the idolatrous Jews were wont not only to sacrifice doves, pigeons, lambs, rams, calves and bulls, but even to offer their children. (Consult also 1 Kings xi. 7. 2 Kings xv. 3, 4.) In the prophecy of Jeremiah, (vii. 31,) this valley is called Tophet, from Toph, a drum; because the administrators in these horrible rites, beat drums, lest the cries and shrieks of the infants who were burned, should be heard by the assembly. At length, these nefarious practices were abolished by Josiah, and the Jews brought back to the pure worship of God. (2 Kings xxiii. 10.) After this they held the place in such abomination, it is said, that they cast into it all kinds of filth, together with the carcases of beasts, and the unburied bodies of criminals who had been executed. Continual fires were necessary, in order to consume these, lest the putrefaction should infect the air; and there were always worms feeding on the remaining relics. Hence it came, that any severe punishment, especially a shameful kind of death, was denominated Gehenna; and that likewise hell itself, the

miserable state in which the wicked after death are to suffer extreme and perpetual torment with the demons, was called by the same name, not only by the Jews,' &c. &c.1 Schleusner finishes the sentence by adding, but also by Christ and his apostles;' an assertion for which he brings no other support than the controverted usage of the word in the New Testament.

concur

Such, then, is the undisputed derivation of the term Gehenna. Our readers may find ring statements by other critics, in Mr. Balfour's Inquiry, ch. 1. §1. and ch. ii. § 1. We proceed to point out,

SECONDLY, The Peculiarity in the form of the Word.

By the foregoing and other similar statements concerning its derivation, one might be left to suppose that Gehenna was, at first, the usual, the current, Greek name of the valley of Hinnom. This, however, does not appear to have been the fact. Though put into a Greek form, and written in Greek letters, and though introduced into that language, it was no Greek word; but a modification, as any body may see, of the two Hebrew words, Gee Hennom, contracted into one.

This phrase, in Hebrew, is, literally, the valley of Hinnom: thus Gee, the valley; Hennom, of Hinnom. And so this place is always written in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament; except when it is called Gee Ben Hennom, the valley of the son of Hinnom, and when it is denominated Tophet. Now, when the Jews meant to give the

1 Schleusneri Lexicon in Nov. Test. sub voce Geenna.

proper name of the valley of Hinnom, in Greek, they did not generally adopt the word Gehenna, but used another form of expression. Instead of retaining the original Hebrew words thus contracted into a single term, they translated them into Greek, as we do into English. Pharangx, in Greek answers to the Hebrew Gee, signifying valley; and accordingly they said, Pharangx Hennom, literally, the valley of Hinnom; or, Pharanga whiou Hennom, that is, the valley of the son of Hinnom. Poluandrion also in Greek, has a sufficient relation to the Hebrew Gee, since it means a large cemetry, which was of course made deep; and accordingly they sometimes used this word instead of Pharangx. Such are the expressions by which we find the Jews commonly to have translated the corresponding Hebrew phrases, in their Greek version of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint; and since this was begun and finished by different hands and at different periods, during the two or three centuries before the Christian era, we may adduce it as proof of Jewish usages in those times. On this authority, therefore, we repeat, that when the Jews meant to express the proper name of the valley of Hinnom, in Greek, they commonly translated the phrase into that language, instead of simply combining the original Hebrew words. Still, we must observe that this was not invariably the case. In one solitary text, the Septuagint uses Gehenna itself for that purpose, though with a casual variation of the spelling: See Josh. xviii. 16, where we read that the border of the tribe of Benjamin' descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south,' &c.

Here, and here only, the Septuagint has the very word in question, spelt Gaihenna: a slight difference in orthography, by no means uncommon in writing Hebrew words with Greek letters. In two other passages we find a like combination of the Hebrew words, to express the longer phrase, the valley of the son of Hinnom. King Ahaz is said, (2 Chron. xxviii. 3,) to have 'burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and king Manassah afterwards, (xxxiii. 6,) to have 'caused his children to pass through the fire in in the valley of the son of Hinnom.' In both of these instances, the Septuagint represents the phrase marked in italics, by the untranslated compound, Gebenhennom,1 which is a mere transcript in Greek letters of the Hebrew words in the original text, Gee Ben Hennom; the Hebrew Ben signifying son. From these cases we

should infer, that although the Jews generally translated the expression, when they had occasion to speak or write, in the Greek language, the name of the valley of Hinnom, still it was not altogether unusual with them to retain the old Hebrew phrase, with more or less modification; as in the example of Gehenna or Gaihenna, for the valley of Hinnom, and Gebenhennom, for the valley of the son of Hinnom. We now turn to another train of facts.

1 In printed copies of the Septuagint, the editors have divided this compound into two words, ge Benhennom, and accented the former, to make it seem the Greek enclitic of that form. But it is manifestly the Hebrew Gee, spelt, as is Ben, in Greek letters. It might be divided into three terms, ge ben hennom; still, the words would be pure Hebrew, with nothing of Geeek, except the characters.