"Down to Gehenna"

"Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone" (Kipling). Yesterday, I did just that. I left early (alone) before anyone else was up and went on a long four hour hike before it got too warm. We are having a heat wave this week. So I wandered down to the Valley of Hinnom (Greek, Gehenna). This pretty little valley, unfortunately, doesn't have the best reputation. In Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, it is an accursed place, a gate to the underworld and a valley of torment. Where the Hinnom and Kidron Valley's meet, it's the lowest elevation of the city, so there's a sharp contrast between these two valleys and the Temple Mount well above them. 2 Kgs 23:10 sharply condemns people sacrificing their own children here to the god, Molech. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah both promise that Molech himself will be burned there. Indeed, there are a few accounts in the Bible of Judah's kings taking the images and idols of pagan gods and burning them there near where the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys meet. Also, there's a Christian tradition that this is near the place where Judas killed himself. Jesus famously said that if there's a part of your body that causes you to sin, cut it off! It's better to enter heaven with a missing member of your body than your whole body be cast into Gehenna.

The valley is full of old rock-hewn tombs like this one.