words like hades

[marie glen]

This post is from "Hope For All Connection" group on FB.. but I forgot the poster's name already.. But I thought it is very interesting, so wanted to share it here..

Sorry about the length, but I had to hit this topic from numerous  angles.

Hades

I will present evidence why the Greek word Hades does NOT mean death and grave as we been led to believe.  However, some will say it means "the place of the dead", similar to the Hebrew word Sheol, and that my dear reader is the crux to the problem.  I'll address that shortly.

Important questions first needs to be asked...

In its origin and throughout history, did Hades always mean death or grave, or even "the place of the dead"?

Let's take a peek into history and find out, shall we?

I want to first only address the "death and grave" aspect. When did the word Hades possibly start meaning death or grave in the minds of men?

Probable answer:  Not to the minds of men in general, but potentially only to a select few Jews who were captured by Alexander the Great and brought back to Greece in 332 BC.

Did the word Hades exist before the publication of the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) in 132 BC, and if so, what did Hades mean at that time?

Answer:  338 years before the Septuagint was written, a Greek philosopher names Socrates, (born c. 470 BC, Athens [Greece]—died 399 BC),  and shortly thereafter He was followed by another Greek philosopher named Plato. 

Note:  They both wrote about the king of the underworld who went by the name of Hades, who later named his kingdom after himself.  In essence, over 300 years BEFORE the Septuagint was written, they and their culture had already defined Hades as something far different than death or a grave.

So you see...

"The place of the dead", as Jews would refer to as death or grave, simply didn't mean the same in the Jewish culture as it did in the Greek culture.

I have two more questions...

Is a tomb a place of the dead?  How about a grave?

If true, then why in the hell (pun intended) didn't the Greeks use their word for tomb or grave, instead of using Hades, if not for the purpose to support an agenda?

Example: Strong's Greek: 5028 τάφος (taphos) = a burial, hence a grave (the place for the dead body)

Morphology of Biblical Greek - θάβονται (thapto) = buried, to bury, entomb (the action required for the body)

But NO!  Instead, they intentionally used a pagan word, representing a pagan belief as in:  άδης = Hades

Intentionally, to support an agenda?

Notice how I didn't even use the adjective "hidden", as in a "hidden agenda", because history openly spells out what that agenda was with clarity.

The Greeks caused, and possibly instigated a Jewish civil war called the Maccabite war (168 BC), because the Greeks tried to ENFORCE CONVERSION to their PAGAN FAITH and REQUIRED USAGE of ONLY the Greek language.

Think about that for a moment...

It sure sounds like an agenda to me.

Is it a reach to wonder if the Septuagint, written only 36 years prior to the Maccabite war, was only the beginning and part of the Greek plan--by substituting Sheol for Hades, rather than their Greek word for grave, in order to enforce conversion of the Jewish populace to their pagan faith?

Moving on...

As I implied in the first paragraph, there's a need to examine the phrase--"the place of the dead".  This term is vague and cannot stand on its own merits as self-explanatory, it requires further clarification, and here's why...

By adding one little word to the phrase of:  "the place of the dead", one will get a completely different perspective than someone else.  Because of perspective, this phrase can easily be perverted in the mind depending on ignorance and theology.

As an analogy of what I'm trying to convey, let's use the phrase "a place for an apple".  What do I mean?  Am I talking about a tree, storage, or a pie?  It requires clarification... right?

My point...

By adding the word "grave" to define the place of the dead, most will imagine a place for the body. However, if I define the place of the dead by using the word Hades, most WILL NOT simply imagine a place for the body, but for the soul in an afterlife, and that afterlife is not a pleasant one.  There's a huge difference and the implications are enormous!

For those who endorse and flippantly use the word Hades as a place for the dead... you must consider the way the "average" person thinks, rather than just how you've been taught.  I implore you to reconsider.   

If you are one of the above, I have two challenges: First:  Ask anyone outside your immediate circle of influence what Hades means to them, and I guarantee most will redefine it as "hell".  That should tell you something.

Second:  Then I challenge you to JUDGE THE FRUIT in how they defined Hades--in how their interpretation slanders God.

Since Judaism never believed or taught of an afterlife, but focused in on a resurrection instead... That is why Sheol did not represent "the place of the dead" as an afterlife experience to them, but only as a place for the body.

On more than one occasion, both Jesus and Paul confirms this notion by referring to death as "sleep".  Does sleep sound like an afterlife experience to you?

However, one might claim how "the rich man died" in that parable.  First, it's a parable, and second, Jesus  purposely used the Hebrew word for "unseen", later translated in the Greek as:  (ἄδηλος  ádēlos from "not" and dḗlos, "self-evident" – properly, unclear, indistinct, not immediately obvious (evident); (figuratively) indefinite, uncertain; not evident (perceived), unrecognized, clandestine, secret, unknown, or understood). 

Notice how Jesus didn't use the word Sheol even though He was speaking to Hebrew speaking people, and the above definition fits the narrative of the parable, yet most agenda driven bibles use hell or Hades.

In conclusion...

I know word usage and meanings change over time, and I also know I'm coming against years of academia, language experts, and Bible scholars, but...

Judge the fruit the word Hades produces in the minds of the ignorant.  Why support an ancient Greek agenda?  Most importantly, why perpetuate the problem by endorsing a word that causes people to stumble?

Those who reject hell, but still embrace Hades is like a person who refuses to eat horse manure, but serves up a dish of dog crap.  It doesn't make sense!  (LOL)

The Why Guy

oh! the Why Guy.. initials of his name J.J. (I think)

I've been in the camp of thinking myth became attached to certain words.. And I've finally realized, or now believe the Lazarus parable - "the angels carried him to heaven" - the Lord was talking to the Pharisees and I think He was poking fun of them..  :2c: :Peace2: