The Misunderstood Hell

We've discussed how our translations deface God's character by telling us to fear Him to gain wisdom, among other things. But now, let's look at a few more verses that redefine God's character and abilities. Then we'll take what we learn and apply it directly to Hell doctrine and see if it matches up. We'll also prove something very interesting in the process.

The Aaronic Blessing is a well-known verse that just about everyone has heard before. It describes God's love toward us.

The original passage isn't bad, but it pales in comparison to a proper translation from an Ancient Hebraic perspective.

Before we translate it, though, let's look at a common translation from the Revised Standard Version.

The Aaron Blessing
The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26 RSV)

You're probably thinking What's wrong with that? It sounds loving. What's wrong with it is that it's translated into English using English concepts rather than Ancient Hebraic word meanings.

Let's read a more natural Ancient Hebrew translation of it which displays the full and accurate Hebraic word meanings courtesy of Jeff A. Benner, a renowned translator. You'll quickly see what's wrong with it.

Aaronic Blessing from a Hebraic Perspective

YHWH will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection.

YHWH will illuminate the wholeness of his being toward you bringing order and he will give you comfort and sustenance.

YHWH will lift up his wholeness of being and look upon you and he will set in place all you need to be whole and complete.

That's quite a bit different, isn't it? Remember the Ancient Hebrew word meaning for "perfect?" Mature in thought and action; having a sense of wholeness; complete. That's what the Aaronic Blessing says God will give you just from being in relationship with Him--wholeness, completeness.

How do you think that state of being would affect our behavior. "Son" is just an attempt to feel better because we don't accept the way we feel right now or may feel in the future if we don't get what we want. But if we feel whole and complete, we don't need to sin to feel better because we already feel great.

No wonder there's no sin in Heaven--we all feel great all the time, so we have no need to feel better.

The Aaronic Blessing is a glimpse into God's true nature as opposed to the dulled and often incorrect nature our current translations show.

What king have you ever heard of kneeling before his people and presenting gifts to them? That sounds more like a really wonderful, respectful friend.

Jesus said in John 15:15 - I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I have heard from My Father have I made known to you.

Jesus shows us what the Aaronic Blessing displays about God's true character...that He's our friend, not some despot ruler.

It's also important to understand what servant means. In those days, if you feel into debt to someone, you would serve them as a slave until your debt was paid, or until the next schmita year came. The schmita year was every seven year, at which time all slaves went free, all debts were forgiven, all land was given back to its original family of owners, no farming was allowed, and no work was allowed. Everyone rested for their seventh year, even the land.

They would prepare for the seventh year prior to its arrival, and probably purchased food from outside sources to make up for any food they were short on. However, we never see any record of Israel observing the schmita, though that's hardly proof that they didn't for certain periods of time.

The benefits were interesting. The land resting for a year meant the rains would remineralize the soil. If this doesn't occur, the land eventually doesn't product crops anymore, or at best, very unhealthy crops.

And as we discussed earlier, the divide between the rich and poor is lessened considerably by all debts being forgiven. That supports a very strong middle class, which is what today's economists say is the backbone of any economy. Also, one of the goals of Communism is to eliminate the middle class so that there's a very small upper class of elites and a huge lower class population to do the labor that produces the goods for the upper class and government.

Land being given back to families meant that no one was homeless for too terribly long.

The slaves going free meant that you didn't weren't enslaved for life like in other cultures.

And not working for a year gave the people a strong dose of the peace we have in relationship with God. We can only experience a small portion of that here, but in Heaven, we'll experience it to an unimaginable degree.

These were all revolutionary laws for those times. If you bought a slave from another country, you were essentially freeing them. Not immediately, but eventually. Slaves probably prayed to be bought by the Hebrews.

Do you see a trend of incredible love in God's character?

Is this a God who would throw people in Hell forever? I don't think so. There are tons of verses that says God's mercy endures forever and similar statements. So why on Earth would people think God would mercilessly make people suffer for eternity in Hell? Where's the mercy in that? Where's the love?

Would you be at peace in Heaven knowing your child and billions of others are suffering forever? I sure wouldn't. I'd want to save them just like Jesus saved me.

In the next chapter, we'll look at some of the key words regarding Hell that are mistranslated, giving us a completely inaccurate view of its purpose.

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