Where their worm does not die and the fire is not extinguished

 

Mark 9:48 “where their worm/tola does not die, and the fire/asham is not extinguished.”

 

Mark 9:47 “If your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of the Elohim having one eye than you having two eyes and to be thrown into geyhinnom,”

 

‘Worm does not die & fire is not quenched’ is a phrase used to teach man is eternal and hence, the consequences of his sin is eternally being burnt in fire. This kind of understanding is a poor & a shallow understanding of scripture and why Yahusha spoke of this quoting YashaYahu 66:24

 

Isa 66:24  “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm/tola H8438 shall not die, and their fire/ash H3518 not be quenched. And they shall be repulsive to all flesh!”

 

The context:

 

Isa 66:20  “And they shall bring all your brothers as an offering/minchah H4503 to יהוה out of all the nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My set-apart mountain Yerushalayim,” declares יהוה, “as the children of Yisra’ěl bring an offering/mincah H4503 in a clean vessel into the House of יהוה. 

Isa 66:21  “And from them too I shall take for priests – for Lěwites,” declares יהוה.

 Speaking about Yasharal coming to Himself from one renewal to another and from one Shabbath to another, Yahuah speaks of His people brought to Himself as a minchah offering in a clean vessel. Minchah offering was usually bloodless, KJV translates it as meat offering for they would not see any offering without shedding of blood. If anyone who couldn’t afford a goat/bull/sheep/ram etc had an option to offer 2 turtle doves which was a poor man’s offering. If anyone couldn’t offer the poor mans two turtle dove offering, the minchah offering was to be offered on the brazen altar on the same ram/sheep/goat/bull offering by the one who could afford it.

 

Lev 5:11  ‘But if he is unable to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he who sinned shall bring for his offering one-tenth of an ěphah of fine flour as a sin offering. He puts no oil on it, nor does he put any frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. 

Lev 5:12  ‘And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his hand filled with it as a remembrance portion, and burn it on the slaughter-place according to the offerings made by fire to יהוה. It is a sin offering. 

Lev 5:13  ‘And the priest shall make atonement for him, for his sin that he has sinned in any of these, and it shall be forgiven him. And the remnant shall be the priest’s, like a grain offering/minchah H4503.’ ” 

 

The only difference between the sin offering minchah of 1/10^th ephah fine flour and the fresh grain minchah was that in the sin offering minchah no oil and frankincense should be poured in it (Lev 5:11) whereas in the fresh grain offering minchah both oil & frankincense had to be poured in it

 

Lev 2:1  ‘And when anyone brings a grain offering/minchah H4503 to יהוה, his offering is to be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it, 

Lev 2:2  and he shall bring it to the sons of Aharon, the priests, and he shall take from it his hand filled with fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a remembrance portion on the slaughter-place, an offering made by fire, a sweet fragrance to יהוה. 

Lev 2:3  ‘And the rest of the grain offering is for Aharon and his sons, most set-apart of the offerings to יהוה by fire. 

 

For details you may refer to my detailed note on this titled ‘The manchah offering’ on my blog.

You could read it here: https://dsouzashodan72.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-manchah-offering.html

 Qayin and Hebel offered their minchah yearly sin offerings and Qayin’s minchah offering was rejected for it was not accompanied by the slaughter offering on the altar, whereas Hebel’s minchah was accepted because it was accompanied as in the order it was taught to him by his father Adam by word of mouth. The Torah portion came written much later with the instructions documented for Yasharal to follow.

 

Yasharal in dispersion comes back to Yahuah as an offering in clean vessel as the minchah offering was brought & from them Yahuah says he shall take for priests. The clean vessel is Mashiyach, we can only return back to Yahuah in Him to be acceptable as the minchah on the slaughter offering on the altar who is Yahusha Ha Mashiyach Himself.

 

Exo 29:38  “And this is what you prepare on the slaughter-place: two lambs, a year old, daily, continually. 

Exo 29:39  “Prepare the one lamb in the morning, and the other lamb you prepare between the evenings, 

Exo 29:40  and one-tenth of an ěphah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering, with the one lamb. 

Exo 29:41  “And prepare the other lamb between the evenings. And with it prepare the grain offering/minchah H4503 and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet fragrance, an offering made by fire to יהוה – 

 

According to Torah daily & continually 2 lambs were to be offered, one in the morning and the other between the evenings along with the minchah offering & drink offering which was fulfilled by Yahusha. The 9am and 3pm time (3^rd hour & 9^th hour) was also the time of incense offering because the fire from the slaughter offering (brazen altar) was to be taken to the incense altar on which incense was offered. Aharon’s sons Nadab and Abihu were killed by Yahuah as the source of the fire of their incense offering was not from the fire from the altar of slaughter offering.

 

The ones coming to worship Yahuah will go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Yahuah

 

 Isa 66:24  “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses/peger H6297 of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire not be quenched. And they shall be repulsive to all flesh!

 

If one interprets to show that the worm doesn’t die and fire not quenched to mean eternal hell then they are missing to see the Hebrew word ‘peger’ which means dead body. The other thing missed is the word ‘geyhinnom’ translated as hell in English (from Greek ‘Gehenna’).

 

2Ki 23:10  And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Moleḵ. 

 

Jer 7:30  “For the children of Yehuḏah have done what is evil in My eyes,” declares יהוה. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My Name, to defile it. 

Jer 7:31  “And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart. 

Jer 7:32  “Therefore see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when it shall no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they shall bury in Topheth until no room is left. 

Jer 7:33  “And the corpses of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them away. 

 

Geyhinnom was the valley of the Son of Hinnom where once Yasharalites in their abominable works made their sons and daughter pass through the fire to the pagan gad Molek which YoshiYahu defiled. This became a dumping ground for carcasses of some criminals, garbage, skins of the beasts slaughtered in the temple etc. A perpetual fire burned here because of the dumping of the continual skins & carcasses of animals with the rest being eaten by worms. This waste garbage is being compared to the people outside Yahuah’s covenant, not that they will burn in Geyhinnom continuously or that eternal worms would feed on them perpetually.

There is a contrast picture made here to Yahuah’s people offered with Mashiyach on the altar as minchah offering as daily & perpetually with fragrance & continual fire vs those outside of Yahuah’s covenant in the stench of maggots & perpetual waste of their carcasses as food for all the unclean birds and animals with fire burning continuously. 

The Hebrew word for worm is 'tola'. The red dye used in the tabernacle of Masha (Mishkanoth) came from a crimson tola who clung to a tree, the worm would die when pulled off from the tree from whom this red color dye was made. I have made a separate study on this which is on my blog 'The worm that clung on the tree to give us remission of sins'. You could read it here:

https://dsouzashodan72.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-worm-that-clung-to-tree-to-give-us.html

Psa 22:6  But I am a worm/tola, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

This is based on the Messianic Psalm where its said of Mashiyach that He is the worm & the red dye depicts his blood

The manna left over until morning bred worms/tola

Exo 16:19  And Mosheh said, “Let no one leave any of it until morning.” 

Exo 16:20  And they did not listen to Mosheh, so some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms/tola and stank. And Mosheh was wroth with them. 

Yahusha is the living Torah and belief in Him and obeying His commandments brings forth life because He became the worm who took the stench of our sins upon Himself in shedding his blood to set us apart. If one doesn't believe in Him & doesn't obey His commandments will be like the carcasses whose worm doesn't die and the fire doesn't quench, but it doesn't mean he/she will live forever burning in fire. It just means separation forever from Yahuah in His wrath.

The rest of the verse in Mark speaks of entering into life with one hand which depicts work accepted by Yahuah, one foot which depicts walking in the way of Yahuah and one eye which depicts the eye that perceives and sees the Torah of Yahuah. The hands , feet and eyes are most important in worshipping Yahuah and here it is an imagery for the body of Yasharal where parts of it are amputated so as not allowing the whole body to be defiled while the amputated pieces find their place in Geyhinnom burning in the perpetual fire and worm that does not. The redeemed body finds its completeness in Mashiyach, entering into life.

We have to be consistent in interpreting scriptures in the light of Torah. As time permits will put up a study on mortality of man vs immortality only received in Mashiyach, this note is just a tip of the iceberg.