"Disgraced" in the Lake of Fire?

[Rotherham]

"Disgraced" in the lake of fire?

The Greek VERB "basanizo", rendered as "will be tormented" at Revelation 20:10 in most Bibles, has created much discussion as to its intended meaning.

Its root word noun is basanos and is rendered as "torment" in most translations. However, as has been pointed out in most lexicons and other publications, the primary meaning of the word is "the touchstone", which in our language is rendered "basanite". The verb would be "to test by the touchstone". "Basanizo" is often given the primary meaning in the lexicons of "to test by the touchstone".

Basanite is a stone that can be used to reveal whether something is made of gold or not, such as "fool's gold". If true gold is scraped against Basanite, it makes a distinguishing mark that reveals it to be true gold, as opposed to something fake.

It is a fitting symbol in connection with something that has been shown to be revealed as fake or invalid. The claims of Satan and his cohorts, in the end, could be said to have been "touchstoned" for all eternity, as their claims of sovereignty will be shown to be invalid.

Naturally, such a revelation that reveals ones claims as invalid is a humiliation, a shame or a disgrace to that individual.

Interestingly, it appears that the LXX translators regarded the word "basanos" as a direct parallel to a Hebrew word that means exactly that; shame, humiliation or disgrace. If this can be demonstrated as true, is this not a meaning of the word that has been overlooked by many translators of the Christian Greek scriptures? Could it be then, that humiliation, shame or disgrace is a valid rendition for the word "basanos" and its verbal derivations in the Christian Greek scriptures?

In other words, rather than saying that Satan and others will be tormented in lake of fire forever, it would be that they would be "disgraced", "shamed" or "touchstoned" in the lake of fire forever. It's readily defended that the lake of fire is a place of destruction, of death, and the enemies of God will certainly be disgraced eternally by means of their destruction in the lake of fire. Their claims of sovereignty and slanders against God will have been "tested by the touchstone" and shown to be invalid, resulting in their eternal disgrace, their eternal "basanos"=disgrace, shame, humiliation.(according to LXX usage)

In fact, many other verses incorporating the word "basanos" and its derivatives could read much the same.

Rev. 14:10,11:
The same shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his
indignation; and he shall be
DISGRACED (basanizo) with fire and
brimstone (destruction) in the presence of
the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb:

And the smoke of their
DISGRACE(basanos) ascendeth up for ever
and ever: and they have no rest
day nor night, who worship the
beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark
of his name.

Rev. 18:10, 15

Standing afar off for the
fear of her DISGRACE(basanos), saying,
Alas, alas, that great city
Babylon, that mighty city! for
in one hour is thy judgment
come.

The merchants of these
things, which were made rich
by her, shall stand afar off for
the fear of her DISGRACE(basanos),weeping and wailing,

Not that every instance of the word would lend itself to that particular meaning, but many, if not most, would.

So this could help us to understand the divine choice behind the word "basanizo" when speaking of the fate of Satan and others. Leaving the word rendered as "torment" conjures all sorts of wrong ideas and seems, for many, to lend support to the idea of "eternal torment", because in English, that's exactly how it reads. How much easier it would be to see it as "disgrace" or something similar, as it is used in the LXX.

Notice the evidence as found in the LXX:

Ezekiel 16:52,54

VERSE 52- Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own SHAME for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy SHAME, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

In the Hebrew the word for SHAME in both occurrences is kelimmah.

It is defined as follows:

kelimmah:
disgrace, reproach, shame, confusion, dishonour, insult, ignominy
a. insult, reproach
b. reproach, ignominy

In the KJV, in the 30 times that the word occurs in the Hebrew, it is rendered as; shame 20, confusion 6, dishonour 3, reproach 1

Verse 54 of the same chapter displays the same scenario with the word kelimmah:

54 That thou mayest bear thine own SHAME, and mayest be CONFOUNDED in all that thou hast done , in that thou art a comfort unto them.

Again, SHAME answers to kelimmah and CONFOUNDED answers to the Hebrew kelal, which is defined as :

1
to insult, shame, humiliate, blush, be ashamed, be put to shame, be reproached, be put to confusion, be humiliated.

The word occurs 38 times and the KJV renders it as:

ashamed 12, confounded 11, shame 7, blush 3, hurt 2, reproach 2, confusion
Two more examples can be shown to demonstrate this same pattern of words and meanings.

Ezekiel 32:25 and 30

Ezekiel 32:25
25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their SHAME with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.

Ezekiel 32:30
30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their SHAME with them that go down to the pit.

In both cases the Hebrew word rendered as SHAME is kelimmah.

However, when comparing the LXX equivalents to these words that were used, an interesting feature arises as to the word that we generally render as torment, that being "basanos" or the verb "basanizo"

In the LXX we read at Ezekiel 16:52

52: "And carry your TORMENT! (basanos) by which you corrupted your sisters in your sins which you acted lawlessly above them above yourself. And you, be ashamed and take your dishonor! in that you justified.

Again notice how the Hebrew reads and notice the relevant Greek expressions used as equivalents of the Hebrew ones.

Here are the two pieces side by side and note that the word "torment" is used as an equivalent for the Hebrew "shame".

Hebrew:
Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own SHAME (kelimmah) for thy sins

Greek
"And carry your TORMENT!(basanos) by which you corrupted your sisters in your sins

This comparison reveals that the Greek word "basins" can be regarded as semantically equivalent to "kelimmah". This should underscore the non-necessity of rendering "basanos" as "torment", but rather as "shame" or "disgrace" or “ignominy" based upon LXX usage.

The same occurs when we compare the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures shown above with the LXX.

Ezekiel 16:54 Hebrew:
54 That thou mayest bear thine own SHAME,(kelimmah)...

Greek LXX

So that you should carry your torment (basanos)...

Ezekiel 32:25 and 30

Eze 32:25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their SHAME (kelimmah) with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.

30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their SHAME (kelimmah) with them that go down to the pit.

GReek LXX
verse 25 is combined with verse 24 in the LXX:

24+25-There is Elam and all his force surrounding his tomb, all the slain having fallen by the sword and the ones going down uncircumcised into the earth of the depth, the ones putting the fear of them upon the land of life, and they took their TORMENT(basanos) with the ones going down into the pit in the midst of the slain.

verse 30 There are the rulers of the north, all these, all the commandments of Assyria, the ones going down with the slain, with the fear of them. And in their strength being ashamed they sleep uncircumcised with ones slain of the sword and they carry away their TORMENT (basanos) with the ones going down in to the pit.

In all the above cases the Hebrew kelimmah, which means disgrace or shame or ignominy is rendered by the Greek basanos, demonstrating their semantic equivalence when it comes to definition.

Therefore, references to basanos and the verbs derived from it, could refer to the disgrace, shame or dishonor that they receive from being touchstoned, obviously drawing from the idea of being examined and found guilty or invalid, resulting in everlasting shame, disgrace and dishonor.