In this parable, called the parable of the two servants, it is illustrated by example that at the end of the aeon, at the coming of the Lord, there are two groups of people. There will be those who are alert and ready and they will enter the Kingdom on earth. Others will not endure to the end and will “sleep” or show their disbelief in other ways. About this last group it is said:
51 And he shall cut him off, and place his portion with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This concerns that part of the people who will not enter the Kingdom. The Lord will separate them from those who do inherit the Kingdom. Then there is a phrase about which there are many misunderstandings: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
weeping and gnashing of teeth
This expression is generally interpreted as the suffering of what one undergoes in hell. The grinding of the teeth would then be an expression of the pain one experiences there. But the Bible has no hell. The concept of hell is not found in Scripture and is invented by humans. At the deepest level, of course, Satan himself is behind this, who has thus turned the God of the Bible into a devil, who will torture and torment the majority of His creation in hell fire forever. To say that this is a caricature of the truth is an understatement. It is a devilish doctrine.
fury
Gritting of teeth in Scripture is never an expression of pain, but an expression of anger and frustration. When Stephen gives his speech to the leaders of the Jewish people, at a certain point they can no longer hear it and they shout in anger, stop their ears (Acts 7:57) and stone him.
Acts 7
54 When they heard these things, it cut through their hearts, and they gnashed their teeth against him.
Old Testament
In the Hebrew Bible we do not find the expression weeping and gnashing of teeth, but the gnashing of teeth is mentioned five times (Job 16:9; Ps.35:16, 37:12, 112:10 and Lam.2:16). Some point to Psalm 112:10 as a Scripture about gnashing of teeth and weeping:
Psalm 112
10 The wicked will see it and be angry; he will gnash his teeth and melt;
The craving of the wicked will perish.
melt
Melting in this verse is then another word for crying or weeping. The word is sometimes used to literally mean melting (Ex.16:14; Ps.68:2). But it also occurs figuratively, for example for the ‘melting of the heart’ (Josh.2:11; 2 Sam.17:10) and can therefore have to do with emotions. But there are no other texts where melting is a synonym for crying.
Be that as it may, gnashing of teeth in the Tanakh is never an expression of pain, but always of anger or enmity. Teeth are gnashed as an expression of anger.
Lamentations 2
16 They open their mouths wide against you, all your enemies. They hiss and they gnash their teeth. They say: We swallow them up! Yes, this is the day we hoped for. We found him, we saw him.
Job 16
9 His anger has found a prey, and he hates me. He grinds his teeth against me, my oppressor sharpens his eyes against me.
New Testament
The expression there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, we find seven times in the New Testament, six times in Matthew’s Gospel and once in Luke (Matt. 8:12; 13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). We have discussed Matthew 24:51 in this series and we will discuss Matthew 25:30 again. In the next blog an overview of the other Scriptures that speak of weeping and gnashing of teeth.