Today I want to answer the question of why the ancient Hebrews believed the way they did concerning the afterlife?
As I explained in my last post, in stark contrast to the modern gentile believer, the ancient Israelites for the most part believed that whatever reward or blessings they received from God happened only during this lifetime and were based on how obedient they were to God’s Law.
Their focus was on the here and now, NOT on some heavenly ideal to be enjoyed after death.
There is actually a very simple and logical reason for why they felt that way.
First, are you aware that the Old Testament contains practically zero information about what happens to somebody after death?
There doesn’t even appear to be a hint of the possibility of an afterlife.
Generally speaking, the ancient Hebrews believed that death was a natural end to existence, just as birth was its natural beginning.
This is not to say that they viewed death lightly or in a casual manner.
They just didn’t give much thought to what happened to a person after death.
Again, there focus was on LIFE and being blessed by HASHEM during their time on this earth.
Having said that, the ancient Hebrews actually did have a word to refer the the place of the dead.
They called it SHEOL.
However, what this word actually meant to the ancient Hebrews is far removed from what is taught in most churches.
Most pastors and bible teachers will say that SHEOL is just the Old Testament version of the New Testament term “hades”, which is normally taught as referring to hell.
However, to the ancient Hebrews SHEOL was NOT hell.
To their mindsets, it was basically the grave.
It was where BOTH the righteous and unrighteous ended up after death.
But again, they weren’t harboring this idea that one’s soul or disembodied intellect was in someway conscious of its existence in SHEOL.
Again, they just thought of SHEOL as the grave.
Death and the grave was a mystery to them, and SHEOL was just a word referring to that nebulous something which they had no clue was.
After Babylon from around 550 BC, the Hebrews did develop some ideas that there might be an afterlife after death.
However, they never entertained any thoughts that it could be much better than one’s life on earth.
Unfortunately, any thoughts about life after death are scattered in tiny snippets throughout the TANACH (Old Testament) and are difficult to piece together in an organized fashion.
One thing I can say for sure is that the Israelites didn’t have this idea of going to “heaven” where one would live in the presence of God for all eternity.
In fact, in the Old Testament, the general assumption was that SHEOL or the grave was what permanently SEPARATED one from God.
It is this notion of separation that leads some Christian pastors and Bible teachers to INCORRECTLY assume and then teach that Sheol was the “Old Testament version of hell“.
I say “incorrectly” because the TANACH makes it clear that ALL people descend to SHEOL upon death.
And again, to the ancient Hebrew mind, this was just another way of saying that all die and all go to the grave.
SHEOL was considered to be that great equalizer for all mankind.
It didn’t matter if you had led a righteous or wicked life, or were rich or poor etcetera.
It was the destination where EVERYBODY ended up after death.
Therefore, to the ancient Hebrew mind, what mattered was LIFE!
>>>>TANACH makes it clear that ALL people descend to SHEOL upon death.<<<
Yes! Correct! Jesus taught just that. Just about all religions of the time taught that. There is no place in the NT where we are taught we go to heaven. Heaven is the abode of God [if He would live anywhere]. It is a concept for us to visualize in our finite mind. In Revelations abode of God comes to earth when the Kingdom is finalized.
A place of torment [hell] in modern christian doctrine is really based on assumption and nothing more. Gehenna is a totally different subject that christians like to lump together with hell. There is no reference to "eternal torment in fire". Only the fire is referred to as eternal. But once again it is lumped together with hell and torment. God is described as the "Eternal Fire" and the torment for a short period of time. In Ezekiel satan is burned to ashes and ceases to exist. That was good enough for me to disregard the christian version of hell. God is Gehenna and the wicked are consumed by His Purity of Love because, corruption and darkness cannot exist in the presence of God. If there is any torment it proceeds from the persons hatred of being Loved, as that Love dissolves their being. They are being destroyed not of hatred but Love.
Pastor Russ,
Let me began by sayin,YOU ARE SO WRONG !!!
And miss leading in your teaching !
Isa. 33:14 “who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with EVERLASTING BURNINGS ?
Matt 25:41 “depart from me,you cursed, into the EVERLASTING FIRE prepared for the devil and his angels”.
The subject of the ungodly ending up in Sheol is all over the Old Testament. Yeshua (Jesus) refer to it as Gehena-a real place in Jerusalem – is a type of endless burning. Sheol- שאול in Hebrew refers to a place where the ungodly go to Ps. 16:9-10.Sheol in Hebrew can mean, a borrowed, or inquiry ( waiting place for the final judgement ?)
Rev 20:10 ” the devil,who deceived them,was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are,and they will be tormented day and
night FOREVER AND EVER “.
Daniel12:2 “and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,some to shame and EVERLATING CONTEMPT” !
Hell is not occupied as of yet- it’s prepared- waiting for the final judgement at the great white throneOf G-D
Rev. 20:11-15
Spirits live for eternity. They cannot be annihilated or put out of existing! “And they shall go forth, and look Upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against Me; For their worm shall not die, Neither shall their fire be quenched; And they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. ” Isaiah 66:24
Heaven and hell are as real as G-D is !!!
Lillian. I’ll give you a chance to re-read what you wrote and correct yourself before I begin. You think you are scriptural because you quote verses you don’t comprehend. You have been taught to change their meaning and don’t even realize it. Re-read them carefully without adding nor subtracting from what they say and it will be different than what you were taught to believe.
Dear Rich
>>>First, are you aware that the Old Testament contains practically zero information about what happens to somebody after death?<<<
There are a few spots of a foreshadowing on life after death and resurrection. For instance "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or Elijah being taken up in a chariot, or Enoch walked with God and was not because God took him or in the book of Job speaking about the day of resurrection and King David speaking about dying and seeing his baby which had died. I agree there is not much there and the focus was on present life. This is the same focus of Jesus' Gospel. His message was mostly present tense about life. The nonsense about pie in the sky was created much later. Also most of the time the saints were sleeping. It was not until Jesus taught about the rich man and beggar that we get a picture of consciousness after death. Yet there are NT references to the saints sleeping till the resurrection.
>>>> It is this notion of separation that leads some Christian pastors and Bible teachers to INCORRECTLY assume and then teach that Sheol was the “Old Testament version of hell“.<<<<<<
It is the same, let me explain. The problem with modern christianity is they have twisted many of the concepts in scripture to accommodate their vain imagination. Their teaching about hell is a vain imagination made up of a patch work of disconnected verses. Hell is "Sheol, Hades and the Grave [land of the underworld or dead]. Gehenna is not hell because "death and hell are thrown into the lake of fire [Gehenna]. Hell can't be thrown into its self. Let's use some commonsense here. In Sheol the rich man was in torment, but the beggar was not. The picture of desolation for the rich man was a scorched barren desert. Everyone living then understood that concept. The beggar was in a Garden of Eden scene; in comparison; located on the same plain of existence right across from each other. The only other conclusion to make is that Jesus is a liar if we disagree with His teaching. And there are many many so called Christians who are calling Jesus a liar when they teach about their version of hell.
Pastor Russ,
>>>>YOU ARE SO WRONG !!!And miss leading in your teaching !<<<>>Isa. 33:14 “who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with EVERLASTING BURNINGS ?<<>>Matt 25:41 “depart from me,you cursed, into the EVERLASTING FIRE prepared for the devil and his angels”.<<>>The subject of the ungodly ending up in Sheol is all over the Old Testament. Yeshua (Jesus) refer to it as Gehena-a real place in Jerusalem – is a type of endless burning. Sheol- שאול in Hebrew refers to a place where the ungodly go to Ps. 16:9-10.Sheol in Hebrew can mean, a borrowed, or inquiry ( waiting place for the final judgement ?)<<<>>>Rev 20:10 ” the devil,who deceived them,was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are,and they will be tormented day and night FOREVER AND EVER “.<<<>>Hell is not occupied as of yet- it’s prepared- waiting for the final judgement at the great white throneOf G-D<<<>>Spirits live for eternity. They cannot be annihilated or put out of existing! “….<<<<
Not according to the verses you gave me. The 2nd death! Death means death. You die and you cease to be in this physical life. You die the 2nd death and you cease to be in the spirit world, its that easy. Words mean things and not what we want them to mean. You are misleading people by changing the meanings of the words. Now who is wrong and doing the misleading; you or I?
(Rev 20:14 [UKJV])
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death
Death will die and cease to be. Yes! Death is going to die along with the Land of the dead. Sheol/ Hell will no longer be needed and cease to be. God the eternal burning fire will cleanse everything of corruption. Death and Hell must cease to be, because it is corruption.
How wonderful and beautiful is the Creator.
I am so thankful that God set me free from doctrines of demons and spiritual blindness.
I don’t know what happened during the post. Here it is again.
Pastor Russ,
>>Lillian wrote- YOU ARE SO WRONG !!!And miss leading in your teaching !<>Isa. 33:14 “who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with EVERLASTING BURNINGS ?<>Matt 25:41 “depart from me,you cursed, into the EVERLASTING FIRE prepared for the devil and his angels”.<>The subject of the ungodly ending up in Sheol is all over the Old Testament. Yeshua (Jesus) refer to it as Gehena-a real place in Jerusalem – is a type of endless burning. Sheol- שאול in Hebrew refers to a place where the ungodly go to Ps. 16:9-10.Sheol in Hebrew can mean, a borrowed, or inquiry ( waiting place for the final judgement ?)<>Rev 20:10 ” the devil,who deceived them,was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are,and they will be tormented day and
night FOREVER AND EVER “.<>Hell is not occupied as of yet- it’s prepared- waiting for the final judgement at the great white throneOf G-D<>Spirits live for eternity. They cannot be annihilated or put out of existing! “….<<
Not according to the verses you gave me. [Lillian-I don't think you have ever really read the bible] The 2nd death! Death means death. You die and you cease to be in this physical life. You die the 2nd death and you cease to be in the spirit world, its that easy. Words mean things and not what we want them to mean. You are misleading people by changing the meanings of the words. Now who is wrong and doing the misleading; you or I?
(Rev 20:14 [UKJV])
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death
Death will die and cease to be. Yes! Death is going to die along with the Land of the dead. Sheol/ Hell will no longer be needed and cease to be. God the eternal burning fire will cleanse everything of corruption. Death and Hell must cease to be, because it is corruption.
How wonderful and beautiful is the Creator.
I am so thankful that God set me free from doctrines of demons and spiritual blindness.
Hello Pastor Rich, How about King Saul sought the Medium at Endow asking for Samuel; Saul must believe there was life after death.