I'm trying to get an idea of what the Jewish religion espoused about the afterlife before Jesus came onto the scene. Anybody out there have a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament and want to give me some insight?
I've always assumed that, throughout the time of the OT, Jews believed in heaven and hell, but I'm wondering if my assumption is founded. I haven't spent as much time studying the OT as I would like, but as I'm reading I can't help but notice a conspicuous absence of the ideas of "being with God after death" or "being separated from God after death". All I see is this idea of Sheoul, which, as far as I can tell, is just "the place of the dead".
There's also a curious (at least in my mind) absence of concern about life after death (considering its prominence in the New Testament). When the prophets warn Israel to turn back to God or suffer his anger they don't mention the danger of an eternal punishment, just temporal. It seems that if they were concerned with an afterlife that it would have at least come up.
Any Old Testament scholars out there???
I don’t know too much about the Jewish understanding of the afterlife, but I do know that the Sadducees in the NT did not believe in a resurrection. In the book of Mark chapter 12 the Sadducees try and trap Jesus with the story of one lady being passed from brother to brother as they each die.
This is just a guess but maybe the lack of concern of eternal punishment by the Jews in the OT is what lead the 7th day Adventist to not believe in and eternal hell.
This is just off the top of my head... I think it varys even in the OT. Hell, Hades, Death, Grave all generally mean the same thing and that is the destination of the wicked. Also, by God's salvation Israel would enter into their creator's 'rest.' I think in the Psalms David speaks about the afterlife more than other books, so that might be a good place to start.
Posted by: beck at November 16, 2004 10:37 AMThanks for the thoughts guys. That gives me a few places to look. If you think of anything else feel free to share!
Posted by: aduff at November 16, 2004 10:55 AMI'm hardly an OT scholar, but, lacking anything better to do around the office (like work), I'll take a cheapshot.
...at that time your people-everyone whose name is found written in the book-will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
-- Daniel 12:2
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
-- Psalm 16:10-11
Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.
-- Isaiah 26:19
For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Job 19:25-27
As I understand Sheol (someone please correct me if I err...I might be blending Hebrew Sheol with Greek Sheol) it was a place of the dead, where ones spirit would go after death. I say spirit, but shade might be a better word, because it seems like it's kind of a pale grey type place where sense, experience, and possibly even consciousness are very limited.
Clearly there was evidence of a better destination than just Sheol, though I wonder how many of the Israelites "got it". It seems like there was at least a hope of it...almost like a rumor, if even that. Obviously it wasn't widely accepted, because, as gid pointed out, by the time of Jesus the Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection of the dead. Nevertheless, there are hints of it, much like the hints of Messiah, which it's clear some people did understand.
Posted by: Graebner at November 21, 2004 07:09 PMGraebner, you're always good for bringing the Scripture. I appreciate it. I'm going to look these up and see if I can get a better feel for their context.
Posted by: aduff at November 22, 2004 09:16 AMWhat about Life before Death? Wouldn't it be better for one to be consumed with awareness before he/she dies.....If one doesn't get that straight what would it matter about life after....
Posted by: Carole at January 10, 2005 03:35 PMCarole,
I think I may have missed your point (my brain can be pretty one track). You may want to clarify your question. If you're asking why I care about what the Jews thought about the afterlife then I can provide some quick insight into my thoughts.
Because I believe the Bible to be communication from God to man I believe it is valuable to have a clear understanding of what it is God is communicating. One of the best ways to understand any written document is to understand who the document was written to. The human writers of the Old Testament books were writing to the Jews of their time. I think that if I can understand how the OT Jews thought about the afterlife I'll have a better understanding of the Old Testament as a whole.
Posted by: aduff at January 10, 2005 04:02 PM