Sheol

Sheol (/ˈʃiːoʊl/ SHEE-ohl, /-əl/; Hebrew: Template:Hebrew Šəʾōl), in the Hebrew Bible, is a place of darkness to which spirits of the dead go. Under some circumstances they are thought to be able to be contacted by the living. Sheol is also called Hades.

While the Hebrew Bible describes Sheol as the permanent place of the dead, in the Second Temple period (roughly 500 BC – 70 AD) Sheol is considered to be the home of the dead wicked, while paradise is the home of the dead righteous until the Last Judgement (e.g. 1 Enoch 22; Luke 16:19-31). In some texts, Sheol was considered a place of punishment, meant for the wicked dead,^[1] and is equated with Gehenna in the Talmud.^[2] When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek in ancient Alexandria around 200 BC, the word "Hades" (the Greek underworld) was substituted for Sheol.^[3] This is reflected in the New Testament where Hades is both the underworld of the dead and the personification of it.^[1]

Judaism

According to Herbert C. Brichto, writing in Hebrew Union College Annual,^[4] the family tomb is the central concept in understanding biblical views of the afterlife. Brichto states that it is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between proper sepulture and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife".^[5]

According to Brichto, the early Israelites apparently believed that the graves of family, or tribe, united into one and that this, unified collectively, is to what the Biblical Hebrew term Sheol refers: the common grave of humans. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the dead went after the body died. The Babylonians had a similar underworld called Aralu and the Greeks had one known as Hades. According to Brichto, other biblical names for Sheol were: Abaddon (ruin), found in Psalm 88:11Template:Bibleverse with invalid book, Job 28:22Template:Bibleverse with invalid book and Proverbs 15:11Template:Bibleverse with invalid book; Bor (the pit), found in Isaiah 14:15, 24:22Template:Bibleverse with invalid book, Ezekiel 26:20Template:Bibleverse with invalid book; and Shakhat (corruption), found in Isaiah 38:17Template:Bibleverse with invalid book, and Ezekiel 28:8Template:Bibleverse with invalid book.^[6]

The Tanakh has few references to existence after death. The notion of resurrection of the dead appears in two biblical sources, Daniel (Daniel 12Template:Bibleverse with invalid book) and Isaiah (Isaiah 25–26Template:Bibleverse with invalid book).^[7]

Personification in the Hebrew Bible

Wojciech Kosior has argued that "Sheol" in the Hebrew Bible refers to an underworld deity.^[8] Some additional support for this hypothesis comes from the ancient Near Eastern literary materials. For example, the Akkadian plates mention the name shuwalu or suwala in reference to a deity responsible for ruling the abode of the dead. As such it might have been borrowed by the Hebrews and incorporated into their early belief system.^[9] What is more, some scholars argue that Sheol understood anthropomorphically fits the semantic complex of the other ancient Near Eastern death deities such as Nergal, Ereshkigal or Mot.^[10] Other scholars have cast doubt on these readings.^[11]^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b Longenecker 2003, p. 189
^ Eruvin 19a:16
^ Patte, Daniel (ed). The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Cambridge University Press, 2010, 490.
^ The Hebrew Union College Annual is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of Jewish and historical studies. It was established in 1924 and is published by the Hebrew Union College.
^ Brichto 1973, pp. 1–54.
^ Brichto 1973, p. 8.
^ Life After Death – My Jewish Learning. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
^ Kosior, Wojciech (2014). "The Underworld or its Ruler? Some Remarks on the Concept of Sheol in the Hebrew Bible". Polish Journal of Biblical Research. 13 (1–2 (25–26)): 35–36. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
^ P.S. Johnston, Shades of Sheol. Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament, Illinois 2002, p. 78. See also: L.B. Paton, The Hebrew Idea of the Future Life. III. Babylonian Influence in the Doctrine of Sheol, “The Biblical World”, Vol. 35, No. 3, Chicago 1910, p. 160.
^ H. M. Barstad, Sheol, in: K. van der Toom, B. Becking, P.W. van der Horst (eds.), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Leiden, Boston, Köln, 1999, pp. 768–70.
^ Levenson, Jon Douglas. Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life. Yale University Press, 2006, 41.
^ Johnston, Philip. Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament. InterVarsity Press, 2002, 102.

Bibliography

Aune, David E. (2003). "Cosmology". Westminster Dictionary of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664219178. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Bernstein, Alan E. (1996). The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801481314. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Brichto, Herbert Chanan (1973). "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife – A Biblical Complex". Hebrew Union College Annual. 44. JSTOR 23506813. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Hess, Richard S. (2007). Israelite Religions: An Archeological and Biblical Survey. Baker Academic Press. ISBN 9781441201126. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Kelly, Henry A. (2010). "Hell with Purgatory and two Limbos". In Moreira, Isabel; Toscano, Margaret (eds.). Hell and Its Afterlife: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9780754667292. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Knobel, Peter (2011). "Death". In Berlin, Adele; Grossman, Maxine (eds.). The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199730049. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Longenecker, Richard N. (2003). "Cosmology". In Gowan, Donald E. (ed.). The Westminster Theological Wordbook of the Bible. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664223946. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Mabie, F.J (2008). "Chaos and Death". In Longman, Tremper; Enns, Peter (eds.). Dictionary of the Old Testament. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830817832. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
O'Dowd, R. (2008). "Creation imagery". In Longman, Tremper; Enns, Peter (eds.). Dictionary of the Old Testament. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830817832. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Rainwater, Robert (1990). "Sheol". In Watson E. Mills (General Editor) (ed.). Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780865543737. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Reike, Bo (2001). "Hell". In Metzger, Bruce Manning; Coogan, Michael David (eds.). The Oxford Guide to Ideas & Issues of the Bible. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195149173. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

Sheol entry in Jewish Encyclopedia

[Longenecker_2003_189-1] Longenecker 2003, p. 189

[2] Eruvin 19a:16

[3] Patte, Daniel (ed). The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Cambridge University Press, 2010, 490.

[4] The Hebrew Union College Annual is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of Jewish and historical studies. It was established in 1924 and is published by the Hebrew Union College.

[FOOTNOTEBrichto19731–54-5] Brichto 1973, pp. 1–54.

[FOOTNOTEBrichto19738-6] Brichto 1973, p. 8.

[7] Life After Death – My Jewish Learning. Retrieved 10 July 2014.

[:0-8] Kosior, Wojciech (2014). "The Underworld or its Ruler? Some Remarks on the Concept of Sheol in the Hebrew Bible". Polish Journal of Biblical Research. 13 (1–2 (25–26)): 35–36. Retrieved 16 June 2014.

[9] P.S. Johnston, Shades of Sheol. Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament, Illinois 2002, p. 78. See also: L.B. Paton, The Hebrew Idea of the Future Life. III. Babylonian Influence in the Doctrine of Sheol, “The Biblical World”, Vol. 35, No. 3, Chicago 1910, p. 160.

[10] H. M. Barstad, Sheol, in: K. van der Toom, B. Becking, P.W. van der Horst (eds.), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Leiden, Boston, Köln, 1999, pp. 768–70.

[11] Levenson, Jon Douglas. Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life. Yale University Press, 2006, 41.

[12] Johnston, Philip. Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament. InterVarsity Press, 2002, 102.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

v t e Underworlds
	Abrahamic	Christianity Abyss Hades Hell Lake of fire Limbo Outer darkness Purgatory Islam Barzakh Jahannam Sijjin Judaism Abaddon Azazel Bosom of Abraham Dudael Gehenna Sheol Tehom Tzoah Rotachat Mandaeism World of Darkness
	American	Aztec Mictlān Maya Xibalba
	East Asian	Chinese Diyu Gate of the Ghosts Youdu Shinto Yomi
	Indian	Buddhism Bardo Naraka Hinduism Naraka Patala Jainism Naraka
	Near East	Egyptian Duat Mesopotamian Irkalla Zoroastrianism Duzakh Hamistagan
	European	Norse Hel Náströnd Niflheim Niflhel Greek / Roman Asphodel Meadows Elysium Erebus Fortunate Isles Hades Orcus Tartarus Welsh Annwn Finnic Tuonela
	Others	Davy Jones's locker Hell Turkic Tamag

Judaism

Personification in the Hebrew Bible

See also

References

Bibliography

External links