the Fourth Week after Easter
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Sheol
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
or
1. The Name
2. The Abode of the Dead
(1) Not a State of Unconsciousness
(2) Not Removed from God's Jurisdiction
(3) Relation to Immortality
3. Post-canonical Period
1. The Name:
This word is often translated in the King James Version "grave" (e.g. Genesis 37:35; 1 Samuel 2:6; Job 7:9; Job 14:13; Psalm 6:5; Psalm 49:14; Isaiah 14:11 , etc.) or "hell" (e.g. Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalm 9:17; Psalm 18:5; Isaiah 14:9; Amos 9:2 , etc.); in 3 places by "pit" (Numbers 16:30 , Numbers 16:33; Job 17:16 ). It means really the unseen world, the state or abode of the dead, and is the equivalent of the Greek
2. The Abode of the Dead:
Into Sheol, when life is ended, the dead are gathered in their tribes and families. Hence, the expression frequently occurring in the Pentateuch, "to be gathered to one's people," "to go to one's fathers," etc. (Genesis 15:15; Genesis 25:8 , Genesis 25:17; Genesis 49:33; Numbers 20:24 , Numbers 20:28; Numbers 31:2; Deuteronomy 32:50; Deuteronomy 34:5 ). It is figured as an under-world (Isaiah 44:23; Ezekiel 26:20 , etc.), and is described by other terms, as "the pit" (Job 33:24; Psalm 28:1; Psalm 30:3; Proverbs 1:12; Isaiah 38:18 , etc.), ABADDON (which see) or Destruction (Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Proverbs 15:11 ), the place of "silence" (Psalm 94:17; Psalm 115:17 ), "the land of darkness and the shadow of death" (Job 10:21 f). It is, as the antithesis of the living condition, the synonym for everything that is gloomy, inert, insubstantial (the abode of
(1) Not a State of Unconsciousness.
Yet it would be a mistake to infer, because of these strong and sometimes poetically heightened contrasts to the world of the living, that Sheol was conceived of as absolutely a place without consciousness, or some dim remembrance of the world above. This is not the case. Necromancy rested on the idea that there was some communication between the world above and the world below (Deuteronomy 18:11 ); a Samuel could be summoned from the dead (1 Samuel 28:11-15 ); Sheol from beneath was stirred at the descent of the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:9 ff). The state is rather that of slumbrous semi-consciousness and enfeebled existence from which in a partial way the spirit might temporarily be aroused. Such conceptions, it need hardly be said, did not rest on revelation, but were rather the natural ideas formed of the future state, in contrast with life in the body, in the absence of revelation.
(2) Not Removed from God's Jurisdiction.
It would be yet more erroneous to speak with Dr. Charles ( Eschatology , 35 ff) of Sheol as a region "quite independent of Yahwe, and outside the sphere of His rule." "Sheol is naked before God," says Job, "and Abaddon hath no covering" ( Job 26:6 ). "If I make my bed in Sheol," says the Psalmist, "behold thou art there" (Psalm 139:8 ). The wrath of Yahweh burns unto the lowest Sheol (Deuteronomy 32:22 ). As a rule there is little sense of moral distinctions in the Old Testament representations of Sheol, yet possibly these are not altogether wanting (on the above and others points in theology of Sheol). See ESCHATOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT .
(3) Relation to Immortality.
To apprehend fully the Old Testament conception of Sheol one must view it in its relation to the idea of death as something unnatural and abnormal for man; a result of sin. The believer's hope for the future, so far as this had place, was not prolonged existence in Sheol, but deliverance from it and restoration to new life in God's presence (Job 14:13-15; Job 19:25-27; Psalm 16:10 , Psalm 16:11; Psalm 17:15; Psalm 49:15; Psalm 73:24-26; see
3. Post-Canonical Period:
There is no doubt, at all events, that in the postcanonical Jewish literature (the Apocrypha and apocalyptic writings) a very considerable development is manifest in the idea of Sheol. Distinction between good and bad in Israel is emphasized; Sheol becomes for certain classes an intermediate state between death and resurrection; for the wicked and for Gentiles it is nearly a synonym for
These files are public domain and were generously provided by the folks at WordSearch Software.
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Sheol'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/s/sheol.html. 1915.
