Just What is Sheol?

Bakers Dictionary of Theology indicates:

"The word Sheol is used throughout the OT in two senses: (1) literally, of a place deep under the earth's surface where the dead abide (Deut. 32:22; Isa. 14:9, 15), and (2) figuratively, of grave danger or suffering (Ps. 116:3, Jonah 2:2, ff). The NT hades, underworld, carries the same idea (Luke 10:15; Acts 2:27). Parallel expressions are bor, "pit" (Isa. 14:15; Ps. 88:4), sahat, "[place of] corruption" (Ps. 16:10; Ezek. 28:8), and abaddon, "[place of] destruction" (Job 26:6; 28:22)."

Scripture provides many pictures or euphemisms for death and Sheol. Just as the Egyptians went to the land of the West, so at death the people of Israel went to the land of darkness, forgetfulness, and so on. Here is a summary of some of these colorful expressions.

Death is the entrance into Sheol, the land of:

Forgetfulness

Ps 88:12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark, and Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

Darkness and shadows

Job 10:21 before I go, and I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been opened to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Dust

Dan 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Sleeping

Job 14:12 so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be awakened out of their sleep.

No work or thought or knowledge or wisdom

Eccl 9:10 All that your hand finds to do, do it with your strength. For there is no work, or planning, or knowledge, or wisdom, in Sheol, there where you go.

Isa 38:10-20 I said in the pause of my days, I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years. I said, I shall not see Jah Jehovah in the land of the living; I shall no longer look on man with the world's inhabitants. My generation is plucked up and carried away from me, like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like the weaver. He will cut me off from the loom; from day to night You will make an end of me. I leveled my soul until morning. Like a lion, so He shatters all my bones. From day until night You make an end of me. Like a swift or a crane, so I chatter. I moan as the dove; my eyes look weakly to the heights, O Jehovah; it presses me down; be surety for me! What shall I say? For He speaks to me, and He has acted. I shall go softly all my years over the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, on them they live, and for all in them is the life of my spirit. And You heal me, and make me live. Behold, for peace was bitter to me, most bitter; but You loved my soul from the pit of destruction; You have cast all my sins behind Your back. For Sheol cannot thank You; death cannot praise You; the ones going down to the Pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living is the one thanking You; as I do today. The father makes known Your truth to his sons. For Jehovah is for my salvation; and we will play my songs on stringed instruments all the days of our life, at the house of Jehovah.

Dead warriors recognize their weapons

Ez 32:27 And they shall not lie with the mighty of the uncircumcised who are fallen, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war. And they have put their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be on their bones, though the terror of the mighty was in the land of the living.

The trappings and thrones of kings are there

Is 14:9-11 Sheol from below is stirred for you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the departed spirits for you, all the he goats of the earth. It has raised all the kings of the nations from their thrones. All of them shall answer and say to you, Are you also made as weak as we? Are you likened to us? Your majesty is lowered into Sheol; the noise of your harps. The maggot is spread under you; yea, the worms cover you.

Samuel retains his robe

I Sam 28:14 And he said to her, What is his appearance? And she said, An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a robe. And Saul knew that he was Samuel. And he bowed his face to the earth, and prostrated himself.

Dead welcome new arrivals

Is 14:9 Sheol from below is stirred for you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the departed spirits for you, all the he goats of the earth. It has raised all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

Men exist as sunken, powerless beings from whom life's vital power is gone

Is 14:9-10 Sheol from below is stirred for you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the departed spirits for you, all the he goats of the earth. It has raised all the kings of the nations from their thrones. All of them shall answer and say to you, Are you also made as weak as we? Are you likened to us?

The Dead are Ghosts or Shades

At death, OT Scripture describes man as a rephaim (ghost, shade, disembodied spirit). Zodhiates describes "rapha" as:" those flaccid, feeble, weak persons who are living in Hades. The term is a synonym for 'the dead' or the 'place of the dead.'"

Ps 88:10 Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead (rapha) arise and praise thee? Selah.

Prov. 2:18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead (rapha).

Prov 9:18 But he knoweth not that the dead (rapha) are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell (Sheol).

Prov 21:16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead (rapha).

Isa. 14:9, 19 Hell (Sheol) from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead (rapha) for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations

Sheol Never Meant the Grave

Modern Talmudic scholars almost universally recognize that Sheol never meant the grave or unconsciousness in rabbinic literature. Rabbinic tradition before, during, and after the time of Jesus pictures the soul departing the body and descending into Sheol at death. They pictured both the righteous and the wicked as conscious after death.

Hebrew words Sheol and kever / qber (tomb, grave) are never used in Hebrew parallelism as equivalents. Hebrew writing makes the distinction between the underworld where nephesh or the inner man goes after death and the tombs in which dead bodies are placed. There are a number of distinctions between the grave and Sheol that are obvious in Scripture. Among them:

  • While we bury people in graves, we never bury anyone in Sheol.

  • Graves are located at specific sites, while Sheol is not localized.

  • Graves can be purchased, but Sheol is never purchased or sold.

  • Touching a grave brings defilement, but no defilement is associated with Sheol.

  • We can visit graves of loved ones, but nobody visits Sheol.

The NT word that corresponds to Sheol is Hades. It denotes the unseen land of the dead. It is used in much of Greek literature, by "pagans," to denote the land of the living dead. Yet God inspired it to be used in Scripture. In the Septuagint, Sheol is never translated as mneema, the Greek word for grave. Sheol is nearly always translated Hades which meant the underworld (see Is. 14:9).

Next we'll look more at this transition from Old Testament words to New Testament words.

Transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament

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