Sheol has a plethora of different definitions ranging from a grave (Theodore Lewis 101) to simply a place where the dead reside. There is, and always will be, controversy over what Sheol actually is. Sheol is used in countless ways in the Bible. Therefore, it is difficult to say what Sheol actually consists of. By debunking the definitions of Sheol, the characteristics of Sheol and the people who reside in Sheol, the reader will have a better understanding of what Sheol truly is.
Sheol is located within the depths of the earth. Most passages in the Bible refer to people “going down” to Sheol. This signifies that Sheol is in fact located underneath of the earth. In his article, Dead, Abode of the, Theodore Lewis, a Professor of Near Eastern Studies at John Hopkins University, mentions that Sheol “goes down”; Sheol is the lowest place in the earth (Lewis 102). Lewis also expresses that Sheol is like the underworld, a place of no return (Lewis 102). Sheol is also referred to as a pit or a grave throughout the Bible.
Proverbs 1:12 asserts “like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.” This passage states that Sheol is sometimes thought of as a pit. Theodore Lewis also compares Sheol to a pit (Lewis 101). Lewis thinks of Sheol as a pit where people live, almost like an underworld. As well, Lewis compares Sheol to a grave (Lewis 102). Lewis declares that Sheol is a grave because no one knows anything and no one worships God (Lewis 102). There are many different characteristics that make Sheol like a pit or grave.
Sheol is often considered dark, barren, and lifeless (Lewis 101). When people go to Sheol they are unable to get out. In her commentary, The Lesson of Assyria, Margaret Odell, Professor o...
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...ke a grave or a pit, where the deceased reside (Lewis 101, Margaret Odell 394). Though it is difficult to say what Sheol actually consists of, we do know that Sheol has many different characteristics ranging from lifeless and barren to gates enclosing it. As well, we know that Sheol contains both the wicked and the non-wicked; however, God delivers the righteous from Sheol. Ultimately one decides whether or not one spends eternity in Sheol. By being righteous, one day God may deliver one from Sheol, just like he “brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit” (Psalm 30.3)
Works Cited
Lewis, T.J. “Death, Abode of the.” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 2: pp. 104-105. Ed. by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Odell, M.S. “The Lesson of Assyria.” Ezekiel, pp. 391-399. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Pub., 2005.
Anson Rainey and R. Steven Notley are the authors of The Sacred Land Bridge, which is an Atlas of the biblical world and includes maps, pictures, and historical cementation as to the significance of this region. The biblical world that this atlas focuses on is defined as the eastern Mediterranean littoral, or more commonly called the Levant in modern archeological discussions. In my critique of this book I will be focusing on pages 30-34 which will define the boundaries and explain the importance of the Levant.
2 He fedeth me in a grene pasture, and ledeth me to a fresh water. 3 He quickeneth my soule, & bringeth me forth in the waye of rightuousnes for his names sake. 4 Though I shulde walke now in the valley of the shadowe of death, yet I feare no euell, for thou art with me: thy staffe & thy shepehoke comforte me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me agaynst mine enemies: thou anoyntest my heade with oyle, & fyllest my cuppe full. 6 Oh let thy louynge kyndnes & mercy folowe me all the dayes off my life, that I maye dwell in the house off the LORDE for euer.” Psalm 23 (Matthew-Tyndale Bible). As seen here the wording of the scripture is primarily the same but written into today’s language for better knowledge of its
Hindson, E. E., & Yates, G. E. (2012). The Essence of the Old Testament: A survey. Nashville, Tenn: B & H Academic.
1985. “The Logic of Sacrifice” in Anthropological Approaches to the Old Testament. Ed., Bernhard Lane.
The Hebrew Scriptures have alluded to being in the Pit, or Sheol while still living. My mind was really peaked by Rachel S. Hallote excerpt on the archaeology of the house in ancient Israel. As I read through this, I kept thinking of the words Jesus said, “In my father’s house there are many rooms.” One thing the author did not pull in was some of the other ancient African religions have the same tradition of giving the dead food as the same stated in Deut 26:13-14. While I know that was done away, it is very interesting to see how Judaism is a merging of other religions. The names of the deceased were given to siblings or others were not meant to honor or dishonor them but rather to invoke a divine
Hell is what he is referring to when the author says firey pit. He describes hell as the lowest,
I see thee, now thou art so low, as are dead in the bottom of a
pits, different cells in hell and there is a heart of hell. As Mary and JESUS went through hell their were people there who are begging god to let them in heaven and god says no because judgement has been set. He said there has been many people their way to introduce them to god and they refused. Souls are in hell begging for repentance and the answer is no because they had their chance and they turned their backs on god. Some souls even were at one time of another saved and they were going through something to make them stronger in the word and they though god was being unfair to them and blamed god for the mistake; therefore turning their backs on god. There are many false prophets in hell. As god walks through and stop to talk to these prophets they beg and pled for forgiveness and when god says judgement has been set they began to curse god and talk to him in the manner where they are really disrespecting god.
Ezekiel lived in a time of international crisis and conflict. Assyria was the world power in the area under the rule of Tiglath-pilesar III. In 724 B.C Israel raged war upon Assyria, and Israel was no match for Assyria. In 627 B.C the last of the able Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal died. Right after the death of Ashurbanipal, Babylon under Nabopolassar wanted independence from Assyria. In 612 B.C the Assyrians under Nineveh surrendered to the rising Babylonians. In 605 B.C the Babylonians were at war against the Egyptians. The Babylonians won and they established themselves as the leading power in the area. During all of this Judea allied with the Babylonians and with this Judea kept her independence. During the last century before Judea was destroyed it was ruled by four rulers and of those rulers, all but Josiah were wicked. Josiah was committed to God and led Judea to him. All the others did not heed the warnings of Ezekiel and Jeremiah from God, and the rulers of Judea chose to rebel against God. God punished Judea by sending Nebuchadnezzar’s army to crush the nation of Judea and flatten the city of Jerusalem.
After drinking deeply, he realizes that the water must have been drugged since he immediately loses consciousness again, and later, when he is again awake, there is a sulfurous light which reveals that the walls are one-half their original size. Logically, he tries to determine how he originally made such an error. He knows that he is in the same place because of the horrible, dismal circular pit. But to his horror, he is now completely bound head and foot, except for his left hand up to his left elbow. He is bound to a "species of low framework of wood." Looking upward, he sees a huge razor-sharp pendulum swinging in an arch, criss-crossing his body. Turning to survey the rest of the vault, he sees enormous rats running across the slimy floor. After watching the rats for about thirty minutes, he again looks at the pendulum and is horrified to realize that the sweep has increased considerably and even more disturbing, it has descended. Now he "can no longer doubt the doom prepared for [him] by monkish ingenuity in torture." The sweep of "the pendulum was at right angles [and] was designed to cross the region of the heart." The vault and the bottomless pit are just as horrible as the very pit of hell itself might be. It seems as though it is days before the pendulum comes so close to him that the "odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils," but eventually it does, and when the
Metzger, B.M. & Coogan, M.D. “The Oxford Companion to the Bible”. Oxford University Press. New York, NY. (1993). P. 806-818.
In Islam these final things are called by different names but consist with the same meaning. It is called “The-Hour, the day of resurrection, the day of anguish” and many other names. There are many examples and deep analysis of The-Hour in the Quran more than the bible where the with all the names of it was mentioned more than a hundred times and it is considered to be
One way in which death can be viewed comes across the Catholic religion. The Catholic believers look life after death in a prospective of three different worlds, such as Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise according to the deeds committed during life. If a person during his or her lifetime committed any sins, this person’s next world will be the Hell. The traditional view in which people refer to hell can be found in the book written by Dante Alighieri, “La Divina Commedia”. The book states that the formation of Hell was given by the crash of Lucifer (the angel that wanted to be better than God) from the sky onto the earth. Crashing on the Earth in Jerusalem, his head formed an upside down cone inside the Earth. This is where is located the Hell. In the Hell, people pay for their sins with different penitences (12-13). For instance, a person that committed homicide will freeze in a lake frozen by the breath of Satan (XXXIV canto). If a person during his or her life commits any sins but asks for forgiveness, then he or she will go to the Purgatory. The purgatory is represented by an island with a mountain (23). One source states that “Purgatory is very similar to Hell; the main difference is that one will eventually be released from torture. The souls that go in the Purgatory are tortured with fire. These souls remain in purgatory until they become sufficiently purified to enter heaven”(2). For example, if a soul in the purgatory asks for forgiveness and pays the punition with some tests, the soul will be released and moved immediately to Heaven (2).
Theopedia, an Encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity." Theopedia, an Encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. (Theopedia) (Theopedia)
Wright turns his attention to the word “resurrection.” He explores the way ancient writers and thinkers have used the term. He writes: “The word resurrection in its Greek, Latin, or other equivalents was never used to mean life after death. Resurrection was used to denote new bodily life after whatever sort of life after death there might be” (p. 36). Resurrection meant bodies, yet modern writers have taken resurrection to be synonymous for “life after death” (p. 36). Wright then continues with the early Christian meaning of resurrection, even including seven mutations of the Jewish resurrection belief from which Christians derive their belief.