Hell in the Old Testament
In the previous article on
Hell we
examined the serious error which translators made in defining
hell
as a place of eternal torment in a literal ever burning fire for the
vast majority of mankind. We saw that
hell
was an English translation of
the Greek word Hades
in most versions of the bible. Furthermore we
saw Hades is more accurately defined as UNPERCEIVED or the UNSEEN or
IMPERCEPTIBLE. It is NOT an ever-burning torture chamber for evil
doers. For proof see Strong’s Concordance Number G86 and the
previous article on "Hell in the New Testament".
In the Old Testament the
Hebrew word sheol
has the same meaning as the Greek word
Hades.
We will examine this word sheol in this article.
We must
ask why is the word sheol sometimes translated
hell
, and sometimes
grave and a few times pit? It is interesting that the King James
Version (AV) translates sheol
as
hell 31 times and it translates the
same Hebrew word as grave
31 times and the word pit 3 times. How can
this be? Oh, some will say its all about the context but that’s not
true. Are Hell and grave really the same word? No. Do they both have
the same meaning? No. Then why are they translated into two words
from the one Hebrew word sheol?
There is something fishy
here.
It is interesting to note that a number of bible
translators recognized this inconsistency and so we find that more
recent translations translate the word sheol as
grave . As a matter
of fact, the New King James translates the word as
hell
only 19
times (not like the AV which does it 31 times). Even more
interesting no other translation has the word
hell
in its
translations including the ever popular NIV. Very interesting, don’t
you think? This indicates that the pagan concept of
hell
is not in
the Old Testament.
So how can the word sheol have a
definition of two English words that have totally opposite and
different meanings? Well, in honest scholarship and honest
translating, they can’t and they don’t!
If the reader will
substitute the word grave
in the place of
hell in all these
passages, he or she will be further ahead in understanding the
teaching on this subject.
The Hebrew word
sheol and the Greek
word hades are synonymous in meaning. So why was sheol sometimes
translated hell
and other times
grave?
It is because the
translators were influenced by ancient philosophy about the after
life.
We must look for the origin of this doctrine of
hell
elsewhere than in the mind of God. No trace of it is found in the
Old Testament, which is all the written record we have of the divine
mind and purpose for the space of four thousand years. The
Patriarchs knew nothing of it. Moses knew of this teaching having
learned it in Egypt.
He repudiates it by his silence. The Law as described in the Torah
contains no vestige of it among all its penalties and threatenings,
blessings and cursings. It was reserved for the Gospel to bring
forth the wonderful teaching of God concerning immortality and His
glorious plan for mankind.
A thorough investigation will show
that the doctrine of Endless Punishment in
hell
is nowhere to be
found in the sacred Scriptures of the Jews. Among the ancient
pagans, the belief in a hell
of some sort was very common, if not
universal. The doctrine of Endless Punishment in
hell
has come
primarily from the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. We find
the doctrine in full bloom with the Egyptians, but not a trace of it
among the early Hebrews. But, surely enough, when, in later years,
the Jews had become corrupted, and had departed from the Law of
Moses, we find the doctrine among them. That the whole matter of
judgment after death, the rewards of a good life, and the
punishments of a bad life, originated and was perfected among the
Egyptians, according to the peculiar character of their mythology.
From them it was borrowed by the Greeks, who made such changes
and additions as fitted the system to the character and
circumstances of that people. The rulers and magistrates, or
priests, invented these terrors to keep the people, in subjection;
the masses religiously believe in them; while the inventors, of
course, and the educated classes, the priests and the philosophers,
though they teach them to the multitude, have themselves no manner
of faith in them.
The apocryphal books of the
intertestimental period had a tremendous impact on the Jews in the
time of Christ. It is from these books, especially the book of
Enoch, that many of the Jewish myths and fables concerning
hell,
heaven, demons and angels and many other fables first became a part
of Judaism and from there became a part of Christianity. The myths
and fables of these books came from Pagan influences (namely
Zoroastrianism), during and after the Babylonian captivity of
Israel.
So we see that the
doctrine of future endless punishments is totally alien to the
teachings of Holy Scripture, both in the Old Testament and the New.
There is plenty of historical evidence to settle the matter beyond
dispute. The heathens themselves confess to the invention of the
dogma, and of all the fabulous stories of the infernal regions; the
legislators and sages very frankly state that the whole thing was
devised for its supposed utility in governing the gross and ignorant
multitude of men and women, who cannot be restrained by the precepts
of philosophy. One cannot help noting the resemblance between these
knowledgeable men and some of our own day, who seem so anxious to
maintain the hell
doctrine in the belief that it is necessary to
restrain men from sin. But, unfortunately for this theory, the
revelations of history, both Pagan and Christian, prove it to be
untrue.
Clearly in the Old Testament
sheol was not a place of
eternal punishment in hell
fire. Sheol was a condition meaning
unseen or imperceptible. Even faithful Jacob was there (Gen. 37.35,
42.38, 44.29, 31). Righteous Job also longed for it in Job 14.13.
David spoke of going to sheol
in Ps. 49.15 and Jesus went there, Ps.
16.10 and Acts 2.24-31. In all these cases, these men were unseen
because they were dead.
And here is the proof from the
Scriptures and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the Hebrew
sheol and the Greek
hades
are identical in meaning:
Acts 2:27: (KJV) Because You will not leave My soul in hell
[Gk: hades], neither will You suffer your Holy One to see corruption
is quoted from Psalm 16:10.
Acts
2:27 (CLV) For
Thou wilt not be forsaking my soul in the unseen [Gk: hades], Nor
wilt Thou be giving Thy Benign One to be acquainted with decay.
Psalm
16:10: (KJV)
For You will not leave My soul in hell [Heb: sheol]; neither will
You suffer your Holy One to see corruption.
Psalm 16:10 (CLV) For You shall not forsake my soul in the
unseen [Heb: sheol]; You shall not allow Your benign one to see
corruption.
And so the inspiration of the Spirit of God
proves that the Greek word
hades
is the right and proper translation
of the Hebrew word sheol.
Whatever
hades
means,
sheol
means
the same, and whatever sheol
means,
hades also means the same.
Absolutely nowhere is sheol used to represent a place of life,
consciousness, fire, or torture—nowhere, absolutely nowhere.
There are numerous problems with translating
sheol as both
grave and
hell, and the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary says on page 1573:
The Bible likens death to a Return. The soul RETURNS to
sheol/hades—the UNSEEN. The spirit RETURNS to God who gave it. And
the body RETURNS to the dust of the ground from whence it came.
Everyone’s soul goes to sheol
at death—both the sinners and the
saints.
No matter how fanciful one’s ideas may be regarding
the use of the word hades
in the New Testament, it does not take on
the meaning of consciousness, judging, torture, chastisement,
annihilation, or eternity. It is the UNSEEN, IMPERCEPTIBLE,
UNCONSCIOUS STATE OF THE DEAD called
sheol
throughout the Old
Testament Scriptures.
The American Standard Version has a
correct rendering of this word. It leaves
sheol
[the imperceptible
state of the dead], as it is found in the Hebrew manuscripts, and
they leave hades
[the imperceptible state of the dead], as it is
found in the Greek manuscripts. Whereas The Concordant Literal New
Testament, translates the O.T. Hebrew word
sheol [the imperceptible
state of the dead], as the unseen, and they translate the N.T.
Greek word hades
[the imperceptible state of the dead], also as the
unseen .
No, there is no consciousness in
hell, and there is
no consciousness in hades
which is
translated into the English word
hell.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 (ASV
– American Standard Version) Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,
do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.
When an
Old Testament Scripture is quoted in the New Testament,
sheol is
translated into hades. So is there consciousness in the place
sheol in the O.T.? Absolutely not. There is NO WORK,
nor DEVICE, nor KNOWLEDGE, nor WISDOM, in the
grave where you go
(Ecc. 9:10). According to God’s Word, when a person
dies and returns to his earth, he or she has no consciousness or
thoughts. God’s answer: His spirit goes forth, he returns to his
earth, in that very day his thoughts PERISH (Psalm 146: 3-4).
This is one of the most comforting and reassuring truths of
scripture. The dead are really dead. Dead is the absence of life. No
immortal soul. They are asleep, in the unseen, awaiting a
resurrection.
In upcoming articles in this series on
hell
we
will cover the meaning of the words Gehenna, Tartarus and
Lake
of Fire.
Hell in the NT
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Gehenna
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About Fire
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