In this study you will learn what is sheol, we analyze the word Seol. The Hebrew word Sheol is the most common word in the Old Testament used in reference to the state of the dead.
Curiously, however, the term appears only once outside of the Old Testament, where it means “tomb.”
So when it comes to understanding what the Old Testament authors meant by the word Sheol, we are limited to its use within Scripture.
Fortunately, there are numerous passages that guide our definition of this word. Throughout the article we will study them.
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What is sheol and its meaning
The word Sheol appears sixty-six times in the Hebrew Scriptures, some of which are occasionally translated as “hell” depending on which translation of the Bible you are reading.
Nevertheless, “hell” is not a good translation of any of the Sheol cases in the Bible. The Hebrew Bible never indicates any form of punishment after death, so this translation is inappropriate. This is seen in various ways.
Old Testament
For example, both good men and bad men go to sheol (Genesis 37:35; Numbers 16:30; Jon 2:2). Since it is not a place only for evil people, since even the righteous go to Sheol, it cannot be equivalent to the modern concept of hell.
Some teach, therefore, that Sheol was a special “storage tank” or “intermediate state” for all people who lived and died before Jesus’ death and resurrection, and that after Jesus’ resurrection, the People no longer go to Sheol, but are immediately sent to heaven or hell.
texts like Matthew 27:52, Ephesians 4:8-10 and 1 Peter 3:19 are used to defend this idea. However, when all references to Sheol are considered together, it seems that the most likely definition of the word is also the most literal translation.
But then what is sheol. The word Sheol means “grave” or “pit“. When the Hebrew authors wrote about sheol, they were thinking of a hole in the ground in which corpses were deposited. It does not represent any kind of after-life experience.
When adjectives are used to describe Sheol, it is described as a damp, dark, dusty, and musty hole. Support for this understanding is found in the fact that the Hebrew word bor is often used as a synonym for Sheol, and bor is literally a hole dug in the ground (Isaiah 14:11-20).
And like any grave, Sheol is characterized by the presence of worms and decay (Job 17:13-16; 24:19-20). There is not a single Old Testament text that speaks of sheol as an eternal place of suffering and torment for the unregenerate dead.
New Testament
Even when New Testament authors cite Old Testament texts that speak of Sheol, they do so in connection with the bodily resurrection of people from the grave (cf. Ps 16:10; Hos 13:14; Acts 2:27; 1:35 p.m.; 1Co 15.55).
The idea is that their bodies sank into the earth, and at the resurrection, their bodies will rise out of the earth and be healed and whole once more. so even the New Testament supports the idea that sheol is simply “the grave”.
And since all people die and go to the grave, it makes sense that the Old Testament texts talk about all people going to Sheol. The Old Testament, therefore, does not have much to say about the afterlife for either the just or the wicked. All he knows is that when all people die, they are laid in a grave, in Sheol, where worms and decay destroy their bodies.
As such, the word sheol has nothing to say about “hell” and should not be translated “hell” in any of its usages (contrary to KJV texts such as Deut 32:22; Ps 16:10; Prov 9:18; Isa 14:9-10).
So what is the correct translation?
The best way to translate all uses of sheol is “grave,” and it literally refers to a hole dug in the ground into which corpses are placed. When used metaphoricallycan refer to depression, grief, or loneliness, which are emotions often associated with death and burial.
So, for Christians, what is sheol? The term Sheol, therefore, is the theological opposite of the life that God wants and desires for his people. Since our Lord is a God of the living, not the dead, then Sheol represents the experience of those who are not functioning as God wishes.
Either because they are dead and buried in the ground, or because they are separated from the community due to loneliness and depression. There is not a single text that describes Sheol as a place of suffering and torment in the afterlife for the unregenerate dead.
Old Testament teachings say nothing about hell
The word sheol is the only possible Old Testament term that can refer to hell, and since it does not, this means that the Old Testament does not teach anything about hell.
This helps us realize that if the doctrine of hell as a place of suffering and torment is correct, then God left humanity completely ignorant and blind to this idea for most of human history.
If it is true that the vast majority of people from the days of Adam to the days of John the Baptist will end up in a place of fiery torment forever, wouldn’t it have been loving to God to at least warn people of such a potential fate?
So does hell exist?
There is not a single such warning in all of the Hebrew Scriptures.. However, despite the complete silence in the Hebrew Scriptures about conscious eternal torment in hell, people today continue to cling to the doctrine, primarily because they believe it is taught in the New Testament.
Almost all of the evidence provided for the doctrine of eternal torment in a fiery hell comes from the New Testament. But again, if this is indeed the case, then was it fair and right that God did not warn a single person before the birth of Jesus about the eternal torment that awaited them in eternity?
Was it right for God not to warn billions of people about hell? Is it conceivable that the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ could watch billions of humans fall into a pit of eternal suffering and torment without saying a single word of warning about it to those who were alive?
If the traditional doctrine of hell is true, how could God have overlooked or neglected to mention it in his revelation to mankind for most of human history?
If God loves us, why didn’t he warn us about hell?
People often say that it’s loving to warn people about hell, just as it’s loving to warn people about driving off a cliff. But if this is so, why didn’t God warn people about hell for most of human history?
Doesn’t God love? To ask the question is to answer it. God is infinitely loving and would not have failed to warn the objects of his love of such a potential disaster. Therefore, the only other rational conclusion is that such a disaster does not exist. God did not warn the people because the warning was not necessary.
Yet despite the complete silence in the Hebrew Scriptures about eternal conscious torment in hell, people today continue to cling to the doctrine, primarily because they believe it is taught in the New Testament.
Almost all of the evidence provided for the doctrine of eternal torment in a fiery hell comes from the New Testament. But if the Hebrew Scriptures do not teach the concept of eternal torment in hell fire, it is legitimate to wonder if the New Testament does. Perhaps we have also misunderstood what the New Testament teaches about hell.
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Characteristics, meaning and use of the word Sheol in the Bible
Contrary to much of modern biblical scholarship, the Old Testament also has more positive things to say about life after death. Yes, Sheol is a place of darkness, but it is also a place where God still reminds his people and where he is still King.
Sheol is the enemy’s bunker
In the Old Testament, the most common way to describe Sheol is as the house of death. It is the kingdom of the dead, where everyone goes when they have finished life in this world. The accuser of humanity, Satan, is the prince of this house of the dead.
Death is the executioner and the jailer. The dragon, the great serpent, has been thrown to eat earth for the rest of his days, and the earth he eats is that of his kingdom, the grave (Genesis 3:14). The place of the dead is enemy territory, ruled by humanity’s first and greatest enemy, the accuser.
The Old Testament speaks of Sheol as someone who is never satisfied, who always tries to fill his stomach but never achieves his goal. Something that all mankind will try (Proverbs 30:15; Habakkuk 2:5).
Its mouth is an open pit, eventually swallowing everything. This insatiable gluttony is one of the reasons why she is often characterized as the abode of humanity’s final enemy, death itselfand why death is even called the shepherd of mankind (Psalm 49:14).
Seol is a place from which there is no escape. The doors are locked, the windows are barred, and the prison guard, death, is invincible through human effort (Job 10:21; 17:13-16; Isaiah 38:10).
Human beings alone cannot escape. Only someone, by entering the realm of the dead and breaking down the gates from within, could hope to defeat both the gates of sheol and the master of it, and this is God. Breaking into doors, for mere humans, is useless.
Sheol is the desert of exile
Sheol is also symbolically characterized in the Old Testament as the opposite of the Promised Land. To put it geographically, it is the ultimate place in the exiled desert, a place from which you cannot return to the land flowing with milk and honey. Instead, the only food one can eat in Sheol is dust and ash.
Furthermore, instead of God being praised in the sanctuary, an act that by necessity is bodily, there is no praise of God in Sheol, and the dead do not remember him. The most surprising thing is Psalm 6:5: “In death there is no memory of you; in Sheol, who will praise you? Likewise, Isaiah 38:18 says: “Sheol does not give you thanks; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not expect your fidelity”.
Is it a place of darkness?
Are the dead, and especially the dead who die in faith in the true God, now experiencing torment or completely cut off from God? We must begin by noting that these are liturgical and covenantal statements first and foremost.
The Psalm 6:5, is a book composed of material originally written for liturgical contexts. The acts of praise, lament, thanksgiving, celebration and remembrance…