DEATH AND AFTER LIFE

Introduction

The world presently, has various understanding of Death and After-life, and this variety of understanding varies according to cultures. Many believe that when a man dies, that is the end of such man, others believe in the existence of another world where they join their ancestors. Just like every other culture has their own belief in death and afterlife, the Jewish tradition has their own belief which was highlighted explicitly in various passages of the Old Testament. Also other great nations like the Egyptians had a very strong belief in a blessed afterlife where the dead person would live on much as he or she had in life. The people of Mesopotamia and Syria had at least some hope of happiness for the great and the heroic in the next life.[1] This paper is to critically analyze the view of this concept “Death and Afterlife” by the ancient Jews in proper references to the Old Testament books.

Understanding of Death

Death means Mawet in Hebrew, the concept “Death” was close to the description found in the epic of Gilgamesh and in the Greek idea of Hades as pictured in the Odyssey of Homer.[2] The fall of Adam brought about death Genesis 3:22, which is contrary to God plan of eternal life. Enoch did not die but was taken to be with God, which is an evidence of life after death. Elijah in 2kings was also taken to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Death is a place of emptiness where no memory of God exist and no praise is sung psalm 6:5; 88:11-12 “Like one forgotten among the death, like the slain that lay in the grave, like those whom you remember no more”. Psalm 88:5

In the Canaanite thought of Ugarit, death was personified as a god (named Mot) that opposes the great Baal and even overcomes him for a while in the annual struggle between rain and drought (that is baal versus death). In the same way, death was personified in Hebrew thought. Isaiah 28:15 says: “We have made a covenant with death and an agreement with Sheol”

Jeremiah 9:20-21 quotes the wailing of the people: “Death has climbed up through our windows and entered into our places. He has cut off the children from the street and the young men from the city squares”. Death grabs hold of people and swallows them or imprisons them forever Hosea 13:14; Isaiah 5:14; Psalm 89:49 , also serious illness in the pre-medical age meant death, so God`s healing that person by that time was considered to be a rescue from Sheol and a resurrection of sorts psalm 40:3.

Furthermore Israel`s views began to change especially after the exile. The prophets of the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel had placed strong emphasis on the fate of the individual rather than of the whole people. From the exile on, the good or evil life of each person mattered before God and led naturally enough to the question of what happened to the good person who died without any recognition or blessing in his life. From this came a renewed interest in God`s justice that would not forget the faithful in the next life. This new understanding took shape in the book of Daniel, helped by the question of persecution and martyrdom, and by the possible outside influence from Persians and Greek ideas on the afterlife and the immortality of the human spirit.[3] 

The Jewish Understanding of Sheol

The term Sheol occurs five times in the Old Testament, Sheol is a place of stillness, darkness and total helplessness where the spirit of a person lies after the grave has taken the body. Both Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 32 give elaborate descriptions of Sheol as a place where bodies lay row on row, with no power and no hope.[4]

It is a Hebrew word used to connotes “hell” “grave” and “pit”,  into Greek it means Hades, the word Sheol is used in the book of Job 7:9, when a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave (Sheol) does not return, Job understood Sheol as a place where the dead goes and never return this is evident in Job 10:21 Turn away from me so that I can have a moment`s joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of darkness and deep shadow. Psalm 16:18 you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay. Psalm 49:15 God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.

Psalm 73:24 you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Hezekiah viewed Sheol as a place that the righteous person goes to “I said in the prime of my life must I go through the gate of death (Sheol) and be robbed of the rest of my years…. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such aguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back, for the grave (Sheol) cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise, those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

Bodily Resurrection (Afterlife)

Death is said to have been viewed as final until in the second century B.C. with the book of Daniel the belief of resurrection was adopted.[5] To prove this the book of Daniel 12:2 reads “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting condemnation.” Isaiah 26:9 says but your dead will live, their bodies will rise, you who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy, this is an evidence of the resurrection of the body.

Samuel and Saul 

In First Samuel 28, there is the episode of Saul contacting the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. No matter how one understands what happened in this story, it does prove that the people assumed the dead lived on in the next world.

Warning about Contacting the Death

There are the various warnings in the Old Testament about the living contacting the dead. From the time of Moses the people were warned about dabbling in areas of the occult such as talking to the dead. When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the LORD; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the LORD your God is driving them out before you (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). These warnings would make no sense whatsoever if the dead ceased to exist. Why warn people about contacting people in the next world if there was no such thing as an afterlife? The fact that they were warned shows they had an early belief of existence beyond this life.

Zechariah

And you will flee by the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! (Zechariah 14:5). If the "holy ones" in this context refers to believers rather than angels, then we have a guarantee of the resurrection of the righteous.

Daniel

In the Book of Daniel we also have hope in the afterlife expressed. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2). Daniel was promised a personal reward after this life. As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance (Daniel 12:13).

Enoch

The earliest specific biblical mention of someone living in the afterlife is Enoch. After Enoch lived a life that was pleasing to God, the Bible says that God took him. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away (Genesis 5:24). This implied that Enoch was brought into God's presence. The New Testament agrees with this truth. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. Before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God (Hebrews 11:5). Because Enoch went to be with the Lord, he served as an example for others who were to follow.

Abraham

From the account of Abraham, we have another testimony to a conscious afterlife for those who have died. Abraham was to be gathered to his people in peace upon his death. God said to him. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age (Genesis 15:15). This eventually came to pass. Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people (Genesis 25:8). This indicates more than being buried in the family tomb. Abraham had left his homeland and went to a new land. His body was not returned to the land of his father, he was buried in the land to which he was promised. The only other person that was buried in his tomb was his wife Sarah. Therefore the phrase "gathered to his people" does not have the idea of burial with his ancestors. In fact, in the entire Old Testament, this phrase is distinguished from the act of burial.

Hope of Reunion

Therefore the expression "to be gathered with his people" does not mean that he was buried in the family tomb. It contains the hope of a reunion with ones ancestors beyond the grave. Others were given the same promise. When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people (Genesis 49:33).

Elijah

Elijah, like Enoch, did not die, but went to be with the Lord. He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven (2 Kings 2:10,11).

Job

The Old Testament character Job suffered a tremendous amount. Yet, through all his suffering, he still expressed hope that there was something better after this life. I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-27). Although Job may not be vindicated in this life, he had a hope for life beyond the grave.

Moses

When God spoke to Moses in the burning bush He identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:6). The Lord said, "I am" not "I was" the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Though long dead, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive in God's presence.

Psalms

In the Book of Psalms, we find further expressions of a hope beyond the grave. This includes a bodily resurrection. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let Your Holy One see decay you show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:9-11). They also had the hope of being in God's' presence forever. This is another indication of life beyond the grave.  In another Psalm we read. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness (Psalm 17:15).

Wicked and Righteous Contrasted

In the 49th Psalm we are presented with a contrast between the wicked and the righteous. At the end of their lives the wicked are like animals that perish. But humans, despite their riches, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish.  A person who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish (Psalm 49:12, 20). They have no hope of living eternally with the Lord.

Hope

In contrast, the righteous have hope. Speaking of the believer the psalmist wrote. That he should live on forever and not see decay (Psalm 49:9). The psalmist also had hope that he would be freed from the power of death. But God will ransom my soul from the power of death, for He will receive me. Selah (Psalm 49:15). This is another indication of a genuine hope of life after death. As Enoch was received by the Lord, so will the righteous that trust in Him.

David

The Bible specifically says that King David would be raised in the future to feed the flock of Israel. I the LORD will be their God and My servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken (Ezekiel 34:24). This prediction was written hundreds of years after David's death.

Isaiah

In the Book of Isaiah we read of hope beyond the grave. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken (Isaiah 25:8). Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits (Isaiah 26:19).

Conclusion

It is clear that the Old Testament gave people hope for life beyond the grave. Those who had died are regarded as still existing. Death is the end of existence here on earth, but not the end of all existence. The Lord would return, raise the dead, judge the people, and set up His kingdom.[6] From Enoch being taken away, to the statements in Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, and Daniel, the Old Testament gave individuals a hope beyond this life. Those who died had immediate access into the presence of the Lord he took them to Himself. They were waiting a future time when their bodies would be raised. The warnings of the Lord that the living should not attempt to contact the dead gives further testimony of existence in the afterlife. It was, however, the New Testament, that would reveal a more detailed description of the next world.

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[1] Lawerence Boadt, Reading The Old Testament, second edition 2012, pg 216.

[2] Lawerence Boadt, Reading The Old Testament, second edition 2012, pg 217

[3] Lawerence Boadt, Reading The Old Testament, second edition 2012, pg 217

[4] Lawerence Boadt, Reading The Old Testament, second edition 2012, pg 216

[5] Lawerence Boadt, Reading The Old Testament, second edition 2012, pg 215

[6] Don Stewari, what Hope did the Old Testament give to Death, 27 dec 2014.

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