Sheol and the Intermediate States
By Pr. Don Reigstad
Where do we go immediately after we die? The answer to this question is not as simple as you might think. It involves an old Hebrew word along with the concept of an intermediate state of existence before we are assigned our final and eternal states of Heaven or Hell. I will try and give you a summary of the biblical teaching - as I understand it.
In the Old Testament, several words are used to refer to the place of the dead (A couple of Hebrew words suggest "pit;" one is translated "(realm of) death" and another "the earth."). By far the most significant word is "Sheol." This word is used 66 times in the Old Testament (7 times in the Torah, and common in the writings and the prophets.)
1.The Etymology of the Hebrew Word Sheol (לואש). This is disputed but the most plausible is that the source is the verb "to ask or inquire." Originally this word related to asking of the dead (necromancy), a practice forbidden in the O.T. (Deut. 18:11; 1Chron. 10:13)
2.The Definition of Sheol. "The place of the dead." Early on it certainly included all the dead, righteous and unrighteous. In The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible we read, "Like all other ancient peoples, the Hebrews believed that the dead, though ending earthly life, did not relinquish existence per se. Somewhere, in a region outside the earth but accessible to God (Job26:6; Ps. 139:8; Amos 9:2) they lingered on." (Vol.1, P.787f.) Several of the 66 references indicate:
- Sheol is inevitable for all. (Ps. 89:48)
- People there are oblivious of God's activity, (Ps.88:12) still, this seems to be a place of consciousness. (Job 26:6; Ps. 139:8; Deut. 32:22)
- Bereft of all pleasures. (Sirach 14:16)
- Freed from the ‘sick fatigue' of the flesh. (Job 3:17)
- Sheol is located usually under the earth (Num.16:30); beneath the roots of the mountains (Jonah 2:6); and the author of Enoch observed it as in the west where the sun goes down. (Enoch22:3)
- It is the land of gloom and no return. (Job 10:21)
- A place of silence. (Ps. 94:17; 115:17)
- A city with gates. (Job 38:17; Is. 38:10; cf. Mt. 16:18)
- A place where the fire of God's wrath punishes. (Duet. 32:22)
- A place where heat & drought snatch away sinners. (Job 24:19; Ps. 9:17)
- Sheol is the fate of those who trust in themselves. (Ps. 49:14)
- A place from out of which the righteous will be redeemed. (Ps. 49:15; Hosea 13:14; cf. Jonah 2:2)
3. The Development of the Idea of Sheol in the Old Testament
- A distinction grew between those in Sheol who are righteous and those who are unrighteous.
- The concept of a resurrection of the righteous from out of Sheol, although present as early as Job (19:25), clearly emerges in later Old Testament history. (Is. 26:19; Daniel 12:2-3)
- Paradise ("park"/"garden") becomes the term used most commonly to refer to the place in Sheol, of the righteous. "O Lord of the Universe! Thou hast created the Garden of Eden and Gehenna...." (T.B. Sot. 22a). "The furnace of Gehenna shall be made manifest, and over against it the Paradise of delight." II Esdras 7:36.
4. N.T. growth in Understanding. By the New Testament times most considered that Sheol was split into two distinct sub-regions or they considered these two distinct places altogether.
"Paradise" became understood as the abode of the righteous dead.
- Jesus tells the thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)
- Jesus says that the righteous, poor man, Lazarus, was brought to Abraham's side/bosom when he died. Presumably it was so called because this was the place where Abraham was. (Luke 16:22)
- Paul says that he was "caught up into the 3rd heaven...into paradise..." (2 Cor. 12:1-4)
- Jesus says to the church of Ephesus, "To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." (Rev. 2:7)
"Hades" came to be understood as the abode of the unrighteous dead. Hades is also the term used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew "Sheol."
- Jesus told residents of Capernaum, "You will go down to Hades." (Matthew 11:23)
- Jesus says a certain rich man after death was "in Hades where he was in torment." (As opposed to Lazarus who was at Abraham's side. Luke 16:23)
- We are told that the unrighteous, as well as the righteous will be resurrected to face final judgment and sentancing. At that time, "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them." (Rev. 20:13f.)
5. Both Hades and Paradise are "Intermediate States."
- Hades and Paradise are disembodied states. At the point of death:
i. Spirits of believers go to be with the Lord.
1. When Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise," He was referring to his Spirit which he commended to God. Namely, their spirits would be together. (Luke 23:43, 46)
2. Paul said that to be "away from the body" was to be "at home" with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:8)
ii. Bodies of believers await the resurrection.
1. Jesus' body was placed in the tomb, awaiting resurrection.
2. Paul says that one day "the dead in Christ will rise." (1 Thess. 4:16)
- Hades and Paradise are temporary states.
i. Spirits of believers will be reunited with their glorified bodies at the resurrection of the dead - the "first resurrection."
1. Prior to the Tribulation (The last 7 years of human history) the bodies of deceased believers will be raised and rejoined to their spirit. (1Thess. 4:16) while the bodies of living believers will be transformed without a dividing of spirit and body. (1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:51ff.)
2. After the Tribulation believers who have died in the previous 7 years will be raised and transformed. We can assume that living believers will also be transformed. (Rev. 20:4) This is the first resurrection. (20:5b)
ii. After a one-thousand year period (The Millenium), all unbelievers will be raised from Hades for final judgment (Rev. 20:5; 21:12). They will be finally and forever cast into the Lake of Fire, otherwise known as Gehenna and Hades itself, that intermediate place of unbelievers, will be cast into Gehenna. (Rev. 20:14,15)