The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life

TO THE popular mind at the present day the word "hell" wherever found conveys the idea of a vast burning, smoking pit of eternal fire in which are devils and damned souls suffering in unutterable agony. This is its exclusive meaning as now used. Hence, when the word "hell" is found in the Bible the common reader immediately associates that idea with it, supposing that this is what it must necessarily mean. But every well informed person knows that there is no foundation for this popular error. There is one Greek word gehenna, which properly and always means the place of punishment. It occurs twelve times in the New Testament and is always rendered hell. We will examine this soon.

But the original Hebrew and Greek terms most frequently translated here, which are used to represent the place or state of the dead, never have the meaning of our modern word "hell." In the Hebrew original of the Old Testament we have the word sheol, occurring sixty-five times. It is translated hell, thirty-one times; grave, thirty-one times; and pit, three times. The corresponding Greek term is hades. It occurs in the New Testament eleven times and is rendered hell, ten times, and grave once. Neither of these terms, sheol or hades, ever means the place of future punishment or a lake of fire. They simply mean the grave or realm of the dead.

In proof of this we will first offer testimonies from the most eminent authors upon the point, and then will examine the scriptural use.

"A new and Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament," by E. W. Bullinger, thus defines Hades:—

"Hades, therefore, denotes the realm of the invisible, the kingdom of the dead, graveland, gravedom, all the graves in the world viewed as one; the place where the declaration of God is fulfilled, 'Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.' Hades is the grave of the human race; not the grave of the individual (for which other words are used) but of all the dead, whether they lie in the sepulchre, or are torn by beasts (Gen. 37:35), or consigned to the deep." No better definition of the word could be given. It means the place or region of the dead, good and bad.

Another high authority in defining Hades says, "For the same reason, the ideas entertained even by God's people upon the subject were predominantly somber and gloomy. Sheol wore no inviting aspect to their view no more than hades to the superstitious heathen; the very men who believed that God would accompany them thither and keep them from evil, contemplated the state as one of darkness and silence, and shrunk from it with instinctive horror, or gave hearty thanks when they found themselves for a time delivered from it. (Ps. 6:5; 30:3, 9; Job 3:13; Isa. 38:18.) The reason was that they had only general assurances but no specific light on the subject; and their comfort rather lay in over-leaping the gulf sheol, and fixing their thoughts on the better resurrection, some time to come, than in anything they could definitely promise themselves between death and the resurrection morn. But it was in connection with the prospect of a resurrection from the dead that all hope formed itself in the breasts of the true people of God."—McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia, Art. Hades.

Yes Hades is the dark and silent realm of the dead. The late popular work, Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Art. Hell, truthfully says of the word hell:—

"This is the word generally and unfortunately used by our translators to render the Hebrew Sheol. We say unfortunately, because although, as St. Augustine truly asserts, Sheol, with its equivalents, Inferni and Hades, are never used in a good sense, yet the English word hell is mixed up with numberless associations entirely foreign to the minds of the ancient Hebrews. It would perhaps have been better to retain the Hebrew word sheol or else render it always by the grave, or the pit. Ewald accepts Luther's word Holle; even Underwelt, which is suggested by De Witte, involves conceptions too human for the purpose. Passing over the derivations suggested by older writers, it is now generally agreed that the word comes from the root sha-al, 'to make hollow' (Comp. Germ. Holle, 'Hell' with Hohle 'a hollow,') and therefore means the vast hollow subterranean resting place of the "dead." "Generally speaking, the Hebrews regarded the grave as the final end of all sentient and intelligent existence, the land where all things are forgotten."

Another Cyclopedia says: "Hades, a Greek word (derived, according to the best established and most generally received etymology, from primitive a and idein, hence often written aides,) means strictly what is out of sight, or possibly, if applied to a person, what puts him out of sight. In earlier Greek this last was, if not its only, at least its prevailing, application." Dr. Muenscher, the distinguished author of a Dogmatic History in German, says of Sheol, "Thither go all men, without distinction, and hope for no return. There ceases all pain and anguish; there reigns an unbroken silence; there all is powerless and still; and even the praise of God is heard no more."—Quoted in Origen and History of End. Punish., p. 48.

Even the old English word hell formerly had no such meaning as is now attached to it. It simply meant a dark, concealed, or hidden place, or what was out of sight. So Dr. Parkhurst says: "Our English, or rather Saxon, word hell, in its original signification, exactly answers to the Greek word hades, and denotes a concealed or unseen place; and this sense of the word is still retained in the western countries of England; to hele over a thing is to cover it."

Again McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia says, on the word hell: "A term which originally corresponded more exactly to hades, being derived from the Saxon helen, to cover, and signifying merely the covered or invisible place—the habitation of those who have gone from this visible terrestial region to the world of spirits. But it has so long been appropriated in common usage to the place of future punishment for the wicked, that its earlier meaning has been lost sight of." This is the simple historical truth in the case. We must remember this when we read the Bible.

We now offer the testimony of learned men with regard to the faith of the ancient Jews and the teachings of the Old Testament on this point. Mr. Alger, in his "Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life," a very able work indeed, uses this language: "The term rephaim is used to denote the manes of the departed. The etymology of the word, as well as its use, makes it mean the weak, the relaxed. 'I am counted as them that go down into the under world; I am as a man that hath no strength.' This faint, powerless condition accords with the idea that they were destitute of flesh, blood, and animal life,—mere umbrae. These ghosts are described as being nearly as destitute of sensation as they are of strength. They are called 'the inhabitants of the land of stillness.' They exist in an inactive, partially torpid state, with a dreamy consciousness of past and present, neither suffering nor enjoying, and seldom moving. Herder says of the Hebrews: 'The sad and mournful images of their ghostly realm disturbed them, and were too much for their self-possession.' Respecting these images, he adds: 'Their voluntary force and energy were destroyed. They were feeble as a shade, without distinction of members, as a nerveless breath. They wandered and flitted in the dark nether world.' This 'wandering and flitting,' however, is rather the spirit of Herder's poetry than that of the Hebrews; for the whole tenor and drift of their representations in the Old Testament show that the state of disembodied souls is deep quietude. Freed from bondage, pain, toil, and care, they repose in silence. The ghost summoned from beneath by the witch of Endor, said, 'Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me.' It was indeed, in a dismal abode that they took their long quiet; but then it was in a place where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.'"—Chap. VIII:; pp. 153, 154.

A careful examination of the Old Testament will show that these statements are correct. Hence the Jews had no idea that the souls of the dead are in Heaven, or that they were alive and intelligent.

"The native Hebrew conception of the state of the dead was that of the voiceless gloom and dismal slumber of sheol, whither all alike went."

Nevins, in his "Bible Antiquities," thus describes the faith of the ancient people of God with regard to the state of the dead: "HADES: It became common, especially in the language of poetry, to employ the image of a sepulcher in representation of the general condition of the dead. A vast cavern was conceived, stretching abroad, with immense extent, in the deepest parts of the earth. Continual gloom hung over all its scenery, and the most profound silence reigned on every side. No step of living man had ever descended to its unknown depth; nor had the eye of such ever discovered one of its secrets. It was all wrapped in awful mystery; it was the land of silence; it was the region and shadow of death.'"—Chap. VII., Sec. 2. Such was the idea that the Jews had of the dead in Old Testament times.

HELL.

1. Hades is represented in the Bible as being in the earth. In the following quotations from the Scriptures we will insert the Hebrew word sheol with the English translation of it,—grave or hell. Moses, in describing the overthrow of Korah and his company when the ground opened and swallowed them up says, "They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, [sheol] and the earth closed upon them; and they perished from among the congregation." Num. 16:33.

From this it will be seen that sheol is down in the earth. When the Lord is speaking of the tires burning down in the bowels of the earth, he says, "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn into the lowest hell [sheol], and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains." Deut. 32:22

Here the same idea is given,—sheol is down in the earth. The following text from the Psalmist conveys the same idea: "Our bones are scattered at the grave's [sheol's] mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth." Ps. 14:7.

Job's testimony upon the point is very decisive, showing that sheol is down in the dust. "They shall go down to the bars of the pit [sheol], when our rest together is in the dust." Solomon represents it as being beneath. "The way of life is above the wise, that he may depart from hell [sheol] beneath."

Isaiah speaks of it as being below. "Hell [sheol] from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [sheol] to the sides of the pit." Isa. 14:9, 15.

These quotations clearly show that whatever sheol is, it is down in the earth, in the dust; and in fact, all the references to it convey the same thought, as the reader will notice as we proceed.

Some have claimed that the spirits of the righteous at death go into paradise which, they say, is one department of sheol or hades. Here it is claimed they are joyfully contemplating the time when they shall be fully glorified in Heaven. Granting all this, then the theory that the righteous go to Heaven at death must be abandoned. But there is no foundation for this assertion, as we shall see.

2. Sheol is the place where all the dead go. Righteous and wicked without distinction, all pass into sheol at death. Thus when Jacob supposed that his son was dead he said: "For he said I will go down into the grave [sheol] unto my son mourning." Gen. 37:35.

Job represents it as the house where all must dwell after death: "If I wait, the grave [sheol] is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness." Job 17:13. And the Psalmist declares that there is not a man living that can escape sheol. "What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave [sheol]? Selah." Ps. 89:48.

And finally the Lord says, "For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave [sheol] whither thou goest." Eccl. 9:10. All must go into sheol at the close of life; and there is no distinction of places in sheol. Not a word is said about one place for the righteous and another for the wicked. That is a pagan notion added long since Bible times.

3. The whole man goes into sheol. It is not simply the soul that goes into sheol, but the body, the bones, the hair, the flesh, the clothing, implements of war, are all buried in sheol. Thus Jacob says, "And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone; if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave" [sheol]. Gen. 42:38. His gray hairs were to go down into sheol. Any one can see that this means the grave.