The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life

ALTHOUGH the books of the Apocrypha are not commonly regarded as being inspired, their testimony is important as showing the belief of the Jews at the time they were written. They are supposed to have been composed between the close of the writing of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus. Having carefully examined them with reference to our subject, I will now quote the passages in them bearing upon this point. It will be seen that they very plainly teach the sleep of the dead, and destruction of the wicked, and the mortality of the soul.

Esdras comes first. Of the wicked he says: "In their righteousness also they shall perish." That which is immortal cannot perish.

Esdras clearly teaches the literal resurrection of the dead. 2 Esdras 2:16, 23: "And those that be dead will I raise up again from their places and bring them out of the graves." "Wheresoever thou findest the dead, take them and bury them, and I will give thee the first place in my resurrection," said the Lord. Here we see the great care which the Jews always took to bury their dead, showing that they attached a great importance to the body. Also, the first resurrection is here spoken of. Verse 31: "Remember thy children that sleep; for I shall bring them out of the sides of the earth, and show mercy unto them." Here the dead are said to be asleep in the sides of the earth. Then they were not alive and awake at the same time. Then he goes on to tell of the end of the world, the coming of the Son of God, the redemption of the saints, etc., of whom he says, after they are crowned on Mount Zion, "These be they that have put off the mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God." This agrees well with Paul's teaching, that immortality shall be put on at the resurrection. 1 Cor. 15.

He next speaks of the creation of Adam thus: Thou "gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee." 2 Esdras 3:5. Without soul, that is, without life. This was given him, not in the shape of an immortal soul, but by breathing into him the breath of life, which made him alive. Then he was a living soul, as in Gen. 2:7. He represents the graves as the chambers of souls where they are waiting the resurrection. 2 Esdras 4:41, 42: "And he said unto me, In the grave, the chambers of souls are like the womb of a woman; for like as a woman that travaileth maketh haste to escape the necessity of the travail: even so do these places haste to deliver those things that are committed unto them." Souls, then, are in the grave till the resurrection. Of course he could not believe that they were in Heaven at the same time.

In chapter 7, there are some very plain testimonies showing that man is mortal, that the wicked will perish, that the dead are asleep, etc. Verse 15 reads: "Now therefore, why disquietest thou thyself, seeing thou art but a corruptible man? and why art thou moved, whereas thou art but mortal?" Then man is not immortal. Verse 17: The Lord has ordained "that the ungodly should perish." Verse 32: "And the earth shall restore those that are asleep in her, and so shall the dust those that dwell in silence, and the secret places shall deliver those souls that were committed unto them." Men are asleep in silence in the earth. This is not their bodies only, but their souls are there too, waiting to be delivered up. He did not believe in eternal misery; for he says, verse 33: "And the Most High shall appear upon the seat of judgment, and misery shall pass away, and long suffering shall have an end." He plainly declares that there is no immortality yet; for it will begin at the Judgment. Verse 43-45: "But the day of doom shall be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortality for to come, wherein corruption is past. . . . Then shall no man be able to save him that is destroyed, nor to oppress him that hath gotten the victory." When the saints have immortality, then the wicked are destroyed. To destroy is to "kill, to slay, to extirpate." "Destroyed: demolished, pulled down, ruined, annihilated," etc. Webster.

Verse 49: "For what profit is it unto us, if there be promised us an immortal time, whereas we have done the works that bring death?" Wicked works bring death. In this he agrees with Paul, "The wages of sin is death." To die is "to cease to live, to expire, to decease, to perish." This is not eternal misery, certainly.

Chapter 8:54-58: "Sorrows are passed, and in the end is showed the treasure of immortality. And, therefore, ask thou no more questions concerning the multitude of them that perish. For . . . they have trodden down his righteous, and said in their heart, that there is no God; yea, and that knowing they must die." This is plain; in the end of the world immortality is given to the saints, while the sinners perish and die.

In chapter 9, Esdras is informed who shall be saved, and who shall be lost, and why. Verse 9: "They that have cast them [the saints] away despitefully shall dwell in torments." Verse 12. Those who have despised repentance, "the same must know it after death by pain." This teaches that the wicked shall be punished after death, severely, even with pain and torments; but it does not say eternal torments. Far from it, for it is immediately said, "There be many more of them which perish than of them which shall be saved." "Let the multitude perish, then, which was born in vain." Verses 15, 22. They perish in their torments.

In chapter 13, he has a view of the end of the world, and the coming of Christ in great power, while the wicked are gathered against him, as in Rev. 19. Fire, flame, sparks, and tempests, "fell with violence upon the multitude which was prepared to fight; and burned them up every one, so that upon a sudden of an innumerable multitude nothing was to be perceived, but only dust and smell of smoke." Verse 11. This is too clear and explicit to be misunderstood—the wicked are totally destroyed and reduced to dust. This shows what he means by perish. Verse 38: The Son "shall lay before them [the wicked nations] their evil thoughts, and the torments, which are like unto a flame: and he shall destroy them without labor by the law which is like unto fire."

Chapter 15:23, 26: "The fire is gone forth from his wrath, and hath consumed the foundations of the earth, and the sinners, like the straw that is kindled." "For the Lord knoweth all them that sin against him, and, therefore, delivereth he them unto death and destruction." This is in harmony with what he has before said. Fire shall consume the wicked like straw and bring them to death and destruction.

The last testimony of Esdras on this subject is in chapter 16:61, where he describes the making of man. Does he give him an immortal soul? "He made man and put his heart in the midst of the body, and gave him breath, life, and understanding." Not a word about the immortal soul, never-dying soul, deathless spirit, eternal misery, spirit land, etc., in all his writings. On the contrary, he says that man in death is "asleep," "dwells in silence," shall be raised out of the sides of the earth, etc. Man is "mortal" and "corruptible." The wicked shall "perish," "be destroyed," "die," be "burned up," "consumed like straw," "misery shall pass away," and "suffering have an end." The saints shall "put on the immortal clothing," etc. Who can doubt what Esdras' faith was?

The next in order is the book of Tobit. He says but little on the subject, yet enough to show that he believed in the mortality of man. Chapter 3:6. He prays to God, "Now, therefore, deal with me as seemeth best unto thee, and command my spirit to be taken from me, that I may be dissolved, and become earth; for it is profitable for me to die rather than to live; because I have heard false reproaches and have much sorrow: command, therefore, that I may now be delivered out of this distress, and go into the everlasting place: turn not thy face away from me." When his spirit, or breath was taken from him, he expected to die, be dissolved, and become earth. He had no idea of going to Heaven. Chapter 4:10: He says, "Alms do deliver from death." So 12:9. This is all he says on the point.

Judith, the next book in order, has two valuable testimonies. Chapter 7:27: "For it is better for us to be made a spoil unto them [their enemies] than to die for thirst; for we will be his servants, that our souls may live, and not see the death of our infants before our eyes." They were closely besieged and were likely to famish. By yielding to their enemies, to serve them, they would not die for thirst, and their souls would live. So they believed that their souls would die with their bodies if they died. Not immortal, then. Chapter 16:17: "Woe to the nations that rise up against my kindred! the Lord Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of Judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh; and they shall feel them and weep forever." 1. God reserves his vengeance for the wicked till the day of Judgment; then they are not punished before that time. 2. At the Judgment, God will put fire and worms in their flesh. This shows that they understood these terms literally. 3. Weeping forever does not necessarily mean eternally, as forever is often limited in its meaning. Jonah was in the whale's belly only three days, yet he called it forever. Chapter 2:6. So of many other cases in the Bible where forever means only a limited period.

Esther, the next book, is silent on this subject; but the Wisdom of Solomon has some decisive testimony. Chapter 1:11-13: "The mouth that belieth slayeth the soul. Seek not death, in the error of your life; and pull not upon yourself destruction with the works of your hands. For God made not death; neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living." On this we remark, 1. The soul can be slain; hence it is not immortal. 2. Death and destruction will come upon the wicked. 3. God is not the author of death, nor has he pleasure in it.

Chapter 2:23, 24: "For God created man to be immortal and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it." Man was made to be immortal. God designed that he should live eternally; but the devil led him into sin, which brought death upon the whole race; hence they are not now immortal. This is plainly his argument and shows conclusively that he did not regard man as immortal. What follows in regard to the righteous shows that this position is correct; that the saints only will have immortality, and they not now, nor at death; for they rest in peace with a hope of immortality, till the time of their visitation, i.e., till the resurrection.

Chapter 3:1-7: "But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction; but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. . . And in the time of their visitation they shall shine and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble." They die, are in peace, with a hope full of immortality. Then, of course, they have not gotten immortality yet.

Chap. 4:18. He tells what shall be the end of the wicked: "They shall hereafter be a vile carcass, and a reproach among the dead forevermore." This does not look like eternal torment.

Chap. 7:1. "I myself also am a mortal man, like to all, and the offspring of him that was first made of the earth." This shows that, 1. He was mortal. 2. All are mortal; and 3. All men are made of earth. This cannot be mistaken,—man is wholly mortal.

Chap. 8:13, 17: "Moreover by the means of her [wisdom] I shall OBTAIN immortality and leave behind me an everlasting memorial to them that come after me." "To be allied unto wisdom is immortality." Immortality may be obtained by wisdom; then, of course, without wisdom it cannot be had.

Chap. 9:14, 15: "For the thoughts of mortal men are miserable, and our devices are but uncertain. For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things." Here we see that the whole man is mortal, and not the body only, as some try to argue; for he says, "the thoughts of mortal men are miserable," etc. That which thinks is mortal. The last verse may be claimed as proof of the separate existence of the soul,—the corruptible body presseth down the soul. But the next phrase explains what is meant by the soul: it is the mind,—"and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind." The mind or thoughts he calls the soul. He does not say it is immortal, nor that it lives when the body dies.

Chap. 12:6. After mentioning several classes of sinners, he says it was God's will to destroy them, "and the parents that kill with their own hands souls destitute of help." He regarded souls as capable of being killed, hence mortal. In chap. 15:3, he says, that "to know thy [God's] power is the root of immortality." Verse 11. Of the idolater he says: "He knew not his Maker, and him that inspired into him an active soul, and breathed in a living spirit." We have seen already what he means by the soul: it is man's mind, thoughts, or life. "Breathed in a living spirit," is equivalent to "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." Gen. 2:7. It is this breath of life which makes man live; but neither breath nor body is alive unless united. It will be marked that he never calls it a deathless spirit, immortal spirit, or by any such term. In verse 17, of this same man as a whole he says, "For being mortal, he worketh a dead thing with wicked hands." The fact that man is mortal he often repeats. This closes the testimony of that book, which we consider decisive on the question before us.

The next book Ecclesiasticus, written by Jesus the son of Sirach, about B. C. 200, is still more clear on the nature of man. Chap. 5:7. "Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord, and put not off from day to day; for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth, and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and perish in the day of vengeance." Chap. 6:4. "A wicked soul shall destroy him that hath it." So also Chap. 9:9. We know the meaning of perish and destroy. To put an end to a thing. They do not mean eternal torment.

In Char. 10:11, he states where a man goes when he dies, i.e., into the corruption of the grave: "For when a man is dead, he shall inherit creeping things, beasts, and worms." Chap. 14:16, 17: "Give, and take, and sanctify thy soul, for there is no seeking of dainties in the grave. All flesh waxeth old as a garment; for the covenant from the beginning is, Thou shalt die the death." This is too plain to need explanation.

Chap. 17 is much to the point, as it describes very minutely the creation of man, tells us in so many words that "he is not immortal," and tells his condition in death: "The Lord created man of the earth, and turned him into it again." Verse 1. It is man as a whole that is made of earth and goes into it again. Then he goes on to say that God made men "according to his image," verse 3, gave them "understanding," "speech," "counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, ears, and a heart," etc. Verses 5, 6. All parts of man's composition are mentioned, but nothing said about an immortal soul. Then he tells man's condition in death. Verses 27, 28: "Who shall praise the Most High in the grave, instead of them which live and give thanks? Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead, as from one that is not: the living and sound in heart shall praise the Lord." From this it is very plain that he thought that the dead were unconscious in the grave, and that they were not alive in Heaven praising God. But verse 30 settles the point as to what he thought of the nature of man: "For all things can not be in men, because the son of man is NOT immortal." Nothing could be plainer than this, showing that the Jews at that time did not believe in the immortality of man.

Chap. 21:2. The teeth of sin "are as the teeth of a lion, slaying the souls of men." Verse 9: "The congregation of the wicked is like tow wrapped together; and the end of them is a flame of fire to destroy them." This is a forcible illustration, showing the utter destruction of sinners. They shall be burned up like tow. Chap. 22:11: he says that the dead hath lost the light " and "he is at rest." Chap. 36:9: "Let them perish that oppress the people." Chap. 38:23: "When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest; and be comforted for him, when his spirit is departed from him." Here again we have the dead at rest. "His spirit is departed from him," that is, his life or breath. Chap. 46:19, 20: Of Samuel he says, "And before his long sleep he made protestations," etc. This refers to Samuel's death, which is called his long sleep. This is the way the Bible always represents the death of the saints,—as asleep in the grave. In sleep there is no thought, no consciousness. Verse 20: "And after his death he prophesied, and showed the king his end, and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy, to blot out the wickedness of the people."

It may be claimed that this indicates that Samuel's soul was alive after his death. But such a position is untenable; for, 1. The previous verse unqualifiedly declares that Samuel was asleep. It does not affirm this of a part, the body, simply, but of the whole man, Samuel. 2. The same writer has frequently declared, as we have seen, that man is mortal, that he is not immortal, that the dead do not give thanks to God, etc. Hence this must be explained in harmony with those positive statements. An inference must never be allowed to contradict and outweigh a positive statement. At the best, only an inference can be drawn from this passage. 3. Nothing is said in the passage about the soul or spirit, much less about its living and knowing when the body is dead. 4. The same one that died, is the same one that prophesied after death,—"And after his death he prophesied;" says the writer, Mark, it does not say, "After the death of his body his soul prophesied;" but the same thing that died and slept also prophesied. 5. This language is spoken with reference to the witch of Endor's bringing up Samuel at the request of Saul, the king. 1 Sam. 28. By reference to that event, it will be seen that Samuel is represented as coming up out of the earth bodily, as being disquieted by it, etc. Hence our writer says, that "he showed the king [Saul] his end, and lifted up his voice from the earth." Manifestly he took it that Samuel did actually come up from the grave and talk with Saul. But this is far from showing that he thought Samuel's soul lived, and came back and prophesied, while his body was in the grave. That which was in the grave came up and talked. Chap. 48:5: Of Elijah he says, "Who didst raise up a dead man from death, and his soul from the place of the dead" (margin, grave). Then the souls of the dead are in the grave. Thus closes this writer's testimony.

Baruch 2:17, says: "Open thine eyes and behold; for the dead that are in the graves, whose souls (margin, Gr. spirit or life) are taken from their bodies, will give unto the Lord neither praise nor righteousness." Here again we see the same idea of the unconscious state of the dead. Chap. 4:1: "All they that keep it [the law] shall come to life; but such as leave it shall die." To die is to cease to live, to lose existence. This is the fate of the sinner.

Next follow four small books viz.: Song of the three Holy Children, History of Susanna, Destruction of Bel, and Prayer of Manasses. But there is no reference in either of them to our subject.

We now come to the Maccabees, which were probably written about 150 years before Christ. In 1 Mac. 2:63, we read of the sinner, "To-day he shall be lifted up, and to-morrow he shall not be found, because he is returned into his dust, and his thought is come to nothing." This clearly conveys the idea that he is entirely unconscious in the dust. In 2 Mac. 7, is related the remarkable case of a mother and seven sons, who suffered a most cruel martyrdom by their enemies, because they would not give up their religion and break the law. The seven sons were most cruelly tortured and slain before their mother's eyes. Each one tried to encourage and strengthen the others in their pains. If they had believed that their souls were immortal and would immediately go to Heaven, this was an excellent time for them to talk of that hope as an encouragement. But hear them: the second one said to his tormentor, "Thou like a fury takest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, who have died for his laws, unto everlasting life." When the third was brought, he put out his tongue and hand, and said, "These I had from Heaven; and for his laws I despise them; and from him I hope to receive them again." When the fourth was about to die, he said, "It is good, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God to be raised up again by him. As for thee, thou shalt have no resurrection to life." Then the mother said to her sons, "The Creator . . . will also of his own mercy give you breath and life again, as ye now regard not your own selves for his law's sake." When the last one was dying he said, "Our brethren, who now have suffered a short pain, are dead under God's covenant of everlasting life." Thus they all died. The hope of the resurrection from the dead was their only hope. This was what strengthened and encouraged them in all their sufferings. Not a word about going to Heaven, or any thing of the kind.

In Chap. 12:43-45, is a passage claimed by Catholics as proving the doctrine of purgatory. If it could be proved that the soul is immortal, and lives after the body dies, it would be quite a plausible proof that the Jews held the doctrine of purgatory. But as we have shown that they did not believe in these doctrines, this passage does not prove what is claimed for it. It reads thus: "And when he [Judas] had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection. For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And also in that he perceived that there was great favor laid up for those that die godly, it was a holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin."

There is no evidence here that the dead are conscious, but the reverse, as it all relates to the resurrection. It is said that all that was done for the dead would have been in vain if they had not hoped that they would rise again. Hence they did not expect that their offerings and prayers would benefit the dead till the resurrection. Then of course they did not believe that the dead were alive and conscious.

CONCLUSION.—Here, then, we have the whole testimony of the Apocrypha on the nature of man and punishment of the wicked. It seems to me to be overwhelmingly conclusive that the Jews at that time did not believe in the immortality of the soul nor in eternal misery. Not a word of either occurs in the whole Apocrypha; but it is often said that man is mortal; that the son of man is not immortal; that the dead are asleep; are at rest; that souls are in the grave; that souls can be killed, destroyed, slain, etc.; and that the wicked shall die, perish, be consumed, burned up like tow, destroyed, etc., etc. This harmonizes with the teachings of both the Old and New Testaments. There is no reliable evidence that any of the ancient Jews ever believed in the immortality of the soul.