Sheol (Hebrew:שְׁאוֹלŠəʾōl,Tiberian Hebrew:Šŏʾōl)[1] in theHebrew Bible is the underworld place of stillness and darkness which isdeath.[2]
Within the Hebrew Bible, there are few—often brief and nondescript—mentions of Sheol, seemingly describing it as a place where both the righteous and the unrighteous dead go, regardless of their moral choices in life.[2] The implications of Sheol within the texts are therefore somewhat unclear; it may be interpreted as either a generic metaphor describing "the grave" into which all humans invariably descend, or an actual state ofafterlife within Israelite thought. Though such practices are forbidden, the inhabitants of Sheol can, under some circumstances, be summoned by the living, as when theWitch of Endor calls up the spirit ofSamuel forKing Saul.[3]
While the Hebrew Bible appears to describe Sheol as the permanent place of the dead, in theSecond Temple period (roughly 500 BCE – 70 CE), a more diverse set of ideas developed. In some texts, Sheol is considered the home of both the righteous and the wicked, separated into respective compartments; in others, it was considered a place of punishment meant for the wicked dead alone.[4] When the Hebrew scriptures were translated intoGreek in ancientAlexandria (around 200 BCE), the word "Hades" (i.e., theGreek underworld) was substituted for Sheol owing to its similarities to theUnderworld ofGreek mythology.[2] The gloss of Sheol as "Hades" is reflected in theNew Testament, wherein Hades is both the underworld of the dead and the personification of theevil it represents.[4]
Sheol is mentioned 66 times throughout the Hebrew Bible.[5] The first mentions of Sheol within the text associate it with the state of death and a sense of eternal finality.Jacob avows that he will "go down to Sheol," still mourning the apparent death of his sonJoseph.[6] Later in thebook of Genesis, the same formula is repeated when describing the sorrow that would befall Jacob should another of his sons,Benjamin, not return to him with his remaining brothers.[7]
Sheol makes its next appearance during the episode ofKorah in thebook of Numbers. After Korah attempts to rouse theIsraelites to rebel againstMoses, Moses vows thatYahweh will prove his legitimacy by splitting open the earth to hurl Korah and his conspirators into Sheol. Sure enough, as he finishes his speech, Yahweh splits the earth open, causing Korah, his family, and all of his possessions to, as the text describes it, "enter Sheol alive."[8] In thebook of Deuteronomy, Moses sings that the anger of Yahweh is a flame which burns in the "depths" of Sheol, consuming the entire earth from the bottom up.[9] Subsequent mentions of Sheol in theTanakh depict it as a representation of death, suggesting that entry into Sheol is an unavoidable consequence of dying.1 Samuel describes Yahweh as the one who brings souls down to Sheol,[10] and2 Samuel further cements Sheol as humanity's ultimate postmortem destination.[11]1 Kings uses "going down to Sheol" as a metaphor for death, describing those who go down to it both "in peace" and "in blood".[12]
The prophetIsaiah expounds on Sheol at great length during some of his sermons, personifying it as possessing an ever-increasing hunger for living people,[13] with a great propensity for the souls of sinners,[14] and where pleas to Yahweh cannot escape.Ezekiel, during his prophecy ofEgypt's downfall, describes Egypt metaphorically descending into Sheol as a dead person would, where all the spirits of the dead, as well as other fallen empires, such asAssyria, jeer and mock its fall from might.[15] The remaining mentions of Sheol lie in the poetic literature of the Hebrew Bible.Job mentions Sheol in several of his laments, calling it his "home" as he lies in anguish,[16] and yearning for death to take him there to put an end to his suffering. Sheol is also mentioned in severalPsalms—again, as the grave of humanity.
Other biblical names for Sheol were’Ăḇaddōn (אֲבַדּוֹן 'ruin'), found inPsalm 88:11,Job 28:22 andProverbs 15:11 andŠaḥaṯ (שַחַת 'corruption'), found inIsaiah 38:17 andEzekiel 28:8.[17]
Even within earlyJewish thought, the understanding of Sheol was often inconsistent. This would partly manifest in the ideological rift between theSadducees andPharisees, who disagreed on whether relevance should focus more on the world of the living or on the afterlife. The lack of a clear belief structure surrounding Sheol provides leeway for interpretational pluralism—namely, one that imagines Sheol as a concrete state of the afterlife or one that envisions Sheol as a metaphor for death as a whole. To the latter's end, certain editions of the Bible translate the termSheol as generic terms such as "grave" or "pit" (e.g., the ChristianKJV andNIV and JewishJPS Tanakh), while others (e.g., the ChristianNAB andNASB and JewishKoren Jerusalem Bible) preserve it as a proper noun. Distinguishing Sheol between a realm and a metaphor is the crux of several unanswered questions surrounding its nature.
Perhaps owing to the evolution of its interpretation, some aspects of Sheol as described in the Hebrew Bible appear contradictory. Those in Sheol remember nothing, not evenYahweh,[18] yet elsewhere its inhabitants possess an otherwise impossible perception of earthly events, even those which occur after their demise. Pleas to Yahweh cannot escape Sheol,[19] and yet, Yahweh remains its unequivocal master.[20] Those who descend into Sheol cannot escape it,[21] yet Yahweh raises souls from it. Furthermore, despite the evidently abstract nature of Sheol, there is some physicality to it: it was clearly understood to be subterranean,[22] which is further supported by its association with the termbōr (בור, "pit"), found inIsaiah 14:15 and24:22 andEzekiel 26:20. It is a "land" (eretz),[23] contains "gates", is apparently compartmentalized, and there are numerous mentions of its "deepest depths" and "farthest corners". The idea that both the righteous and unrighteous eventually descend to Sheol appears to be an unspoken assumption in the Hebrew Bible; thus,Jacob andDavid have no reservation in acknowledging their eventual residency, even as the laterprophets spoke of Sheol lying in wait for the wicked.
The origins of the concept of Sheol are debated. The general characteristics of an afterlife such as Sheol were not unique to the ancientIsraelites; theBabylonians had a similar underworld calledAralu, and theGreeks had one known asHades. As such, it is assumed that the early Israelites believed that the grave of family, or tribe, all united into one, collectively unified "grave", and that this is what theBiblical Hebrew term Sheol refers to: the common grave of humans.[22] Therefore, the family tomb is the central concept in understanding biblical views of the afterlife. It is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between propersepulture and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife".[24]
Wojciech Kosior has argued that "Sheol" in the Hebrew Bible refers to anunderworld deity.[25] Some additional support for this hypothesis comes from the ancient Near Eastern literary materials. It has been proposed that Sheol is the Hebrew derivative ofShuwala[26] (Akkadian: 𒋗𒉿𒆷šu-wa-la), an underworld goddess ofHurrian origin,[27] attested inHattusa in Anatolia,Emar andUgarit in Syria, andUr in Mesopotamia,[27] often alongside other underworld deities such asAllani orUgur.[27] According toAssyriologist Lluis Feliu, a connection between Sheol and Shuwala is "possible, but not certain."[28]Edward Lipiński regards this connection as proven.[29] Some scholars argue that Sheol understood anthropomorphically fits the semantic complex of the other ancient Near Easterndeath deities such asNergal,Ereshkigal orMot.[30]
TheSecond Temple Period wrought several radical theological changes within the Israelite population and marked the transition fromIsraelite religion to modernJudaism. The idea of Sheol underwent extensive modification and became widely diversified, with a newfound plethora of interpretations. With the codification ofRabbinical Judaism and theTalmud,Jewish theology concerning the afterlife had largely abandoned the concept of a single destination for all humankind after death. It adopted the more recognizable model, which espoused a place of reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked calledGehinnom. Subsequently,Sheol and the related termsAbaddon,Bor,Shakhat, and others were reduced to synonyms for this realm of punishment.[4]
InMandaeism, theWorld of Darkness (i.e., theunderworld) is sometimes referred to as Sheol (Classical Mandaic:šiul) in theGinza Rabba and otherMandaean scriptures.[31]
"Sheol ... is the OT word for the underworld or unseen world of the dead where departed spirits go ... It was a place of stillness, darkness, ..."
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