A seeming exception to the above only serves to emphasize the truth of what has been shown. In connection with the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram we read:- " If the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick [that is alive] into the pit [ sheol]; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord " (Num. 16:3030But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. (Numbers 16:30)).
The new thing referred to is very obvious here. The bodies of the rebels found interment through the earth opening her mouth and swallowing them up. But it may be urged they went "down quick into the pit," language which seems to be applicable to the " grave."
A little further on we shall refer to the word " down " in this connection. As to the word " into " we can speak of an individual going into death, who may never be in the grave at all. The moment a man dies he is in death, though the body has generally to wait some hours or days before being placed in the grave. "In" or "into" can apply to a condition equally with a locality. We may add that the word quick does not refer to the suddenness of the act, but means they went down alive into sheol.
So far we have been looking at shoal in relation to what it is not, that it is not the grave. Let us now examine Scripture to see what it stands in relation to.
Qeber is never connected in this way with judgment and sorrow. The body in the grave is unconscious, and cannot feel pain or experience sorrow. A conscious entity, the soul, in the condition of sheol can experience such things.
Qeber is never connected with the soul, but always with the body, as we have already seen.
Qeber has no such thought connected with it. A dead body cannot cry aloud or experience distress.
Sheol is connected with the thought of going down. " I will go down into the grave [sheol] unto my son mourning " (Gen. 37:3535And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. (Genesis 37:35)). This thought is expressed in several other passages. Evidently the thought of going down is an acknowledgment of the judgment of God in death. These things were only dimly known in the Old Testament times.
But that it cannot mean here the grave is evident from the fact that in the Scripture just quoted, Jacob, believing his son Joseph was dead, and deceived by the appearance of his son's coat of many colors, dyed red in blood, exclaimed, " Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." He therefore had not the slightest hope of his own body being put in his son's grave, when he did not believe it existed at all.
Qeber is never connected in Scripture with the thought of going down. Of course, as a matter of fact, dead bodies do go down into the grave. Hence it is all the more significant that Scripture never uses the expression in regard to qeber, but does in connection with sheol, conveying most assuredly a moral idea in regard to a condition.
Let us now turn to the New Testament, and follow up the equivalents of qeber and sheol there, and we shall find exactly the same rules apply to them.
Mnemeion (Greek) = Qeber (Hebrew), grave, sepulcher, a locality.
Hades (Greek) = Sheol (Hebrew), the state of disembodied souls, i.e., a condition.
In the New Testament, as in the Old, there is no difficulty as to the word grave.
Let us first see the Greek equivalent in the Septuagint for the Hebrew word sheol. The Septuagint is the name of the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek, executed by the Jews of Alexandria, and so called because it is said to be the work of seventy translators employed by Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt about 280 B. C.
Out of sixty-five times in which the word, shed, occurs in the Hebrew, the Septuagint renders it hades on all but four occasions. Twice it is translated thanatos, the Greek word for death; twice it has no equivalent. Not ONCE do they translate it grave. Does this not prove they had a much clearer idea of the meaning of the word sheol than our English translators, who wrongly translated it grave thirty-one times, and that in spite of its having no plural or locality, and the fact that they had translated it thirty-one times by another totally different word, hell.
But this is a matter of translation, of more or less weight. Let us come to the New Testament. Scripture itself decides the question authoritatively for us. Compare the following Old Testament Scripture with the New Testament quotation:- "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell [ SHEOL] neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption " (Psa. 16:1010For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10)). "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell [HADES]; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption " (Acts 2:2727Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:27)).
This puts the matter beyond dispute. Scripture itself settles the point for us.
A further remark must be made here before we proceed, or else the enquirer will be expecting help from the wrong quarter.
There is no such revelation of the unseen state in the Old Testament as is found in the New. " Life and immortality [literally, incorruptibility]" are distinctly said to be brought " to light through the gospel " (2 Tim. 1:1010But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (2 Timothy 1:10)). The time arrived for God to make a fuller revelation on this solemn subject consequent on the death of His blessed Son, which met all His righteous claims, and put man under a deeper responsibility than before.
It is not that the Old Testament is not as fully inspired of God as the New. The Old is of EQUAL INSPIRATION AND AUTHORITY with the New, but God has been pleased to make a fuller revelation on these subjects in the New. It is emphatically not a question of evolution but of revelation.
The reader may be warned to treat with grave suspicion writers who, whilst presenting a large array of texts from the Old Testament, principally drawn from Job and Ecclesiastes, fail to give adequate testimony from the New. He will find that such writers treat the partial revelation God in His unerring wisdom has given in the Old Testament as the final word to be said on the subject. They likewise often mistake the inspired record for revelation, whilst ignoring the fuller revelation of the New Testament.
Ecclesiastes is much quoted by unsound writers in this way. For instance, how often is the following passage quoted to prove that at death the soul sleeps and becomes unconscious:- "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten" (Eccl. 9:55For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:5)).
But the following verse, which explains the point of view of the writer, as of the whole book indeed, is generally not quoted:—"Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished, neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done UNDER THE SUN " (Eccl. 9:66Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:6)).
The writer here speaks of what is "under the sun." As far as he knows the dead know nothing of the environments of this present life.
Solomon himself contradicts such an interpretation of Ecclesiastes q: 5 as that of soul-sleep. He says:- "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it " (Eccl. 12:77Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)). Solomon clearly differentiates between the unconscious body in the grave and the conscious spirit in sheol or hades.
To return from this necessary digression. We have seen that sheol (Hebrew) and hades (Greek) are equivalent terms. Let us now consider the Scriptural testimony as to hades.
In the New Testament hades is translated hell ten times and grave once. The passage where it is translated grave is:- "O death, where is thy sting? O grave [hades], where is thy victory?" (1 Cor. 15: 55).
Why the translators should translate it ten times hell and make one solitary exception is inexplicable. Probably they were influenced in this by a desire for elegance of language.
We shall now find that the same comparison that we found existing between qeber (Hebrew, grave) and shed! (Hebrew, disembodied soul-condition) exists between mnemeion (Greek, grave) and hades (Greek, disembodied soul-condition).
Mnemeion occurs in the plural ten times. Hades never occurs in the plural.
Mnemeion is spoken of as the exclusive possession of an individual. Hades is never so spoken of.
Hades never has such language used in connection with it. It is addressed, as we have seen, as 0 grave (hades), but is never translated a grave, his grave, etc.
Hades has no geographical position.
Hades is never spoken of in relation to the body, for the obvious reason that it has no relation to it.
An apparent exception to this may be urged in that the rich man in hades is said to lift up his eyes. But the statement is symbolical, and intended to express the thought that the soul is conscious after death, and able to take cognizance of its surroundings. The Bible is full of such symbolism. For instance, God is a Spirit, and therefore incorporeal. Yet we read of His " back parts," His face, His eyes, His nostrils, His feet, His hands, etc., etc., all intended to convey definite thoughts in symbolic language. For instance, " The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous; and His ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil " (Psa. 34:15,1615The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 16The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. (Psalm 34:15‑16)).
Hades is never so spoken of.
Hades is never so spoken of.
Seeing then that sheaf and hades are equivalent terms and that there is no dispute as to the word for grave, the evidence on the point is conclusive.
If any reader can after verifying this evidence still state that sheol or hades means the grave, then I charge him with deliberate deception. Alas! we are not surprised to find such in the world, men lost to every sense of shame, for we read, " Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived " (2 Tim. 3:1313But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13)).
Further, shoal or hades affects necessarily both saint and sinner. And as the body, lying in death (a condition) must in a general way be in the grave (a locality) so the soul, which is in hades (a condition) must be somewhere (a locality). Now Scripture tells us plainly where the souls of the Lord's people are after the death of their bodies.
We read:- "He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell [hades], neither His flesh did see corruption " (Acts 2:3131He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:31)). The Lord's spirit was in hades between the time of His death and His resurrection. He Himself asserted where His spirit would be, and in doing so proved where the spirits of believers, who have died, are, for He said to the dying thief:- " Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me IN PARADISE " (Luke 23:33And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it. (Luke 23:3)).
And Paul wrote:- "We are willing... to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord " (2 Cor. 5:88We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)). The soul of the Christian is then with Christ in bliss.
But the Lord likewise throws light upon the state of lost souls in hades. Most vividly does He contrast the state of the blessed with that of the lost. "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom" (Luke 16:2222And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; (Luke 16:22)). "The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell [hades] he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom " "And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame " (Luke 16:22-2422And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Luke 16:22‑24)).
The Lord framed His discourse in a Jewish setting, suitable to His hearers—hence the symbolism -" Abraham's bosom." But the companionship of Abraham and the bliss of his condition were not symbolical. And just as plainly as Scripture tells us hades is for the believer a condition of BLISS, so does the Lord tell us that hades is for the unbeliever a condition of TORMENT. Can we believe the one statement and refuse the other? Surely not! How infinitely kind, because infinitely solemn, so that His hearers might escape such a doom, were the warnings the Lord gave when on earth.
The objector may say if the eyes and tongue are symbolical, so must the torments and the flame be symbolical. We do not dogmatize on the point, but we would like to point out that the objection does not lessen the gravity of the situation one whit. For if physical torments are symbolical, we earnestly ask, Of what are they symbolical? There is no answer but one. Physical torments, if symbolical, must be symbolical of spiritual torments. Torments affecting the body, if symbolical, must be symbolical of torments affecting the soul. Be that as it may, we do not dogmatize; the contention that the language is symbolical does not in the very least lessen or affect in the very slightest degree the seriousness of the warning. For if the language be symbolic, the symbolism is chosen by none less a person than the Son of God, and He intended it to convey an adequate impression.
Is the symbolism terrible? The truth intended to be taught is terrible. Is the symbolism terrible? The warning is terrible. We implore you, reader, not to allow human reason or sentiment to take off the keen edge of the truth.
It is clear from. Scripture where the soul of the believer goes after death, but we are not told where the soul of the lost goes. One can understand a parent, taking a child to a new home, explaining its locality and how pleasant the change will be. But one would not expect the police authorities, who arrest a man, and whose duty is to take him to prison and keep him secure till the assizes, to give themselves the trouble of telling their prisoner where the cell is situated in which he is to be incarcerated.
However, enough has been said to prove that hades is THE CONDITION of the souls of both saint and sinner after death, that the former are with Christ in bliss; the latter in a place of torment.