Sheol is translated hell thirty-one times; pit three times; grave thirty-one times. In the case of qeber the translators give us the same word or its equivalents throughout. Why do they not do the same with sheol? They render it grave thirty-one times and hell thirty-one times. On the face of it, it cannot be rendered by two words so dissimilar in meaning. If grave means the place of interment for bodies without souls, and sheol the condition of souls without bodies; they are no more interchangeable than if the same word were translated London and lunacy. London is a place. Lunacy is a condition.
In giving Scripture on this important point, we shall find in every case locality is connected with qeber, and never condition; and condition with sheol, and never locality.
Qeber occurs in the plural twenty-seven times. Sheol never occurs in the plural.
The burial of five hundred bodies in a cemetery means many graves.
The entrance of five hundred disembodied souls into eternity means only one condition.
Qeber is referred to as the EXCLUSIVE qeber, or grave, of an individual.
Sheol is never spoken of as the EXCLUSIVE sheol of any individual. It is plain that one condition, viz., that of being disembodied, is common to all who have died.
Qeber is spoken of as "my grave" (Gen. 50:5); "a grave" (Num. 19:16); "grave of Abner" (2 Sam. 3:32); "his own grave" (1 Kings 13:30); "thy grave" (2 Chron. 34:28); "their graves" (Jer. 8:1); etc., etc.
Sheol is thirty-one times wrongly translated grave, but in each case without exception is translated "the grave." It is never translated "my grave," "a grave," "his grave," etc., etc. Now if sheol had meant grave it would, like qeber, possess these variations, but it does not. The reason is very obvious. Sheol does NOT mean grave, it is wrongly translated thus.
Qeber has geographical position assigned to it. "A burying place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre" (Gen. 50:13); "No graves in Egypt" (Ex. 14:11); "In Zelah in the sepulcher of Kish" (2 Sam. 21:14); "the city of my fathers' sepulchers" (Neh. 2:5); "I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel" (Ezek. 39:11).
Sheol has no geographical position assigned to it. A condition has no geography.
Qeber is spoken of in relation to the body going into it, "And he laid his carcass in his own grave" (1 Kings 13:20); "they cast the man [that is his dead body] into the sepulcher of Elisha" (2 Kings 13:21); "The slain that lie in the grave" (Psa. 88:5); "Cast his dead body into the graves of the common people" (Jer. 26:23).
Sheol is never spoken of in relation to the body. The reason is obvious. It has no relation to it. It has to do only with the soul.
Qeber is spoken of as a possession on this earth, just as we may own a house or a field. "A possession of a burying-place" (Gen. 23:4); "a possession of a burying-place " (Gen. 23:9); " a possession of a burying-place " (Gen. 23:20).
Sheol is never so spoken of. We cannot possess a condition. We can have no title-deeds to a condition.
Qeber can be dug or made. " In my grave which I have Jigged for me " (Gen. 50: 5); " I will make thy grave " (Neh. I: 14).
Sheol is never said to be dug or made.