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. 50:55My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. (Genesis 50:5)); "a grave" (Num. 19:1616And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. (Numbers 19:16)); "grave of Abner" (2 Sam. 3:3232And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. (2 Samuel 3:32)); "his own grave" (1 Kings 13:3030And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! (1 Kings 13:30)); "thy grave" (2 Chron. 34:2828Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again. (2 Chronicles 34:28)); "their graves" (Jer. 8:11At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: (Jeremiah 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. 50:1313For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. (Genesis 50:13)); "No graves in Egypt" (Ex. 14:1111And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? (Exodus 14:11)); "In Zelah in the sepulcher of Kish" (2 Sam. 21:1414And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land. (2 Samuel 21:14)); "the city of my fathers' sepulchers" (Neh. 2:55And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it. (Nehemiah 2:5)); "I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel" (Ezek. 39:1111And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. (Ezekiel 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 13:2020And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back: (1 Kings 13:20)); "they cast the man [that is his dead body] into the sepulcher of Elisha" (2 Kings 13:2121And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. (2 Kings 13:21)); "The slain that lie in the grave" (Psa. 88:55Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. (Psalm 88:5)); "Cast his dead body into the graves of the common people" (Jer. 26:2323And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. (Jeremiah 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.
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.