david@ssc-vax.UUCP (David Norris) (03/26/84)
Jon White: > Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it Jesus who introduced the concept of > Hell? I don't believe that Hell was ever mentioned in the Old Testament. You are wrong. The Hebrew word for Hell, "Sheol", appears numerous times throughout the Old Testament. I posted an article not long ago (to Tim Maroney, I think) outlining all of the verses in which it appeared. -- David Norris :-) -- uw-beaver!ssc-vax!david
hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) (03/28/84)
<sniff? Brimstone? Sulphur? Must be Pittsburg> I have to take issue with Dave Norris. Sorry, Dave. The Hebrew word "Sheol" doesn't and didn't mean the same thing as is currently understood as Hell. It is unclear where the Essene sect got their picture of a Hell which was a lake of fire and an eternal torment, but it is that picture, which Jesus quoted, that is the basis for the modern idea of Hell. Sheol was described as a sort of limbo and was very unpleasant but did not seem to be the place where the fallen angels and sinners were consigned. Note that there are very clear images in the early Christian doctrines of a place ruled by the Fallen, which was a fortress which Jesus destroyed in the hours He was dead. I cannot trace this back to an earlier Jewish tradition with the resources I have available at the moment. Hutch
leeway@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold) (04/03/84)
SHEOL is NOT the Hebrew word for "Hell." It is the Hebrew word for
"the grave/the abode of the dead." It's questionable whether it means
"afterlife," "the tomb," or "the underworld." In fact, it seems that
in the days the Bible was written as now, the Jewish religion did not attempt
ANY definitive teaching as to what happened to the soul after death,
believing that obeying God's commandments merely for the sake of gaining
a pleasurable afterlife was an ignoble motive. ("Be not like servants who
serve for the sake of a reward.")
If you check a good dictionary, you will find that Sheol's meaning of
"hell" is a secondary and later denotation, acquired long after the Jewish
Bible was written.
--Lee Gold