V. 2- SHEOL

2- SHEOL

Before discussing Sheol, let us understand Qeber.

'My father made me take an oath, saying, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me there in the grave (Qeber) that I digged for myself in the land of Canaan.’(Genesis 50:5 )

And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave (Qeber) of Abner; and all the people wept.(2 Samuel 3:32)

That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place (Qeber) (Genesis 23:9).

So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. 21 And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave (Qeber) of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. (2 Kings 13:20).

So, Qeber is a Hebrew word which means grave, the burial place of  body after physical death.

Old Testament Concept Before Christ

In the Old Testament time, godly people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and ungodly people like Nimrod, their souls went to a place called Sheol in Hebrew after their physical death.

When a person dies

Saved or unsaved soul

Body

Biblical text:

Righteous going to sheol

Gen 37:35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

Note: Total sons born to Jacob = 12 sons. Jacob loved Joseph very much. So, out of envy, Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelite by his 10 brothers. As Benjamin the younger brother of Joseph was with Jacob on that day, 10 brothers gave a false report to Jacob “a wild animal had devoured Joseph and here is left of his clothe only”. Because of this sad news, Jacob said, “I will go down to Sheol to meet my son”. As Joseph’s body was assumed to be eaten by wild animal, not buried, so there is no point of meeting his son’s body in the grave. So Jacob was talking about the spiritual world called Sheol where he believed to meet the soul of his son. So, the souls of God’s people went to a place called Sheol when they die.

Job 14:13 ​​​​​​​O that you would hide me in Sheol, ​​​​​​and conceal me till your anger has passed! ​​​​​​O that you would set me a time ​​​​​​and then remember me! 

Note: Job was suffering from a dreadful disease.  In that horrible condition, Job prays earnestly to God to set him free from suffering. Job believed that God could hide him in Sheol until the punishment of God on him is over.  We know that Job was a righteous and blameless man before God (Job 1:1). The point is this; God fearing holy man like Job believed that there is a spiritual world called Sheol, where he could hide from his present suffering on the earth. So, Jacob, Job, and the rest of all Old Testament God’s people believed that when they die, their soul would go to a place called Sheol. 

Wicked going to sheol

Ps 9:17 ​​​​​​​The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; ​​​​​​this is the destiny of all the nations that ignore God.

Note: Wicked also go to sheol when they die.

Job 24:19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.

Num 16:33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.  Note: Those wicked people who oppose Moses and Aaron also went to sheol when God judged them.

1Kgs 2:6 Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. [Same in verse 9].

Note: In 2 Sam 16:5-14, Shimei cursed David, and in 2 Sam 3:17-39, Joab disobeyed David and killed Abner. So David instructed his son Solomon to avenge the two wicked men so that their souls should not go to Sheol in peace. So king David also believed that sheol is a holding place of soul. Now we finally arrive what actually sheol is in Prov 23:13 as given below:

Prov 23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Ps 16:10  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, ……...

Ps 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the Sheol.

Note: No need of interpretation here. Simply sheol is a holding place of the souls of all men, righteous or unrighteous in the Old Testament time.

     Word ‘Sheol’ is written 65 times in the Old Testament Bible and said to be a holding place of human soul of both righteous and unrighteous. All the verses of Sheol are given below.

1) Genesis 37:34-35, 42:38, 44:29, 31. (2)  Job 14:13, 11:7-8,  21:13 , 24:19, 26:6, 7:9-10, 17:11-16 (3) Psalms 16:8-10, 30:3, 86:12-13, 88:3, 9:17,  55:15, 18:4-5, 116:3, 6:5, 31:17, 89:48, 141:7,  49:14-15,  139:7  (4) Isa 14:3-15, 38:10, 18,  5:14, 28:15, 18, 57:9, 66:24  (5) Jonah 2:2 (6) 1st Kings 2:1-9 (7) Eccl 9:7-10  (8) Num 16:25-34  (9) 1Sam 2:6 (10)  Deuteronomy 32:22 (11)  2nd Samuel 22:5-6  (12)  Proverbs 23:14, 5:5, 7:27, 9:18, 15:11, 24, 27:20, 1:11-12, 30:15-16  (13)  Ezekiel 31:15-17,  31:15-17, 32:21, 27 (14)  Hosea 13:14 (15)  Amos 9:2 (16)  Habakkuk 2:5

Jonah & Jesus:

Jonah 2:2 ……out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

    Note: Bible says that Jonah was in the belly of fish for 3 days and 3 night (Jonah 1:17), which is a shadow prophecy of Jesus in the grave (Matt 12:40). But it is said that Jonah prayed out of the belly of sheol. So, Jonah was dead and his body was in the belly of fish but his soul went to sheol the holding place of soul. Then later he was resurrected and vomited out. After Jesus died on the cross, Bible says that His soul too went to sheol (1 Peter 3:18-20, Ps 16:10, Acts 2:) while his body was in the grave for 3 days, 3 nights, and after  it He was resurrected. It will be cleared later.

Sheol is a holding place of the righteous and wicked Souls before the time of cross.

Now let us discuss Hades  in the next lesson.