Hebrew word of uncertain etymology (see Sheol, Critical View), synonym of “bor” (pit), “abaddon” and “shaḥat” (pit or destruction), and perhaps also of “tehom” (abyss).
It connotes the place where those that had died were believed to be congregated. Jacob, refusing to be comforted at the supposed death of Joseph, exclaims: “I shall go down to my son a mourner unto Sheol” (Genesis 37:36, Hebr.; comp. ib. 42:38; 44:29, 31). Sheol is underneath the earth (Isaiah 7:11, 57:9; Ezekiel 31:14; Psalms 86:13; Ecclus. [Sirach] 51:6; comp. Enoch, 17:6, “toward the setting of the sun”); hence it is designated as תהתית (Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalms 86:13) or תהתיות (Psalms 88:7; Lamentations 3:55; Ezekiel 26:20, 32:24). It is very deep (Proverbs 9:18; Isaiah 57:9); and it marks the point at the greatest possible distance from heaven (Job 11:8; Amos 9:2; Psalms 139:8). The dead descend or are made to go down into it; the revived ascend or are brought and lifted up from it (1 Samuel 2:6; Job 7:9; Psalms 30:4; Isaiah 14:11, 15). Sometimes the living are hurled into Sheol before they would naturally have been claimed by it (Proverbs 1:12; Numbers 16:33; Psalms 55:16, 63:10), in which cases the earth is described as “opening her mouth” (Numbers 16:30). Sheol is spoken of as a land (Job 10:21, 22); but ordinarily it is a place with gates (ib. 17:16, 38:17; Isaiah 38:10; Psalms 9:14), and seems to have been viewed as divided into compartments (Proverbs 7:27), with “farthest corners” (Isaiah 14:15; Ezekiel 32:23, Hebr.; R. V. “uttermost parts of the pit”), one beneath the other (see Jew. Encyc. 5:217, s. v. Eschatology). Here the dead meet (Ezekiel 32; Isaiah 14; Job 30:23) without distinction of rank or condition—the rich and the poor, the pious and the wicked, the old and the young, the master and the slave—if the description in Job iii. refers, as most likely it does, to Sheol. The dead continue after a fashion their earthly life. Jacob would mourn there (Genesis 37:35, 42:38); David abides there in peace (1 Kings 2:6); the warriors have their weapons with them (Ezekiel 32:27), yet they are mere shadows (“rephaim”; Isaiah 14:9, 26:14; Psalms 88:5, A. V. “a man that hath no strength”). The dead merely exist without knowledge or feeling (Job 14:13; Ecclesiastes 9:5). Silence reigns supreme; and oblivion is the lot of them that enter therein (Psalms 88:13, 94:17; Ecclesiastes 9:10). Hence it is known also as “Dumah,” the abode of silence (Psalms 6:6, 30:10, 94:17, 115:17); and there God is not praised (ib. 115:17; Isaiah 38:15). Still, on certain extraordinary occasions the dwellers in Sheol are credited with the gift of making knowntheir feelings of rejoicing at the downfall of the enemy (Isaiah 14:9, 10). Sleep is their usual lot (Jeremiah 51:39; Isaiah 26:14; Job 14:12). Sheol is a horrible, dreary, dark, disorderly land (Job 10:21, 22); yet it is the appointed house for all the living (ib. 30:23). Return from Sheol is not expected (2 Samuel 12:23; Job 7:9, 10; 10:21; 14:7 et seq.; 16:22; Ecclus. [Sirach] 38:21); it is described as man’s eternal house (Ecclesiastes 12:5). It is “dust” (Psalms 30:10; hence in the Shemoneh ‘Esreh, in benediction No. 2, the dead are described as “sleepers in the dust”).
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Author: Jewish Encyclopedia
Keywords: Sheol, Hell, Hades, Tortured in hell, Punishment in hell, Eternal torment, Eternal torture, Everlasting torment, Everlasting punishment, Grave, Gehenna, Afterlife, After life, Death, Life after death, Purgatory, Jewish view hell, Immortal soul, Immortal spirit, Abrahams bosom
Source: Isidore Singer (editor), The Jewish Encyclopedia (12 Volumes), (1906).
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