Does not David intimate that his child was alive somewhere after death, when he says, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me”? (2 Samuel 11:23). We answer, no. David no more says his child was alive than Joseph was after death, when his father [Jacob] said, “I will go down into Sheol unto my son mourning.”
But let me ask, where did those parents suppose their children were after death? In hell? Surely not, for why were they in this case desirous to go to them? Were they then in heaven? If so, Jacob ought to have said he would go down to Joseph rejoicing. But if in heaven, why did he speak of going down to him, for people always speak of going up to heaven?
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Author: Walter Balfour
Keywords: Gehinnom, Valley of the Son of Hinnom, Moloch, Hinnom, valley of Ben-Hinnom, Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, Ge Hinnom, Sons of Hinnom, Unquenchable fire, Unquenchable, Fire is not quenched, Hell, Hele, Sheol, Hades, The grave, Lazarus and the rich man, Rich man and Lazarus, Tartarus
Bible reference(s): 2 Sam. 11:23
Source: An Inquiry into the Scriptural Import of the words Sheol, Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna, translated Hell in the Common English Version. Revised, with essays and notes, by Otis A. Skinner (Boston: A. Tompkins, 1854).
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