WHERE DO ISRAELITES GO WHEN THEY DIED IN THE OT !!

David Cabrera said:

Was Christ victorious in the O.T. according to Scriptures?

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yeshuaslavejeff said:

This looks like a bated, leading question attempting to lead somewhere not in line with Scripture.

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At that time Satan had the keys and he was in charge of it...PRAISE GOD Christ got the keys..shared there....

Dan Perez said:

Hi and I asked a legitimate question and I believe that OT SAINTS went to Abraham Bosom as written in Luke 16:22 but what about 2 Cor 5:8 say it is different , WHY ??

dan p

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The truthful answer from Scripture for this question involves too much to put it in this thread/ section of the forum.

Dan Perez said:

Hi to all and where did OT Jews to at death ??

It seems that some when to Abraham's Bosom and Luke 20:22-31 explains it BUT 2 Cor 5:8 says , ABSENT FROM THE BODY and Present with the Lord !!

Why the difference ??

dan p

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The difference comes from the Harrowing of Hell that happened sometime either after the Crucifixion or at the Resurrection. Essentially the Righteous believing dead were liberated by Christ around the time of his death or resurrection.

Harrowing of Hell - Wikipedia

Sheol, which consisted of Gihenna (What we now call Hell) and Abraham's Bosom (Paradise). Whether or not the souls in Sheol were conscious or not, IDK, but I've always been taught that Christ freed the Old Testament saints from Sheol when He rose again. We know that they were still alive in some form, because Christ says Abraham saw His day and was glad.

i am amazed that few have actually shown what the Scriptures teach concerning what happens after one dies, whether in the OT or in the NT. It appears to be a hodge-podge of what people have been told or what they picked up somewhere.

I have done an in-depth study on this in the Scriptures. The Bible has hundreds of verses on what happens after we die, in both the OT & the NT. If we want definitive answers, Jesus Christ gives them. The problem is many don't believe what Jesus actually taught.

To quickly answer the OP's questions, all people, including Jews in the OT went to sheol after they died. Both the righteous & the unrighteous went to sheol in the spiritual realm. This is the temporary holding place of the departed dead, who were waiting until judgment day, to be resurrected.

There are various other names to describe this place, this abode of the dead but to make this brief, I will seek to answer the OP's questions.


In the NT, the synonymous term for sheol is hades. Until Christ's resurrection & ascension, the same was true. Both the righteousness & the unrighteous departed to go there after physical death. In there were various compartments, one being for the righteous.

In Scripture it has various names: 'gan eden' in Ezek 31:16; Abraham's bosom or side as Jesus taught, in Luke 16; Paradise (Luke 23:43), which is what Jesus called it & told the dying believing thief that he would go there & be with Jesus that very day when they both died. The Jews also called it the Abode of Bliss. It is a place of rest, contentment, & peace.


The main compartment in sheol/hades is one for the unrighteous. It is a place of unrest, lack of contentment & peace.

Another one is for the very wicked demons at the time of the flood called Tartarus (mentioned only once in Scripture in 2 Pet 2:4). It is in the lowest part of sheol/hades.

Peter’s mention of Tartarus is in the context of condemning false teachers. Those who secretly introduce heresy into the church will suffer a fate similar to that of the angels who sinned—they will end up in Tartarus. The Lord does not tolerate those who lead His children astray (Matt 18:6).


Another one is called the great chasm between paradise & the main area for unbelievers. It is called the abyss, 'tehom' in Hebrew. (Gen 1:2; Luke 8:31; Rev 9:1-3,11; 11:7; 20:1-3). This is the place to which the demons didn't want Jesus to send them.

When Jesus Christ was resurrected & ascended, He took those in Paradise with Him & took Paradise into the third heaven. He took captivity captive, all the OT saints went with Him. (Eph 4:8-10; 2 Cor 12:3,4; Rev 2:7) Paradise is no longer in Hades anymore. Thus all believers in Christ after that time go straight into the Lord's Presence when they die, into glory.

Remember Moses & Elijah at the Mt. of Tranfiguration with Jesus & three of His disciples? (Luke 9:28-36) They were said to be 'in glory' & were very much alive. Moses & Elijah was even talking to Jesus about his soon crucifixion.

Jesus taught God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Luke 20:38). He also taught you can kill the physical body but you can't kill the soul. (Matt 10:28 ;Luke 12:4,5)

Man has a physical body, a human spirit & a human soul. When a man physically dies, the spirit & soul (immaterial part of man) separate from the body (James 2:26; Luke 8:53-55; I Kings 17:21-23; Genesis 35:18, Ecclesiastes 12:7 etc.)

JPS Tanakh 1917
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said: 'O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come back into him.'

Jesus is the example. At the same time, Jesus human spirit was commended into the hands of the Father when He physically died (Luke 23:46) & His soul was in Hades in Paradise (Acts 2:23-33) for 3 days & nights, while His physically dead body lay in the grave. (John 19:37-40; Acts 13:28-30). While His soul was in Paradise, He spoke to the spirits in prison (I Pet 3:18-20), then rose again from the dead, conquering death & now has the keys to death & Hades (Revelation 1:18).

All unbelievers still go to Hades to await judgment day & the resurrection. Then all of them will go to the eternal place called Gehenna or the lake of fire.

"The good place & this bad place are not two compartments of the same place, nor is the good place in Hades at all. What Christ taught was bad people went to Hades & the good went to Abraham's bosom, a completely different place separated by a large gulf."

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Thanks for your thoughts, ewq & for your input. Some things I agree on & others I don't. I agree that the account of Dives (a certain rich man) & Lazarus is not a parable. I did an in-depth study on that passage & the surrounding context & for multiple reasons came to the same conclusion.

I did a similar in-depth study on sheol/hades/the pit/etc. all through the Bible. In the OT ALL people, both the righteous & the unrighteous went to sheol. Verse after verse shows this & I won't list between 100-200 examples.

All the departed souls of the dead are in the same spiritual place in the spiritual realm called primarily by the name Sheol. As Scripture progressively reveals the description of this place in various Bible books, it shows there are definite compartments WITHIN Sheol. I say compartments for lack of a better word to describe them. It is like a house & within that house are different rooms.

One can go all the way back to Genesis 1:2 to discover God created the abyss, with darkness covering it. This abyss is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible as the bottomless pit & what I understand as the great chasm in Luke 16. It is one and the same description & it is found within sheol/hades.

Deut 32:22 For a fire is kindled in My anger & burns to the LOWEST PART of Sheol...

Psalm 86:13 For great is Thy mercy toward me & Thou hast delivered my soul from THE LOWEST HELL.(Sheol)

When I look if there is any separation between the place in Sheol where the righteous are & the place in Sheol where the unrighteous are, Scripture progressively shows it. In Luke 16 there is a separation by the abyss or great chasm or bottomless pit.

We know from studying through the Bible that sheol/hades is a temporary place that houses the departed souls of the dead. It is said to be below or under the earth as distinguished from on the earth & above the earth.

We know when Jesus died, he stated he & the believing thief would go & be in Paradise. Their departing spirits went to the Father & their souls went to sheo/hades, but in a special compartment or 'separated area' from the unbelieving. The certain rich man, Dives (Latin for rich man), could SEE Abraham & Lazarus, though at a far distance, indicating they were in the same place though far but still able to be seen & talk to.

Notice that in order for Dives to see them, there had to be light there vs the darkened place where Dives was. Also there was water there as the garden of Eden had the river of life. And Eden after Christ's resurrection (aka Paradise aka Abraham's Bosom or Side), was taken up to heaven & is in the heavenlies & will be found in the New Jerusalem, the celestial city of God with our mansions!

Jesus said He would be going back with & to His Father's house & prepare a place & home for those who believe (John 14).

Psalm 16:10 says that Jesus' soul would not be abandoned in sheol. Acts 2:27 says it wouldn't be abandoned in hades, the Greek equivalent for the same place. Yet Jesus said He would be in Paradise. Both are true. Paradise or Abraham's bosom or side or 'gan eden' in Jeremiah & Ezekiel (garden of Eden--you probably wondered where it went) were all the same place, located in sheol/hades in the spiritual realm.

This comes doing a study through the whole Bible, harmonizing Scripture.

But a change occurs AFTER Christ's resurrection/ascension. Some OT saints were resurrected out of sheol & walked the earth for a short time just like Christ did. Then Jesus took captivity (held by the power of death) captive & released them from the power of death & all went into heaven. (Eph 4:8-10)

Matt 27:51-53 "Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom & the earth quaked & the rocks were split & the graves were opened & MANY bodies of the saints WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WERE RAISED & coming out of the graves AFTER His resurrection, they went into the holy city & appeared to many.”

They were the first fruits, the OT saints & newly departed NT dead believers, who followed Christ into the third heaven, when Christ took Paradise out of sheol/hades into the third heaven. Paul mentions that he went to Paradise during his lifetime on earth & mentions it was now in the third heaven, the place where God dwelt & where Christ ascended, at the right hand of the Father.

They were now in glory. We who are physically alive have the hope of glory, being glorified in the presence of the glorified Christ. Remember the transfiguration. Moses & Elijah appeared there, BEING IN GLORY. They were not dead or sleeping but very much alive & conscious. They were talking to Jesus about His coming crucifixion!

People forget that the Messiah KNEW Moses face to face, as a friend talks with a friend, in the tent of meeting. It was Jesus who gave Moses the Law on top of Mt. Sinai. It was the LORD in the burning bush when He told Moses to take off his shoes as this was a holy place.

Jesus knew Abraham & said Abraham rejoiced to see My day. The Pharisees knew exactly what Jesus was claiming. It was the Messiah as YHWH who talked with Abraham in Genesis 18, in a visible form as a man. Abraham was called the friend of God three times in Scripture. Jesus & Abraham knew each other well.

I could go on about Jesus knowing Jacob & watching over he & his family & Jacob wrestling with Jesus. And others as well.

Job knew about His Redeemer & God challenged Job at the end of the book if he knew where the place of darkness was, the gates of death ('gates of Hades') & also the way to the home of light. (Paradise/Garden of Eden/Abraham's Bosom/Side)

Job 38:17-21 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides, so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home? Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!

Paul describes this in Phil 2:10 where people are in 3 places AFTER CHRISTS RESURRECTION & ASCENSION: above the earth (departed believers), on the earth (those physically alive) & below the earth (those unbelieving in sheol/hades.

"So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven & on earth & under the earth."

One needs to look at hundreds of verses to see the correlation & harmonization to get this complete picture. That has been my understanding. Hope this helps.

Dan Perez said:

Hi and Luke 16:19-26 has , to the answer as to where OT people when at death !

's Bosom Verse 23 then rich man was in HELL / HADES and Lazarus was in Abraham Bosom and this means that there are 2 compartments in HELL / HADES , one fot saved Jews and one for the unsaved !!

Also means that the body is buried , in verse 22 as the spirit goes back to God that gave it and the SOUL LIVES ON , so Mary is not QUEEN OF HEAVEN but ismin Abraham's Bosom !!

dan p

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Jesus told the thief he would be with him in Paradise.

Dan Perez said:

Hi and Luke 16:26 says BETWEEN US and YOU speaks of a GULF , is what I see !!

dan p

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What are you trying to say?

Dan Perez said:

Hi and that Luke 16:26 it says 2 compartments , and where do we put HELL , PARADISE , PIT , TARTARUS ?

dan p

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Hell is either the Gehenna or the Hades.

When Samuel is summoned by the witch of Endor, she describes Samuel coming out of the earth (1 Sam. 28:18). Sheol was originally considered just the grave, the concept of a separate destination for the wicked and the righteous doesn't really exist in the earlier books. Later in the prophets start to introduce Gehenna (Jer. 7:31, 19:2-6), same basic idea but a place cursed and a special end for the wicked.

Did you know, Jesus is the only one in the Bible who teaches about hell? Occasionally it's mentioned but Jesus was the only one who had an actual lesson and a doctrine. We do well to remember that apart from the teaching of Christ we would know virtually nothing of an afterlife.

Grace and peace,
Mark