Sheol/ Purgatory

[OldGoldBeard]

I'm sure this has been rehashed many times here, but I'm new so forgive the redundancy. I've been reading through Scripture and picking out passages that speak about Sheol. These passages give a very different indication of Sheol than the traditional Christian conception of Hell. At the same time, there may be a dichotomy between Sheol and "the Pit." To me, it seems that Sheol functions almost like the Catholic purgatory (though I'm afraid I'm not especially well-versed on that particular doctrine) but with two important distinctions: 1. everyone confined to Sheol is not destined to be saved and 2. there is no torture.

I'll lay out some of the evidence I've gathered:

[font=&quot]I Samuel 28: 8-15: Saul consults a medium, who pulls Samuel's soul "up out of the ground" to speak with him. Samuel asks why Saul has disturbed him, indicating that he was brought back against his will. This, combined with the fact that Samuel's spirit rose from the ground, indicate that his soul was not in heaven at that time. However, one of the most revered prophets of Israel would not be confined to a Hell in which he was constantly tortured. Similarly, in Isaiah 38: 10, King Hezekiah writes that "[/font][font=&quot]I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years." Again, one of the most righteous kings of Judah would not be "consigned" to Hell.

Ezekiel 31: 14-18, in a very complicated passage I'm not sure I understand says that "all of them are handed over to death, to the world below" and that the trees (nations) of Eden "were consoled in the world below."

With the acceptance of its existence, I rationalize Sheol is a waiting place for souls who do not achieve redemption in their earthly life to await the judgment of the Second Resurrection. Passages in support include:

Job 14: 11 [/font][font=&quot]“As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep." IMO, "Until the heavens are no more" is a clear allusion to the Endtimes, when a new heaven and new earth will be created.

In the twelfth chapter of Daniel, it says, "many who sleep in the dust will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" when describing the Endtimes.

The reason I don't believe that this is a Purgatory where souls are tortured is because of the above passage in Ezekiel, as well as Ecclesiastes 9: 10, which states there is "no work or though or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going."

Would greatly appreciate any feedback.
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[HappyMomof4]

When Jesus died and decended into Hell, he brought up (from Hell) all the righteous people who had died before him who were awaiting their Savior.

For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead 2 that, though condemned in the flesh in human estimation, they might live in the spirit in the estimation of God. (1 Peter 4:6)

So Hell wasn't such a bad place for the just who had died before Jesus. It was a place where they were not with God, but not suffering either. They were waiting for Jesus.

 

[OldGoldBeard]

How does that square with the passages from Job and Daniel? Who, then, are those who are raised and saved? To me, the passage from Peter indicates that even after death one may accept Christ and be granted salvation, but does not say that they were raised with him.

 

[ConanTheLibrarian]

To the Hebrews of the Old Testament, Sheol would have been the rough equivalent of the Greek "Hades". It did not really imply a place of punishment, it was simply the realm of the dead, specifically a place of waiting. Our current understanding of Heaven and Hell came only with the fullness of revelation in Jesus Christ.

When 1 Peter 3:19 speaks of Christ preaching to the spirits in prison, this has been understood from the time of the early church to mean that in the time between His death and Resurrection, Christ set free the Old Testament saints. In fact, the icon in the Orthodox Church for Pascha (Easter) depicts this event, rather than the empty tomb.

 

[LiberatedChick]

To the Hebrews of the Old Testament, Sheol would have been the rough equivalent of the Greek "Hades". It did not really imply a place of punishment, it was simply the realm of the dead, specifically a place of waiting.

*nods in agreement*

 

[Axion]

In fact the Jews of the centuries before Christ, right up to the present day, believed, and continue to believe in Purgatory.

When a Jewish person's loved one dies, it is customary to pray on his behalf for eleven months using a prayer known as the mourner's Qaddish (derived from the Hebrew word meaning "holy"). This prayer is used to ask God to hasten the purification of the loved one's soul. The Qaddish is prayed for only eleven months because it is thought to be an insult to imply that the loved one's sins were so severe that he would require a full year of purification.

2 Maccabees 12:39-46, attests to Jewish belief 150 years before Christ:
40:But when they found on each of the dead men under their tunics, objects dedicated to the idols of Jamnia, which the Law prohibits to Jews, it became clear to everyone that this was why these men had lost their lives.
41. All then blessed the ways of the Lord, the upright Judge who brings hidden things to light,
42. and gave themselves in prayer, begging that the sin committed might be completely forgiven. Next, the valiant Judas urged the soldiers to keep themselves free from all sin, having seen with their own eyes the effects of the sin of those who had fallen;
43. after this he took a collection from them individually amounting to nearly two thousand drachmas, and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an action altogether fine and noble, prompted by his belief in the resurrection.
44. For had he not expected the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to PRAY FOR THE DEAD,
45. whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense reserved for those who make a pious end, the thought was holy and devout. Hence he had the expiatory sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin.

 

[Axion]

It is a surprising fact to many that the standard Protestant view of One Heaven, One Hell is not borne out by scripture:

• Jesus said "In my Father's House are many mansions" Implying several different possible conditions.
  
• There is the Highest Heaven where God is worshipped by the Saints and Angels, described in Revelation 4 and 5.
  
• There is the Lake of Fire of Revelation 20, the final destination of Satan and his servants.
  
• There is Hades of Revelation 20:13, which holds many yet to face the Final Judgement.
  
• There is the Bosom of Abraham, where Lazarus and the Rich Man went after death in Luke 16.
  
• There is the Holy City, New Jerusalem, of Revelation 21, where God will dwell with men.

• Peter tells us that Jesus:
  "went and preached to the spirits in prison" (1 Pet. 3:19),

 

[armothe]

Hades does not equal Hell

Hades is closest to the concept of Purgatory
Hell equals the Lake of Fire

Only when Hades is thrown away (Rev 20) do we see people going to Heaven or Hell (a few biblical figures were made an exception)

After Christ died he went to Hades, not Hell. Also, the prison Peter mentions is Hades.

-A