Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Irene Riegner <iriegner AT concentric.net>]

Dear List People

Before we can discuss "life after death" in the HB , we need some kind
of definition of this phrase......i.e. Fully formed people indulging in
golf in heaven or shades floating about some netherworld, etc.

The Hebrew bible is not one text but 36 books written over time by
writers representing various groups, and thus we should expect to find a
variety of ideas about the after death experience.

Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place for a concept of an after
death experience.  Perhaps our terminology is incorrect.  Perhaps it is
not found in some supernatural realm but rather in the everyday world in
the form of off-spring (male) and the continuation of one's line.  This
would partially  explain the importance of having children---especailly
sons---and the importance of insuring that one's off-spring is actually
one's off-spring.

Isa 14 seems to refer to the concept of sheol as a world of shadowy
existences.

irene