Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Irene Riegner wrote:
>
(1)>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.
>
(2) >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.
>
(3) >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.




Dear Irene

When you give a lecture you do not start from scratch, but you think of
what the audience knows and takes that as a point of departure. Thus you
build on the presupposition pool which is common to you and the audience,
and substantially more information is implied and taken for granted than
what you give during the talk. This illustrates the problem of reading and
understanding old texts. How much of our own modern presupposition pool are
we reading into those texts? And how much will our modern theories from the
history of religion, sociology etc color our interpretation of our old
texts? So I appreciate your paragraph (3); such questions are valuable.

Regarding your paragraph (2), I agree,  provided that we stress "we should
expect", and use this as a working hypothesis. However, what I do find in
many studies is that these and similar words are taken for granted instead
of being viewd as hypotheses, and this is not a fine situation.

I therefore take your paragraph (1) as a point of departure and second your
calling for definitions (or descriptions). Let us start with NEPE$. Is
there anybody on the list who will claim that any of the 36 books of the
Hebrew Bible teach or imply that NEPE$ is immortal and survive the body? If
so, which texts should we consider? If the existence of NEPE$ cease at
death, what is the immortal part of man, and where is it described?  Is it
RUAX or is it some kind of shadow? Where is this immortal part described?

Before I discuss a few particular texts, let me illustrate how important it
is to work hard to absorb the presupposition pool(s) of ancient Israel. In
Hebrews 7:1-10 the situation where Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek is
used to show the superiority of the new covenant and the priesthood where
Jesus is high priest compared with the old covenant and and the levitical
priesthood. The point of the writer is that because  Levi "was still in the
loins of his ancestor (Abraham) when Melchizedek met him" it was just as if
Levi himself "paid tithes through Abraham" (vv 9,10). It is also said in v
5 that each individual Jew "having come forth out of the loin of Abraham"
(ECELHLUQOTAS EK THS OSFUOS ABRAAM). So the question is: Did the writer of
Hebrews believe that each Jew including Levi *existed* in the loins of
Abraham?

If we read Hebrews and the OT in the light of the Targum literature, the
answer might be be yes. For instance, in the Fragment Targum we read in Gen
4:10: H)  QL  )DMHWN  D)WKLWSYN  CDYQYN  DHWWN
 (TYDYN  LMYQWM   MN  HBL  ("Look, the blood of the righteous multitudes
that were to arise from Abel your brother cry out against you.")  However,
to come out of the fathers loins was a normal expression in Hebrew (see the
expression YOC)EY YEREK YA(A:QOB in Exodus 1:5). Therefore, if we
understand the presupposition pool of the Jews, we do not see small living
persons swimming around in the loins of Abraham. But if we insist on a
mythological setting in the light of the Targums, we see such persons
swarming everywhere.

We may learn from the expression in Exodus 1:5 that all expressions and all
texts are not to be taken literally. This is definitely not the case with
Isaiah 14. From verse 4 we find a MF$FL ridiculing the king of Babel. This
MF$FL is not an account of the situation in $E)OL but is a poetic account
of the extreme reaction the fall of Babylon will cause. Cedars will rejoice
and the dead will speak against the one who ascended to heaven above the
stars of God. This does not show that the dead are alive and speak all the
more than it shows that the cedars can rejoice or the king of Babel
literally had a position above the stars.
However, there is one very interesting expression in the chapter, namely,
the contrast in verses 18 and 19 between a burial and of just being cast
away.

It is true that it was very important for the Jews to have children so
their name could continue, but it was even more important to be buried in
the right way and be gathered to one' s ancestors. Why? In Rabbinic
literature (e.g. the Mishna) we read about (OLAM HABBA - "the world to
come". Regarding this, there might have been some tension among the Rabbis
between an immortal soul and a resurrection. However, in the NT we also
find "the world to come", Hebrews 6:5 (or better "the coming order",
MELLONTO AIWN, there will be no new KOSMOS), and here there is no such
tension. The philosophers on Mars hill could not accept the teaching about
the resurrection of the dead ( Acts 17:32) because this was the diametriacl
opposite of their view of an immortal soul. You cannot get something you
already have! Immortality is a gift from God and is connected with the
resurrection ( 1 Corinthians 17), and I claim that just as in the OT, the
immortal soul is nonexistent in the NT.

We should neither read Rabbinic nor Christian viewpoints into the OT.
However, the writer of Hebrews says that Abraham and those serving YHWH in
the old covenant looked forward to the (OLAM HABBA , Hebrews 11:13-17). Can
this be substantiated by  one or more passages from the OT?  Resurrections
are reported in the days of Elijah and Elisha, and is mentioned in Daniel
12:2, which by most is viewed as late. It is mentioned in Isaiah 26:19
which probably is figurative, and it may be construed from Job 14:13,14.
However, the words of Jesus in Luke 20:37,38 are very interesting. Jesus
found an account of the resurrection *implied* in God's words through Noses
(NB. Note the qualification:  Jesus did not say: "for they are living" but
"for they are living to him/from his standpoint"). Thus there are three
treads which could suggest a belief in (OLAM HABBA from a very early time:
(1) God's way of speaking about his dead servants, (2) the extreme
importance which was ascribed to a correct burial, and (3) all the
prophecies about the day of YHWH and the time to follow. So there is no
need to postulate a belief in something serviving the body in any of the 36
books of the OT, but anybody is free to demonstrate such a thought. The
medium at Endor evidently believed in life after death, and Saul either
believed it or did not rule it out in his despair, but this view is not
found in the religion centered around the worship of YHWH with its basis in
the law of Moses.


Geroge Athas added:

>I would add to this that many Psalms have the same view. Sheol is a kind
>of limbo
>where people go but do not really exist in any animated way as do those on
>earth.
>Sheol cannot praise Yahweh, yet it is filled with people.

Dear George,

If you like you can mention particular Psalms for consideration.



Regards
Rolf


Rolf Furuli
Lecturer in Semitic languages
University of Oslo