Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 18/03/2006 02:27, Rolf Furuli wrote:
> ... The words of 
> Daniel 12:13 express in a clear way the view by the writer of that book: NIV 
> says: "You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to 
> receive your alloted inheritance." The hope is not connected with an 
> intrinsic immortality, but with God`s ability and desire to give life to a 
> dead person, i.e., to resurrect or recreate that person. In fact, the view 
> that every man has an immortal soul (intrinsic immortality) and the view of 
> a resurrection of the dead are mutually exclusive concepts. A person needs 
> not be given life (immortality) if that person already possesses life 
> (immortality).
>   

I see your point, Rolf. But there is in fact no inconsistency between 
the view that the *soul* is intrinsically immortal and the teaching that 
God will resurrect the *body*. While I would not claim that this is the 
teaching of the Tanakh (although it is not inconsistent with Daniel 
12:13, Hosea 13:14 etc), this seems to have been the New Testament view 
and the majority view of Christians since that time; I think it was also 
a common view in Jewish writings of the Second Temple period and later. 
I am not trying to argue here that this is correct, only that it is a 
logically consistent position. The implication is that what 
intrinsically survives death is a disembodied soul, in some kind of 
intermediate state (perhaps this is the bleak world of "Sheol"; 
according to some it is an unconscious state of "soul sleep"), and that 
at the end of time God will provide this disembodied soul with a new body.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/