Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Rolf Furuli" <furuli AT online.no>]

Dear Peter,

I will not start a theological discussion in any form, only make a few 
observations. The Old Testament part of many (I think I am justified in 
saying "most") modern Bible translations is translated in the light of the 
New Testament. This is often misleading, because some OT expressions are 
given a Christian varnish, and even in expressions that have no Christian 
polish modern believers often project Christian beliefs into the text.

The Greek view (adopted by some Church Fathers) that a disembodied soul 
survives the death of the body and existes in an intermediate state, is 
completely foreign to the Tanakh, and the same is true regarding the belief 
in the resurrection of *the* body (the body in which a person died). The 
Tanakh explicitly says that we *are* souls and animals are souls, and when 
we, or an animal die, our soul dies. So if a book in the Tanakh implies a 
resurrection, it must be the soul (the person herself) that is resurrected. 
Interestingly, what is not left to $)WL according to Psalm 16:10 is NP$ (the 
soul). So, since the Hebrew $)WL is not "the land of no return" as is the 
case of the Babylonian netherworld, what returns according to the writer of 
this Psalm, Daniel and other books of the Tanakh is the soul (the very 
person). Thus, some books of the Tanakh teaches the resurrection of the 
soul.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Kirk" <peter AT qaya.org>
To: "Rolf Furuli" <furuli AT online.no>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2006 10:11 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] hell


> 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/