After Life in Judaism and the Scriptures

The After Life

According to Judaism and the Scriptures

James Scott Trimm

Luke 16:19-31 Lazurus and the Rich Man

This account is totally in keeping with the ancient Jewish view of the afterlife.

To begin with the Hebrew word She'ol always appears in the feminine form and NEVER has a definite artical in any of its many appearances in the Tanak. Therefore it is almost certain that SHE'OL is a proper noun, the name of a place.

In the Tanak the word SHE'OL is often contrasted with "Heaven" (Job 11:8; Ps. 139:8; Amos 9:2). According to the Tanak the wicked and godless nations go to SHE'OL (Ps. 9:17) According to Psalm 86:13 the soul goes to SHE'OL. According to Proverbs 15:24 SHE'OL can be avoided. In Prov. 23:14 a soul is delivered from SHE'OL. In Is. 57:9 a soul is lowered to SHE'OL.

So SHE'OL would seem to be the proper name of a place which may be contrasted with Heaven to which souls go and from which they may be delivered.

According to Ezek. 31:16-18 Gan Eden (The Garden of Eden) was cast into SHE'OL (Ezek. 31:16-18).

Now if we put this altogether it would seem that upon our deaths the RUACH (spirit) returns to the Father from which it came and the NEFESH (soul) enters into SHE'OL to await the resurrection when body, soul and spirit will be reunited. The righteous souls await the resurection in Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) within SHE'OL while the unrighteous souls await the resurection in SHE'OL outside of GAN EDEN.

Josephus writes of the first century Pharisses:

They also believe that souls have an immortal
vigour in them, and that under the earth there
will be rewards or punishments, according
as they have lived virtuously or viciously
in this life; and the latter are to be detained
in an everlasting prison, but the former shall
have power to revive and live again;...
(Josephus; Ant. 18:1:3)

Josephus gives a much longer treatment of SHE'OL (or "Hades") which I will send in a separate email). In that material Josephus describes SHE'OL as having two compartments. One for the righteous he calls "The Bosom of Abraham" the other is for the unrighteous. The two are separated by "a chaos deep and large" which he says "is fixed between them". He describes it as a place "wherein the souls of men are confined until a proper season, which God has determined, when he will make a resurrection of all men" (It is only fair to say that liberal scholars challenge whether Josephus was the true author of of the Extract on Hades which is attributed to him, though it certainly seems to tie in with his other mentions of "Hades" and with the reference in Ant. 18:1:3.

At any rate the similarity between the model presented by Josephus and that presented by Yeshua are very similar. Both refer to the Bosom of Abraham and a fixed gulf (Luke 16) and both quote Is. 66:24 (Mk. 10, 44, 46, 48) as referring to the Lake of Fire.

After the resurection there is a judgement and the righteous enter the world to come while the unrighteous are cast into GEY HINNOM also called the "Lake of Fire".

GEY HINNOM was a vally just outside of Jerusalem (Joh. 15:8; 18:16; Neh. 11:30; Jer. 19:2, 6) where pagans had offered up their own children to Ba'al and Molech (2Kn. 23:10; 2Ch. 28:3; 33:6; Jer. 7:31-32; 19:2, 6; 32:35). In the first century all of the refuse of the city was cast into GEY HINNOM and burned there.

In the Mishna GEY HINNOM is contrasted with Gan Eden and with the World to Come as the place where the wicked go (m.Avot 5:19-20; m.Eduy. 2:10) . The Talmud also contrasts GEY HINNOM with Heaven as a place where the wicked go (b.Ber. 28a). According to the Talmud GEY HINNOM is huge (b.Pes. 94a) and has seven compartments (b.Sotah 19b).

From Yeshua's usage we also know that Is. 66:24 refers to GEY HINNOM (Mk. 10:44, 46, 48).

Upon death our spirit returns to the Father but our Soul goes into SHE'OL. The wicked remain in SHE'OL proper but the righteous are kept in GAN EDEN which had been cast into SHE'OL (Ezek. 31:16-18). In between the two is a great fixed gulf (Luke 16:26). The souls of the dead await the resurrection in SHE'OL when they are reunited with their bodies and spirits at the resurrection. At that time GAN EDEN (or PARDES) is moved into the World to Come (the New heavens and the new Earth) (Rev. 2:7; 21:1; 22:2) while SHE'OL is cast into the lake of Fire (GEY HINNOM (Rev. 20:14).

I know many of you are learning from the work we are doing here at Worldwide. Through the Truth Talk and Clear Truth podcasts and our free Davar Bible School course we are reaching people all over the world with the Message of Torah and Messiah, places like Malaysia, Congo, Singapore etc..

Now we need your help. Tithes and offerings coming into this ministry have been low. Our financial situation is dismal. I am asking you to donate whatever you can. I know people are disgusted with “TV evangelists” and mega ministries begging for money while their leaders live in mansions. Believe me we are struggling to keep the modest home we live in now.

Right now go to http://www.nazarenespace.com , click on the Pay Pal box and give whatever you can afford. (You can also donate directly thru PayPal by sending paypal donations to donations@beitnetzarim.com . You can also mail donations to Nazarene Judaism; PO Box 471; Hurst, TX 76053). If everyone would do this, imagine what this ministry could accomplish.

James Trimm
Worldwide Nazarene Assembly of Elohim
http://www.wnae.org
http://www.nazarenespace.com

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Comment by Doug Ri on January 31, 2012 at 9:33pm: The first death is Adam's death - separation from our creator/hell. - "... on that day you shall surely die" /"we all died in Adam". I believe we have the time line all wrong - the moment we are conceived we are conceived into Adam's death - the first Adam's death. Messiah brings us back to Eden and beyond -

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
In order to live one must eat of the tree of life but the tree of life is guarded by a cherubim with a sword that goes every way like a flame - time. The cherubim is the angel of death that passes over the homes with the blood of the lamb on Passover.

If YHWH saves you, you have eternal life even if your body dies.
I'll repost about going back to the garden of Eden after this post.

Heaven is beyond time and if you were to try to go the speed where time stops you'd disintegrate before you reached it - you'd burn up (unless you are taken by and clothed in Messiah.

All motion is defined by a relative stillness. I am sitting still in relation to the car that drove by but if I were to go to the axis of the earth I'd be moving as all the earth is spinning around the axis which is orbiting around the sun which is sitting still in its solar system but the sun is moving in the universe and on and on until we find the ultimate stillness that defines all motion yet is not able to be defined/demonstrated. You can do something to demonstrate motion but the motion stops and the silence is always there defining motion.

Sound is a motion too. All sound is defined by silence - everything above or below the line which represents silence in the sound wave picture. Even if you were to define stillness by a relative motion you'd have to keep going faster and faster until you reached the speed where time stopped everything would change - cease to exist as we know it - the kingdom of YHWH that flesh and blood do not enter. The things of the creation - laws of physics - speak of the creator.

Comment by Doug Ri on January 31, 2012 at 9:34pm: Everything here Messiah traversed in reverse -

In the OT we have

the tree and the Cherubim with a sword...

the flood and the rainbow

the law and the end of the law - Messiah

First Messiah perfectly kept the law going to temple with his folks - then went back into Egypt before the Mosaic law and commandments

In the flood it rained 40 days and nights and a raven and dove went up from the ark

In reverse John, the raven, baptized messiah and the holy spirit, the dove came back down - messiah went through the water and into the wilderness 40 days

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

In order to live one must eat of the tree of life. It's in Eden guarded by Cherubim with a sword that goes every way like a flame. Where is this garden? You'd have to go back in time - it no longer exists as a location on earth. No matter what direction you go the faster you go the slower time gets - every way like a fame - time keeps us from going back.

The last supper, passover, the angel of death passing over is the Cherubim guarding Eden.

On stage Eden we have Messiah - The 2nd/last Adam, The disciples - the bride of Messiah as Eve, One of you is a devil/the serpent - Judas.

They revisit and undo the original sin - eat in remembrance rather than eat to forget and be like our creator.

Next - Where were Adam and Eve before they ate? In the garden being tempted.

Where were Messiah and the disciples after they ate? In the garden of Gethsemane during their time of temptation

(note - on the mount of olives - olive tree being allegoric to the tree of life

[fig tree - tree of knowledge of good and evil {taking life and death into one's own hands as if you could control your own} - FIGure it out - took one look at Eve's FIGure lol - they covered their figures with fig leaves])

But he takes us back before Eve was formed -

Adam was put into a deep sleep and his side opened and a helps meet taken from it

Messiah was put into a deep sleep - death. His side was pierced and water and blood came out - the bride of Messiah by the spirit, water and blood.

But it's deeper than that - he must be born again and he takes us to heavenly places but alas, we go back before Adam was made. The host, army, of heaven existed before Adam but here we are at the beginning of the Bible - Won't we go beyond the scriptures if we go any further? - that'd be unholy.

Messiah takes us to heavenly places but there's a battle in heaven - and where is that battle written about? The book of revelations.

This is where the beginning meets the end.
copyright 2000 Douglas Ribot

Comment by Doug Ri on January 31, 2012 at 9:38pm: So the moment you are conceived you died in Adam and went to hell/ separation from eternal life. If you are saved by Messiah you are brought back in time to the garden of Eden and beyond to eternal life. You will not be hurt by the second death, the lake of fire, when hell and Adam's death are thrown in the lake of fire

That's how I break it down

Comment by terry on February 1, 2012 at 5:10am: the parable of the rich man and lazerus was added to luke by the R.C.C. around the yr. 1400 to promote a afterlife beyond the grave.

Comment by Frank Barbour on February 2, 2012 at 6:26pm: @ Solomon.

Bravo! You've done an excellent job of defending The True Faith.... Scriptures says: " The Dead Know Not Anything. In the day that a man perisheth, so do his: Hate, Love, and Envy. "

Think of the light switch folks... Where does the light go, when you turn the switch off? It doesn't go anywhere... but rather, ceases to exist for the moment! ;0)

Comment by Mikha El on February 11, 2012 at 10:47am: Perhaps both are just as stated. Couldn't "Lebanon" have been a part of the then Eden unknowing to us now? Furthermore, why couldn't "Pharaoh and his hordes" be in the separate compartment just as shown in the diagram?

Not sure how you came to the conclusion Abram was sent somewhere to suffer answering comments from anyone in "hell" upon his death.

Solomon said:

So by your logic, if Eden is in the underworld, then so is Lebanon.
If you want to say that only the trees of Lebanon are in sheol, then I must point out that this can be said of the trees of Eden as well. However, we don't need to guess, for the scriptures clearly tell us that this is a reference to Pharaoh and his kingdom.

Comment by Mikha El on February 11, 2012 at 10:50am

Heb 9:25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters into the Set-apart Place year by year with blood not his own.
Heb 9:26 For if so, He would have had to suffer often, since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the offering of Himself.
Heb 9:27 And as it awaits men to die once, and after this the judgment,
Heb 9:28 so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to those waiting for Him, unto deliverance.(ISR 1998)

Comment by Ben Avraham on February 2, 2012 at 6:49pm: Delete Comment
I do think resurrection would be better put, however does anyone have any scripture that can refute the reincarnation theory?

Comment by Doug Ri on February 11, 2012 at 1:40pm: Ben Avraham
The only things I recall at the moment that may look like reincarnation is the calling of John "the Elijah" and the fact that he baptized Yeshua associating the raven sent up from the ark with John (from there John is the Elijah to come if you care to believe it. Elijah was fed by ravens. The Elijah restores the hearts of the children to the fathers but if we curse our mother and father the raven will pluck our eye out) as the dove is associated with the holy spirit at the baptism.

Then there is Paul's similarity to King Saul "the Lord's anointed" and him taking the place of the apostle who killed himself and saying all Israel will be saved
but are these reincarnations or types? I think the latter. I think the only reincarnation may be the resurrection.

Comment