Beliefs about Sheol

Question 1

What is Sheol in the Old Testament?

Answer 1

the place where the dead can be found

Question 2

Deuteronomy 32:22 - Old Testament?

Answer 2

Sheol = ‘…the realm of the dead below.’

Question 3

Isaiah 5:14 - Old Testament?

Answer 3

‘…Death expands it’s jaws…into it will descend their nobles and masses…’ - Sheol = place that dead ‘descend’ into

Question 4

Job 11:8 - Old Testament?

Answer 4

‘They are higher than the heavens above…They are deeper than the depths below…’ - Sheol = wherever those who have died go - heaven and hell

Question 5

Psalm 139:8 - Old Testament?

Answer 5

‘If I go up to the heavens, you are there, if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.’ - Sheol = in heaven and on earth when the people die

Question 6

What are the three different variations of the meaning of Sheol?

Answer 6

‘a place for the dead’
‘an underworld’
‘the grave’

Question 7

How is Sheol seen in the New Testament parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus?

Answer 7

place of torment - in some translations given title of Hades - reflects Greek idea of Sheol being a place where dead = punished. Hades = now synonymous with hell

Question 8

What did the Biblical Scholar W.F Albright state that the Hebrew root of Sheol is and what does this mean?

Answer 8

root = Shawl - ‘to ask, to interrogate, to question’ - Sheol = place where ‘soul’ is ‘judged’/questioned on life on earth