Before we begin, I would like to start with a disclaimer: I will not be examining the final state of the wicked and righteous after the return of Christ and the last resurrection. That means I will not be writing on the new heavens and the new earth, nor hell (the lake of fire). While such subjects are important, they do not fit the scope of this study, since we are mainly interested in what happens to a person upon death. Scholars have labeled such a subject as "Death and the Intermediate State", and that is what I will be writing on.
When we open up the Old Testament, we see that the main word for the afterlife was "sheol," and is used 66 times. The word refers to the grave (Psalm 18:4-5; 89:48) or the abode of the dead (Psalm 88:3, 5). As we will see, Sheol was considered a place that was under the earth. The picture above shows how a persons from the Old Testament viewed their world. The earth was flat, and had dome shape above it. Inside this dome were hung the sun, moon, and stars. The waters that caused rain were above this dome, and though not shown, heaven was believed to be above that. When you look at this picture, you will also notice a big, black hole in the heart of the earth. That was where they believed Sheol existed (Deut. 32:22; 1 Sam. 28:11-15; Job 26:5; Psalm 86:13; Isa. 7:11; Ezek. 31:14-16, 18). When a person died, they went down to this place. But what is it like?
The Old Testament draws some eerie, yet fascinating pictures for us. The first being that all people went down to Sheol. It didn't matter if you were righteous or wicked, everyone was headed there upon death (Eccl. 9:2-3). Existence in Sheol is very different than life on earth. In Sheol, there is no love, hate, envy, work, thought, knowledge, or wisdom (Ecc. 9:6-10). There is also no light (Job 10:21-22; 17:13; Psalm 88:6, 12; 143:3). The dead neither remember anything (Psalm 6:5; 88:12; Ecc 9:5) nor do they praise God (Psalm 30:9; 88:10-12; 115:7; Isa. 38:18). Those who inhabit Sheol are nothing but weak, trembling shades, who can never hope to escape from its gates (Job 10:21; 17:13-16; 26:5; Psalm 88:10-12; Isa. 14:9-10; 38:10). In all, Sheol is like a ravenous beast that devours the living and cannot be satisfied (Prov. 1:2; 27:20; Isa. 5:14).
Such images gives us the idea that Sheol wasn't a place one looked forward to going in the Old Testament. However, there are a few more images that I want to look at. They almost seem to be contradictory. In some places, the Scripture seems to indicate that when a person goes to Sheol, they are cut off from God (Psalm 88:3-5; Isa. 38:11), while other Scriptures seem to indicate that the righteous cannot escape the presence of God, even in Sheol (Psalm 139:8). So which is it, and did the righteous of the OT have the hope of a blissful afterlife?
Though it is not clear, Psalm 30:3 might suggest that God can raise someone out of Sheol. It is hard to tell whether this verse refers to the grave or the actual abode of the dead, "O Lord, you have brought up my life from sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit." A better verse to look at would be Psalm 49:15, "But God will ransom my life from the power of sheol, for he will receive me." This verse seems to indicate that at some point, the righteous had the hope of escaping Sheol.
The final section of Scripture I want to look at is Psalm 73: 23-26, "Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart." So what are we to make of this? Based on what we have studied, it seems that in the Old Testament, both the wicked and righteous went to Sheol, yet the righteous are the only ones who had hope of deliverance from this place. Such hope eventually expanded to include the belief in a bodily resurrection at the end of the age, which is mentioned in the book of Daniel.
In closing, let's look at what we know about Sheol:
1) All who go their are equal, whether wicked or righteous, king or slave.
2) It is under the earth.
3) It has bars to prevent escape.
4) Only God can rescue His people from it.
5) It is a place where no one can praise God.
6) There is no understanding or light there.
There is still so much more for us to examine when it comes to the Old Testament's view of the afterlife, ghosts, spirits, etc., but I promise you, we will get there. The point of this post was just to narrow our focus on the abode of the dead. In the next post, we will see how the idea of Sheol was expanded upon in the Intertestamental period.