Did the Old Testament Jews Teach Immortality?

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Charlemagne_II

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I found this interesting tidbit in Stanley’s History of the Jewish Church, 1862

“The Jewish religion is characterized in an eminent degree by the dimness of its conception of a future life. From time to time there are glimpses of the hope of immortality. But, for the most part, it is in the present life that the faith of the Israelite finds its full accomplishment… Not from want of religion, but (if one might use the expression) from excess of religion, was this void left in the Jewish mind. The Future Life was not denied or contradicted – but it was overlooked, set aside, overshadowed by the consciousness of the living, actual presence of God Himself.”

I am looking for references in the Old Testament to the belief in immortality, in both heaven and hell. Also, do the Jews of our time believe in heaven and hell? If so, which branches do and which don’t?
 
In the second book of Maccabees Judas Maccabee and his soldiers prayed that God would forgive the sins of those who were killed in battle and found wearing amulets taken as booty from a pagan Temple. Why would they pray for the dead if they weren’t alive? 🙂
 
Modern day Judaism is relatively “agnostic” on the matter of human eschatology; such that different people will have different ideas, all acceptable.

I once knew a lady who was Jewish and believed that the Bible taught reincarnation.:confused:

I’ve also seen a statement by a Rabbi to the effect that, “Judaism considers an afterlife to be secondary; what is primary is maintaining one’s relationship to God through keeping the law.”

At the same time, in the 1200s AD, Maimonides, one of the great Jewish minds, proclaimed belief in the afterlife to be a central tenet of Judaism. That is rather late, however, given the great antiquity of the faith.
:confused::confused::confused:

God Bless and ICXC NIKA
 
In the second book of Maccabees Judas Maccabee and his soldiers prayed that God would forgive the sins of those who were killed in battle and found wearing amulets taken as booty from a pagan Temple. Why would they pray for the dead if they weren’t alive?

That’s the traditional Catholic argument for Purgatory. Was the Book of Macabees retained by the Jews at the time of the Diaspora, or was it dropped?

I’m looking for more specific references to heaven and hell in the OT. Does Moses pronounce on the immortality of the soul? If not, it would seem to be a glaring omission.

Do the Jews today believe in the immortality of the soul? :confused:

Waiting for a Jew to weigh in. 👍
 
Charlemagne_II said:
In the second book of Maccabees Judas Maccabee and his soldiers prayed that God would forgive the sins of those who were killed in battle and found wearing amulets taken as booty from a pagan Temple. Why would they pray for the dead if they weren’t alive?

That’s the traditional Catholic argument for Purgatory. Was the Book of Macabees retained by the Jews at the time of the Diaspora, or was it dropped?:
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Maccabees was dropped from the Jewish Bible by the council of Yavneh in AD90, because it was not written in Hebrew, but had been accepted at the time of our LORD.

ICXC NIKA
 
GEddie
**
Well, we know for a fact that a certain well-known Jew born in 6 BC definitely taught that there was a human afterlife.**

He went further and proved it! 👍
 
This question is better suited for a jewish answers blog site. In the interim, I suggest you find some respect for your grandfather and ponder the intellectual meaning of Jacob’s wrestling match.
mishpacha.org/wrestling.shtml

If we apply the corrective lens of the life of Jesus to the old testament, Who do you suppose he was really fighting with all along? 😊
 
Charlemagne_II said:
“The Future Life was not denied or contradicted – but it was overlooked, set aside, overshadowed by the consciousness of the living, actual presence of God Himself.”
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That’s an interesting statement and one that I’d not considered. Adds new dimension. And more questions. In what, where and for how long did the Jews find the living actual presence of God?

Abraham & Moses’ direct contact
Plagues
Exit from Israel
Shekinah Glory and Manna
Commandments
Bronze Serpent
Ark of the Covenant
Showbread
Tabernacle Light
Liturgical year
Prophets

Where else?

Reminds of a question I got from a 5-year-old, “Why isn’t Jesus here - with us, Now?”

I was taken off guard and said, “Well…things didn’t go so well the last time He was here.”

Awaiting the return of the presence of God.

Only Simeon and Anna greeted Mary, Joseph and Jesus. And when the chief priests were asked by Herod the Great where the Savior was to be born - they knew. But, they didn’t go with the Magi to help search.
 
Charlemagne_II said:
I found this interesting tidbit in Stanley’s History of the Jewish Church, 1862

“The Jewish religion is characterized in an eminent degree by the dimness of its conception of a future life. From time to time there are glimpses of the hope of immortality. But, for the most part, it is in the present life that the faith of the Israelite finds its full accomplishment… Not from want of religion, but (if one might use the expression) from excess of religion, was this void left in the Jewish mind. The Future Life was not denied or contradicted – but it was overlooked, set aside, overshadowed by the consciousness of the living, actual presence of God Himself.”

I am looking for references in the Old Testament to the belief in immortality, in both heaven and hell. Also, do the Jews of our time believe in heaven and hell? If so, which branches do and which don’t?
Click to expand...
Good question, Charlemagne. Give me a little while to hunt for specific Biblical passages in the OT to give evidence of the afterlife. (I just responded to your comment on another thread, and didn’t even have breakfast yet!) In general, modern Jews DO believe in an afterlife. This belief may NOT have been present in very early Judaism and among every Jewish sect; however the Tanakh does confirm it. The belief in an afterlife applies to Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, and Reform Jews. However, the belief is NOT required in modern Judaism, even Orthodox Judaism (some may disagree), despite what Maimonides might have said. It is TRUE, as another poster indicated, that Jews focus on THIS life and obeying G-d’s commandments (loving G-d and loving thy neighbor): that is the whole Law, all the rest are details (according to Maimonides and Jesus). It is not really permitted to think too much about whether or not one will be saved (that is G-D’S BUSINESS, not ours) and certainly forbidden to pass judgment on the likelihood of other people’s salvation. We do believe in Heaven but NOT Hell, at least not the general Christian or Muslim conception of Hell. Hell involves no physical torment; it simply means separation from G-d (I understand some Catholics believe this too). We also believe in Purgatory, in which the souls of the “wicked” can be cleansed (atoned) to prepare them for Heaven. But many Jews interpret “wicked” as everyone, so that we ALL go to Purgatory. However, some of us may be so evil that Purgatory cannot cleanse us. In that case, we are separated from G-d, but whether our souls are actually annihilated is open to debate. By the way, while it is G-d who pronounces judgment after our death (and even this point is controversial; perhaps WE pronounce judgment in reviewing our own lives, while G-d passes sentence), it is Satan who executes that judgment by separating us from G-d. G-d in His mercy cannot bring Himself to separate us from Him. The role of Satan is also very different in Judaism than it is in Christianity and Islam.
 
kelley green

**This question is better suited for a jewish answers blog site. In the interim, I suggest you find some respect for your grandfather and ponder the intellectual meaning of Jacob’s wrestling match. **

Do you mean that Jews don’t visit Catholic Answers? 🤷

Not so. Ask Meltzerboy.
 
meltzerboy

Good question, Charlemagne. Give me a little while to hunt for specific Biblical passages in the OT to give evidence of the afterlife.

Thanks for your reply, but now I am more confused than before.

Did they or didn’t they? I’ve been told the Sadducees didn’t believe, but the Pharisees did believe in immortality. If so, one of the two groups must have had a reason for disagreeing with the other. Is that disagreement documented anywhere in the OT or in historical records? Which would be the older group?

If Jews today universally believe in some kind of afterlife, was there a time in history when the belief ceased to be sectarian and became universal?
 
Charlemagne_II said:
If Jews today universally believe in some kind of afterlife, was there a time in history when the belief ceased to be sectarian and became universal?
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The “sects” we see in the Gospels no longer exist; in essence, Sadduceanism and Essenism (not mentioned in Scripture) did not survive the events of AD70, leaving only Phariseeism (which taught a human afterlife) as the ancestor of the modern faith.

ICXC NIKA
 
GE

Thanks for that answer. You seem to have access to an interesting historical source. What would that be? 🙂
 
Charlemagne_II said:
meltzerboy

Good question, Charlemagne. Give me a little while to hunt for specific Biblical passages in the OT to give evidence of the afterlife.

Thanks for your reply, but now I am more confused than before.

Did they or didn’t they? I’ve been told the Sadducees didn’t believe, but the Pharisees did believe in immortality. If so, one of the two groups must have had a reason for disagreeing with the other. Is that disagreement documented anywhere in the OT or in historical records? Which would be the older group?

If Jews today universally believe in some kind of afterlife, was there a time in history when the belief ceased to be sectarian and became universal?
Click to expand...
GEddie is correct: modern Judaism follows the Pharisees (who really got a bum rap, BTW). You’re confused, Charlemagne, due to differing opinions within the Jewish faith? Welcome to Judaism!
 
I found this paragraph in the 1910 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia:

**That early Jewish history shows that the Hebrew nation did not believe in a future life, is sometimes stated. It is true that temporal rewards and punishments from God are much insisted upon throughout the Old Testament, and that the doctrine of a future life occupies a less prominent position there than we should perhaps have anticipated. Still, careful study of the Old Testament reveals incidental and indirect evidence quite sufficient to establish the existence of this belief among the Israelites at an early date (see Genesis 2:7; Wisdom 2:22-23; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Proverbs 15:24; Isaiah 35:10; 51:6; Daniel 12:2, etc.). It would, however, on a priori grounds, have been incredible that the Hebrew people should not have held this belief, considering their intimate contact with the Egyptians on one side and the Chaldæans on the other (see Atzberger, “Die christliche Eschatologie”, Freiburg, 1890).
**

The first two citations (Genesis and Wisdom) I could not track as specifically referring to life after death. Haven’t had time to check out the others.
;
 
meltzerboy

**You’re confused, Charlemagne, due to differing opinions within the Jewish faith? Welcome to Judaism! **

I gotcha! 😉 Seems the Protestant and the Jews are all over the map, and the Catholics are spreading out too nowadays!
 
GEddie said:
Modern day Judaism is relatively “agnostic” on the matter of human eschatology; such that different people will have different ideas, all acceptable.

I once knew a lady who was Jewish and believed that the Bible taught reincarnation.:confused:

I’ve also seen a statement by a Rabbi to the effect that, “Judaism considers an afterlife to be secondary; what is primary is maintaining one’s relationship to God through keeping the law.”

At the same time, in the 1200s AD, Maimonides, one of the great Jewish minds, proclaimed belief in the afterlife to be a central tenet of Judaism. That is rather late, however, given the great antiquity of the faith.
:confused::confused::confused:

God Bless and ICXC NIKA
Click to expand...
Yeah, I haven’t met anyone personally who believes in reincarnation, but it’s open as a possible belief - it’s called “gilgul”. I have to say, it’s a neat concept, though it looks to be a late development in terms of Jewish history.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgul
jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_07314.html
 
Eurydice said:
Yeah, I haven’t met anyone personally who believes in reincarnation, but it’s open as a possible belief - it’s called “gilgul”. I have to say, it’s a neat concept, though it looks to be a late development in terms of Jewish history.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgul
jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_07314.h
tml
Click to expand...
It’s Kabbalah mystical teaching believed by many (probably not all) Hasidic Jews. But it’s not part of traditional Torah Judaism (Orthodox Judaism). I don’t think belief in reincarnation is forbidden in traditional Orthodoxy; however, it must be understood NOT in terms of Karma (reward or punishment) but rather for the purpose of enabling an individual to fulfill all 613 commandments in the Torah, which they were not able to do the first time around.
 
Upon further reflection, since the resurrection of the dead is one of the thirteen articles of faith according to Maimonides (and since Torah Judaism is based on both scripture and rabbinical tradition), it probably is a tenet among Orthodox Jews.
 
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