Sheol

[Abyssinia]

Was original belief that everyone went to Sheol?

Ecclesiates 9:4 to 6
Job 14:12

 

[iwillendure]

i may be completely wrong but i think that sheol is the same as limbo of the fathers and those who died would have ended up their till Jesus ressurcted(usually the view of the east) or the harrowing of hell(usually the view of the west)

 

[Barbkw]

I did some checking on Sheol on Jewish websites.

jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=614&letter=S

The Catechism and the USCCB website has some information on Sheol as well.

It appears that the afterlife and the terminology of it was a open question with the Jews.

I was watching the EWTN program by Frances Hogan titled “Singing the Songs” this morning. (Found it under the heading of her old program “For God So Loved the World.”

During the program she read Psalm 88:

1 A song; a psalm of the Korahites. For the leader; according to Mahalath. For singing; a maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

It mentions Sheol (as many our OT Scripture does).

LORD, my God, I call out by day; at night I cry aloud in your presence.

Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.

2 For my soul is filled with troubles; my life draws near to Sheol.

I am reckoned with those who go down to the pit; I am weak, without strength.

My couch is among the dead, with the slain who lie in the grave. You remember them no more; they are cut off from your care.

You plunged me into the bottom of the pit, into the darkness of the abyss.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me; all your waves crash over me.

Selah

Because of you my friends shun me; you make me loathsome to them; Caged in, I cannot escape;

my eyes grow dim from trouble. All day I call on you, LORD; I stretch out my hands to you.

3 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades arise and praise you?

Selah

Is your love proclaimed in the grave, your fidelity in the tomb?

Are your marvels declared in the darkness, your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

But I cry out to you, LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Why do you reject me, LORD? Why hide your face from me?

I am mortally afflicted since youth; lifeless, I suffer your terrible blows.

Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have reduced me to silence.

All the day they surge round like a flood; from every side they close in on me.

Because of you companions shun me; my only friend is darkness.

Footnotes
1 [Psalm 88] A lament in which the psalmist prays for rescue from the alienation of approaching death. Each of the three stanzas begins with a call to God (Psalm 88:2, 10, 14) and complains of the death that separates one from God. The tone is persistently grim.

2 [4-8] In imagination the psalmist already experiences the alienation of Sheol.

3 [11-13] The psalmist seeks to persuade God to act out of concern for divine honor: the shades give you no worship, so keep me alive to offer you praise.

 

[Abyssinia]

How conscious was a person was in Sheol? Does the Bible contradict as to whether souls in Sheol just sleep forever with no memory of their life or whether they are semi-conscious, listless spirits? Are Heaven and hell concepts the Jews copied from others?

 

[Katholish]

The concept of Sheol greatly developed over the course of the Old Testament. Originally (Even as early as the Book of Genesis), it was conceived of as a common resting place for all the dead, so everyone, both good and bad went there. Eventually, there is a clear understanding of deliniation in Sheol, such that the wicked and just are treated differently. The wicked go into the pit or deepest part of Sheol, but the just are in another part.

By the time you get to the Mystical Psalms, there is an understanding that the just will not remain in Sheol at all, and it is thought of as simply a place for the wicked.

If you want an in-depth treatment of this subject, there is an outstanding book called the Theology of the Beyond written by Pozo and translated by Fr. Mark Pilon. It is an excelleent representation of Catholic eschatology and the beginning half treats the developement of Sheol in the Old Testament like nothing I have ever heard of.

 

[graceandglory]

As a protestant believer, I had already understood the differences between the biblical heaven, hell, death, sheol, and Gehennah, and had come to a Catholic understanding of Purgatory. Purgatory is a wholly biblical teaching, and if taught in other words, using these scriptures, even a protestant would believe it.