of sheol:"[1] thus, not from the grave, for the soul is not interred; nor from hell, as it is translated, because thence there is no deliverance: it is plain, therefore, that by sheol must be denoted the world of spirits.
Now, the equivalent of this term sheol, in the New Testament, is hades. This is established upon the best authority. It is written in the Psalms, "Thou wilt not leave my Soul in sheol:"[2] the apostle, citing this passage, and applying it to the Lord, says "His soul was not left in hades:"[3] hades, therefore, was understood by the apostle to have the same meaning as sheol: and it is plain that sheol denotes the first common receptacle for departed spirits, consequently, that must also be the signification of hades: and Josephus expressly tells us that such is the meaning of the word: "it is that place," says he, "wherein the souls of the righteous and unrighteous are detained."[4] And we have bequeathed to us by Peter an historical circumstance which illustrates the fact. He says Christ was "quickened by the Spirit, by which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing."[5] Here we are plainly informed that certain spirits had been waiting for deliverance, from the days of Noah until after the Lord's resurrection. Now in what department of the spiritual world had those expectant spirits been detained? It was not heaven, for that is not a prison; nor was it in hell, for there all hope is lost: it must then, most certainly,
- ↑ Psalm xlix. 15.
- ↑ Psalm xvi. 10.
- ↑ Acts ii. 31.
- ↑ See his discourse to the Greeks on this subject.
- ↑ 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19. Dr. Kitto observes that this is one of the strongest texts in proof of the existence of an intermediate spiritual world.—Bib. Cyc., Art. Hades.
