that he had been torn in pieces by some wild beast; and therefore the idea of a grave could not have been present to his father's mind, when in the depth of his sorrow he spoke of going down to him in sheol. Hence it is plain that sheol does not mean the natural grave for the reception of a dead body, but that region in the spiritual world designed as the first receptacle for the living soul. If the grave had been meant, surely keber, which in Hebrew is the common term for grave, would have been employed, since it is very carefully distinguished from sheol throughout the Hebrew writings.[1]
So again it is written, "sheol and destruction are before the Lord."[2] Here it was seen that the purpose of the term sheol was not to indicate the grave, and therefore it has been rendered hell: but that hell was not the idea intended by the expression, follows from the circumstance of its being distinguished from "destruction." Hell is the destruction of all heavenly life: "destruction," therefore includes that idea; consequently, the sheol, which is also before the Lord, denotes that intermediate region in which His judgments are performed upon the souls of men. It is also declared, "God will redeem my soul from the power
- ↑ "It is a leading mark of distinction between keber, the grave, and sheol, the place of souls: that while the former takes the possessive pronouns through all their variety, such as my grave, his grave, your grave, etc.: the latter never does, and never appears in the plural, but stands by itself as one extended region, the receptacle of all spirits departed. It is never said they buried him in sheol, or I will cause your bodies to come out of your sheol; such expressions never occur once throughout the whole of the sacred volume. Keber is invariably employed. On the other hand, when mention is made of the soul's destination, its assigned abode is as invariably sheol."—Olam Haneshaneth. By the Rev. G. Bennet, p. 283.
- ↑ Prov. xv. 11.
