The Inter-Testamental
Period
Two main groups of literature exist that describe Jewish thought in the Inter-Testamental period. One is called Apocryphal literature; the other, Apocalyptic literature.
1. Apocryphal Literature
The Apocryphal literature consists of those books which while never in the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament, were included in the Greek Septuagint version. They are accepted as canonical by the Roman Catholic church, but not by the Protestant. Although references to our subject are found in these books, there is little of significance. The most important passage is in the Second Book of Esdras, the seventh chapter. The passage contains an alleged conversation between God and Ezra. Some confusion exists in the numbering of the verses. The following is contained in Goodspeed's translation of the Bible: God says, "I will rejoice over the few who will be saved, because it is they who have made my glory to prevail more now, and through whom my name has now been honored. And I will not grieve over the great number of those who perish, for they are the
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ones who are now like vapor, and counted as flame and smoke, they have burned and glowed, and gone out" (vs. 6f).
"So those who live on the earth will be tortured on this account because, though they had intelligence, they did iniquity, and though they received commandments, they did not keep them, and though they had obtained the Law, they broke it" (vs. 72).
Then Ezra asks a question, "If I have found favor in your sight, Sovereign, show this also to your slave; whether after death as soon as each one of us gives up his soul, we shall be faithfully kept at rest until these times come when you begin to renew the creation, or shall be tortured at once" (vs. 75).
To which God answers: "I will show you that also; but you must not associate with those who have shown scorn or count yourself among those who are tortured. For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High, but it will not be shown to you until the last times. For about death, the teaching is: When the final sentence goes forth from the Most High that a man is to die, when the soul departs from the body to return again to him who gave it, first of all it prays to the glory of the Most High; if it was one of those who scorned and did not observe the way of the Most High, and of those who have despised his law, and of those who hate those who fear God, such spirit shall not enter dwellings but wander about thenceforth in torment, always grieving and sad, in seven ways: The first way is that they have scorned the Law of the Most High. The second way is that they can no longer make a good repentance, so that they may live. The third way is that they will see the reward destined for those who have believed the agreements of the Most High. The fourth way is that they will consider the torment destined for them in the last days . . . ." (vs. 76f)
Later Ezra has a further question which is of particular
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significance in the study of our subject: "If I have found favor in your sight, show me, your slave, further, whether on the Day of Judgment the upright will be able to intercede for the ungodly, or to beseech the Most High on their behalf, fathers for sons, or sons for parents, brothers for brothers, relatives for their kinsmen, and friends for those who are most dear to them" (vs. 102-103). To this question, God answers: "Since you have found favor in my sight, I will show you this also. The Day of Judgment is final and shows to all the stamp of truth. Just as now a father cannot send his son or a son his father or a master his slave or a friend his dearest friend to be sick for him, or sleep or eat or be cured, so no one can pray for another then, or lay a burden on another, for they must all bear everyone his own iniquity or uprightness then" (vs. 104-105).
Another important passage in II Maccabees will be taken up later in connection with the study of the views of the Rabbis. Besides the Esdras passage just quoted and this Maccabees passage, there is scant reference to our subject in the Apocryphal literature.
2. Apocalyptic Literature
The Apocalyptic literature on the other hand, is filled with references to the subject. This literature consists of the descriptions of visions. Most of it is pseudepigraphical, that is, it is written under an assumed name, usually that of some great character of the Old Testament. It is generally believed that the Essenes were the authors of this body of literature. Some of these books were written in the Inter-Testamental period, others were written during and after the New Testament period.
The main development of the doctrine of eternal punishment in this period comes from the fact that Sheol is now divided into two compartments: one for the good, called Paradise; the other for the evil, called Gehenna. The concept
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of Gehenna comes from the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem, which was a place where the worshipers of the idol Molech had sacrificed their own children by fire, and later became a place where the refuse of the city was burned. The valley was considered a place of judgment.
An important question is this: What caused this division of Sheol into two compartments? Some trace it to foreign sources, particularly to Persian Zoroastrianism with its dualism. However, most scholars, including many not at all conservative, fail to find foreign sources, but consider this development a result of problems finding their source in a conflict between the previous conception of Sheol, and principles revealed in the Old Testament. We may, therefore, consider this development as a legitimate application of the principles revealed in the Old Testament with regard to the question of life after death. Oesterley says, "The Apocalyptic literature continues, and in some respects develops, the eschatological teaching of the Old Testament.1
What were these problems of conflict between the old Sheol conception and the revelation of the Old Testament? One was this: The teaching of the Old Testament is that the real meaning of life is fellowship with God. This fellowship was very real to the Old Testament saints, and obviously precious to them, and to God himself. The usual Sheol concept, however, declared that this fellowship was destroyed by death. It is natural that the conviction should grow that this could not be true. Such an assurance was ultimately based on the Old Testament revelation that the eternal God has fellowship with his people. Surely, then, even death could not destroy the bond between God and his people. Therefore there couldn't be simply a common shadowy existence beyond death for both the righteous and the ungodly. There must be a division in Sheol; there must be a
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Paradise where the godly had a blessed life of fellowship with God. Abraham's Bosom was another term which came to be used to describe Paradise. Such a chain of logic was the inevitable result of the experience of the Old Testament saints. As Oesterley says, "It needs but few words to show that when a real, intimate, and personal relationship between God and the individual is established and experienced, the conviction must soon become overpowering in men that this relationship cannot be severed by the death of the body."2
A second problem was created by the difference between the Sheol concept and the Old Testament revelation between the Sheol concept and the Old Testament revelation which led to the concept of the division of Sheol into two distinct compartments. The old Sheol concept did not provide for the justice that the Old Testament revelation would lead the believer to expect. The Old Testament certainly reveals a God of perfect justice. Yet, as is obvious in life, the wicked often live long prosperous lives, while the righteous suffer. The justice taught in the Old Testament, therefore, demands that there be no common hereafter for the righteous and the wicked; but a place of blessing for the righteous, and a place of punishment for the wicked. In the Inter-Testamental period we trace the beginning of a clearly enunciated doctrine of punishment after death. This doctrine, however, resulted from a legitimate extension of important principles revealed in the Old Testament. Orr refers to this legitimate extension of Old Testament concepts when, having mentioned the problem of injustice in this life, he says, "From these causes the thought almost necessarily presented itself of the extension of retribution for the wicked into the state beyond death. Hence, as before seen, Sheol did come in the later age to assume something of a penal character for the unrighteous."3
A careful study of the Apocalyptic literature of the period,
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however, soon reveals the fact that the concepts presented there went far beyond a legitimate extension of Old Testament principles, and included detailed descriptions of the punishment of the wicked.
Most important of the Apocalyptic literature is a group of writings falsely attributed to the Old Testament character, Enoch. They were probably written about 200 B.C. They include a description of a tour, supposedly taken by Enoch, of the heavens and of the center of the earth. Beneath some high mountainous rocks, Enoch saw four hollow places; two of these were for the righteous, the one being for saintly martyrs like Abel, the other for ordinary righteous people. There were in addition two places for sinners, one for the wicked who were unpunished in this life, and for certain other evil people. These were to remain in this dark realm until the time of the resurrection, and then they would be cast into Gehenna. The other compartment was for those who suffered a violent death which was evidently considered punishment for their sinful life. These people were neither righteous, nor were they completely sinners, and therefore they would remain in this intermediate state forever. Here we have an example of how the Jewish mind was grappling with the reality of the incomplete state of justice in this present life.
In another passage, Enoch beholds the center of the earth. There, on the one hand he sees Paradise, and on the other, the accursed valley of Gehinnom, which is designated as the place of punishment of the wicked. Enoch very clearly teaches the eternity of punishment in the following passage, "And they (who will not be converted) shall be cast into the damnation of fire, and shall perish in anger and in the mighty damnation which last to eternity."
The Fourth Book of the Sibylline Oracles, probably the work of Alexandrian Essenes, amplifies the punishments described by Enoch by saying, "His angels will scourge them with fiery chains, and cast them before the fierce
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monsters of hell, and fiery wheels will turn them round about." "They shall be consumed by fearful thirst and bitter woe, gnashing their teeth and longing for death which will never come, and it will be too late for repentance."
Another Apocalyptic book which gives information on our subject is The Testament of Abraham, which was probably written by a Jew before the birth of Christ, but later translated by a Christian whose work in translating was affected by his Christian viewpoint. It describes a vision which Abraham supposedly had. Included in this vision is a wide path leading to a wide gate, and a narrow path leading to a narrow gate. The similarity to the teaching of Jesus is obvious. But here the exact proportion entering each gate is stated. The wide gate, leading to perdition, has 7000 entering it for every one who enters the narrow gate. As Abraham is watching the people entering these gates, the situation arises in which one soul has exactly the same weight of good and evil deeds. He is therefore consigned to remain in the middle state until the end of time. However, Abraham, seeing this man's unfortunate situation, prays for him, and as a result, he is permitted to enter Paradise. Realizing the power of his prayer, Abraham is remorseful for having allowed the others to slip into perdition so easily. So he prays to God for them, and God grants his request by restoring the dead to life again.
We see from these examples of Apocalyptic literature of the Inter-Testamental period, that the division of Sheol into Paradise and Gehenna was part of the thinking of the Jews in that time. We also note the beginnings of detailed descriptions of future punishment, as well as the belief in intercessory prayer for the dead.
3. Apocalyptic Literature of the Christian Era
Apocalyptic literature continued to be written after the coming of Christ. Although the works described here were
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probably written by Christians, we shall consider them at this point because they are a natural outgrowth of earlier apocalypses. These writings continued to give a large place to the descriptions of the punishment of the wicked. These descriptions grew more and more grotesque. The Apocalypse of Peter is an illustration of this feature. In this writing, we see the clear development of the idea of degrees of punishment corresponding to the types of sin which have been committed. Those who blasphemed the way of righteousness are seen "hanging by their tongues, while the flaming fire torments them from beneath." Those who perverted righteousness are seen "in a great lake of burning mire tormented by angels." "Women hang by their hair over the bubbling mire, because they adorned themselves for adultery." Adulterers are seen "hanging by their feet with their heads in the mire." Murderers are thrown into "A pit full of evil reptiles by which they were smitten and tormented while their victims stood by them and cried forth: 'O God, righteous is thy judgment.' " Women who destroyed children and caused abortion are seen "in a pit filled with gore and filth that ran down from them and rose up to their throats . . . the children who thus died . . . cried out against them." Those who persecuted the righteous are seen in "fire up to the middle of the body, scourged by evil spirits . . . their entrails devoured by worms that rested not." Similar descriptions continue for fourteen classifications of sinners.
The Apocalypse of Paul is probably a compilation of the fourth century after Christ. In it the punishment of the wicked is also conceived in grotesque terms. Temeluchos is the name of the relentless being who is the keeper of the place of torment. There is wailing and gnashing of teeth. There is also darkness, moaning and groaning. There is a river of fire in which the wicked are sunk to their knees, stomach, lips, or eyelids depending on which member of their bodies committed sin. Seeing another river of fire filled
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with souls, the apostle weeps. An angel says, "Wherefore dost thou weep? Art thou more merciful than God?" Thereupon the apostle acknowledges his wickedness and confesses his belief in the goodness of God.
The Apostle sees a third river. There sinners are tormented by the worm that dies not and by dragons. There is also a pit filled with blood that holds sorcerers, adulterers and other such sinners. Worse yet, there is a pit with seven seals, giving forth an unbearable stench, where sinners are continually cast from coals of fire to piles of snow and back again. The souls cry for mercy, and the angels join in this plea. As a result, the Son of God grants the Sabbath as a day of respite from the punishment of hell. This peculiar idea is said to have originated in the Talmud and the Midrash, where it is written, "Every Friday, Dumah, the angel set over the dead says, 'Let the wicked here have their Sabbath rest!' "
4. The Pharisees
Jesus found it necessary to point out many of the fallacies in the ideas of the Pharisees; but it is significant that at the point of punishment after death, he was in complete agreement with them. Josephus, who was himself a Pharisee, tells us something of their beliefs on this subject. He says that the Pharisees held that all souls were incorruptible, that the souls of good men are only removed into other bodies, but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment.4 In another of his writings, Josephus says, "Souls have an immortal vigour in them, and under the earth there will be rewards and punishments according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life, and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but the former shall have power to revive and live again."5
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5. Rabbinical Teachings 6
Immediately before the time of Christ there were two important Rabbinical schools, that of Shammai and that of Hillel. The first of these two schools divided all of mankind into three groups:
1. The perfectly righteous who are "immediately written and sealed to eternal life."
2. The perfectly wicked who are "immediately written and sealed to Gehenna."
3. An intermediate class who "go down to Gehinnom and moan, and come up again."
The rabbis of the school of Shammai felt that they had Scriptural basis for this third group in Zechariah 13:9, "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; and they shall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God," and in the Song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:6, "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up." Here we find eternal punishment for the second group, and a type of Hillel taught that sinners were tormented in Gehenna for twelve months, after which their bodies and souls were burnt up and scattered as dust under the feet of righteous. However, they also believed that certain types of sinners "go down to Gehinnom and are punished there to ages of ages."
A reflection of the Rabbinical teaching of the time before Christ is found in II Maccabees. It teaches a belief in the efficacy of prayers for the dead. "Then Judas assembled his army and went to the town of Adullam. And as the next day was the seventh day, they purified themselves as they
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were accustomed to do, and kept the Sabbath. On the following day, as by that time it had become necessary, Judas' men went to gather up the bodies of the fallen, and bring them back to lie with their relatives in the graves of their forefathers. But on every one of the dead, under the shirt, they found amulets of the idols of Jamnia, which the Law forbids the Jews to wear; and it became clear to all that this was why they had fallen. So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden, and fell to supplication, begging that the sin that had been committed should be wholly blotted out. And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, after having seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. He also took a collection, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, each man contributing, and sent it to Jerusalem, to provide a sin offering, acting very finely and properly in taking account of the resurrection. For if he had not expected that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead; or if it was through regard for the splendid reward destined for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be set free from their sin."7 It is probable that some type of prayers for the dead were in use during the time of the earthly ministry of Jesus and during the time of the apostles.
In the first century after Christ, the Rabbis believed in eternal punishment. For example, Rabbi Jochanan ben Zakkai, when dying, was filled with great fear, saying, "If He is angry with me, His Wrath is an Eternal Wrath, if He binds me in fetters, His fetters are Eternal fetters, and if He kills me, His death is an Eternal Death." Rabbi Elieser made the statement that the souls of the wicked were to be bound
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and in unrest, one angel hurling them to another from one end of the world to the other. He based this idea on 1 Samuel 25:29, "Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling."
In the second century after Christ, however, there was a reaction against the doctrine of eternal punishment. Already toward the end of the first century, Rabbi Akiba, an influential man, had begun to propagate a doctrine of punishment of limited length. As a result, most of the Rabbis at this time turned to the idea that in the last day, the sheath of the sun would be removed, and the wicked would be burned up. One Rabbi taught that there was no hell at all, but that the wicked would be annihilated.
The third century witnessed a return to former views. Rabbi Jose said that "the fire of Gehenna which was created on the second day is not extinguished forever." Rabbi Joshua ben Levi believed there were seven hells, because he found seven Biblical names for the place of punishment, namely: Sheol, Abaddon, the Pit of Corruption, the Pit of Horror, the Mire of Clay, the Shadow of Death, and the Nether Parts of the Earth. Rabbi ben Lakish taught, however, that the fire of Gehenna would not hurt Jewish sinners. In each of his seven compartments of hell, Joshua ben Levi had ten heathen nations, each presided over by one of the seven Jewish apostates: Absalom, Doeg, Korah, etc.
A number of the Rabbis taught that sorrow releases a person from the punishment of hell. The Apocalypses of Peter and Paul also expressed this idea. They based this on Psalm 86:7, "In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me." In another rabbinical description, men are seen hanging by their hair for letting their hair grow for adornment; by their eyelids for allowing their eyes lustful looks; and those who ate on fast days are forced to
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eat bitter gall. In a vision ascribed to Moses in a Midrash to the Song of Solomon 2:3, Moses sees these torments, pleads with God for Israel, but is refused.
As to the size of the place of punishment, some rabbis said, "The land of Egypt is four hundred farsas square, and is one-sixtieth of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia is one-sixtieth of the world and the world is one-sixtieth the garden of Eden, and the garden of Eden is one-sixtieth of Gehenna, and the whole world is as the covering of a pot to Gehenna. And some say that Gehenna has no measure, and some say that Eden has no measure."8
The Aristotelian School of philosophers, of which Cresas and Maimonides were leaders, opposed the generally accepted concepts and said that heaven and hell are symbols rather than localities.
6. Modern Liberal Judaism
Perhaps modern Jewish thought can best be summed up by quoting some of the conclusions of Kaufmann Kohler in his book Heaven and Hell in Comparative Religions. "Heaven and hell have at best merely symbolic significance."9 Above all, however, does our ethical view militate against the doctrine of eternal damnation."10 "The principle of justice . . . is violated by the assumption that the sins committed by man during his brief stay on earth should condemn him to endless suffering."11 "Endless joy, too, as a reward for the good is unbearable, unless it has an ennobling effect."12 "Genuine religion fears not hell . . . and longs not for heaven."13
We have now traced briefly the history of Jewish concepts
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regarding punishment after death. Our special interest has been in that portion of the history which leads up to the time of the New Testament. However, we have included the development beyond that period for the sake of completeness, and because of the interaction between Jewish and Christian doctrines in the early centuries of the Church.
We have seen how the Israelites at first had concepts similar to the nations around them, that they believed in a continued existence after death both for the righteous and the unrighteous in a gloomy realm called Sheol. We have seen that as time passed, however, there were increasingly those who were inspired by God to hope for a more wonderful life for the godly beyond death. We noted, furthermore, how the principles of the Old Testament inevitably led, in the Inter-Testamental period, to a concept of blessedness for the righteous dead, and punishment for the unrighteous. We saw also that in this period the Jewish imagination went far beyond the Old Testament to a lurid description of these punishments. Finally, we saw that as time passed, a reaction set in, which has ended in complete skepticism amongst Jewish scholars.
7. Pagan Beliefs
For the sake of completeness, we shall now briefly consider some of the concepts of the life after death amongst the pagans.
The Egyptians. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is amongst the oldest literature known to scholars. Actually the Egyptians did not have an exact equivalent to our concept of "soul," but distinguished several parts of man which survived death, which they designated as Ka, Ba, etc.
Concerning the future life, Egyptians held several conflicting views. One was that the "soul" remains in the vicinity of the cemetery seeking food. This need was first supplied by the
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living by bringing food to the place of burial, but later in the history of the Egyptians, images of food were substituted for the food itself. To those who held to this concept, the god of the dead was Klent-amenti, the jackal-headed god. In this belief, the condition of the departed obviously depended, not so much on the life lived on earth, as on the provisions made by the relatives of the deceased.
A second concept was that the dead go to the kingdom of the god, Osiris. There Osiris acts as judge and the good are admitted, but the evil are rejected and consumed by a monster (a hippopotamus) or by fire. In this kingdom, the heavenly life was very similar to life on earth. Here then, we have a belief in the annihilation of the wicked. Osiris had himself been killed and had come back to life again, and it was possible for the dead to become like Osiris, or even to lose personal identity and to be absorbed in Osiris.
A third belief was that the dead join the company of the immortal gods, who float on the heavenly ocean in the boat of the sun. A boat was placed in the tomb to provide transportation to this heavenly realm. In tombs recently opened, fine specimens of these boats have been discovered. Charms were also placed in the tomb to ensure a safe journey. There were others who believed that this realm might be reached by a ladder supposedly existing in the west.
Another concept of the future life was that in which the dead were believed to be carried off by the Hathor cow or a bull in order to await a bodily resurrection. Many amulets were buried with the body, each designated to preserve a part of the body for this awaited resurrection.
The idea that there is a lower world, Twet, similar to this world with a river running through it which is like the Nile, was also prevalent. There in long passages and in deep caverns the dead dwell. The sun travels through this area during the night. The gates separating the twelve sections of Twet are guarded by serpents and demons. At a later
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period it was believed that the dead might share this nightly voyage of the sun if they knew the proper incantations and magical formula.
We see that in most of the Egyptian conceptions, the condition of the existence of the dead depended on the carefulness of the burial practices of their surviving relatives, rather than the morality or religiousness of the person himself.
The Babylonians. For the Babylonians, life after death was existence on a far lower plane than life in this world. The place of the dead was designated as the "land of no return." It was a place of dark rooms inhabited by bats and covered with dust. There the dead were clothed in garments of feathers, and were under the domain of Nergal and Ereshikigal.
When the soul arrived in this lower world after death, it was judged by Annunaki, but regarding the basis of this judgment little has been preserved. Special privileges seem to have been granted to those who had fallen in battle, for they were provided with fresh water to drink. Those who had no one to place offerings upon their graves suffered serious deprivations. In a sense, to the Babylonians, everyone suffered eternal punishment, and as with the Egyptians the degree of their condition depended not on them as much as on their descendants.
The Greeks. According to the oldest Greek viewpoint, the surviving spirits were aided by the prescribed burial rituals which were very elaborate, and also by the constant provision of such things as water, wine, food and flowers. These offerings may also have been provided partly to keep the spirits of the dead from harming the living.
In the Homeric poems, which reflect Greek beliefs around 1000 B.C., the soul goes to Hades whence there is no return, and, according to one view, where there is no consciousness. The rationalism of this period tended to minimize the life
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after death, and the rise of the greater gods of the epics tended to reduce the power of the spirits of the dead.
Later, in the mystery religions, there was a revival of emphasis on the life after death. The Orphic sect even emphasized the divinity of the soul and a blessed future life in communion with the gods.
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1. W. O.E. Oesterley, The Doctrine of the Last Things (London, John Murray, 1908). p. 124.
2. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World, (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1921). p.208
3. J. Orr, The International Bible Encyclopedia, II "Eschatology of the Old Testament," 978.
4. Josephus, Wars, II, viii, 14.
5. Josephus, Antiquities, XVIII, i, 3.
6. Detailed description of Rabbinical teachings on this subject may be found in Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, (1884) II, p. 791f.
7. II Maccabees 12:36-45, Goodspeed's Translation
8. E.B. Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment (London, James Parker and Co., 1880), p. 94.
9. K. Kohler, Heaven and Hell in Comparative Religion (New York, MacMillan, 1923), p.150.
10. Ibid, p. 151.
11. Ibid., p. 151.
12. Ibid., p. 152.
13. Ibid., p. 153.