Читать книгу Biblical Concept of Hell - William Hyland - Страница 6

Man’s Evolving Understanding of Death

(God) has also set eternity in (men’s sons’) heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Since his creation, man’s inquiring mind has been pondering and theorizing what is beyond death. The spectrum of answers includes “Just like it was before the world began” as well as “There’s some kind of afterlife.” And the greatest source for providing hope for an afterlife to the inquiring mind is the Word of God.

Though “God…spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways”(Hebrews 1:1), He decreed the penalty for disobeying Him solely to the first human: the disobeyer “shall surely die.”(Genesis 2:17) His warning employed one Hebrew verb in two of its phases, the qal infinitive absolute (מוֹת) followed by the second person singular qal future (מוּת). The sole use of מוּת would have conveyed to Adam the impact of “die,” yet purposed this combination.

Why had Yahweh {cf. Genesis 2:4, 26:24; Exodus 20:2; Psalm 83:18} purposed this combination? Moshe Greenberg in his Introduction to Hebrew, page 54, acknowledged the possibility: “The infinitive absolute…is commonly used to add some sort of emphasis to the finite verb, which immediately follows it.” Was it for emphasis in order to impress upon Adam the extremely serious nature of His warning? See the end of this chapter for what Greenberg had in mind. He apparently thought the same with אָבַד [to perish] on three occasions:

אָבֹד תֹּאבֵדוּן (LXX: ἐξελθόντων). (Deuteronomy 4:26)

אָבֹד תֹּאבֵדוּן (LXX: ἀπωλείᾳ ἀπολεῖσθε). (Deuteronomy 8:19)

אָבֹד תֹּאבֵדוּן (LXX: ἀπωλείᾳ ἀπολεῖσθε). (Deuteronomy 30:18)

And once with סוּף ( to consume, cause to perish):

אָסֹף אָסֵף (LXX: ἐκλείψει ἐκλιπέτω). (Zephaniah 1:2)

The traditional English translation of this verbal coupling of מוֹת is “surely die,” but not one of the rare appearances of the ancient Hebrew word for “surely,” אָכֵן (Genesis 28:16; Exodus 2:14; 1 Samuel 15:32; 1 Kings 11:2; Job 32:8; Psalm 31:22(23), 66:19, 82:7; Isaiah 40:7, 45:15, 49:4, 53:4; Jeremiah 3:20,23, 4:10, 8:8; Zephaniah 3:7), accompanies any use of the מוֹת coupling. Chapter VI will come to grips with an appropriate meaning for this coupling, but for the sake of the discussion leading up to that, I will translate it literally as “die to die.” Although this phrase is prophetically nuanced, its primary meaning for all of Adam’s seed to accept was: life is limited, finite in duration, and dying is individually inevitable.

While it’s hard to imagine the time and effort first man needed in order to learn forest cultivation (Genesis 2:15) as well as to remember all the names he had given to the animals God had formed out of the ground (Genesis 2:19), it’s a mystery as to how he knew what pleased his Creator. Maybe there initially existed a master-slave relationship whereby Adam did instinctively what his Mentor instructed him. Based on what the Bible informs believers about His divine character, Yahweh had to have been very patient, kind and longsuffering with the creature in His own image. During this intense instructional period, it’s reasonable to assume that Adam would experience the death of an animal, possibly of one of the cattle under his care (Genesis 1:26) for food and/or skin (Genesis 3:21), and thereby had acquired an understanding of death before God had warned him (Genesis 2:17). I assert this only because the Creator’s loving, caring nature compelled Him to always address Adam’s realm of comprehension, particularly the ramification of his eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But yet, the threat of that warning apparently instilled little or no fear in him or his helpmeet. The Serpent’s response to Eve (“you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5)) makes me wonder how well developed her and first man’s moral bearings were when hearing Yahweh’s warning. Did they really know only “good” while staying in the garden of Eden? Or were their moral compasses fully ignorant and devoid of “evil,” rendering them incapable of distinguishing right from wrong? Since the Scriptures lead me to understand that knowledge of good and evil was initially obtained by Eve and Adam through their intended consumption of the “forbidden” fruit, I conclude that they had begun their existence in God’s presence, thus exposed only to divine perfection, and thereby totally ignorant of “evil.”

Now Eve’s poor remembrance of what Yahweh had warned her, directly or through Adam, is reflected in her response to the Serpent’s enticement: “…from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die [תְּמֻתוּן]…’” (Genesis 3:3) But then the Serpent wooed her with a negation of God’s decree: “You will not die to die [מוֹת תָּמוּת].” (Genesis 3:3–4; possibly Book of Jubilees 3:19 as well) Eve had not repeated Yahweh’s verbal coupling, whereas the Serpent did, and she included His prohibiting her of even touching the tree, which He had not. As stated before, though, much more of this will be discussed in The Second Death chapter.

First man received (his help meet possibly only through him) verbal moral guidance and instruction (Genesis 2:7) directly from his Creator. The ultimate incentive to disregard His commandment was not the appeal of the tree’s fruit, leaves, or bark; rather, it was the opportunity of becoming like God. I suggest this because 1) there exists no inspired recording of any prior moral lesson and warning, and 2) in verse 5 of Chapter 3, the Serpent led them to believe that by “eating from the tree” (Genesis 2:17) their “eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Being like their Creator then became the lure, not the tree’s taste. The Serpent’s negation of Yahweh’s verbal coupling duped Eve and Adam, and as a result, all the earth became polluted” (Isaiah 24:5), causing “the whole creation” to groan and suffer (Romans 8:22) the just condemnation Yahweh meted out on the first couple as well as on all their offspring:

“Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17–19)

From then on, living was a picnic no more; all they needed to survive on now had to be produced by arduous physical labor. Thorns and thistles they encountered in their work symbolized the ground’s curse in at least two ways: 1) harvesting of any edible plant became tedious and slow by the invasion of these weeds, and 2) the grazing of thistles was lethally dangerous for their cattle and the like to ingest. The meaning of “die to die” became rather clear to them: “return to dust.” Death and its consequences are included in Yahweh’s creation plan inasmuch as the ground out of which He formed the first man (Genesis 2:7) is the exact same medium into which his body decayed after his last breath. Death’s process is the mirror-imaged reversal of God’s creation procedure: visible weakening and shrinking, then the last breath’s exhausting and finally flesh and bones reverting back into the ground, from the perspectives of substance as well as of locality.

Whether or not they had assumed they would live eternally, and not “die to die,” is uncertain, but verse 22 indicates they had the opportunity, but not necessarily the knowledge of that opportunity for eternal life. But regardless of any awareness of that chance, they could have accidentally overridden the adjudicated consequence of their eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In anticipation of that possibility, Yahweh expelled the first couple from the garden forever.

Adam had been formed by the hand of Yahweh as a sinless {cf. Genesis 1:31} image (Genesis 1:27) of Himself; Eve too was sinless inasmuch as He had formed her out of a rib belonging to Adam. Though only creatures, not divine, they were initially created with the Christ-like character: “in (them) there (was) no sin” (1 John 3:5); they “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21); they “committed no sin.” (1 Peter 2:22) While God’s decree of Genesis 2:27 might not have been the only prohibition He had given them, through the serpent’s deceit, the prohibited fruit became for them too great an allurement to resist. Eve, followed by Adam, bit into that fruit, thereby instantly becoming sinners endowed with the knowledge of good and evil. The penalty for their sin, as Yahweh had warned, was a death sentence for each. (Genesis 3:19) By this “foundational” sin, Adam and Eve abruptly altered their relationship with Yahweh {cf. Romans 2:5, 5:16, 8:20} as well as precluded for all humanity the opportunity for eternal life (Genesis 3:22–24):

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)

…through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, ἐφ’ ᾧ all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

The interrogative ἐφ’ ᾧ is comprised of ἐπί and the dative of ὅς, which The Analytical Greek Lexicon translates “wherefore, why.” Then the inference here is: in Adam “all sinned” {cf. 1 Corinthians 15:22}, which is a statement of result, not of causation. In other words for Romans 5:12, through the first couple’s defiant deed, every human was, is and will be conceived with sin in his/her body and viewed by Yahweh as a sinner:

הֵן-בְּעָווֹן חוֹלָלְתִּי; וּבְחֵטְא, יֶחֱמַתְנִי אִמִּי. David: “Behold, with sin/iniquity I was born, and my mother conceived me with sin.” (Psalm 51:5[7])

The phrase “born in sin” tends to address a circumstance causing or leading up to the birth, like incest, infidelity, or rape, but due to David’s desire for “a clean heart” (v. 10), the preposition בּ more likely meant to be translated “with” in order to indicate the immoral integrity of David when merely a conceived fetus: a sinner. David has confessed that he was born a sinner well before he could even sin. “…Through the one man’s disobedience (all) were made sinners” (Romans 5:19) and as the consequence, “in Adam all died.”(1 Corinthians 15:22)

The first couple’s sin has stained all mankind because each individual conception was, is, or will be formed by Adam’s future sperm fertilizing Eve’s ‘pyramiding egg chain’:

Mark Stoeckle at Rockefeller University and David Thaler at the University of Basel: mitochondrial DNA, snippets of DNA that reside outside the nuclei of living cells, are passed down by mothers from generation to generation. Their every offspring will be destined to “die to die” for being conceived as a sinner:

…death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam… (Romans 5:14)

…all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law. (Romans 2:12)

Each human being has been, is or will be conceived as a sinner, but not because he/she had first sinned. Man sins because he is a sinner. Man’s basic nature is based on his being a sinner, having come about because he is conceived with sin. The natural effect of this immoral nature is that from birth to his life’s end, man is predisposed to sinning.

Adam and Eve had abruptly acquired the knowledge of what death’s effect on them would be. There is no record of their response to indicate they had any remorse or regret for choosing to disobey their Creator, but God’s swift, just response impressed them to seriously respect Him and to not incite His righteous anger again. Their family expanded over the years and observed the practice of making pleasing offerings to Yahweh. On one such occasion, the eldest son’s gift was comprised “of the fruit of the ground” (Genesis 4:3) while that of Abel, a younger brother, was of “fat portions” (Genesis 4:4) from newly born sheep. God approved Abel’s offering but not his brother’s, “because his deeds were evil…”(1 John 3:12) Cain became so enraged that he murdered his brother, the sin for which he received from the Lord the sentence containing both a curse and banishment:

The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. (Genesis 4:10–12)

To which Cain ruefully responded:

“My punishment is too great to bear! Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth…” (Genesis 4:13–14)

Yes, “to dust you shall return” conveyed death’s destructive power not only over the first couple but over all their progeny as well {cf. Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22.}

Abel’s murder is the first account of human death and its consequences. Ever since Adam’s disobedience, God has sovereignly effected every individual’s death, both directly and indirectly: naturally (by nature itself or aging’s consequences), humanly (accidental or evilly purposed) or civilly {cf. Romans 13:1,3–4.} Regardless of His means, all of Adam’s progeny will experience the cessation of living and life, but neither Enoch nor Elijah did:

Enoch {in the seventh generation from Adam (Jude 1:14)} walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. (Hebrews 11:5)

As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. (2 Kings 2:11)

The increase of Adam’s descendants exploded exponentially and inhabited the far reaches of the created landmass. Around 1500 BC, in what today is Iran, Persian mythology came into being; about a millennium later, Zoroastrianism, which addressed the existence of angels, demons and saviors, notions present in Judaism, grew in popularity and influence among many of this issue. Over time, the surviving mythology adopted a dualistic vision, a cosmic conflict between good and evil. Concurrently, individuals “began to call upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26), to “walk with God” (Genesis 6:9) as well as to receive promises from Him. (Genesis 12:7, 15:4–5, 17:1–5) One of them is Job, who “was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (Job 1:1)

Respected as the Scriptures’ earliest literature, the Book of Job was written circa early second millennium BC; Moses’ era was circa 1425 BC, while that of David and the Prophets was circa 999-900 BC; the minor Prophets’ literary era was circa 899–400 BC, and then New Testament writings date from the mid to late first century AD. What mankind comprehended about dying and death is cited below within these recording eras:

DEATH IS THE PENALTY FOR SINNING

Early second millennium BC—Job 24:19

Circa 1425 BC—Genesis 2:16–17

Circa 899–400 BC—Ezekiel 18:4,20,22,26

DEATH CAN BE CAUSED DIRECTLY BY GOD’S ANGER

Early second millennium BC—Job 4:9

Circa 1425 BC—Deuteronomy 4:31, 9:14,26, 10:10, 28:63, 29:20, 32:39

Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm 5:6, 9:5, 21:9, 52:5, 73:27, 104:29

Circa 899–400 BC—Jeremiah 11:22; Jonah 3:9

DEATH’S DESTRUCTION IS ETERNAL

Early second millennium BC—Job 4:20,7:16,21

DEATH IS AN IRREVERSIBLE EVENT

Early second millennium BC—Job 7:9

Circa 999-900 BC—Proverbs 9:18

Circa 70 AD—2 Corinthians 5:8; Colossians 3:3–4; Hebrews 9:27–28

DEATH AFFECTS ALL MANKIND

Early second millennium BC—Job 9:22

Circa 899–400 BC—Habakkuk 2:5; Ezekiel 28:8

DEATH IS NOT REGRETTED BY GOD

Early second millennium BC—Job 10:7–9

DEATH IS THE STATE OF HOPELESSNESS

Early second millennium BC—Job 17:13,15–16

Circa 999-900 BC—Psalm 88:3-6

DEATH DESTROYS MAN’S FLESH AND BONES

Early second millennium BC—Job 19:20

Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm49:12,14

Circa 899–400 BC—Zephaniah 1:17

Circa 70 AD—1 Corinthians 15:42,44,46,50

DEATH’S OCCURRENCE IS INSTANTANEOUS

Early second millennium BC—Job 21:13

DEATH CAN BE SENTENCED ALSO BY MORTALS

Early second millennium BC—Job 31:11–12

Circa 899–400 BC—Malachi 4:3

DEATH IS INDIVIDUALLY ADMINISTERED BY GOD

Early second millennium BC—Job 33:18

DEATH DEPENDS ON GOD’S WILL AND POWER

Early second millennium BC—Job 34:14–15

DEATH CAN BE NATURALLY EFFECTED BY GOD

Early second millennium BC—Genesis 6:7,13,17, 7:21, 9:15, 42:38, 44:29,31

DEATH CAN TERRORIZE MAN

Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm 55:4, 116:3

DEATH CAN HAVE A CRUEL NATURE

Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm 55:15

DEATH AFFECTS ALL MANKIND

Circa 999–900 BC—1 Samuel 2:6, Psalm 82:6–7

DEATH DOES NOT SEPARATE A BELIEVER FROM GOD’S LOVE

Circa 70 AD—Romans 8:38–39

In Section I, Chapter XXXVII of the Westminster Confession of Faith, one reads while “(t)he bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption…”

The Lord to Cain: “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground…which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood…” (Genesis 4:10–11)

Death’s final ‘act’ is putridity, wherein microbes “are the last living cells on our bodies. Then, they devour us.” (Dr. Stanley Falkow, microbiologist; “The Wall Street Journal,” section A9, May 19–20, 2018) Putridity [שָׁחַת/διαφθείρω] accomplishes what the Lord had decreed to the first couple as punishment for their sinning: “…for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), a gentle phrase for the complete destruction of one’s body. The earliest account of human death is that of Abel, whose body was left on the earth’s surface to undergo decay, apparently with no burial. For millennia thereafter, innumerable casualties were abandoned on battlefields for death’s process to consume, leaving scenes like Ezekiel’s vision of “the middle of the valley (that) was full of bones.” (Ezekiel 37:1)

The first mention of a burial [קִבְרָה/ταφή] was Yahweh’s promise to Abram: “You shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.” (Genesis 15:15) The earliest recorded burial was that of Abraham’s wife, Sarah. The patriarch’s pursuit for a burial site was “that I may bury my dead out of my sight” (Genesis 23:4), indicating he did not want to see his loved one’s remains rotting and decaying. His reasoning for a burial site might well have been both concealment of ‘the remains’ to protect from predators as well as from infection, disease and decay’s stench. The means for such cover was normally completed either above or below ground but for Abraham Sarah’s protective site, it was actually in a cave. (Genesis 23:19)

Years later, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, requested of his favorite son, Joseph:

Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place. (Genesis 47:29–30)

Then (Jacob) charged (his sons) and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah.” (Genesis 49:29–31)

In addition to being buried [קָבַר/θάπτω] above ground in a cave (the same as it was centuries later for Jesus (Matthew 27:60), the corpses of many well-to-do people in the Old Testament era were entombed in handcrafted stone sepulchers [קִבְרָה/μνῆμα and τάφος], which were placed in either a burial vault remaining above ground or in a burial chamber underground, i.e., a grave. In Job 21:32, [גָּדִישׁ] is a sepulchral mound or tomb. The piling of stones and/or soil over a corpse (Joshua 7:26, 8:29) as well as a burial in a dug hole to be later refilled also served to dissipate putridity’s odor as well as to ward off hungry animals’ attraction to it.

A 3,000-year-old Philistine cemetery was recently discovered on the Israeli coast near Ashkelon. Excavation leader Adam Aja of the Harvard Semitic Museum told Foxnews.com.:

“I was impressed by the variety of burial types. We found stone tombs, children buried under sherds [fragments of pottery] or face down, pit graves, and cremations [in sealed jars]. This reveals that there was not a single burial practice for this population.

“The dead Philistines’ ages ranged from infants to senior adults, and were buried in several different ways. Most of the bodies were buried in shallow graves along with jugs and small containers that may have held perfume.”

Aja believes that the jar, bowl, and juglet assemblage that accompanied many skeletons may have been part of a wine drinking set. “It is unclear if this was intended for use by the dead or as part of the burial ceremony for the living,” he said.

“Some of the men were buried with ornamental beads or engraved stones, while most of the women and children’s remains had on jewelry—earrings, rings, and bracelets that were generally made of bronze or beads.”1

“Cremation represented one of the usual burial practices for pagan Romans. With the emergence of Christianity, burials began to take place in catacombs. This word is derived from the Greek meaning ‘within the quarries.’ Catacombs are underground cemeteries consisting of intricate labyrinths or tunnels with recesses for burial chambers. There are more than sixty sites of catacombs in Rome which date from the end of the second to the early fifth century CE.” (The Jerusalem Post, 01.08.2017 Tevet, 5777) Yet, “cremation was abhorrent to Rome’s Christian and Jewish minorities. Since land was scarce and costly, it made sense for both communities to bury their dead underground.” (“Labyrinth Under Rome,” Wall Street Journal, January 7–8, 2017, page C14)

The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, Ben Davidson, Editor; Hendrickson Publishers:

יָשֵׁן = fall asleep, sleep.

קוּץ = (hiph.) awake from sleep or death, arise.

שֵׁנָא = sleep, dream.

The Analytical Greek Lexicon; Zondervan Publishing House:

κοιμάω = (passive perfect) fall asleep, be asleep, die.

καθεύδω = to sleep (in spiritual sloth) or (the sleep of death).

ὕπνος = sleep.

ὑπνόω = to sleep, euphemism for to die.

Each Hebrew verb is followed by its corresponding LXX’s Greek verb:

Job: “But man dies and lies prostrate. Man expires, and where is he?… So man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no longer, he will not awake [קוּץ ] nor be aroused out of his sleep [שֵׁנָא / κοιμάω].” (Job 14:10,12)

David: “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep [יָשֵׁן / ὑπνόω] the sleep of death…” (Psalm 13:3).

David to the Lord: “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake [קוּץ].” (Psalm 17;15)

You who lie in the dust, awake (from death) [קוּץ ]. (Isaiah 26:19)

“…That they may become jubilant and may sleep [יָשֵׁן / ὑπνόω] a perpetual sleep [שֵׁנָא / ὕπνος] and not wake up,” declares the Lord…“that they may sleep [יָשֵׁן ] a perpetual sleep [שֵׁנָא] and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. (Jeremiah 51(28):39,57)

Many of those who sleep [שֵׁנָא/καθεύδω] in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)

The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep [κοιμάω] were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:52–53)

Jesus: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep [κοιμάω]…” Now Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep [ὕπνος]. (John 11:11,13)

They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep [κοιμάω]. (Acts 7:59–60)

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep [κοιμάω], and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay. (Acts 13:36)

For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [κοιμάω]. (1 Corinthians 11:30)

After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep [κοιμάω]. (1 Corinthians 15:6)

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised… Then those also who have fallen asleep [κοιμάω] in Christ have perished. (1 Corinthians 15:16,18)

…Now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep [κοιμάω]…we will not all sleep [κοιμάω] but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… (1 Corinthians 15:20,51)

For this reason (Isaiah 26:19) says, “Awake, sleeper [καθεύδω], and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)

…about those who are asleep [κοιμάω] …God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep [κοιμάω] in Jesus…we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep [κοιμάω]…the dead in Christ shall rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–16)

(Jesus) died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep [καθεύδω], we will live together with Him. (1 Thessalonians 5:10)

Mockers: “Where is the promise of His coming? For (ever) since the fathers fell asleep [κοιμάω], all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4)

But the most compelling example indicating sleep as the metaphor for death exists in 1 Corinthians 7:39: “A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead (κοιμάω), she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.”

In the LXX as well as the New Testament, the verb κοιμάω translates “to fall asleep, to be asleep,” but not in this verse! After all, if the literal meaning of κοιμάω did apply, imagine the pandemonium for pastors and Christian counselors (as well as sky-rocketing sales of sleep medicines) should the translation of this verse be accepted as “…but if her husband is asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes.”

Therefore, in the ancient Hebrew tradition, sleep has served as a metaphor for death, possibly to “take the edge” off this sad, horrible event by applying a gentle, peaceful nuance to it as do other Old Testament phrases:

…When I lie down with my fathers… (Genesis 47:29)

I am about to be gathered to my people… (Genesis 49:29)

Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers… (Deuteronomy 31:16)

Moses: “…the days of our life…(are) soon…gone and we fly away.”(Psalm 90:10)

In the pursuit of discovering what hell is in the Scriptures, I intend to graphically trace biblical revelations of the ultimate destination for every man’s soul. The linear progression of ‘continuing existence’ for the created human soul is to serve as the connecting thread for this study. The following is a graphic scheme upon which I will expand in the ensuing chapters to show what I believe are the sequential stages of existence for the created human soul. It commences with the breadth of man’s life.

Death is just the commencement of die to die:

fertilization

womb-implanted dependency

postnatal independency

maturing

aging

cessation of breath and blood flow

Instances of Moshe Greenberg’s theory along with the LXX translations:

מוֹת תָּמוּת

[qal infinitive followed by second-person singular masculine qal future]

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε (Genesis 2:17)

LXX: ἀποθανῇ (Genesis 20:7)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ (1 Samuel 22:16)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ …θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ (1 Kings 2:37,42)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ / θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ / θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ (2 Kings 1:4,6,16)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ (Jeremiah 26:8)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατωθήσῃ (Ezekiel 3:18)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατωθήσῃ / Θανάτῳ θανατωθήσῃ (Ezekiel 33:8,14)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ (1 Samuel 14:44)

מוֹת יוּמָת

[qal infinitive followed by third-person singular masculine hophal]

future]

LXX: αὐτοῦ θανάτου ἔνοχος ἔσται (Genesis 26:11)

LXX: θανάτῳ τελευτήσει (Exodus 19:12)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / τελευτήσει θανάτῳ / θανάτῳ τελευτάτω (Exodus 21:12,15–17)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποκτενεῖτε (Exodus 22:19)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατωθήσεται / θανάτῳ θανατωθήσεται (Exodus 31:14–15)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν / θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν / θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν / θανατούσθωσαν / θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν / θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν (Leviticus 20:2,9–13,15–16,27)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατούσθω /θανάτῳ θανατούσθω (Leviticus 24:16–17)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατωθήσεται (Leviticus 27:29)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατούσθω (Numbers 15:32,35)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ θανατούσθω / θανάτῳ γὰρ θανατωθήσεται (Numbers 35:16–18,21,31)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖται (Judges 21:5)

LXX: θανάτῳ θανατωθήσεται (Ezekiel 18:13)

מוֹת יָמֻתוּ

[qal infinitive followed by third-person plural masculine qal future]

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανοῦνται (Numbers 26:65)

מוֹת תְּמֻתוּן

[qal infinitive followed by second-person plural masculine qal future]

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε (Genesis 3:4)

מוֹת נָמוּת

[qal infinitive followed by first-person plural qal future]

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανούμεθα (Judges 13:22)

מוֹת יָמוּת

[ qal infinitive followed by third-person singular masculine qal future]

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖται (1 Samuel 14:39)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖται (2 Samuel 12:14)

LXX: θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ (2 Kings 8:10)

1 http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/12/21/contents-first-discovered-philistine-cemetery-revealed.html