Introduction
The Bible describes a place whither the souls of the dead are bound. This place may be called the pit, the grave, or simply Death. The Greek term used by Jesus and the apostles is Hades. However, most often this place is called Sheol.
All scripture quotations are taken from the ESV.
Sheol: the Common Fate of All the Dead
Many verses in the Old Testament indicate that Sheol is the common fate of all the dead, a place of silence and inactivity from which there is no hope of return. Jacob, when he believed that his son Joseph was dead, said:
All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.
It must be admitted up front that Jacob’s words here do not necessarily represent divine truth; inspired scripture only records what he said without offering any explicit endorsement. However, it does reveal that Jacob certainly believed that he would be reunited with Joseph in Sheol. He cannot have meant that he would be buried with Joseph, since Joseph—as far as Jacob knew—had been eaten by wild animals, and therefore had not been buried. So here is evidence of belief in Sheol as the realm of the dead. Furthermore, both Jacob and Joseph were considered among the righteous, adding a further belief that the righteous were not exempt from this fate.
Job, while lamenting his miserable situation, says:
As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
As in the previous passage, this is not necessarily a divine endorsement of fact, but rather a reflection of the speaker’s own beliefs. But those beliefs accord with what has been said so far: Job, although he was a righteous man, was destined for Sheol, from which there would be no return.
The Psalms provide ample mention of Sheol:
For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?
For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence.
The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
The psalmists would have been counted among the righteous, just like Jacob, Joseph, and Job. And yet these verses make it clear that they are nevertheless destined for Sheol. In fact, all people, whether righteous or not, are destined thence. Additionally, Sheol is described as a realm of inactivity and unconsciousness; the silent dead neither remember nor offer praise.
This theme is continued in Ecclesiastes:
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
Here it is seen that the denizens of Sheol lack knowledge, and are incapable of deed or thought. All people are destined for this fate.
King Hezekiah, after God had healed him from a deadly illness, wrote:
I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.
For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.
Although he wasn’t perfect, Hezekiah was counted among the righteous as one of the good kings. And yet he believed that he was destined for Sheol. Furthermore, he asserted that those in Sheol are incapable of grattitude, praise, or hope.
From all of these passages, it can be gathered that Sheol is the common fate of all the dead, that those who end up there are silent and inactive, and that there is no escape from its grasp.
Sheol: the Fate of the Wicked Alone
But other passages contradict the view of Sheol as a silent realm whither the wicked and righteous alike are consigned. Sometimes, the dead in Sheol are described as active. Isaiah, prophesying against the king of Babylon, said:
Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.
The dead in Sheol are described as waking in order to welcome the king into their midst. Similarly, Ezekiel said in his prophecy against Egypt:
The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: ‘They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
Here the citizens of Sheol speak. Curiously, it also seems to describe the dead as inactive (“they lie still”).
Other times, a distinction is drawn between the fates of the wicked and the righteous. The wicked remain consigned to Sheol:
The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.
Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah. Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
In these verses, the psalmist describes the penalty for sin, which must be payed by all men whether they are wise or foolish, rich or poor: death and consignment to Sheol. Yet this fate is specified only for those whose sins are counted against them. Those whose sins have been forgiven—the righteous—expect to be rescued from Sheol and to enjoy fellowship with God:
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
The wicked is overthrown through his evildoing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
It is worth mentioning here the two exceptional cases of Enoch and Elijah:
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
Although neither of these men died in the usual understanding of the word, it is difficult to argue that their destination would have differed from that of other Old Testament saints. They went to be with God, the same fate anticipated by the other righteous authors of scipture. Elijah’s case is especially noteworthy in this regard, since he reappeared during the transfiguration alongside Moses, who did die in the usual sense:
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
The Grave, Gehenna, & Paradise: Resolving the Contradiction
How can Sheol be both a place of activity and inactivity? And how can Sheol be the common destiny of all, and yet there be separate destinies for the wicked and righteous? These apparent contradictions are reconciled by acknowledging the fluid nature of human language: words can mean different things in different contexts.
When the Old Testament describes Sheol as the universal fate of all, a place of inactivity from which there is no escape, it speaks metaphorically of physical death and the grave. Everyone, righteous or unrighteous, will experience such death, and dead bodies can do nothing; neither can they live again—apart from the miraculous intervention of God.
Yet in another sense, it is literally true that the souls of the righteous are destined for Sheol. When their bodies die, their souls are transported to a spiritual realm of the dead—but not the same realm to which the wicked are consigned.
This distinction gives rise to the popular idea of a divided Sheol—that Sheol is composed of two compartments: one for the wicked and one for the righteous. But care should be taken not to interpret this division in too physical a manner. It would be more accurate to define Sheol as the state of death rather than a distinct location. In this sense, everyone who has physically died is “in Sheol”. The wicked are then consigned to a realm of spiritual death—that is, separation from God—which would come to be called Gehenna. The righteous, on the other hand, are gathered into heaven—that spiritual realm in which a soul experiences the immediate presence of God—where they are comforted. This aspect of Sheol would come to be called Paradise.
The following diagram illustrates this, bearing in mind that it is more of a linguistic map than a geographical one:
Therefore, when the Old Testament saints speak of being rescued out of Sheol, they mean that God will save them from Gehenna and bring them into Paradise. In the New Testament, this divided state of death is most clearly pictured in Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus:
The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
In fact, Jesus upheld this division throughout his ministry, threatening the wicked with Gehenna (often translated as hell or Hades)…
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
…and promising Paradise for the righteous:
And [Jesus] said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Some have objected to the idea of Old Testament saints ascending to heaven on the basis of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus:
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
But if this phrase is to be taken in its most literal sense, then Jesus contradicted himself. At this point in time, he had descended from heaven, but he had not yet ascended—that would not occur until after his resurrection. Therefore, a literal interpretation cannot be intended. Rather, this is most likely an idiomatic reference to bringing knowledge directly from heaven; no one has been to heaven and then returned to tell people about it—no one, that is, except Jesus.
The New Testament continues to reinforce the idea of the righteous dead enjoying the blessings of Paradise:
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Conclusion
In summary, all of the dead await the final judgment in one of two spiritual domains. The souls of the wicked are consigned to Gehenna (i.e., hell), and the souls of the righteous are escorted into Paradise (i.e., heaven).
Note that this mapping of the afterlife, based solely on the teachings of canonical scripture, completely excludes the Roman Catholic doctrines of limbo and purgatory. There are no other intermediate destinations for the dead besides Gehenna and Paradise, and one’s fate is fixed at the point of death.
Therefore, it is paramount that one makes sure they are righteous in the sight of God before they die. Everyone is wicked on account of their sin…
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
…but by repenting of that sin and placing their faith in Christ, anyone can become righteous:
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Resources
- Holy Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2021.
- Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology. Banner of Truth, 2021.
- Emerson, Matthew Y. He Descended to the Dead: An Evangelical Theology of Holy Saturday. IVP Academic, 2019.
- Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Zondervan Academic, 2020.
- Johnston, Philip S. Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament. IVP Academic, 2002.
- Steiner, Richard C. Disembodied Souls: The Nefesh in Israel and Kindred Spirits in the Ancient Near East. Society of Biblical Literature, 2015.
- Williamson, Paul. Death and the Afterlife: Biblical Perspectives on Ultimate Questions. InterVarsity Press, 2018.