Bible Question: Did the people of the Old Testament have a knowledge of eternity, and more specifically, hell? Our Sunday School class came up with that question and none of us, many quite versed in scripture, had a certain answer - I've researched on Bible Gateway and have not found a specific answer. Scriptures which give a veiled reference are Ecc 3:10-15, Proverbs 8:36, Psalms 16:10 and Psalms 81:15. It appears to me that Jesus was the first to actually tell of the destination of our soul and the eternity that awaits us. |
Bible Answer: Hi, modgrama... Welcome to the forum! The Jews have always had a sense of eternity, it simply didn't have quite the same pertinence to them as it does for Christians today. Jesus' parable of Lazarus and Dives in Luke 16 is really quite orthodox from a Jewish perspective. If you read Josephus' "Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades" you will get a pretty good idea of Jewish thinking on the subject by the time of Christ. http://sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/hades.htm The above is the discourse in its entirety. Almost evangelical in nature. Of course, Josephus was writing a generation after the time of our Lord. Rabbinic thinking may have been effected by Christian teachings. Note: I don't recommend all the junk on the main website mentioned above. In Him, Doc |
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Literal Listener | ||
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JimTrail |