What does the Old Testament teach about Hell?

[Marston]

I know I need to do my own reading and research but right now I'm working on the New Testament. I'm curious as to what the OT teaches about Hell. Thanks in advance!

[nebula]

The afterlife actually isn't talked about in the OT.

[Vine Abider]

20 hours ago, nebula said:

The afterlife actually isn't talked about in the OT.

And that is my understanding as well.  It's a curiosity that the afterlife isn't addressed much in the OT, at least not to my reading and commentators I'm familiar with.  It does speak of sheol numerous times (66), but that just seems to refer mostly to physical death and the grave.

Edited February 18 by Vine Abider
Clarification

[Look2hiscrosS]

The Old Testament mentions   "   DEATH  /   HADES  /  Hell   as the Hebrew word   -  "   שְׁאוֹל   -   she'ôl     "  meaning the 

 

 It Speaks of a Resurrection and a Last Day Event.
The Old Testament speaks of a literal place called Hell -where Your Soul can eXist and be left in.
.
Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 
__________________________
Son 8:6  Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the hell: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
__________________________
Deu 32:22  For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
__________________________
Job 11:8  It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?  deeper than hell; what canst thou know ?
__________________________ 
Job 24:19  Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the Hell, those which have sinned.

Psa 9:17  The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
________________________
Dan 12:1  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 
Dan 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The New Testament really brings out a lot of things that are mentioned in the Old Testament

 

but for the Hebrews in ancient times  -  they were living at a time period when there were no accommodations as we have in todays modern times  just getting up in the morning and getting breakfast on the table was a great achievement 

the Hebrew people did not have time and find great purpose in sitting around and reviewing every single word and phrase of the Scriptures and make huge public pronouncements and education seminars about mysterious and hidden things in Scriptures  -  nor had time and understanding  to really analyze and focus upon things that God was saying that were mysterious -  hidden  -  uncertain and not fully explained in great depth....

the Jews in ancient times took the Scriptures and focused on what they needed for how scriptures may have applied in their day to day lives as they were trying to survive with danger, hostility ,  war,  battles and  everyday survival was a fight just to live and protect their families.   Many things in the New Testament simply were not Common Knowledge or   COMPLETELY  UNDERSTOOD or something that was a dominating national concept with complete understanding 

we have the past to look to and they had the future  -  these are two very, very different perspectives and vantage points 

 

Could we consider that perhaps it was not a strange behavior for Sarah to have offered Hagar her worker to Abraham as a wife in order to fulfill the promise that God had made to her and Abraham.

Can we put ourselves in Abraham and Sarah’s place who received the world of God concerning a child that was to be born from Sarah.  We see that Sarah and Abraham put their faith forth and tried to fulfill Gods promise through Hagar.

We see the realistic, human reaction from Sarah and Abraham who believed God, they heard God speak and had faith in God himself.

but did not fully understand and realize exactly what God had planned..  they just could not fully comprehend     

can we imagine the situation they were in and the impossible thing that God had promised Sarah and Abraham who were just simple human beings who had human feelings and natural instincts…….. 

their faith was strong and unwavering but they did not truly understand the plan that God had for Sarah to be healed. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:54 PM by Look2hiscrosS

[Alive]

Just to add to the conversation hell in the KJV is a wrong translation and should not be so rendered.

[timf]

The "hell" of the Old Testament (sheol) would be comparable to the "hell" of the New Testament (Hades)

Jesus uses "hell" (gehenna) possibly referring to the valley of  Hnnon where garbage was burned.

Hell is different than the Lake of Fire or the second death spoken of in Revelation.

Ezekiel has some references to the after life in sheol such as souls being able to see and recognize others. There is also a distinction of the uncircumcised dead.

One should be careful not to exceed what little the bible says.

[Hinds Feet]

One of the most interesting aspects to whether or not the OT indicates a place like hell existing, is the incident where Saul went to a medium to talk to Samuel.  The spirit that appeared before the medium and Saul, was it actually Samuel?  Or was it a demonic spirit or fallen angel?  If it was actually Samuel, that would lead credence to suggest there is an underworld, an actual place where dead souls went to. (Which at the time would have been both the wicked and righteous dead)  It's such a hard passage of Scripture, because of the way this spirit is presented.  Given the fact Saul had to ask the medium what she was seeing, and Saul not seeing anything assumed it was Samuel, you want to say it was a demon of course.  Then you read where Saul is talking to the apparition, and the Bible simply use Samuel's name in reference to it, it gives you cause to pause.  Very hard to understand indeed!

Edited Thursday at 04:53 PM by Hinds Feet

[Look2hiscrosS]

i do not believe that the witch of Endor literally was speaking to the Prophet Samuel   -  but this is just my personal belief ,  it is not really exactly clear

 

and this is what I was trying to explain earlier, just as we have questions and different beliefs between us today about the Scriptures in places that are just describing the context of a historical event ..... even so, in the days of the Old Testament there would be many things that were not exactly  100 %  clear to the average Hebrew individual living at that time period.

I believe all Hebrew people knowledgeable in the Scriptures would have seen the possibility of some type of a fiery place of judgment pertaining to the grave and death and they would have related this judgment to sinful, evil and horrible individuals but it would just be small thought in the back of their minds without any real understanding of how it is applied in the afterlife.   

there is simply not enough information in the Old Testament about this fiery place of punishment to cause this teaching to spark nationwide common knowledge transferred into a doctrine or theological concept in early times, 

it is just a vague mentioning of the afterlife without much further detail of exactness and precision  -   

and that is what the human mind needs, without a burst or spark of faith, the human mind simply takes the things of what it fully understands and places these things as priority.