Meaning of SHEOL

(Heb. "Sh'õl"; Gr. "Hades": Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:27). The etymology of the two terms is doubtful. "Sh'õl" can mean "insatiable" (Prov. 27:20; 30:15-16). "Hades" could mean "invisible."

The Jews called Sheol the place where all the dead went, blessed or not (Eccl. 9:3, 10). The dying patriarch was “joined to his people” (Gen. 25:8, etc.).

Samuel tells Saul and his sons that the next day they would be where he was (1 Sam. 28:19). David, mourning his son, said that he would be reunited with his little one (2 Sam. 12:23); When he died, the king “slept with his fathers” (1 Kings 2:10).

There was talk of "descending into Sheol," as if it were near the tomb or as if the bodies were deposited there (Num. 16:30-33; Ez. 31:17; Am. 9:2; cf. Eph. 4 :9).
Sheol was considered in the OT as a place of forgetfulness and rest for the believer (Jb. 3:13-19).

In Ecclesiastes, where everything is viewed from the perspective of “under the sun,” everything returns to dust, both man and beast (Eccl. 3:19-21); The dead know nothing, possess nothing, do no work, and no longer have a share in anything that is done under the sun (Eccl. 5:14).

However, in other passages of the same book it is clearly admitted that, although the dead no longer have any connection with the activity of this earth, they continue to exist (Eccl. 11:9; 12:7, 14).

In many other passages of the OT there are also allusions to the existence of souls in Sheol; cf. Samuel (1 Sam. 28:15). The wicked maintain their personality in Sheol (Is. 14:9-10; Ex. 32:21-31).

Sheol is open and exposed to the gaze of God (Jb. 26: 6; Pr. 15: 1), and its very presence is felt by his own (Ps. 139: 8). The OT believers also had the certainty of future glory and the resurrection of the body (Jb. 19:25-27; Ps. 16:8-11; 17:15; 49:14-16; 73:24-26 ; Dan. 12:2-3).

The rapture of Enoch and Elijah (Gen. 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11) confirms this idea. In the NT, furthermore, the Lord presents some incidents from the OT that show the faith of the ancients in the afterlife (Mt. 22:31-32; Luke 20:38).


In the period preceding the first coming of Christ, the Jews distinguished between two parts of Sheol:
one, reserved for the wicked, tormented from the moment of their departure from this world;
the other, reserved for the blessed, and called "paradise" or "Abraham's bosom."

Jesus himself used these expressions and gave notable details about the abode of the dead (Lk. 16:19-31). Since his departure from this world, the believer enjoyed comfort and rest.

This was the "paradise" promised to the thief on the cross on the same day of his death (Lk. 23:43). On the other hand, the wicked, in full possession of his faculties and memory, suffers in a place from which he cannot leave.

This place of torment is a prior imprisonment: there awaits the resurrection of the wicked, the Final Judgment and the eternal seclusion that will take place in hell. (See ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.)

A great change came about in the abode of the blessed dead when Christ descended there. According to prophecy, the Lord was not left there (Ps. 16:8-11) because it was impossible for Him to be held by the bonds of death (Acts 2:24).

Coming out of the grave, he "climbed up on high, and led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men" (Eph. 4:8-10). Commentators believe that, in his glorification, Christ delivered the believing dead from Sheol, and took them with Him to heaven itself.

The fact is that since then all those who die in the faith, instead of descending to the abode of the dead, go directly to the presence of the Lord. Thus, Paul prefers to leave and be with Christ, which is much better (Phil. 1:21-24; cf. 2 Cor. 5:6-8).

Death becomes "gain" for us; in fact, it ceases to be death as such (John 11:25).
Since Sheol, or the abode of the dead, is nothing more than a provisional thing, it will cease to exist at the time of the Last Judgment.

Then he will be cast "into the lake of fire." Together with those ungodly dead in his bosom, he is, as it were, poured into the eternal hell which will then have its beginning (Rev. 20:13-14).