The Biblical View of Afterlife

Overview: The biblical view of an afterlife in the context of Canaanite belief in Sheol and the Egyptian belief in the spiritual afterlife of judgment; why the Torah makes no explicit mention of the World to Come.

The question of life after death won’t be solved by an article. It’s been debated for millennia and all we can hope to do is to shed some light on the subject and be as informative as possible. The question isn’t merely if the Torah has the philosophical authority to declare whether or not there’s an afterlife. The question, rather, is whether Tanakh itself believed in an afterlife. Did the biblical authors believe in and describe an afterlife as Jews understand it today or was it entirely different or non-existent in their theology? References to the post-mortem in Tanakh are scarce making it difficult to decisively state what was believed, but let us attempt to piece some pieces together.

The philosophical question of an afterlife pertains to the nature of the soul that animates the body. Is it merely a physical, natural force that can be explained by the arrangement of cells and can even perhaps be mimicked by scientists in the future. Or perhaps it is an expression of life that independently exists even without the body but is expressed in physical life form for the duration of one’s life. After that life, the soul will continue on to another form of life expression, known as the afterlife. The exact nature of that afterlife is often subject to religious interpretation, often depicted as Heaven and Hell.

Concerning the biblical view of an afterlife, there are four options that we can explore.

Four options for afterlife

1. The soul is one and the same of the body. Their dual existence is dependent on one another so that when the body dies, the soul disappears from existence. This is the mainstream secular approach to death and the afterlife.
2. An afterlife where justice is served; the wicked are punished and the righteous are rewarded. The soul moves on to a spiritual realm where God’s Glory is revealed to the righteous and His Wrath to the evil-doers. Mainstream Judaism today believes in this afterlife consisting of gan eden (paradise) and gehinom (hell). Early Talmudic literature spoke of “World to Come” (olam haba in Heb.)^[1] and this was interpreted by many Jewish philosophers to refer to a spiritual afterlife for the soul.^[2] This spiritual realm is alluded to in various passages, albeit no mention of the souls going there. Those passages describe the angels surrounding God in His Glory.^[3] Other passages also speak of Enoch being “taken to God”^[4] and Elijah going up in a heavenly flame to heaven.^[5]
3. Revival of the dead after the Messianic Age. The soul would remain in a sleep-mode until it is revived by the resurrection of the dead. This resurrection is first mentioned in Daniel 12:2.^[6]

“Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, others to reproaches, to everlasting abhorrence.”

From the verse in Daniel alone it would appear that only “many” people will be resurrected and judged, to the exclusions of “all” people. Perhaps the righteous get eternal reward, the evil eternal punishment and the mediocre people won’t get anything but will remain in sleep mode forever. The resurrection idea has developed within Judaism to include almost everybody.^[7] Many Jewish philosophers understood the “World to Come” spoken of in early Talmudic literature to be referring to this physical reward post-resurrection.^{[8] [9]}

4. Perhaps the most ambiguous notion of afterlife is the ancient belief in sheol that is mentioned in Torah many times and among Ancient Near East writings. Ancient cultures in the Near East believed in an afterlife of different sorts than the common afterlife of justice we usually think of. Sheol was regarded as the place where the people eternally abide after death. It is described in Canaanite writings as an underground chamber where the dead live a dual life mimicking this earthly experience but in a shadowy dark environment. For a full description of the Sheol concept in Ancient Near East cultures, see here.

What sets this belief from the previous two forms of afterlife, is that this one seemingly has no justice system. The righteous aren’t rewarded and the evil aren’t punished. The consensus among Bible Critics is that the Torah believed in this Sheol afterlife and not in a justice system as in the previous two afterlifes (to the exception of Daniel who clearly believes in a justice system for the End of Days at the revival of the dead).^[10]

We will now make the case that the biblical authors (or some of them at least) did in fact believe in an afterlife, whether it be a physical resurrection or a spiritual world for the soul or even Sheol. Afterwards, we will attempt to make the case that Torah believed in a justice system for this afterlife as well. Let’s begin with the references to an afterlife.

Is there an afterlife

Questions like this – beyond the physical realms – are out of the scientific scope to examine. They are not testable nor detectable by our physical instruments. Philosophically speaking, there is room for both approaches. We can view consciousness as a product of the physical body; when specific neurons connect in a specific way, a self-awareness is developed. Alternatively, this consciousness is not a physical entity, but simply manifests itself in a physical form that supports it (known as “life”).

The biblical view is unclear, as we shall soon see. Judaism takes for granted that an afterlife exists, despite the lack of early evidence for such an Israelite belief in the biblical texts. It is also important to note the Canaanite and the surrounding culture’s influence on Torah as a whole. Much of biblical law and theology is directly borrowed from earlier texts and dominant ideas of the time, giving Torah a very human appearance (see here for a discussion of the semi-divine, semi-human elements of Torah). Therefore, it is important to caution against believing or disbelieving in an afterlife solely based off of Torah’s position on the matter.

A similarly important point to consider is that Tanakh had multiple authors with different schools of thought and several theological positions thus may be present throughout different parts of Tanakh, making it hard to conclude solely off of the biblical texts.

Afterlife in the verses

The first reference is in a conversation between the Creator and Cain after he kills his brother Abel:

“Then He said, “What have you done? Hark, your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground!”^[i]

But this is not as explicit since it may just be an expression to say that Abel’s blood on the ground is testimony to his murder.

By the death of Abraham^[ii], Isaac^[iii], Ishmael^[iv], Jacob^[v], Aaron^[vi]], and Moses^[vii], the Torah uses the terms “and he gathered to his nation” or “to his fathers”. This term is only understood with an afterlife of which these patriarchs met their ancestors who have already deceased from the physical world. The term cannot mean simply joining the dead bodies of their ancestors in the graveyard, for most of these people weren’t buried with their ancestors.^[viii]

In the Torah, we are warned about performing witchcraft, including talking to the dead spirit, implying that there was likely a dead spirit.^[ix] This was quite a familiar practice at the time.

The Torah often threatens the “Karet” punishment for transgressing certain laws. “And that soul will be cut off from amongst its people.”^[x] This so often refers to the spiritual soul in cases where there this isn’t carried out to the physical soul (life), as seen throughout history that people who have transgressed these laws yet still lived long lives. However, this is weak evidence for one can interpret the karet to mean excommunication from the congregation of Israel and has nothing to do with death or afterlife. There may be some evidence that it was originally intended as excommunication from the Israelite community as can be suggested from Lev. 20:17.

Moving on to the Prophets and Writings:

Samuel the prophet’s soul is being contacted by a witch after his death. During his conversation with King Saul, Samuel declares “Further, the Lord will deliver the Israelites who are with you into the hands of the Philistines. Tomorrow your sons and you will be with me; and the Lord will also deliver the Israelite forces into the hands of the Philistines.”^[xi] Indeed, the next day Saul and his son Jonathan joined Samuel in the world above.

David is in the midst of comforting himself on the loss of his son; and he says:

“But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will never come back to me.”^[xii] Seemingly King David is comforting himself that he will one day see his deceased son.

Another possible reference to an afterlife can be found in Isaiah 13-14. There we are told about how God will overthrow Babylon and Isaiah is taught a poem to be sung then. What’s important for our purposes is that 14:9 states:

“Sheol below was excited to greet your coming [O king of Babylon] – Rousing for you the ghosts of all the chieftains of the earth, Raising from their thrones all the kings of the nations.”

This verse directly states that people continued to exist in Sheol. However, it can be argued, that the verse is merely poetic – not describing an actual event to happen.

Another possible reference is in Ecclesiastes 12:7:

“And the dust returns to the ground as it was, And the life-breath returns to God Who bestowed it.”

But this just may be poetic as to say that the life-breath returns to God becoming nothingness.

It is 1,000 years after the passing of Rachel, yet still:

“Thus said the Lord: A cry is heard in Ramah— wailing, bitter weeping— Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, who are gone.”^[11] This seems to imply that the life of Rachel lives on beyond her death. However, it can be countered, that perhaps this is merely poetics – not an actual description of a real event of Rachel weeping.^[12]

Sheol or a justice system?

We get somewhat of a picture of Sheol from ancient inscriptions and the belief in Sheol is apparent even within biblical books. There is no mitzvah in the Torah to believe in Sheol but it is clear that biblical figures believed in this widespread Ancient Near East concept of Sheol, whether by merit or not. Sheol is mentioned by Jacob, King David, Prophet Isaiah, and others.^[13] Their belief in Sheol doesn’t mandate that we as well believe in Sheol, but it does support the case that Judaism may in fact believe in Sheol.

But here we will argue that the Torah had an afterlife justice system in mind as well, perhaps in addition to Sheol. This justice system, where the righteous are rewarded and the wicked punished, may be a part of the Sheol experience (although other cultures believing in Sheol, at the time, didn’t seem to look at it as a justice system necessarily). Ezekiel 31:18 seems to mention that there are various levels within Sheol and the unworthy are at the lowest. Alternatively, Sheol is merely describing the demise of the body whereas the soul lives on in an afterlife and is brought to justice for the good and bad it has committed. A number of verses indicate that Sheol may just be the death of the body – and not an underworld with its own consciousness. It is described alongside “death,” “pit,” and “grave.”^[14]

Many bible scholars believe that the Torah believed in a Sheol afterlife with no justice system.^[15] This notion comes from their premise that the Torah is not a divinely-inspired document and was the product of Canaanite culture, a culture that seemed to have no beliefs in an afterlife justice system. To the believing Jew who takes for granted that the Torah was written right after the Egyptian slavery, then the Torah’s context would actually be an Egyptian context and not a Canaanite. The Egyptians, unlike the Canaanites, did believe in a post-mortem justice system.^[16] Therefore, if the Torah doesn’t negate that Egyptian belief that would have been widespread among the Israelites leaving Egypt, then seemingly Torah embraces it.

Here are some theological arguments that the Torah did believe in an afterlife of justice. The weaknesses in these arguments are self-evident, and whether or not there is merit to these arguments is up for the reader to decide.

The God of Justice argument: All throughout Scripture, God is described as the God of Justice who will punish the wicked and reward the righteous. Since our earthly experience clearly shows this not to be the case, it can be inferred that an afterlife of justice is intended all along.^[17]

The Chosen Nation argument: The Jewish people are described as being privileged to have been chosen to be the special Chosen Nation of God out of His love for them.^[18] But if we look at this earthly experience alone, we see the opposite to be true. The Jewish people are burdened with many commandments over the rest of nations, and all for what? To be exiled, persecuted, hated, etc. as per their Covenant with the Lord?^[19] What benefit is there in being from God’s Chosen Nation, if not for there being an afterlife where the Jews are rewarded for keeping all their extra commandments.^[20]

Scriptural references: There are some verses that are suggestive that the Torah took an afterlife of justice for granted.

Amongst the prophetic words of Bilaam, we find the following:

“Who can count the dust of Jacob, number the dust-cloud of Israel? May I die the death of the upright, may my fate be like theirs!”^[xiii] – a seeming advantage possessed by the righteous by their passing.^[21]

Another narrative in Scripture suggests that belief in an afterlife of justice was prevalent in ancient Israel. This particular narrative features the King Saul, who after raising the spirit of Samuel from the dead, is told that he would die the next day in battle with the philistines.^[22] King Saul continues into battle the next day and, as he was told by the prophet Samuel, he dies at the sword. Had King Saul not believed in an afterlife of justice, surely he would have not committed suicide by going into battle the next day. Why has he embraced his death so, almost, willingly? This indicates that King Saul likely believed in an afterlife where he would face his Creator in judgment.

This doesn’t tell us exactly which afterlife the Torah believed in, be it a spiritual one for the soul (as per option 2 above) or be it a physical at the revival of the dead (option 3 above). But be as it may, the Torah seems to imply some sort of afterlife of justice albeit inexplicitly. This leads us to our last question:

Why no explicit mention of the afterlife?

As for why there’s no explicit mention of the World to Come and instead the Torah only speaks of physical rewards^[xiv] it can be suggested that:

1. It was suiting the desires and hopes of the generation receiving the Torah (to whom the Written Torah was primarily addressed to). As former slaves and current desert-dwellers, their sole dream was the liberty of having a land of their own, a land that produces its fruit, and a land that is safe from its enemies. These physical incentives were more convincing than the spiritual ones, especially given the dire times they were coming from.
2. People served idols then in order to get physical benefits from each particular deity. So the Torah found the need only to negate that specific desire to serve idols and told them the Blessing and the Curse.
3. The Torah only mentions the blessings for the nation as a whole, leaving out personal benefits and incentives. It was specifically designed as a national Covenant between God and His people Israel.
4. The World to Come was a given to a generation of Jews leaving Egypt where a spiritual afterlife was widespread belief. The only need was to express the more novel incentives such as physical benefits. Thus, the afterlife would have been a given to the recipients of the Torah.

5) The Torah simply didn’t believe in the World to Come the same way Jews do today.