Some have been puzzled about the following statement concerning “the king of Babylon”: “Hell [she·ohlʹ, Hebrew] from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: . . . it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave [she·ohlʹ, Hebrew], and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.” (Isa. 14:9-11, Authorized Version) What is the meaning of those verses?
Isaiah 14's immortal soul?
Note that Isa 14 verse 4 of the same chapter introduces this account as a “proverb” (ma·shalʹ, “proverbial saying,” Hebrew; pa·raʹbo·la, “a parable,” Latin Vulgate). Poetic language here represents inanimate things as speaking. Isa 14 Verse 8 furnishes a further example: “Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.”—Compare Judges 9:8-15.
Surely the Word of God is not suggesting that literal fir trees and cedars can rejoice and converse with one another. Nor is the understanding intended that souls of the dead are conscious in hell and seated on thrones. This account is simply a poetic prediction of the fall of the royal dynasty of Babylon as a world power.
Did you notice that the Authorized Version rendered the Hebrew word she·ohlʹ as “hell” at Isa 14 verse 9, but as “the grave” at Isa 14 verse 11? The Bible commentary edited by Schaff-Lange says:
“The use of the word belongs predominantly to the poetic language of the Old Testament . . . Sheol appears as the aggregate of all graves. Who could venture to deny this aspect of the matter, at least for the 31st and 32d chapters of Ezekiel 31, 32? It is the universal grave, which calls down to itself all earthly life, how high soever it may have reached.”
Similar to the parable set out above is the one at Luke 16:19-31. Here Jesus describes ‘a certain rich man’ as undergoing fiery torment in haʹdes (the Greek equivalent of she·ohlʹ), while “a certain beggar named Lazarus” receives blessings in ‘the bosom of Abraham.’ But once again there is no mention of souls suffering after physical death. This too is a parable; and, according to the context, the rich man depicts religious leaders of the Jews back there, whereas Lazarus represents the common people who accepted Jesus Christ. After Jesus’ death, both of these classes underwent experiences that corresponded to the figurative language of Jesus.
“THE FIRE THAT CANNOT BE PUT OUT”
What, though, did Jesus mean when he mentioned “the fiery Gehenna”? (Matt. 5:22, rendered “hell fire” in AV) An example of Jesus’ teaching about Gehenna is found at Mark 9:43-48.
“And if ever your hand makes you stumble, cut it off; it is finer for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go off into Gehenna, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot makes you stumble, cut it off; it is finer for you to enter into life lame than with two feet to be pitched into Gehenna. And if your eye makes you stumble, throw it away; it is finer for you to enter one-eyed into the kingdom of God than with two eyes to be pitched into Gehenna, where their maggot does not die and the fire is not put out.”
Was Jesus here sanctioning popular Jewish views of a condition of fiery torment after death? Actually, there was no established view among Jews of that period with regard to the condition of the dead. Notes A Rabbinic Anthology compiled by Jewish scholars Claude Montefiore and Herbert Loewe:
“And, again, there is another confusion: for, according to one doctrine, when you die, you sleep till you ‘rise’ again at the general resurrection and for the last Judgment. According to another doctrine, when you die, you may, if you are righteous or repentant (and more especially if you are an Israelite), straightway enjoy in happy blessedness the life of the blessed world to come, and if you are wicked and an idolater and an enemy of Israel, you may, when you die, go straightway to hell. . . . Or, again, at the end of a period in hell, you may be annihilated. Or, again, you may be annihilated at your earthly death. Passages which imply or express all these various bizarre conceptions and confusions abound, and there is no one accepted theory or conception.”
Did you notice that Jewish views about the condition of the dead included “sleep” until the resurrection, as well as possible ‘annihilation’? Evidently annihilation is what Jesus had in mind by Gehenna, for on a later occasion he urged his disciples: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”—Matt. 10:28.
But if this is true, why did Jesus associate “fire” with Gehenna? Some background information is provided in The New Bible Commentary (1965): “Gehenna was the Hellenized form of the name of the valley of Hinnom at Jerusalem in which fires were kept constantly burning to consume the refuse of the city. This is a powerful picture of final destruction.” Scriptural references to Gehenna, therefore, furnish no basis for the doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hellfire.
“A FULLY PLATONIC POSITION”
If the Bible never mentions immortal souls leaving bodies at death, where did such an idea originate? Theologians borrowed it from the thinking of the Greek philosopher Plato, who, in turn, adopted it from pagan mystery religions that originated in ancient Babylon. Plato wrote: “Do we believe that there is such a thing as death? . . . Is it not the separation of soul and body? And to be dead is the completion of this; when the soul exists in herself, and is released from the body and the body is released from the soul, what is this but death?” (Phaedo, Sec. 64) Observes The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1967):
“Everyone who maintains that the mind or the soul is a substance, in the sense that it could significantly be said to exist alone and disembodied, is thereby Platonizing, and everyone who identifies this putative substantial mind or soul as the real or true person is adopting a fully Platonic position.”
As to the extent that Greek philosophy has influenced Christendom, Professor Douglas T. Holden declares in his book Death Shall Have No Dominion:
“Christian theology has become so fused with Greek philosophy that it has reared individuals who are a mixture of nine parts Greek thought to one part Christian thought.”
According to the Bible, the human soul is the person himself. When an individual dies, therefore, the soul dies. (Ezek. 18:4, 20) The dead are unconscious, unaware of either pleasure or pain as they await restoration to life by means of a resurrection. (Eccl. 9:5, 10; Ps. 146:4; Acts 24:15) The popular religious teaching of immortality of the soul came, not from the Word of God, but from Greek philosophy. In view of this, should not you too have second thoughts about immortality of the soul?
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