Quote:
Originally Posted by manna-man
Timotheist,
I love your points of view.
The Greek culture had a profound affect on the Jewish People.
It's pretty clear that Israel's rebellion created their exile and in that exile the adoption of superstitious concepts were a consequence.
Christians beware!
What's good for the goose is good for the gander...
Do people believe there are actual gates to hell? :-)
Peace
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I admittedly rushed the part about the "Greek stuff coming later."
Hellenization ran rampant through Judaism for hundreds of years BC, creating all kinds of crazy variants of "scripture". The job of the canonizers was to identify and remove Greek-influenced texts from the Bible.
Did they do a perfect job? No. Ecclesiastes probably should have been discarded, along with parts of Proverbs.
And when Jesus said "Sophia is justified by her children", it makes me pause and wonder if He really said that. But, He was probably being sarcastic, and we need an emoji indicating that in the Greek.
I used to take issue with Luke's story about Lazarus and the rich man. First point: Hades is the term used for the place the rich man is in, whereas Sheol is generally described as the place where ALL the dead go until resurrection. So where did Lazarus go? Was Luke Hellenized to the point of believing in a heaven/hell afterlife apart from the resurrection?
So here is where I am at today in my research. In Revelation, at the second resurrection, it says, "The sea (Abyss) gave up the dead in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead in them." This points to three areas containing dead things.
Luke's story also describes three areas: "Bosom of Abraham", Hades, and a gulf separating them.
OT justification of the three part Sheol? Ezekiel 31:
I6 made the nations tremble at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the grave with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the trees that were well-watered, were consoled in the earth below.
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Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, had also gone down to the grave with it, joining those killed by the sword.
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"`Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword. "`This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign LORD.'"
This passage mentions a well-watered area of comfort for some, and a place for the "uncircumcised" for the others. And there is also a "pit" mentioned.
So right now I tend toward believing that the term Sheol was subdivided into three areas, with "Hades" describing the second area instead of the whole thing. Why was this done? Maybe the answer is simple: Judea adapted to the usage of the Greek words "Hades" and "Abyss".
So going back to Luke, I have to admit that I still question Luke's description of Hades as a fiery torment. Why cannot it simply be a "dry" place, without "comfort"?