Biblical Concept of Hell. William Hyland
God and turning away from evil.” (Job 1:1)
Respected as the Scriptures’ earliest literature, the Book of Job was written circa early second millennium BC; Moses’ era was circa 1425 BC, while that of David and the Prophets was circa 999-900 BC; the minor Prophets’ literary era was circa 899–400 BC, and then New Testament writings date from the mid to late first century AD. What mankind comprehended about dying and death is cited below within these recording eras:
DEATH IS THE PENALTY FOR SINNING
Early second millennium BC—Job 24:19
Circa 1425 BC—Genesis 2:16–17
Circa 899–400 BC—Ezekiel 18:4,20,22,26
DEATH CAN BE CAUSED DIRECTLY BY GOD’S ANGER
Early second millennium BC—Job 4:9
Circa 1425 BC—Deuteronomy 4:31, 9:14,26, 10:10, 28:63, 29:20, 32:39
Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm 5:6, 9:5, 21:9, 52:5, 73:27, 104:29
Circa 899–400 BC—Jeremiah 11:22; Jonah 3:9
DEATH’S DESTRUCTION IS ETERNAL
Early second millennium BC—Job 4:20,7:16,21
DEATH IS AN IRREVERSIBLE EVENT
Early second millennium BC—Job 7:9
Circa 999-900 BC—Proverbs 9:18
Circa 70 AD—2 Corinthians 5:8; Colossians 3:3–4; Hebrews 9:27–28
DEATH AFFECTS ALL MANKIND
Early second millennium BC—Job 9:22
Circa 899–400 BC—Habakkuk 2:5; Ezekiel 28:8
DEATH IS NOT REGRETTED BY GOD
Early second millennium BC—Job 10:7–9
DEATH IS THE STATE OF HOPELESSNESS
Early second millennium BC—Job 17:13,15–16
Circa 999-900 BC—Psalm 88:3-6
DEATH DESTROYS MAN’S FLESH AND BONES
Early second millennium BC—Job 19:20
Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm49:12,14
Circa 899–400 BC—Zephaniah 1:17
Circa 70 AD—1 Corinthians 15:42,44,46,50
DEATH’S OCCURRENCE IS INSTANTANEOUS
Early second millennium BC—Job 21:13
DEATH CAN BE SENTENCED ALSO BY MORTALS
Early second millennium BC—Job 31:11–12
Circa 899–400 BC—Malachi 4:3
DEATH IS INDIVIDUALLY ADMINISTERED BY GOD
Early second millennium BC—Job 33:18
DEATH DEPENDS ON GOD’S WILL AND POWER
Early second millennium BC—Job 34:14–15
DEATH CAN BE NATURALLY EFFECTED BY GOD
Early second millennium BC—Genesis 6:7,13,17, 7:21, 9:15, 42:38, 44:29,31
DEATH CAN TERRORIZE MAN
Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm 55:4, 116:3
DEATH CAN HAVE A CRUEL NATURE
Circa 999–900 BC—Psalm 55:15
DEATH AFFECTS ALL MANKIND
Circa 999–900 BC—1 Samuel 2:6, Psalm 82:6–7
DEATH DOES NOT SEPARATE A BELIEVER FROM GOD’S LOVE
Circa 70 AD—Romans 8:38–39
In Section I, Chapter XXXVII of the Westminster Confession of Faith, one reads while “(t)he bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption…”
The Lord to Cain: “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground…which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood…” (Genesis 4:10–11)
Death’s final ‘act’ is putridity, wherein microbes “are the last living cells on our bodies. Then, they devour us.” (Dr. Stanley Falkow, microbiologist; “The Wall Street Journal,” section A9, May 19–20, 2018) Putridity [שָׁחַת/διαφθείρω] accomplishes what the Lord had decreed to the first couple as punishment for their sinning: “…for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), a gentle phrase for the complete destruction of one’s body. The earliest account of human death is that of Abel, whose body was left on the earth’s surface to undergo decay, apparently with no burial. For millennia thereafter, innumerable casualties were abandoned on battlefields for death’s process to consume, leaving scenes like Ezekiel’s vision of “the middle of the valley (that) was full of bones.” (Ezekiel 37:1)
The first mention of a burial [קִבְרָה/ταφή] was Yahweh’s promise to Abram: “You shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.” (Genesis 15:15) The earliest recorded burial was that of Abraham’s wife, Sarah. The patriarch’s pursuit for a burial site was “that I may bury my dead out of my sight” (Genesis 23:4), indicating he did not want to see his loved one’s remains rotting and decaying. His reasoning for a burial site might well have been both concealment of ‘the remains’ to protect from predators as well as from infection, disease and decay’s stench. The means for such cover was normally completed either above or below ground but for Abraham Sarah’s protective site, it was actually in a cave. (Genesis 23:19)
Years later, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, requested of his favorite son, Joseph:
Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place. (Genesis 47:29–30)
Then (Jacob) charged (his sons) and said