Difference between revisions of "Sheol" - New World Encyclopedia

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In the Hebrew Bible, Sheol (שאול) is the "abode of the dead," the "underworld," "the common grave of mankind" or "pit." It is said to be the destination of both the righteous and the unrighteous dead, as described in Book of Job (3:11-19). "Sheol" is also depicted as a comfortless place beneath the earth, beyond gates, where both slave and king, pious and wicked must go after death to sleep in silence and oblivion in the dust (Isa. 38:18; Ps. 6:5, 88:3-12; Job 7:7-10, 3:11-19; Gen. 2:7, 3:19).

The concept of Sheol seems to have originated from the ancient Sumerian view that after one dies, no matter how benevolent or malevolent he or she was in life, one is destined to eat dirt to survive in the afterlife. Sheol is sometimes compared to Hades, the gloomy, twilight afterlife of Greek mythology. In fact, Jews used the word "Hades" for "Sheol" when they translated their scriptures into Greek (see Septuagint). The New Testament (written in Greek) also uses "Hades" to mean the abode of the dead. Western Christians, who do not share a concept of "Hades" with the Eastern Orthodox, have traditionally translated "Sheol" (and "Hades") as "Hell." Unlike hell, however, Sheol is not associated with Satan.

By the first century, Jews had come to believe that those in Sheol awaited the resurrection of the body either in comfort or in torment. This belief is reflected in the later Jewish concept of a fiery Gehenna, which contrasts with Sheol.

Etymology

No agreement exists on the root of the word "Sheol" although various etymologies have been proposed. Three possible candidates for its linguistic origin are: first, the word may be derived from the Hebrew root SHA'AL, meaning "to ask, to interrogate, to question." Second, it may have emerged as an Assyrian-Babylonian loan-word, "SHU'ALU," meaning "the gathering place for the dead." Finally, it could have evolved from Assyrian "SHILU," meaning "a chamber."^[1] In these cases, it is likely that the concept of Sheol was influenced by the neighboring beliefs of the Assyrians and Babylonians, who had similar ideas of an underworld.

Origins and Development of the Concept

The ancient Hebrews were not preoccupied with life after death in deliberate contrast to their Egyptian neighbors, whose own quest for immortality resulted in their elaborate Pyramid construction projects.^[2] Instead, the ancient Hebrews' view of the afterlife was a rather bleak place, similar to the descriptions of the afterlife held by the Assyrians. Indeed, the Jewish Encyclopedia states:

[I]t is certain that most of the ideas covered by the Hebrew "Sheol" are expressed also in the Assyro-Babylonian descriptions of the state of the dead, found in the myths concerning Ishtar's descent into Hades, concerning Nergal and Ereshkigal (see Jensen in Schrader, "K. B." vi., part 1, pp. 74-79) and in the Gilgamesh epic (tablets ii. and xii.; comp. also Craig, "Religious Texts," i. 79; King, Magic," No. 53).^[1]

Biblical passages describe Sheol as a place of "nothingness," "a pit" (Isa. 38:18, Ps. 6:5 and Job 7:7-10) in contrast to the perpetual fires of Gehenna (hell) that developed in later Judaism. James Tabor explains the early Jewish views of the afterlife as follows:

The ancient Hebrews had no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death, nor of any resurrection or return from death. Human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made of "dust of the earth," and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word nephesh, traditionally translated "living soul" but more properly understood as "living creature," is the same word used for all breathing creatures and refers to nothing immortal...All the dead go down to Sheol, and there they lie in sleep together–whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free (Job 3:11-19). It is described as a region "dark and deep," "the Pit," and "the land of forgetfulness," cut off from both God and human life above (Ps. 6:5; 88:3-12). Though in some texts Yahweh's power can reach down to Sheol (Ps. 139:8), the dominant idea is that the dead are abandoned forever. This idea of Sheol is negative in contrast to the world of life and light above, but there is no idea of judgment or of reward and punishment. If one faces extreme circumstances of suffering in the realm of the living above, as did Job, it can even be seen as a welcome relief from pain–see the third chapter of Job. But basically it is a kind of "nothingness," an existence that is barely existence at all, in which a "shadow" or "shade" of the former self survives (Ps. 88:10).^[3]

By the time of Jesus, however, many Jews had come to believe in a future resurrection of the dead. The dead in Sheol were said to await the resurrection either in comfort or in torment.

Sheol in the Bible

Numerous Biblical passages discuss the nature and characteristics of Sheol. It is shown to be literally under the ground when the ground opens up under the household of Korah and the people go down living into Sheol (Num. 16:31-33).

Jacob, not comforted at the reported death of Joseph, exclaims: "I shall go down to my son a mourner unto Sheol" (Gen. 37:35).

According to Biblical accounts, Sheol is never satiated (Prov. 30:20) and she "makes wide her throat" (Isa. 5:14). "The king of Babylon shall be "brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit." (Isa. 14:15)

However, the Bible also states that those in Sheol are not beyond redemption for Yahweh's power can still save them (Ps. 139:8). Such sentiments are expressed in the following passages:

"The breakers of death surged round about me; the menacing floods terrified me. The cords of Sheol tightened; the snares of death lay in wait for me. In my distress I called out: Lord! I cried out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry to him reached his ears." (Ps. 18:5-7)

"Your love for me is great; you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol." (Ps. 86:13)

"...Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice." (Jon. 2:2)

Sheol and Gehenna

The New Testament draws a distinction between Sheol and Gehenna. Stephen L. Harris, in his Understanding the Bible, writes:

The concept of eternal punishment does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, which uses the term Sheol to designate a bleak subterranean region where the dead, good and bad alike, subsist only as impotent shadows. When Hellenistic Jewish scribes rendered the Bible into Greek, they used the word Hades to translate Sheol, bringing a whole new mythological association to the idea of posthumous existence. In ancient Greek myth, Hades, named after the gloomy deity who ruled over it, was originally similar to the Hebrew Sheol, a dark underground realm in which all the dead, regardless of individual merit, were indiscriminately housed.^[4]

However, following the period of the Babylonian Exile (sixth century B.C.E.), the Jews began to embrace a more punitive view of hell, which was known as Gehenna. This word derived from Gei Hinnom (the valley of Hinnom described in Josh. 15:8, 18:16; 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31; Neh. 11:30), a place where children were sacrificed to the Canaanite god Moloch, and where fires were kept burning to consume the corpses and rotting garbage.

Thus, the notion of the afterlife and the concept of hell evolved and changed throughout the Hebrew Bible.

Today, the English word hell comes from Germanic mythology, now used in the Judeo-Christian sense to translate the Hebrew word Gehenna.

Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch records Enoch's vision of the cosmos. The author describes Sheol as divided into four sections: in the fist section, the faithful saints blissfully await judgment day, in the second section, the moderately-good await their reward, in the third section, the wicked are punished and await their judgment at the resurrection (see Gehenna), and in the last section, the wicked who do not even warrant resurrection are tormented.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Emil G. Hirsch, “Sheol,” Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
↑ Jewish views of the afterlife changed following the Babylonian exile, due to the influence of Zoroastrianism.
↑ James Tabor, "What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future," The Jewish Roman World of Jesus. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
↑ Stephen L. Harris, Understanding the Bible, 6th ed. (McGraw Hill, 2002, ISBN 0767429168), 436.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Balfour, Walter. Inquiry Into the Scriptural Import of the Words Sheol, Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna: All Translated Hell. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2003. ISBN 978-0766159464
Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible, 6th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2002. ISBN 0767429168
Johnston, Philip S. Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament. Apollos, 2002. ISBN 978-0830826872
Turner, Alice K. The History of Hell. Harvest Books, 1995. ISBN 978-0156001373

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[je-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Emil G. Hirsch, “Sheol,” Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 29, 2007.

[2] Jewish views of the afterlife changed following the Babylonian exile, due to the influence of Zoroastrianism.

[3] James Tabor, "What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future," The Jewish Roman World of Jesus. Retrieved August 29, 2007.

[4] Stephen L. Harris, Understanding the Bible, 6th ed. (McGraw Hill, 2002, ISBN 0767429168), 436.

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-{{Claimed}}
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-In [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], '''Sheol''' (שאול) is the "abode of the dead", the "[[underworld]]", "the common grave of mankind" or "pit". In the [[Hebrew Bible]], it is a comfortless place beneath the earth, beyond gates, where both the bad and the good, slave and king, pious and wicked must go after death to sleep in silence and oblivion in the dust. ''Sheol'' is the common destination of both the righteous and the unrighteous dead, as recounted in [[Ecclesiastes]] and [[Book of Job|Job]].
-Sheol originated from the ancient Sumerian view that after one dies, no matter how benevolent or malevolent he or she was in life, in Sheol he or she is destined to eat dirt to survive. Sheol is sometimes compared to [[Hades]], the gloomy, twilight [[afterlife]] of [[Greek mythology]]. In fact, Jews used the word "hades" for "sheol" when they translated their scriptures into Greek. The New Testament (written in Greek) also uses "hades" to mean the abode of the dead (sheol).
+In the [[TaNaK|Hebrew Bible]], '''Sheol''' (שאול) is the "abode of the dead," the "underworld," "the common grave of mankind" or "pit." It is said to be the destination of both the righteous and the unrighteous dead, as described in [[Job, Book of|Book of Job]] (3:11-19). "Sheol" is also depicted as a comfortless place beneath the earth, beyond gates, where both slave and king, pious and wicked must go after death to sleep in silence and oblivion in the dust ([[Isaiah, Book of|Isa.]] 38:18; [[Psalms|Ps.]] 6:5, 88:3-12; [[Job, Book of|Job]] 7:7-10, 3:11-19; [[Genesis|Gen.]] 2:7, 3:19).
-By the first century, Jews had come to believe that those in sheol awaited the resurrection either in comfort (in the [[bosom of Abraham]]) or in torment. This belief is reflected in Jesus' story of [[Lazarus and Dives]].
+The concept of Sheol seems to have originated from the ancient [[Sumerian Civilization|Sumerian]] view that after one dies, no matter how benevolent or malevolent he or she was in life, one is destined to eat dirt to survive in the [[afterlife]]. Sheol is sometimes compared to [[Hades]], the gloomy, twilight afterlife of [[Greek mythology]]. In fact, [[Jew]]s used the word "Hades" for "Sheol" when they translated their scriptures into Greek (see [[Septuagint]]). The [[New Testament]] (written in Greek) also uses "Hades" to mean the abode of the dead. Western Christians, who do not share a concept of "Hades" with the Eastern Orthodox, have traditionally translated "Sheol" (and "Hades") as "[[Hell]]." Unlike hell, however, Sheol is not associated with [[Satan]].
-Western Christians, who do not share a concept of "hades" with the Eastern Orthodox, have traditionally translated "sheol" (and "hades") as "hell." Unlike hell, however, sheol is not associated with [[Satan]].
+By the first century, Jews had come to believe that those in Sheol awaited the resurrection of the body either in comfort or in torment. This belief is reflected in the later [[Judaism|Jewish]] concept of a fiery [[Gehenna]], which contrasts with Sheol.
-It is also [[transliteration|transliterated]] ''Sheh-ole'', in Strong's ''Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries'' and ''[[Strong's Concordance]]s.''
+==Etymology==
+No agreement exists on the root of the word "Sheol" although various etymologies have been proposed. Three possible candidates for its linguistic origin are: first, the word may be derived from the Hebrew root ''SHA'AL'', meaning "to ask, to interrogate, to question." Second, it may have emerged as an Assyrian-Babylonian loan-word, "SHU'ALU," meaning "the gathering place for the dead." Finally, it could have evolved from Assyrian "SHILU," meaning "a chamber."<ref name=je>Emil G. Hirsch, [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=614&letter=S&search=Sheol “Sheol,”] Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 29, 2007.</ref> In these cases, it is likely that the concept of Sheol was influenced by the neighboring beliefs of the [[Assyria]]ns and [[Babylonian Empire|Babylonians]], who had similar ideas of an underworld.
-== Sheol in the Bible ==
+==Origins and Development of the Concept ==
-Sheol is shown to be literally under the ground when the ground opens up under the household of Korah and the people go down living into sheol ({{niv|Numbers|16:31-33|Numbers 16:31-33}}).
+The ancient Hebrews were not preoccupied with life after death in deliberate contrast to their Egyptian neighbors, whose own quest for immortality resulted in their elaborate Pyramid construction projects.<ref>Jewish views of the afterlife changed following the [[Babylonian exile]], due to the influence of [[Zoroastrianism]].</ref> Instead, the ancient Hebrews' view of the afterlife was a rather bleak place, similar to the descriptions of the afterlife held by the Assyrians. Indeed, the Jewish Encyclopedia states:
+<blockquote>[I]t is certain that most of the ideas covered by the Hebrew "Sheol" are expressed also in the Assyro-Babylonian descriptions of the state of the dead, found in the myths concerning Ishtar's descent into Hades, concerning Nergal and Ereshkigal (see Jensen in Schrader, "K. B." vi., part 1, pp. 74-79) and in the Gilgamesh epic (tablets ii. and xii.; comp. also Craig, "Religious Texts," i. 79; King, Magic," No. 53).<ref name=je /></blockquote>
-[[Jacob]], not comforted at the reported death of [[Joseph (dreamer)|Joseph]], exclaims: "I shall go down to my son a mourner unto Sheol" ([[Genesis]] 37:35). ''Sheol'' may be personified: ''Sheol'' is never satiated ([[Book of Proverbs|Proverbs]] 30:20); she "makes wide her throat" ([[Isaiah]] 5:14).
+Biblical passages describe Sheol as a place of "nothingness," "a pit" (Isa. 38:18, Ps. 6:5 and Job 7:7-10) in contrast to the perpetual fires of [[Gehenna]] (hell) that developed in later Judaism. James Tabor explains the early Jewish views of the afterlife as follows:
-[[Psalm]] 18:5-7 "The breakers of death surged round about me; the menacing floods terrified me. The cords of Sheol tightened; the snares of death lay in wait for me. In my distress I called out: [[the Lord|Lord]]! I cried out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry to him reached his ears.''
+<blockquote>The ancient Hebrews had no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death, nor of any resurrection or return from death. Human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made of "dust of the earth," and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word nephesh, traditionally translated "living soul" but more properly understood as "living creature," is the same word used for all breathing creatures and refers to nothing immortal...All the dead go down to Sheol, and there they lie in sleep together–whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free (Job 3:11-19). It is described as a region "dark and deep," "the Pit," and "the land of forgetfulness," cut off from both God and human life above (Ps. 6:5; 88:3-12). Though in some texts Yahweh's power can reach down to Sheol (Ps. 139:8), the dominant idea is that the dead are abandoned forever. This idea of Sheol is negative in contrast to the world of life and light above, but there is no idea of judgment or of reward and punishment. If one faces extreme circumstances of suffering in the realm of the living above, as did Job, it can even be seen as a welcome relief from pain–see the third chapter of Job. But basically it is a kind of "nothingness," an existence that is barely existence at all, in which a "shadow" or "shade" of the former self survives (Ps. 88:10).<ref>James Tabor, [http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/future.html "What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future,"] The Jewish Roman World of Jesus. Retrieved August 29, 2007.</ref></blockquote>
-Psalm 86:13: "Your love for me is great; you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol."
+By the time of [[Jesus of Nazareth|Jesus]], however, many Jews had come to believe in a future resurrection of the dead. The dead in Sheol were said to await the resurrection either in comfort or in torment.
-The Hebrew concept is paralleled in the Sumerian [[Netherworld]] to which [[Inanna]] descends. See [[Irkalla]].
+==Sheol in the Bible==
+Numerous Biblical passages discuss the nature and characteristics of Sheol. It is shown to be literally under the ground when the ground opens up under the household of Korah and the people go down living into Sheol (Num. 16:31-33).
-Jonah 2:2: "...Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice."
+[[Jacob]], not comforted at the reported death of [[Joseph (dreamer)|Joseph]], exclaims: "I shall go down to my son a mourner unto Sheol" ([[Genesis|Gen.]] 37:35).
-The [[English language|English]] word [[hell]] comes from [[Germanic mythology]], now used in the Judeo-Christian sense to translate the Hebrew word ''[[Gehinnom]],'' which is a valley outside Jerusalem once used for burning refuse (basically a landfill), and the Greek [[Hades]] and [[Tartarus]].
+According to Biblical accounts, ''Sheol'' is never satiated ([[Book of Proverbs|Prov.]] 30:20) and she "makes wide her throat" ([[Isaiah, Book of|Isa.]] 5:14). "The king of Babylon shall be "brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit." (Isa. 14:15)
-The prominent Biblical scholar [[William Foxwell Albright]] suggests that the Hebrew root for ''SHE'OL'' is ''SHA'AL'', which means "to ask, to interrogate, to question." ''Sheol'' therefore should mean "asking, interrogation, questioning." John Tvedtnes, also a Biblical scholar, connects this with the common theme in [[near-death experience]]s of the interrogation of the soul after crossing the Tunnel.
+However, the Bible also states that those in Sheol are not beyond redemption for [[Yahweh]]'s power can still save them (Ps. 139:8). Such sentiments are expressed in the following passages:
-===Sheol and gehenna===
+:"The breakers of death surged round about me; the menacing floods terrified me. The cords of Sheol tightened; the snares of death lay in wait for me. In my distress I called out: Lord! I cried out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry to him reached his ears." (Ps. 18:5-7)
-The [[New Testament]] seems to draw a distinction between Sheol and "Gehinnom", or [[Gehenna]] ([[Jahannam]] in [[Islam]]). The most "hellish" notion in Jewish tradition is the Biblical word ''Gehinnom'', later interpreted to refer to a place of condemnation. But the source of the word is most interesting. ''Gei Hinnom'' was the valley of Hinnom ([[Joshua]] 15:8, 18:16; II [[Books of Kings|Kings]] 23:10; [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] 7:31; [[Nehemiah]] 11:30), a place where children were sacrificed to the Canaanite god [[Moloch]].  In [[Islam]], this same word became [[Jahannam]], an Islamic term for Hell.
-==''Book of Enoch''==
+:"Your love for me is great; you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol." (Ps. 86:13)
-The ''[[Book of Enoch]]'' records [[Enoch|Enoch's]] vision of the cosmos. The author describes sheol as divided into four sections: one where the faithful saints blissfully await [[judgment day]] (see [[bosom of Abraham]]), one where the moderately good await their reward, one where the wicked are punished and await their judgment at the resurrection (see [[Gehenna]]), and the last where the wicked who don't even warrant resurrection are tormented.
-==Secular outlook==
+:"...Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice." (Jon. 2:2)
-According to Professors Stephen L. Harris and James Tabor, sheol is a place of "nothingness" that has its roots in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament). Professor Tabor, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, states in his ''What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future:''
-:"The ancient Hebrews had no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death, nor of any resurrection or return from death. Human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made of "dust of the earth," and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word [[nephesh]], traditionally translated "living soul" but more properly understood as "living creature," is the same word used for all breathing creatures and refers to nothing immortal...All the dead go down to Sheol, and there they lie in sleep together–whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free (Job 3:11-19). It is described as a region "dark and deep," "the Pit," and "the land of forgetfulness," cut off from both God and human life above (Pss. 6:5; 88:3-12). Though in some texts Yahweh's power can reach down to Sheol (Ps. 139:8), the dominant idea is that the dead are abandoned forever. This idea of Sheol is negative in contrast to the world of life and light above, but there is no idea of judgment or of reward and punishment. If one faces extreme circumstances of suffering in the realm of the living above, as did Job, it can even be seen as a welcome relief from pain–see the third chapter of Job. But basically it is a kind of "nothingness," an existence that is barely existence at all, in which a "shadow" or "shade" of the former self survives (Ps. 88:10)." <ref> [http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/future.html ''What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future,''] James Tabor </ref>
+==Sheol and Gehenna==
+The [[New Testament]] draws a distinction between Sheol and [[Gehenna]]. Stephen L. Harris, in his ''Understanding the Bible'', writes:
+<blockquote>The concept of eternal punishment does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, which uses the term ''Sheol'' to designate a bleak subterranean region where the dead, good and bad alike, subsist only as impotent shadows. When Hellenistic Jewish scribes rendered the Bible into Greek, they used the word ''Hades'' to translate Sheol, bringing a whole new mythological association to the idea of posthumous existence. In ancient Greek myth, Hades, named after the gloomy deity who ruled over it, was originally similar to the Hebrew Sheol, a dark underground realm in which all the dead, regardless of individual merit, were indiscriminately housed.<ref>Stephen L. Harris, ''Understanding the Bible'', 6th ed. (McGraw Hill, 2002, ISBN 0767429168), 436.</ref> </blockquote>
-Professor Harris shares similar remarks in his ''Understanding the Bible'': "The concept of eternal punishment does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, which uses the term ''Sheol'' to designate a bleak subterranean region where the dead, good and bad alike, subsist only as impotent shadows. When Hellenistic Jewish scribes rendered the Bible into Greek, they used the word ''Hades'' to translate Sheol, bringing a whole new mythological association to the idea of posthumous existence. In ancient Greek myth, Hades, named after the gloomy deity who ruled over it, was originally similar to the Hebrew Sheol, a dark underground realm in which all the dead, regardless of individual merit, were indiscriminately housed." <ref> ''Understanding the Bible: the 6th Edition'', Stephen L Harris. (McGraw Hill 2002) p 436. </ref> While believers in the Bible think that it has contains one doctrine of Hell (regardless of what they think about the nature of Hell), Harris and [[nontheists]] may view the doctrine as changing throughout the Bible.
+However, following the period of the [[Babylonian Exile]] (sixth century B.C.E.), the Jews began to embrace a more punitive view of hell, which was known as [[Gehenna]]. This word derived from ''Gei Hinnom'' (the valley of Hinnom described in [[Joshua, Book of|Josh.]] 15:8, 18:16; [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]] 23:10; [[Jeremiah, Book of|Jer.]] 7:31; [[Nehemiah, Book of|Neh.]] 11:30), a place where children were sacrificed to the [[Canaan]]ite god [[Moloch]], and where [[fire]]s were kept burning to consume the corpses and rotting garbage.
-By the time of Jesus, many Jews had come to believe in a future resurrection of the dead. The dead in Sheol were said to await the resurrection either in comfort or in torment, as in the story of [[Lazarus and Dives]].
+Thus, the notion of the [[afterlife]] and the concept of [[hell]] evolved and changed throughout the [[Hebrew Bible]].
-==In popular culture==
+Today, the [[English language|English]] word [[hell]] comes from [[Germanic mythology]], now used in the Judeo-Christian sense to translate the Hebrew word [[Gehenna]].
-Possibly the most popular and well known adaptation of Sheol is [[Shayol Ghul]] from [[The Wheel Of Time]] book series by [[Robert Jordan]]. In the books Shayol Ghul is a giant black mountain in which lies the [[Pit Of Doom]] ; an otherworldly place where the [[Dark One]] is closest to touching the world and his precense can be most keenly felt.
-In the [[Robert A. Heinlein]] [[science fiction]] novel ''[[Starship Troopers]]'', Sheol is also the name of an [[Arachnid]] [[colony]] [[planet]], decimated by a [[Terra]]n military attack.  Likewise in the Walter Jon Williams novel "Voice of the Whirlwind" Sheol is the name of a planet on which a terrible war is waged. Sheol is also the name of a San Francisco bay area rock band.
-[[Cordwainer Smith]] used the variant spelling 'Shayol' for the [[Instrumentality of Mankind]]'s prison planet, a world in which humans exposed to the native [[microbial]] life would begin growing additional limbs and organs, all the while experiencing horrific pain. These organs would then be harvested for transplantation, which was seen as a restitution for their crimes. Eventually, after a pair of children were wrongfully sent there to be imprisoned, the [[Biological uplift|underpeople]] serving as jailors rebelled, and the prisoners were released from their punishment.
-At [[Regent's Park College, Oxford|Regent's Park College]], the [[Baptist]] [[Permanent Private Hall]] at the [[University of Oxford]], the subterranean complex comprising a laundry and bathrooms is amusingly known as Sheol.
-Sheol is the name of one of the Ravers in the series of books, [[The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]] by [[Stephen Donaldson]].
-Sheol is the name of one of the [[TimeKeeper Demons]] in the series of books, [[The Wayfarer Redemption]] by [[Sara Douglas]].
-In the [[MMORPG]] [[Anarchy Online]], there is a massive area called "Scheol" in the Shadowlands, an alternate universe that is slowly degrading into nothingness.  This version of Sheol is divided into two primary sections. Upper Scheol, in the southern portion of the map, is a bleak steppe, dotted with rocky outcroppings, ancient technology and covered mostly in half-dead grasses. Moving further north, the landscape gradually changes into Lower Scheol. Lower Scheol primarily consists of twisted, rocky terrain, though there is some of the aforementioned half-dead grass and ancient technlogy. Transit by foot through the areas of Lower Scheol are quite hazardous, not only due to the monsters that exist there, but the precarious nature of the pathways available to players. The paths in Lower Scheol lead along narrow ledges, wind up cliffs and across thin and narrow rocky protrusions which are quit often near or fully suspended above the interdimensional void. Falling into the void is very easy in Lower Scheol if a player isn't careful, and results in the player being "rubber-banded" or "sling-shotted" back to the real world. This leads to a lot of lost travel time as a player would need to physically return to the Shadowlands and Scheol to get back to where they were. There is probably more hidden nooks, crannies and secret or little known paths in Lower Scheol than in any other place in the game; due to its twisted, convoluted and complex nature, many players avoid it altogether.
+==Book of Enoch==
+The [[Book of Enoch]] records [[Enoch|Enoch's]] vision of the cosmos. The author describes Sheol as divided into four sections: in the fist section, the faithful [[saint]]s blissfully await [[judgment day]], in the second section, the moderately-good await their reward, in the third section, the wicked are punished and await their judgment at the resurrection (see [[Gehenna]]), and in the last section, the wicked who do not even warrant resurrection are tormented.
+== Notes ==
+<references/>
-== References ==
+==References==
-<references/>
+*Balfour, Walter. ''Inquiry Into the Scriptural Import of the Words Sheol, Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna: All Translated Hell.'' Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2003. ISBN 978-0766159464
+*Harris, Stephen L. ''Understanding the Bible'', 6th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2002. ISBN 0767429168
+*Johnston, Philip S. ''Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament.'' Apollos, 2002. ISBN 978-0830826872
+*Turner, Alice K. ''The History of Hell.'' Harvest Books, 1995. ISBN 978-0156001373
 [[Category: Philosophy and religion]]
 [[Category: Religion]]
+[[Category: Image wanted]]
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