Sheol and the Netherworld

Sheol

Sheol is presented as the biblical netherworld beneath the earth and the common destination of the dead.

Characteristics

• A place of darkness, silence, dust, and diminished existence.
• The dead do not ordinarily praise God or participate in earthly activity.
• Sheol has gates, bars, and deep darkness.
• The Old Testament generally does not portray it as a heavenly afterlife.

Key texts

• Psalm 115:17 — the dead do not praise YHWH.
• Ecclesiastes 9:10 — no work, thought, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol.
• Psalm 143:3 — darkness like those long dead.
• Isaiah 14 — the dead in Sheol greet the fallen king of Babylon.
• 1 Samuel 28 — Samuel’s spirit is summoned from beneath the earth.

The transcript compares Sheol with Mesopotamian Irkalla/Kigallu and Egyptian Duat.