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[AlphaT]

After watching some of John Walton's lectures on Genesis, I came up with a few questions. One of them had to do with the picture he showed representing what the Israelites thought about cosmology. In the "Heavenly Temple" above the waters, is that where they thought God lived? Did they think that God was in the sky?

Also, even though this doesn't really fit in with the heaven theme, what did they think was beyond the depths? Or did they think that it stretched out infinitely?

[jimwalton]

Yes, the "heavenly temple" above the waters is where they thought God lived. They didn't think that God was in the sky, but was above the sky, "higher than the heavens". They thought the sky was a solid dome, and the sun, moon, and stars were "lights" (luminaries) that moved across that dome. They didn't know that the sun or moon were three-dimensional bodies, or that the stars were distant balls of gas; they were lights on the dome. Above that dome was God's throne. His throne was above the heavens, and the earth was his footstool. But it's also more complicated than that because they also believed that the heavenly temple (the dwelling place of God) and the earthly temple (the dwelling place of God) were, in important ways, overlapping spheres not merely spacially defined. To be in one was to be in the other, in some senses.

What did they think was "beyond the depths"? There is no notion of that. Their model ended there. They didn't know what was beyond the depths, and there is no record of any speculation about it in ancient literature. That picture showed the earth as a sphere. They obviously perceived the sky as a sphere, but the depths were both amorphous and nebulous. They didn't perceive matter as stretching out indefinitely. They thought of the earth surrounded by the waters as a disk.

[AlphaT]

Thanks a bunch. (:

I did have one ore question though, while we're still on the topic of Heaven and Hell. Concerning Hell, is Sheol as described in the OT the same as Hell as described in the NT? We read in the OT that Sheol is a place where everyone goes when they die, and that the righteous go to one part while the wicked go to another. But the NT says that Hell is a place where those who are not saved go after death. Is Sheol just another myth of Israelite cosmology like the Heavenly Temple? Is Hell a case of revealed revelation?

[jimwalton]

It's not the same as hell. The OT people knew almost nothing about the afterlife, and it shows in their writings. Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas say: "The spirits of the dead were believed to descend to the underworld known as Sheol. This was a nebulous region of continued existence, but it is not distinguished as a place of reward or punishment."

Almost everything we know about hell theologically comes from Jesus and the NT. There hell is defined and delineated with more detail, but it's anachronistic to project that back to what the OT saints thought and believed.

And in addition, here are some study notes from Dr. Clarence Mason on The Eternal Destiny of the Wicked. Rev. 20.14-15; 14.9-11. Five words are considered in this study:

I. Sheol
A. This is the OT word. It is used 65 times, translated variously as:
i. Hell, 31 times: Dt. 32.22; Ps. 9.17; 18.5; Isa. 14.9
ii. Grave, 31 times: 1 Sam. 2.6; Job 7.9; 14.13
iii. Pit, 3 times: Num. 16.30, 33, Job. 17.16.
B. This is the abode of the dead. It is not just a state of being, but a place where beings are, which also involves a certain state of being. It is a conscious state of existence, Dt. 18.11; 1 Sam. 28.11-15; Isa. 14.9.
C. God, not the Devil, is sovereign over sheol. Dt. 32.22; Job 26.6. The Devil is simply the most notorious inmate—Public Enemy #1—of that place.
D. It is regarded as temporary. OT saints looked beyond it to the Kingdom. The righteous will be resurrected to enjoy the promised blessing (Job 14.13-14; 19.25, 27; Ps. 16.9-11; 17.15; 49.15; 73.24).

II. Hades
A. This is practically the NT equivalent of sheol. It is translated Hell in every instance except one, where it is translated grave (1 Cor. 15.55). Hades generally speaks of the unsaved dead, since the resurrection of Christ. The word is never used of the eternal state, Mt. 11.23; 16.18; Acts 2.27, 31; Rev. 1.18; 6.8; 20.13-14.
B. Also consider Paradise: Lk. 23.43.
C. Also consider Abraham’s bosom, Lk. 16.22. “The two compartment theory.” This view says that until the Lord’s resurrection, the spirits of all the dead, righteous and wicked, at death went to sheol/hades; that sheol/hades was in two divisions or compartments, separated by a great gulf (Lk. 16.26), the righteous being in bliss in the upper part called Paradise or Abraham’s Bosom, and the wicked dead in “lowest hell” called Tartarus by the old Greeks. After Christ’s resurrection and ascension to heaven, the righteous spirits were transported to the “3rd Heaven” now called Paradise (2 Cor. 12.4).

III. Gehenna. Mt. 5.22, 29-30; 10.28; 18.9; 23.15, 33; Mk. 9.43, 45, 47; Lk. 12.5; James 3.6.
A. This is a geographical term, especially in the OT. In the NT, the final judgment of the unrepentant is usually also in view.
B. In the OT it is a place of idol worship. Children were burned there as a sacrifice to gods, 1 Chr. 33.6, hence a place of fire. It is a place of judgment because it was overthrow by Josiah (2 Ki. 23.10); Jer. 7.323). It became a dumping ground for filth, the bodies of animals, and occasionally some human body, like the body of a criminal. Hence it was associated with the idea of uncleanness. Also, rubbish was continually burning there, so it became an apt illustration of eternal fire.

IV. Tartarus. This is the place of judgment on wicked angels. It seems to be identical to Gehenna as to ultimate place, 2 Pet. 2.4.

V. Lake of Fire. This is the place of the eternal destiny of the unsaved. Rev. 19.20; 20.10, 14-15; 21.8. It is a place of eternal, conscious suffering.