OUT OF THE DEPTHS: THE DEVELOPMENT OF JEWISH VIEWS OF THE AFTERLIFE

IN SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM

Michael Kevin Goco

Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
 Goco 2

Abstract

The concept of an afterlife was not present in the time of Ancient Israel. As understood primarily
from their biblical literature, all the dead descend to Sheol—a place quite difficult to define due
to the lack of primary documentation, but at the very least can be simply described as the place
where all the dead are located. Nothing is known whether the Israelites believed if the souls of
the dead remained intact and continued to exist, if they retained consciousness, or if they “lived”
there forever. However, as the empires of the Ancient Near East began their conquests of
Palestine and the eventual development of early Jewish faith took form, it is primarily Israel’s
desire for deliverance from oppression that made its way to the evolution of their credence and
understanding of life after death. This paper proposes a three-stage model in mapping out the
development of Jewish thought on the afterlife: Restorative, Apocalyptic, and Resurrection.
Various issues such as the Jewish hope of liberation from captivity, developing prophetic
literature oriented towards a better future, revolt against external cultures incompatible with
Jewish practice, and the anticipation of reward for righteousness will be addressed here and will
be argued for as strong factors for the development of the Jewish understanding of life after
death. This study will concentrate on the Second Temple Period of Judaism (515 BCE-70 CE)
while also carefully considering the setting and circumstances before the period. It hopes to
provide a definitive guide in future studies that will delve deeper into the history of Jewish
afterlife.
 Goco 3

The development of the doctrine of the afterlife in the Jewish tradition has caught the

attention of many scholars and theologians throughout history. Steven Fine is right to suggest

that perhaps the primary reason for it is that there is no better area in Jewish life that is

represented in literary and archaeological finds than the concept of death.1 In light of the most

recent scholarship on this matter, this study will try to make a bold survey of the development of

Jewish beliefs of the afterlife concentrated in Second Temple Judaism (515 BCE-70 CE) by

drawing from what can be mapped out from the literary and archaeological sources that today’s

research currently possesses. What this paper seeks to propose to scholars tracing the historical

development of Jewish beliefs of the afterlife in the Second Temple period is that it is best to

divide its history through a three-stage model. The first stage will be called Restorative, a term

used for the time of persecution leading to and right after the Babylonian captivity including

thereafter the time of Persian rule and the return from exile (722-336 BCE). Although it does not

contribute a lot to shifting the Ancient Israelite belief of Sheol as the only intimation of afterlife

right at its outset, it is particularly worth noting due to the developing liberal imagery of its

prophetic literature that eventually influences later thought in Jewish views on life after death.

The second stage will be called Apocalyptic. In this part of history at the time of Hellenism in

Ancient Palestine (336-167 BCE), the Jewish tradition starts not only to develop what constitutes

a real concept of the afterlife based on the influence of the literature of the first stage, but also

moreover to advance its idea of what actually happens in the next life—predominantly in the

evolution of the Jewish notion of distinguishing the fate of those who have lived righteously

from those who have led wicked lives. The idea of the immortality of the soul also gains a strong

force in this period. The third stage will be called Resurrection, inaugurated by the outbreak of

1
Steven Fine. “Death, Burial, and Afterlife,” in Oxford Handbook of Daily Life in Roman Palestine, ed. Catherine
Hezer, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 440.
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the Maccabean revolt (167 BCE) running all the way to the time of Jewish sectarianism of the

first century CE. It is quite evident that resurrection plays a prominent role in the late Second

Temple period and will be central in the early Christianity that emerges from it. A broad

selection of literature from the Second Temple period will be examined in this study, hoping to

provide a representative view of the progression of Jewish thought on the afterlife. This study

will cite not only books from the Hebrew bible but also works of apocryphal and

pseudepigraphal nature among others. It is important at this point, however, to set the scene of

Second Temple Judaism. In what follows immediately below is a brief outline of Ancient

Israelite belief.

Scholarly consensus is that there is no indication of the afterlife visibly present in the

literature of Ancient Israel. George Mendenhall gives this summary:

The human body was shaped by God from the earth, and animated with the “breath of

life” nefes hayyim (Genesis 2:7-8). At death, the person becomes a nefes met, literally, a

“dead breath” (Numbers 6:6), and the body returns to the dust where it came. In the very

late source of Ecclesiastes 12:7, “the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit

[ruh] returns to God who gave it.” At the same time, when people die, they descend to

Sheol, which can only be defined as the place where the dead are dead. 2

Sheol: the place where the dead are dead. The era before the Second Temple lacks any

description of rituals and cults associated with the deceased. Brian Schmidt confirms that

Ancient Israelite texts “were mute concerning the existence of any Israelite version of the

ancestor cult.”3 Although this lack of documentation does not directly correlate to a conclusive

2
George Mendenhall, “From Witchcraft to Justice: Death and Afterlife on the Old Testament,” in Death and
Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions, ed. Hiroshi Obayashi (Connecticut: Greenwood, 1992), 68.
3
Brian Schmidt. Israel's Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion and
Tradition (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 200.
 Goco 5

evidence of disbelief in the afterlife by the people of Ancient Israel, this silence is a striking

difference from the copious literary evidence that will be written later on in terms of the ideas of

eternal life and damnation, immortality of the soul, prayers for the dead, and bodily resurrection

that will ostensibly be found in later works. This simple model where Sheol is the end goal of all

the souls of the dead is characteristic of the culture and background wherein Second Temple

Judaism emerges from.

Restorative. This stage does not constitute an authentic belief in the afterlife per se, but

takes good note of the prophetic literature that uniquely looks forward to what is to come—the

future time. It is notable since prophetic literature usually concerns itself of what needs to be

proclaimed for the present. The prophet standardly communicates what the divine wishes to tell

the people for what is contemporary (acting as spokespersons as the original Greek προφήτης

means). Instances that easily come to mind are when the prophet Nathan rebukes David after

David commits adultery and murder4 as well as the call of the prophet Jonah for the conversion

of Nineveh.5 This stage, then, marks a shift in the focus of prophetic literature. It advances

Ancient Israelite belief to early Second Temple period understanding through this developing

literary route. The increasing trajectory of this prophetic style runs and progresses until the time

of the Greek conquest of Palestine. Particular manifestations of this include of how prophet

Isaiah prophecies a peaceful kingdom of Israel6 when the new Davidic king rules the land, while

the prophet Micah proclaims peace “in days to come.”7

Incidentally, the “Valley of Dry Bones”8 from the prophet Ezekiel is sometimes cited to

already portray bodily resurrection in Early Judaic belief. However, it is quite clear that

4
1 Sam 12
5
Jonah 1
6
Isa 11
7
Mic 4:1-4
8
Ezek 37:1-14
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historically, the passage speaks of Ezekiel’s account of the restoration of the Jewish nation after

the destruction of Jerusalem, not a literal physical resurrection of the dead. He plays with the

concept of a resurrection and gives the reader one of the most vivid accounts of it in the Hebrew

bible. The image of a bodily resurrection is not completely absent in this period, however. A

close reading of the prophetic literature reveals faint hints of it to the reader. Hosea proclaims of

the Lord who “will revive” and “will raise us up”9; Isaiah delivers God’s promise that “the dead

shall live, their corpses shall rise.”10 Despite this, there is no existing literary or doctrinal

evidence that the early Jews believed that their bodies will rise up again after their deaths.

How can this be reconciled? It is best to consider these only as figures of speech by the

authors of the prophetic books. It is not difficult to determine what causes this shift of prophetic

focus from the present time to the future—the texts are clearly responses to the situation that the

people of Israel experiences after the empires of the Ancient Near East sieges Israel, one ruler

after another, which culminates in the destruction of the temple. The evaluation of this stage is

also therefore very simple: instead of talking about a bodily resurrection of the dead, these books

look forward to the restoration of the nation of Israel by using resurrection as a metaphor. This

hope of deliverance from oppression is held through the next stage of our three-stage model

while this language of restoration and resurrection, as can already be seen, will be very

influential in the development of Jewish thought of the afterlife in later stages.

Apocalyptic. John Collins makes a good observation in saying that “the first clear

evidence of belief in a differentiated life after death in Jewish sources appears in the apocalyptic

literature of the Hellenistic period.”11 The apocalyptic writings of this stage contain an

9
Hos 6:2
10
Isa 26:19
11
Collins, John. “Death and Afterlife,” in The Biblical World (Vol. 2), ed. John Barton (New York: Routledge,
2002), 363.
 Goco 7

abundance of material that contribute to our understanding of the development of the doctrine of

the afterlife. Reconstructing the vision of the apocalyptic period necessitates examination of the

literature produced in the Hellenistic diaspora which includes material within and outside of the

Hebrew bible. It is safe to conclude, as will be discussed below, that the works in this period are

borne out of a response to the restorative stage which hope of did not bear into fruition. It is also

a response to the continuing catastrophe of Hellenism and persecutions that were taking place in

this period.

1 Enoch is one of such responses. With its oldest portions written around 300 BCE, 1

Enoch is arguably and generally considered to be a response to the Hellenistic influence of the

Greeks.12 It bemoans in the Book of Watchers those who have fallen from righteousness, those

who have been attracted to the desires of the flesh instead of being attentive to spiritual things:

You [used to be] holy, spiritual, the living ones, [possessing] eternal life; but now you

have defiled yourselves with women, and with the blood of the flesh begotten children,

you have lusted with the blood of the people, like them producing blood and flesh,

(which) die and perish.13

In the book of Enoch, those condemned are those who have “committed adultery and erred” and

whose “conduct became corrupt.”14 Among other things, this must include the condemnation of

the mixed marriages that have resulted from the Hellenistic period.

1 Enoch contains an evocative account of a vision from Raphael who said to Enoch, after

being presented with a large mountain before him: “These beautiful corners (are here) in order

that the spirits of the souls of the dead should assemble into them.”15 The book of Enoch presents

12
Collins, John. “Death and Afterlife,” 365.
13
1 Enoch 15:4-5
14
1 Enoch 8:2
15
1 Enoch 22:3
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a view of the afterlife not heard of before—that there is a place of beauty for the souls of those

who have died, a concept that is certainly not compatible to the descriptions of what Sheol is in

the Hebrew bible. Further in the text, we find that Raphael explains to Enoch that the soul of

Abel continues to sue Cain’s until “all of (Cain’s) seed is exterminated from the face of the

earth.”16 Russell correctly notes that this concept of Sheol, where Abel’s spirit goes after his

death, is “no longer a land of ‘no-life’”, but rather a land of “conscious being an individual

identity.”17 The souls of the dead now seem to retain their consciousness as if they were still

alive. Nonetheless, Sheol in the book of Enoch still follows a cosmological model prominent in

the Near East and closely follows a biblical vision. The cosmos is still a tripartite system: the

netherworld (Sheol), the earth, and the heavens.18 Despite this closeness to the “geography” of

the Hebrew bible, Sheol evidently changes its character in this period of history. This altered

concept of Sheol is further developed and portrayed more explicitly in the book of Jubilees: “For

they will go down into Sheol, and into the place of judgment they will descend.”19 Sheol is no

longer the place where all the dead go20, but a place of judgment and punishment for those who

have led wicked lives. This striking distinction between the lot of the righteous and of the wicked

is well summed-up in this part of the book of Enoch:

These three have been made in order that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And

in the manner in which the souls of the righteous are separated (by) this spring of water

with light upon it, in like manner, the sinners are set apart when they die and are buried in

the earth and judgment has not been executed upon them in their lifetime.21

16
1 Enoch 22:7
17
D.S. Russel, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1964), 359.
18
Kelley Coblentz-Bautch, “Situating the Afterlife,” in Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian
Mysticism, ed. April DeConick (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006), 251.
19
Jubilees 7:29
20
Isa 14:9-20
21
1 Enoch 22:9-11
 Goco 9

A dimension worth considering of in the apocalyptic stage of development is how it is

very “spiritual.” The focus and centrality of the afterlife lies on the immortality and judgment of

the soul rather than on a bodily resurrection. The Wisdom of Solomon exemplifies this tradition

very much, claiming that “God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own

eternity”22 and that the “righteous live forever.”23 The idea of immortality has great significance

in this period of Judaism: “It provides purpose and direction to human ethical effort, since eternal

life with God is the reward for wise and righteous living. It also offers a solution to the problem

of innocent suffering.”24 Harrington makes a good point. At this time, the hope of a renewed

Israel from the restorative stage has been tried but found wanting. Israel continued to be under

the rule of a foreign empire. In the personal lives of the people, as portrayed in the book of Job,

those who continue to do what is right and follow the commandments still question where the

promised reward of the righteous is. As Mendenhall states: “The book of Job ended, as many

have observed, with no solution, but merely a reaffirmation, which was itself a step far beyond

the tired old Deuteronomic orthodoxy, that the vision of God was a good in itself, not exangeable

with the material blessings of life.”25 Eventually, this “Deuteronomic orthodoxy” lost its appeal

and promise to the persecuted Jews. Judah remained under the Greeks and the persecutions

continued. These circumstances led to the development of this stage of the doctrine of the

afterlife, where the people can still sing as the psalmist declares: “Surely, there is a reward for

the righteous; surely, there is a God who judges the earth.”26

Resurrection. This final stage in the progression of afterlife thought forms the climax of

22
Wis 2:23
23
Wis 5:15; See also Wis 3:4; 6:17-19; 8:13, 17; 15:3
24
Daniel Harrington, “Transcending Death: The Reasoning of the ‘Others’ and Afterlife Hopes in Wisdom 1-6,” in
The “Other” In Second Temple Judaism: Essays in Honor of John J. Collins, ed. Daniel Harlow, et al. (Michigan:
Eerdmans, 2011), 215.
25
George Mendenhall, “From Witchcraft to Justice: Death and Afterlife on the Old Testament,” 78.
26
Ps 58:11
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the theological formulations of life after death in the Second Temple period. Examination of this

stage will involve comparing the different accounts of primary sources that will give a glimpse

of how the doctrine of resurrection was understood particularly in its beginning stages. As will

be seen below, not all accounts understood resurrection in the same way. Jewish sectarianism

emerges in this period, including groups who professed belief in the resurrection and those who

did not. At the height of the Hellenistic era in Palestine and their subsequent fall and loss to

Rome, Israel still longed for that restoration that was hoped for and proclaimed by the prophets.

The doctrine of resurrection incarnates the belief in the afterlife and the immortality of the soul

that developed in the apocalyptic stage.

Perhaps the most cited text concerning belief in the resurrection from the Hebrew bible is

found from its apocrypha, the “Martyrdom of the Seven Brothers”, in 2 Maccabees 7. The

resurrection stage follows closely and overlaps with the apocalyptic stage; the books of

Maccabees are also responses to the growing Hellenistic influence of the Greeks. Resurrection is

at the heart of this famous chapter and certainly is a recurring theme in the text. Again and again,

the reader is assured from the conviction of the brothers who face condemnation from Greek

authorities: “the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life.”27

Interestingly, the removal of limbs is also declared to be restored in what is to come: “I hope to

get them back again,”28 says the third brother. The fourth brother condemns their persecutors:

“One cannot but choose to die at the hands of mortals and to cherish the hope God gives of being

raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!”29 It is worth nothing, as

Shmuel Shepkaru has pointed out, that the theme of divine recompense of the martyrs by God is

27
2 Macc 7:9
28
2 Macc 7:11
29
2 Macc 7:14
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also part of a later development in Jewish thought.30 This is not an idea present in the martyrdom

that takes place in 1 Maccabees, wherein the victims simply declare: “Let us all die in our

innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.”31 In addition to that,

Shepkaru notes that the justification for prayers of the dead32 in 2 Maccabees would have been

“superfluous” if this idea of reward is already engrained in the thought of the Jewish people at

this time. It can certainly be seen here that this is still a time of transition to an understanding of

a physical resurrection.

It is good to start the close examination of this stage by looking at the condemnation by

the fourth brother just quoted above. Whether the author of the text states that only the righteous

are bestowed with resurrection, or whether both the righteous and the wicked are resurrected,

albeit with different fates, is ambiguous. Daniel 12, written during the reign of Antiochus IV

(175-164 BCE), contains a passage where it says that “many of those who sleep in the dust of the

earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”33 In

this passage, resurrection is bestowed to both the righteous and the wicked, but the righteous are

delivered to their everlasting life, and the wicked are condemned to contempt. More than a

century later, however, as recorded outside the biblical literature, Josephus recounts that the

Pharisees believed that

Souls have an immortal power in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or

punishments, depending on whether they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life.

The latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but the former shall have the power

30
Shmuel Shepkaru, “From Death to Afterlife: Martyrdom and its Recompense.” AJS Review 24, no. 1 (1999): 5.
31
1 Macc 2:37
32
2 Macc 12:43-45
33
Dan 12:2
 Goco 12

to revive and live again.34

It is visible that a standard and particular vision of what resurrection entails is still unclear at this

time of transition from Greek to Roman rule. Nevertheless, what binds this stage together is how

the understanding of the end of goal of the afterlife is already very “physical”; the carnal bodies

of those who have died will be revived. As will be discussed in more detail, not everyone was

ready to accept this doctrine.

A parallel school of thought against this movement is shown by the prevailing beliefs at

this time by the Sadducees. The very famous argument that took place when Paul was brought

before the Jewish council reveals that the Sadducees neither believed in the resurrection nor in

angels and spirits.35 Josephus corroborates this text from the New Testament when he wrote that

the Sadducees believed that “souls die with the bodies.”36 His account on the Essenes

complicates the various attitudes towards the afterlife even further. Josephus indicates that the

Essenes “teach the immortality of the soul and believe that the rewards of righteousness are to be

earnestly striven for”37, an idea already expounded on the second part of this paper. He lacks any

descriptive narrative indicating that the Essenes believed in the resurrection. In fact, Josephus

even states that that the doctrine of the Essenes includes the belief that “bodies are corruptible,

and that the matter they are made of it not permanent.”38 The Essenes seemed to be concerned

more about being liberated from this life, when they will be “released from a long bondage” and

where they will “rejoice and mount upward”39 instead of looking forward to a resurrection.

34
“Josephus, Antiquities XVIII, 11-17,” in Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple
and Rabbinic Judaism, ed. Lawrence Schiffman (New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House, 1998), 268.
35
Acts 23:8
36
“Josephus, Antiquities XVIII, 11-17,” 269.
37
“Josephus, Antiquities XVIII, 18-22,” in Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple
and Rabbinic Judaism, ed. Lawrence Schiffman (New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House, 1998), 275.
38
“Josephus, War II, 119-61,” in Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and
Rabbinic Judaism, ed. Lawrence Schiffman (New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House, 1998), 280.
39
“Josephus, War II, 119-61,” 280.
 Goco 13

The Dead Sea Scrolls, usually associated with the Essenes, also do not speak much about

a resurrection. It does indicate in its literature a great deal of emphasis in its eschatology and the

ultimate battles that will take place in the end times. However, no explicit mention of a bodily

resurrection is given. In his examination of the texts in Qumran, George Nickelsburg says that

the “Qumran hymns and the Rule of Community do not specify whether the authors anticipated a

resurrection.”40 It is worth noting, however, that the Qumran community buried their dead in

individual graves with heads facing towards the south. Although there are some who argue that it

is the hope of the Qumran community that they all, at their final victory, will march toward

paradise, Collins here is right to say that “even if the dead were buried facing towards Paradise…

this would not necessarily imply a belief in bodily resurrection.”41

Fortunately, this time of the late Second Temple period gives us more archaeological data

to work with. Ossuaries, bone boxes for secondary burial that became very prominent in the

Greco-Roman occupation of Palestine, have long fascinated historians of the Second Temple

period. In the context of current discussions in this paper, it has also been long hypothesized that

ossuaries might have been used as testaments to a future resurrection. It is certainly possible to

hold this position, but Steven Fine points out that not even the rabbinic traditions clearly point

toward this theory.42 It is also worth remembering that the Caiaphas ossuary, an ossuary widely

considered to be connected to the high priest Caiaphas, should make anyone pause and think why

Caiaphas would be buried in an ossuary since the line of priests generally came from the

Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Meyers warns against trying “to

40
George Nickelsburg, “Resurrection (Early Judaism and Christianity) (Vol. 5),” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary,
ed. David Noel Freedman, et al. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 687.
41
Collins, John. “Death and Afterlife,” 369.
42
Steven Fine. “Death, Burial, and Afterlife,” 449.
 Goco 14

relate either ossuaries or sarcophagi to a particular Jewish sect or segment of society.”43

At this point of the three-stage model, it is clearly seen that bodily resurrection gains

force as a doctrine in afterlife thought. However, by the 1st century CE as discussed above,

resurrection as a doctrine is still gaining shape and is still being debated by groups within the

Jewish tradition. The Christian tradition powerfully picks up on this concept: the resurrection,

and in particular, the resurrection of Jesus, becomes central in its belief. Paul is unapologetic in

saying that without the resurrection, and if Jesus has not been raised, his preaching is in vain and

so is the faith of those whom he preaches to.44 Jewish thought will also later develop a notion of

resurrection as part of its main tenets of the faith after the destruction of the Second Temple. The

idea of resurrection wins over those who deny or oppose it, hugely due to Pharisaic influence.

This period of history after the destruction of Herod’s temple is clearly the fourth stage, or rather,

the first stage of a new era in this examination of Jewish thought of the afterlife: Rabbinic. The

rabbis developed greatly the concept of the eschaton, at this period when all hope seems to have

been lost after the destruction of another temple. A concept of the “World-to-Come” (‫הבא עולם‬,

olam ha-ba) becomes prominent in rabbinic writings.45 A doctrine on hell in the afterlife

develops in this period as well.46 They envisioned resurrection so much so that it eventually

became, after a number of centuries, even part of Maimonides’ Principles of Jewish Faith. This

paper seeks only to survey and map out the developments of afterlife thought, however, of the

Second Temple period. The rabbinic stage will have to wait for another discussion. It is certainly

the start of a new era in Judaism, and will have to warrant another study.

43
Eric Meyers, Jewish Ossuaries: Reburial and Rebirth (Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1971), 86.
44
1 Cor 15:14
45
See, for example, “Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, Beshallah: Moses and the Bones of Joseph,” in Texts and
Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism, ed. Lawrence Schiffman (New
Jersey: Ktav Publishing House, 1998), 557.
46
Discussed in detail in Dan Cohn-Sherbok, “The Jewish Doctrine of Hell,” in Beyond Death: Theological and
Philosophical Reflections on Life after Death, ed. Dan Cohn-Sherbok and Christopher Lewis (London: Macmillan,
1995).
 Goco 15

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Philosophical Reflections on Life after Death, edited by Dan Cohn-Sherbok and
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Collins, John. “Death and Afterlife.” In The Biblical World, edited by John Barton, Vol. 2, 357-
75. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Fine, Steven. “Death, Burial, and Afterlife.” In Oxford Handbook of Daily Life in Roman
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Wisdom 1-6.” In The “Other” In Second Temple Judaism: Essays in Honor of John J.
Collins, edited by Daniel Harlow, et al., 204-17. Michigan: Eerdmans, 2011.

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 Goco 16

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