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the abode of darkness. The New Testament counterpart of this conception of sheol is found in
its representation of hades. It is not merely held that the Hebrews entertained the notion of
such an underworld, nor that the Biblical writers occasionally accommodated themselves
formally in their representations to the views of the Gentiles of whom they were speaking; but
that this is the Scriptural view of the intermediate state.
2. CRITICISM OF THIS MODERN REPRESENTATION.
In the abstract it is, of course, possible that
the idea of such a separate locality, which is neither heaven nor hell, in which all the dead are
gathered and where they remain, either permanently or until some communal resurrection,
was more or less current in popular Hebrew thought and may have given rise to some figurative
descriptions of the state of the dead; but it can hardly be regarded by those who believe in the
plenary inspiration of the Bible as an element of the positive teachings of Scripture, since it
plainly contradicts the Scriptural representation that the righteous at once enter glory and the
wicked at once descend into the place of eternal punishment. Moreover, the following
considerations can be urged against this view:
a. The question arises, whether the view of sheol-hades, now so widely regarded as Scriptural,
is true to fact or not. If it was true to fact at the time, when the books of the Bible were written,
but is no more true to fact to-day, the question naturally rises, What brought about the
change? And if it was not true to fact, but was a decidedly false view—and this is the prevalent
opinion —, then the problem at once arises, how this erroneous view could be countenanced
and sanctioned and even taught positively by the inspired writers of Scripture. The problem is
not relieved by the consideration, urged by some, that the inspiration of Scripture does not
carry with it the assurance that the Old Testament saints were correct when they spoke of men
entering some subterranean place at death, because not only these saints but also the inspired
writers of Scripture employed language which, in itself and irrespective of other clear teachings
of Scripture, might be so interpreted, Num. 16:30; Ps. 49:15,16; Ps. 88:3; Ps. 89:48; Eccl. 9:10;
Isa. 5:14; Hos. 13:14. Were these inspired writers in error, when they spoke of both the
righteous and the wicked as descending into sheol? It may be said that there was development
in the revelation respecting the future destiny of man, and we have no reason to doubt that on
this point, as on many others, that which was first obscure gradually gained in definiteness and
clearness; but this certainly does not mean that the true developed out of the false. How could
this be? Did the Holy Spirit deem it expedient for man that he first receive false impressions and
obtain erroneous views, and then exchange these in course of time for a correct insight into the
condition of the dead?
b. If in the Scriptural representation sheol-hades is really a neutral place, without moral
distinctions, without blessedness on the one hand, but also without positive pain on the other,