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of the prophet, we should remember, that whether we ascribe it to Saul's imagination, agitated as he was, or to the artifice of the woman, it must, at all events, have been conformed to the popular notions, so that we may take it as a faithful index of them. Now, it is remarkable that Samuel is made to represent himself as having been disquieted by the summons which brought him up into the land of the living. He had reposed in Sheol, at rest and in silence, till the voice of enchantment roused him from his heavy languor: an idea which comports with those of the Scandinavian mythology, as described in Gray's Descent of Odin.18 A knowledge of futurity was indeed attributed to the slumbering prophet; but if we may indulge a conjecture, it was supposed to remain inert, as in the case of the northern spirits, till evoked by the magician. Samuel is next represented as foretelling the result of the approaching combat: the Lord also will deliver

18 Facing to the northern clime,
Thrice he traced the Runic rhyme,
Thrice pronounced, in accents dread,
The thrilling voice that wakes the dead;
Till from out the hollow ground,
Slowly breathed a sullen sound:

[Prophetess.] 'What call unknown,
To break the quiet of the tomb ?
Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite,
And drags me from the realms of night?
Long on these mouldering bones have beat
The winter's snow, the summer's heat,
The drenching dews, the driving rain!
Let me, let me sleep again.

Who is he, with voice unblest,

That calls me from the bed of rest?' &c.

what charms [presume

Descent of Odin.

Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me,'19 probably in Sheol; not, at any rate, in the grave; for their bodies were left, the next day, on mount Gilboa, where they fell, and were afterwards burnt, and their bones buried at Jabesh-gilead, 20 beyond the Jordan, about fifty miles from Ramah. Such are the particulars in this narrative; and such the ideas it discovers concerning the state of the dead.

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1056 B. C.-975 B. C.-David and Solomon make frequent mention of Sheol; often, indeed, without defining their views of it, though the general tenor of their allusions shows that they regarded it as the common receptacle of all the dead, of what character soever: 'What man,' says David, what man is he that liveth, and shall not see death ? 21 Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol?' that is, all that live, must die, and be confined in Sheol. In several cases, it is difficult to determine whether it denotes the subterranean world, or merely the sepulchre; and those who are acquainted with the manner in which the Greeks and Romans sometimes confounded their hades or infernum, with the place of burial, will not think it improbable that a similar confusion of ideas may, now and then, occur among the Hebrew writers. In other passages, however, the reference is definite; as when the Psalmist represents the spirit of God reaching to the utmost extent, in height, in depth, in length

19 1 Sam. xxviii. 3-19.

20 1 Sam. xxxi. 8, 12, 13. 2 Sam. ii. 4, 5. 21 Ps. lxxxix. 48.

and breadth: Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me,'22 &c. Here, it is evident that Sheol is beneath, as heaven is above; and that the one is the lowest object conceivable, as the other is the highest. With this idea in view, we shall perceive the force of the following expression in Proverbs: Sheol and destruction are before the Lord; how much more, then, the hearts of the children of men' 23 even the profound depths of that hidden realm are open to the all-seeing eye; how much more the secrets of the human heart! It is a favorite hyperbole with the Psalmist, to call a relief from some imminent danger, or great affliction, a deliverance from Sheol; and this is probably the idea he means to express, when he says, Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.'24 All these allusions indicate the extreme depth of Sheol.

As to the condition of the dead there, both David and Solomon seem to have supposed them almost destitute of thought, as well as of activity.

In death,' says the former, there is no remembrance [that is, celebration] of thee; in Sheol, who shall give thee thanks? 25 And it is remarkable, that he never calls upon the dead to praise the Lord, even in those sublime, poetic

22 Ps. cxxxix. 7-10. 24 Ps. lxxi. 20.

23 Prov. xv. 11.

25 Ps. vi. 5.

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strains in which he apostrophizes the whole creation, animate and inanimate, angels, the heavens, sun, moon, and stars, the sea, kings and princes, young men and maidens, old men and children.26 The dead praise not the Lord,' says he; 'neither any that go down into silence.27 Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness ? 28 Solomon has a still stronger expression Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.'29 Indeed, so indistinct, so obscure, were his views of futurity, that notwithstanding he retained the common notion of a Sheol, and admitted that the dead went thither,30 it appears doubtful whether he fully believed in their consciousness. David, also, whose language is not so strongly negative, still represents them as in a state of darkness, silence and impotence. With him, to descend into Sheol, is, to go down into silence.' Of his enemies, he says, 'let them be silent in Sheol." 'Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth, he

26 Ps cxlviii. &c.

28 Ps. lxxxviii. 10-12.

931

27 Ps. cxv. 17.

See also cxlvi. 3, 4 xxx. 9.

29 Eccl. ix, 10, comp. ver. 5, and iii. 18-21.

30 See also Prov. i. 12, xv. 11, xxvii. 20; where the word translated grave, is Sheol.

31 Ps. xxxi. 17. comp. 13, 15.

shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.'32 Such is the darkness, as well as silence, in which he contemplates their abode. In another passage, comparing himself, on account of his trouble and dejection, to the dead in Sheol, he alludes to their powerless condition: 'My soul is full of trouble, and my life draweth nigh unto Sheol. I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength; free among the dead. '33 &c.

It must be evident, we suppose, from the views now presented of the condition of the deceased, that it was not regarded as a state of retribution. This inference is confirmed by the invariable silence which David and Solomon, in all their writings, maintain on the point.34 Whenever, on

32 Ps xlix. 16-19.

33 Ps. lxxxviii. 3-5.

34 See Stuart's Exegetical Essays, &c. On Sheol, particularly. On its Secondary signification, pp. 106-114. The Prof. does indeed labor to impute to David and Solomon the doctrine of future retribution; but the manner in which he does it, sets his want of proof in a light unusually striking. The course of his argument is as follows ;-Sheol denotes primarily the under-world, the region of the dead, whither both the righteous and the wicked go, at their decease. And in this sense it is

commonly used. Still there are certain texts in which Sheol occurs, where it may indeed be explained, as usual, of the state of the dead universally, but where it may also be supposed to include the idea of a place of punishment there; that is, if we first take for granted that the respective writers held that there was such a place there.-All this, to be sure, we admit, granting his premises; we admit still more; If all the writers who use the term Sheol for the state of the dead in general, believed that state to be divided in two parts, one of punishment, the other of rewards, then every time the word occurs, it comprehends both. Why should the Prof. select some passages as examples, and reject the rest? that is, granting his premises.

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