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the other hand, they treat of rewards and punishments, it is of such only as are experienced in this world, or in the manner of one's death. The wicked are plagued, or do not live out half their days, and are suddenly cut off, or are cursed in their posterity; while the righteous are blest with long life, or rejoice in the promise of numerous and happy descendants. The Psalmist, on one occasion, describes, in the strongest terms, the prosperity which the ungodly sometimes appear to enjoy, and acknowledges that he had been perplexed, and even envious at the sight; but he solves the difficulty by the consideration that they were set in slippery places in order to be cast into destruction, that their desolation was brought upon them in a moment, and that they were utterly consumed with terrors. This he learned in the sanctuary; and was then astonished at his former stupidity.35 Solomon likewise takes up the same subject; and though he does not so fully satisfy himself, yet his conclusion is, that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him; but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow.36 So far only, did their views on this question extend. While we point out the fact, however, that they did not regard the state of the dead, as one of retribution, we should be careful to observe that they did not ascribe to it any positive happiness or suffering.

Did they hold an ultimate deliverance from this state, either by a resurrection, or in any manner whatsoever? The question is not, whe

85 Pa. lxxiii.

36 Eccl. viii. 10-ix. 3.

ther David, in some passages, using Sheol and the like terms figuratively for a condition of sorrow or danger in this life, speaks of a deliverance; meaning, literally, from that trouble or jeopardy 37 this does not touch the subject. Nor is it the question, whether he was inspired to predict the resurrection of the individual personage Jesus Christ.38 But did their views extend so far as to embrace a future and general translation of the dead, from Sheol, to a more full and active existence ? A single passage in the Psalms has been explained by many commentators as intimating, rather than expressing such an expectation; but, to say the least, its language is too indefinite to build upon, with confidence: 'Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down ; deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword, or [by thy sword ;] from men which are thy hand; for, by thy hand,] O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure; they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness.'39

37 As Ps. lxxxvi, 13: Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell;' that is, from the greatest danger, as the next word shows: O God, the proud are risen up against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul, [life]. ... Show me a token for good; that they which hate me see it, and be ashamed, because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me,' ver. 14-17.

38 Ps. xvi. 10: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.'-See St. Peter's interpretation or accommodation, Acts ii. 25-31; and St. Paul's, Acts xiii. 34 -37

39 Ps. xvii. 13-15.

Here, it is by no means apparent that, by awaking, the Psalmist referred to an awaking from the dead; and the context, in which he calls the season of his persecution the night,' and prays for speedy deliverance from his enemies,40 would naturally suggest another interpretation: when I awake from my present night of dejection and suffering,-when the morning of my deliverance comes-I shall be satisfied with thy likeness; or more corectly, with the sight of thee.' Figurative expressions, of a similar character, frequently occur in the Psalms, with reference merely to temporal relief; and it is incredible that David, if acquainted with the doctrine of a resurrection, should have left a truth so important and interesting, to glimmer only in this indistinct manner, through a solitary passage. Indeed, so evident, from the general tenor of his writings, is his ignorance on this point, that some, who refer the text in question to an awakening from the dead, have concluded, from this very circumstance, that the Psalm cannot have been written by him, but by an author who lived subsequently to the Babylonish captivity. It scarcely need be mentioned, that Solomon makes no allusion whatsoever, to a resurection from the state of the dead. We may therefore conclude that it was, at this time, unknown and unthought of, among the Jews in general.

About 800 B. C.-720 B. C.-Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, (whose works were

40 See ver. 3, 7, &c.

41 De Wette, Commentar aber die Psalmen, in loc.

composed about this time,) have left no indications that the views respecting the future state, changed materially, from the age of David and Solomon. On the contrary, with the exception of Micah, who has no allusion to the subject, they retain the same idea of Sheol, placing it in the depths of the earth, and recognize the same condition of the dead there. When Jonah was carried by the fish down to the bottoms of the mountains, and the earth with her bars was about him forever,' he represents himself by a figure, as being in the midst of Sheol: Out of the belly of Sheol, cried I unto thee, and thou heardest my voice; thus denoting the supposed situation of that world. When Amos, after predicting the entire dispersion of the Israelites, attempts to illustrate the impossibility of their escaping the hand of God, he uses this strong expression: though they dig into Sheol, thence shall mine. hand take them; though they climb into heaven, thence will I bring them down,' &c. ;43 contrasting the depth of Sheol with the height of heaven. When Isaiah would represent that the Jewish nation had sunk to the very lowest degree of infamy, he says, 'Thou didst debase thyself even unto Sheol."44 So much with regard to its situation.

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That this was the place to which the dead were supposed to descend, appears from the language of Hezekiah. In his song of thanksgiving for recovery from a dangerous sickness, he remembers his late apprehensions of immediate

42 Jonah ii. 2, comp, ver. 3, 6. 44 Isa. lvii. 9.

43 Amos ix. 2.

death: 'I said, in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of Sheol' ;45 that is, I shall die. In another passage, Isaiah predicts a general extermination of the inhabitants of Judea, in which the Lord should stretch forth his hand against them, and smite them and leave their carcases torn in the midst of the streets. To represent this scene of slaughter, he introduces the following imagery: Therefore, Sheol hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.'46 On the death of the king of Babylon, and the final desolation of his kingdom, the prophet apostrophizing him, says, Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming,'47 &c., and proceeds to represent the congregation of the dead as being there, among whom are the chief ones of the earth, and all the deceased kings of the nations. They were ghosts, or manes; for such, it is said, is the import of the Hebrew word which is frequently used to denote the inhabitants of Sheol.

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With regard to their condition, the passage just referred to, though highly figurative,48 sug

45 Isa. xxxviii. 10.

46 Isa. v. 14, comp. whole chapter, particularly ver. 24-30. 47 Isa. xiv. 9-15.

48 The rhetorical figure of personification runs through the whole of this passage. Thus the fir-trees are said so rejoice at the fall of the monarch, and the cedars of Lebanon to address him. In the same strain, the dead in Sheol are represented as in great commotion at his coming. Some writers refer to this circumstance as showing that the passage meant literally to recognize the activity of the dead. But, did it also mean to recognize a similar activity of the fir-trees and cedars.

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