Quote:
Originally Posted by ben.nebula
i think that hell is ultimately the motivation for being saved because of our flesh and its unability to understand the long-term consequences of it's actions - if the jews didnt understand hell then it would have been more difficult for them to live for GOD or understand true salvation
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If by "hell" one means the "Lake of Fire" and "eternal torment" (
Revelation 19:20) then it does appear to be true that the people of the Bible did not have this understanding throughout the OT period. It was introduced (or revealed) during the intertestamental period. (See
Ecclesiastes 9:5-6;
Ecclesiastes 9:10;
Job 14:7-12;
Psalm 6:5;
Psalm 88:10-12;
Isaiah 38:18-19).
By the time of Jesus' ministry it was still not completely accepted. The Sadducees, for example, rejected the idea along with the concept of the resurrection of the dead - AND they did so because the Law of Moses never once mentioned such a thing... at least not explicitly.
Jesus of course famously found a "loop hole" in their line of reasoning and showed from the Pentateuch that there was at least an implicit idea in the background that supported the notion that spirits and the resurrected dead could still exist (
Matthew 22:31-34).
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