Resurrection after a death sentence in the OT?

by EdenOne 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    I have a question for those more versed in biblical history than I.

    Knowing that a belief in a resurrection on messianic times was a later Jewish belief ... but still ... did the OT Jews believe that someone served a capital punishment / death sentence would be elegible for future resurrection?

    Meaning: When coding the Torah, did its writers intended that the capital punishment also be understood as an obliteration for all eternity?

    This bears significance to me, as I'm arguing about the significance of Jehovah's Witnesses comparing disfellowshipping as being analogous to ancient capital punishment in ancient Israel.

    Can someone weight in?

    Thank you

  • waton
    waton

    not a scholar at all, but the idea of a dignified burial, in the "memorial tombs", compared to be dumped over the edge at the valley of Hinnom, aka Gehenna, or being eaten by the dogs says it all. or?

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    Noted but that is later (second temple) judaism...? My question is directed at the time of the coding of the Torah, so earlier.

  • Sea Breeze
    Sea Breeze

    EdenOne:

    When coding the Torah, did its writers intended that the capital punishment also be understood as an obliteration for all eternity?

    Judgement after death is taught in both testaments. Consciousness is eternal, hard-wired into the design from the beginning. Every man, woman & child who has ever been conceived will be conscious somewhere for eternity. A wrecked car doesn't stop being a car just because it is undriveable.

    The following 17 scriptures must be "spiritualized" away or ignored in order to keep the Watchtower interpretation that a person will self-atone when they die and will wake up in paradise petting Panda bears.

    1. John 3: 18 - He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

    - If a person gets a new slate when they die and they can pay for their own sins by dying, then nobody is really condemned. A literal interpretation of this scripture says otherwise.

    2. John 5: 29 - And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

    - If a person gets a new slate when they die and they can pay for their own sins by dying, then why will there be a resurrection of damnation? A literal interpretation of this scripture says otherwise.

    3. Rev. 20: 5 - But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.

    - The WT says this scripture is “spiritual” and not literal. But, they believe the next verses 6-9, are literal (the Final Rebellion). But, the ones after that, verses 10 & 11 are spiritual. (They wave away the verses that teach that there will be a literal judgement after you die as does Hebrews 9: 27)

    4. Rev. 20: 12 - And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

    - If a person gets a new slate when they die and they can pay for their own sins by dying, then why resurrect the dead to judge them by their works? (This must be spiritualized – ignored)

    - The reality is that Christians are judged at Calvary Hill along with Christ as deserving of death. Others who reject the New Covenant Blood Covering and the work that Jesus did must now be judged by their own works, having rejected the work of Christ, his grace and New Covenant.

    5. Matt. 12: 41 - The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

    - If a person gets a new slate when they die and they can pay for their own sins by dying, then why will the men of Nineveh be resurrected to testify that they were able to repent having far less miraculous signs to go on than the men in Jesus’ day had? This sounds like a real trial with real witnesses. All this must be spiritualized by the WT to fit their narrative.

    6. Matt: 10: 15 - Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.

    - If a person gets a new slate when they die and they can pay for their own sins by dying why will the people in Jesus’ day receive a heavier judgement than those from Sodom & Gomorrah?

    7. Matt. 11: - 21 – 24 - Then began he to upbraid [chastise] the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

    But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

    - Why will it be more tolerable for the residents of Tyre, Sidon, Sodom & Gomorrah at judgment day, than for the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, & Capernaum if a person can pay for their own sins by dying & get a new slate after they die?

    8. Is. 2: 12 - For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning, Against everyone who is proud and lofty. And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased.

    - Why has the Lord reserved a day to condemn the proud and lofty if a person can pay for their own sins by dying & can get a new slate after they die?

    9. Hebrews 9: 27 – it is appointed unto man once to die, and then judgement

    - Why will there be a personal judgement after you die if you already have a new slate and paid for your sins when you died?

    10. Rev. 11: 18 - thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged

    - Again, why will there be a personal judgement after you die if you already have a new slate and paid for your sins when you died?

    11. Romans 3: 28 - For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

    - Being Justified means there is no debt. Why is there a need to eliminate our sin debt by faith if we get a clean slate (justified) simply by dying? If we have already paid our debt by dying, why does anyone need to be justified. It makes the works vs. faith argument totally irrelevant. Why not just die and be done with it?

    -

    12. Romans 5: 1 - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

    - Why do we achieve peace with God through faith if it is actually by our own death?

    13. Habakkuk 2: 4 - Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

    - Why do we live again by faith if it is simply by dying that we will live again?

    14. Gen. 15: 6 - And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

    - Why did Abraham need to get declared righteous by believing God if all he had to do is die and get resurrected during the Millennial Reign?

    15. Gal. 2: 16 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ… , for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

    - Why worry about faith or works if a person justifies himself by dying and wakes up during the Millennium Reign with no sin debt? The truth is that Justification is very important and determines where you will spend eternity. And, it is achieved only one way, by faith; and not by works or by simply dying.

    16. Matt. 12: 36 - But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

    - Why will careless things that people say be brought up against them on Judgment Day if a person gets a clean slate after they die?

    17. 2 Peter 2: 9 - The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

    - Why is the Lord reserving unjustified mankind for judgement and punishment if they are given a clean slate when they die?

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    The most explicit reference to resurrection in the OT, I think is Daniel 12:13.

    13 “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.

    The book of Daniel is usually dated to the second century BC by mainstream scholars, and 6th century BC by JWs and other conservative believers.

    A much earlier but more ambiguous reference to resurrection is Job 14:7–17.

    At least there is hope for a tree:

    If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
    and its new shoots will not fail.
    8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
    and its stump die in the soil,

    9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put forth shoots like a plant.
    10 But a man dies and is laid low;
    he breathes his last and is no more.
    11 As the water of a lake dries up
    or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
    12 so he lies down and does not rise;
    till the heavens are no more, people will not awake

    or be roused from their sleep.

    “If only you would hide me in the grave

    and conceal me till your anger has passed!

    If only you would set me a time

    and then remember me!

    If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service
    I will wait for my renewal to come.

    15 You will call and I will answer you;
    you will long for the creature your hands have made.
    16 Surely then you will count my steps
    but not keep track of my sin.
    17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
    you will cover over my sin.”

    The book of Job is possibly one of the older parts of the Hebrew Bible, especially the poetic part that is quoted here. So it could be relevant to a consideration of what the Jews believed early in their history.

    I don’t think there is any explicit reference to resurrection or afterlife in the Torah, but I would be interested to be corrected.

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    All good references, still not addressing my question... did ancient Jews thought of people executed with death penalty as permanently obliterated, or would they hold hope in a future resurrection / afterlife?

    Any Talmudic / Targumic / apocrypha sources on this?

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    I wonder if this passage could offer a useful clue?

    Deuteronomy 21:22, 23: "If a man commits a sin deserving the sentence of death and he has been put to death and you have hung him on a stake, his dead body should not remain all night on the stake. Instead, you should be sure to bury him on that day, because the one hung up is something accursed of God, and you should not defile your land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance."

    The executed was "accursed of God ". No place in the resurrection of the righteous, then? Or ...?

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    What I said does address your question. It’s like asking did the Victorians like to eat McDonalds. I point out that Victorians didn’t have McDonalds and you respond saying: but you didn’t answer my question—did the Victorians like to eat McDonalds?

    So to state it plainly.

    The early Hebrew Bible doesn’t discuss an afterlife, so it follows that it doesn’t say anything one or another about a future life for those executed.

    Daniel, a late writing of the Hebrew Bible, talks about resurrection, but it is later than the Torah. In the case of Job, which is earlier than Daniel, there is an exploration of the possibility of resurrection rather than a teaching as such. In neither case does it discuss the afterlife, or otherwise, for people who were executed.

    That’s how I understand the evidence from the Hebrew Bible anyway. Other Jewish sources I know nothing about. But they are all almost certainly too late to tell us anything about views when the law was written.

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    Slimboyfat, Isaiah 26:19 (composed in the 8th century BC, hence, pre-exilic) also discusses resurrection:

    But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
    Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy!
    For your dew is like the dew of dawn,
    and the earth will give birth to the dead.

    And Isaiah 52:12-53:13, speaking of the "suffering servant", also seems to be speaking of some reward in an afterlife.

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    I think that could be a restoration prophecy like Ezekiel 37 but it does show the concept of resurrection was in currency at least.

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