at Mount Hor and his brother Moses died at Mount Nebo and they were gathered to their people, they were not buried with their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the cave at Machpelah near Hebron in the Promised Land. Yet they were all gathered to Sheol or Haʹdes. They all lie dead in the one Sheol or Haʹdes; and from there, Revelation 20:13 tells us, the dead will come forth in a resurrection.

Part Two

1. (a) Who did Paul say to Governor Felix would come forth in a resurrection? (b) How can we make sure whether such kinds of persons are in line for resurrection?

ONCE the Christian apostle Paul spoke in court before the Roman Governor Felix, who did not believe in the Bible and its teaching of a resurrection. Paul said: “I am rendering sacred service to the God of my forefathers, as I believe all the things set forth in the Law and written in the Prophets; and I have hope toward God, which hope these men themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:14, 15) Well, then, does the Bible teach that there are unrighteous persons in Sheol or Haʹdes, which place will be emptied of all its dead by God’s kingdom? We can make sure of the answer to this question. How? By learning who else are in Sheol (Haʹdes) and what the Bible has to say about their morality and their position during their past earthly life.

UNRIGHTEOUS PERSONS ALSO IN SHEOL (HAʹDES)

2. How, in the book of Numbers, does Moses use the word Sheol in calling down judgment upon three rebels and their households?

² The Hebrew word Sheol (Greek LXX, Haʹdes) occurs four times in the first book of the Bible, called Genesis and written by the prophet Moses. The next occurrences of Sheol are in the fourth book of the Bible, called Numbers, also written by Moses. Twice the word is there used, in connection with the households of the Israelites Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Those three men became rebellious against Jehovah, and so he used his prophet Moses to call down his judgment upon them. First the other Israelites were told to get away from the tabernacles of those three rebels and their households. Then Moses showed that the judgment would be from God by saying: “If it is something created that Jehovah will create, and the ground has to open its mouth and swallow up them and everything that belongs to them and they have to go down alive into Sheol [Haʹdes], you will then know for certain that these men have treated Jehovah disrespectfully.”—Num. 16:20-30.

3. So what punishment did Moses ask to come upon those condemned ones, and where did they go at their execution?

³ Notice that the prophet Moses did not pray or ask for those three family groups to go down into everlasting destruction. He did not call for the worst punishment possible to be executed upon them. He asked for the ground beneath them to open up and swallow them down alive and bury them out of sight, that in this way they might go down “into Sheol.” Did they go to Sheol (Haʹdes), or to a worse place? The very next verses (Num. 16:31-33) tell us, saying: “And it came about that as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them began to be split apart. And the earth proceeded to open its mouth and to swallow up them and their households and all humankind that belonged to Korah and all the goods. So down they went, and all who belonged to them, alive into Sheol [Haʹdes, LXX], and the earth went covering them over, so that they perished from the midst of the congregation.”

4, 5. (a) How was Korah himself executed at that time? (b) Who of those households were spared, and why?

⁴ Apparently the leading man Korah was not with those who went down alive in this manner into Sheol. He was a Levite and evidently was in the courtyard of the tabernacle of worship among the two hundred and fifty Levites who sided with Korah against Moses and Aaron. “And a fire came out from Jehovah and proceeded to consume the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense.”—Num. 16:35.

⁵ Thus by the miraculous splitting of the ground and by miraculous fire those three rebels and their households were cleared out from the congregation of Israel at about the same time. Sheol or Haʹdes holds them. The sons of Korah did not side in with their father and hence were not burned up. As Numbers 26:9-11 tells us: “However, the sons of Korah did not die.” In support of this, see also the superscriptions of Psalms 42-49, 84, 85, 87, 88.

6. According to Deuteronomy 32:22, how far-reaching is the expression of God’s anger, and how does Amos 9:2 agree with this?

⁶ In the Bible’s fifth book, called Deuteronomy, Moses used the word Sheol. In his farewell song to the congregation of Israel, Moses warned them about how thoroughly God would express his fiery anger against those who incite him to jealousy by their false worship. In giving this warning Jehovah God says through Moses: “A fire has been ignited in my anger and it will burn down to Sheol, the lowest place, and it will consume the earth and its produce and will set ablaze the foundations of mountains.” (Deut. 32:22) In pictorial language this warns us that Jehovah’s fiery anger goes down to the very roots of things. It is so thorough in its execution that if people try to dig as far down into the earth as Sheol in an attempt to escape, they will be overtaken by Jehovah’s searching anger. The reach of his ability to execute destructive judgment goes as far as earthly man can go. (Amos 9:2) Jerusalem was a city built upon a mountaintop, but God’s expression of anger reached her and caused her destruction.

7. Against whom were Korah, Dathan and Abiram directly speaking, and so why would it have otherwise gone far worse for their rebellion?

⁷ In the above-mentioned cases of the Israelites Korah, Dathan and Abiram, we must remember that they were rebelling and speaking against typical or prophetic figures. Both Moses as prophet and his brother Aaron as high priest were types of Jesus Christ in similar offices. (Deut. 18:15-19; Acts 3:20-23; Heb. 3:1, 2; 5:4-6; 9:23-26) When Jesus was on earth and was being spoken against he said: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the holy spirit, it will not be forgiven him, no, not in the present system of things nor in that to come.” (Matt. 12:32) Korah, Dathan and Abiram were speaking against the two men, Moses and Aaron, who were types or prophetic figures of the Son of man, Jesus Christ. Had that not been so, it might have gone far worse with them than merely to descend with their households into Sheol or Haʹdes.

8. How did King David use language like that of Moses when speaking to Solomon concerning the Benjaminite Shimei?

⁸ Another man who used language like that of the prophet Moses was David, the first Jewish king of Jerusalem. He also was a type or prophetic figure of Jesus Christ, who was born into David’s own royal family. When David gave final instructions to his son Solomon to whom he had abdicated the throne of Jerusalem, David said: “Here there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim, and he it was that called down evil upon me with a painful malediction on the day that I was going to Mahanaim; and he it was that came down to meet me at the Jordan, so that I swore to him by Jehovah, saying, ‘I shall not put you to death by the sword.’ And now do not leave him unpunished, for you are a wise man and you well know what you ought to do to him, and you must bring his gray hairs down to Sheol with blood.” In due time Solomon carried out his father’s orders.—1 Ki 2:8, 9, 42-46.

9. How was this true also with regard to David’s former army general Joab?

⁹ Concerning his former army general named Joab, the aged David said to Solomon as his successor: “You yourself also well know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me in what he did to two chiefs of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and Amasa the son of Jether, when he killed them and placed the blood of war in peacetime and put the blood of war on his belt that was about his hips and in his sandals that were on his feet. And you must act according to your wisdom, and not let his gray hairs go down in peace to Sheol.” In due time, in the interest of the peace and unity of the kingdom, Solomon found it necessary to send his army officer Benaiah to execute Joab, who tried to take sanctuary at Jehovah’s altar. “Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went on up and fell upon him and put him to death; and he got to be buried at his own house in the wilderness.” (1 Ki. 2:5, 6, 28-34) Thus Joab’s gray hair did not go down in peace to Sheol.—Contrast Genesis 42:38.

10. Did David understand his use of terms in the case of Sheol, and to what, therefore, did he ask Solomon to bring Joab and Shimei down?

¹⁰ When giving such instructions to his son Solomon concerning Joab and Shimei, King David knew what he was talking about. He understood the meaning of the language that he was using. He knew what Sheol meant. In eleven of his psalms David, under inspiration, used the word Sheol and used it in a correct way.a He foretold, in Psalm 16:10, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from Sheol. This resurrection of Jesus laid the basis for all others in Sheol to be resurrected during the rule of God’s kingdom by his Messiah Jesus the descendant of David. So, in ordering Solomon to bring down Joab and Shimei violently to Sheol, David knew that he was not asking Solomon to bring down these disobedient men to everlasting destruction without hope of any future existence.

11. In Psalm 31:17, 18 David asked for the wicked to be silenced where, and why was that the correct location?

¹¹ David’s psalms and those of other Israelites are in harmony with David’s orders to Solomon as to the place to which to bring down men like Shimei and Joab. In Psalm 31:17, 18 David appeals to God and says: “O Jehovah, may I not be ashamed, for I have called on you. May the wicked ones be ashamed; may they [the