REFERENCES
1 The
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon p.62, col.2.
2 While SHEOL is not directly mentioned in this verse, the Hebrew word QEBER (tomb or
individual grave) occurs in the immediate context (verse 22). One cannot be in
QEBER without being in SHEOL. Therefore, the dead in Job 3:17-18 are in SHEOL.
3 The Englishman's Hebrew Concordance To The Old Testament (George V. Wigram),
p. 1220 [compare entries 2 & 6].
4 Immortality Or Resurrection?, Samuele Bacchiocchi, p.1 59.
5 "Gr. Hades, from a (privative) and idein,
to see...,used by the Greeks for the unseen world."(The Companion Bible Appendix 131,
p. 162). The translators of the LXX no doubt chose HADES because it was somewhat similar
in meaning to SHEOL, and was already associated with the "underworld" in its
pagan Greek usage. HADES is also related to HADAYLOS. "not clear, unseen"
(Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon Of The New Testament And Other Early Christian
Literature p.16, col.2). This latter word is found in Luke 11:44, where it is used of "graves
which are not seen" (NKJV).
6 Soon after the return to Palestine from the Babylonian Captivity, an un-Hebraic
"body-soul dualism," Persian in origin, began to infect Jewish eschatological
teaching. By the time of Christ, this influence --- further reinforced by Hellenistic
concepts --- had become widespread. (The evidence is reviewed in Enoch and Elijah: R.I.P.,
M. Thomas Wark, pp.3-6 & pp. I9n.5 and 20n.12).
7 Some suggest that this merely means that at death a man's plans come to nothing (The
NKJV actually changes "thoughts" to "plans"!). This is a
dodge, for the reason given for the cessation of "thoughts" is that the MAN is
no longer breathing and is in the earth decaying!
8 According to Young's Analytical Concordance: "Index-Lexicon To
The Old Testament," p.1, the King James translators rendered ABAD as: be broken[l ],
be destroyed[4], be lost[8], be perished[ 12], be ready to perish[4], be undone[l], be
void of], fail[2], perish[79], not have[l] destruction[l). The Infinitive they rendered
destruction[1]. They rendered the Piel form as: cause to perish[2], destroy[33], lose[1],
make to perish[2], spend[l], be destroyed[l]. The Hiph'il form they rendered as: cause to
perish[1], destroy[24], take[1]. This range of meanings suggests that the correct
interpretation of Psa. 146:4 is that there is not a trace of consciousness left in death!
'9 The Hebrew word behind the phrase "while I have any being"
can also be rendered "While I have continuance" (cp. The Brown-Driver-Briggs
Hebrew and English Lexicon pp. 728 [col.2] & 729 [cols.1 & 2]. This agrees
with the testimony of Job: "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full
of trouble. He comes forth like flower AND FADES AWAY; he flees like a shadow AND DOES NOT
CONTINUE" (Job 14.1-2, NKJV).
10 " - as long as I exist [huparxo]." Brenton's translation
of the Greek is quite accurate. A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint Part Two,
p. 487, col. 2, defines the verb huparxo: "to be present, to be
there,....to exist, to be."
11 "...till I exist [genomai] again." According
to The Analytical Lexicon to the Septuagint p. 84, col.1, the verb genomai
is the 2nd aorist-middle-subjunctive of ginomai, which means "to be
born, to be begotten,"--in other words, to come into being! (A
Greek-English Lexicon to the Septuagint Part One, p.90, col.1)
12 "It is characteristic of dualism that it conceives two things where there is
only one, and sees the body as something OTHER than man....In Hebrew the soul is
the man. Indeed we should not say that man HAS a soul, but that he IS a soul; nor
consequently that he has a body, but that he is a body .... Unhampered by the
body-soul dichotomy, the Hebrew calls this tangible, sensible, expressive, and living
reality that is man, a soul. I perceive, not a 'body' which contains a 'soul,' but,
directly, a living soul....For the living man, Hebrew uses indiscriminately the term
'soul,' NEPHESH, or the term 'flesh,' BASAR....Nowhere do we find the word flesh used to
convey what we mean by 'body."' (A Study of Hebrew Thought Claude Tresmontant,
pp.90, 94 & 95; emphasis ours)
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