Is there eternal judgement, what about Hell in the Torah?

  • So if there is a Resurrection in Judaism, what about judgement or hell?
  • In Hebrew Sheol and Greek Gehenna both denote a place of the dead and also a bottomless pit.
  • There are a number of scriptures that speak of death, resurrection, and judgement of the righteous and wicked:

10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Daniel 7:10

28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

Psalm 69:28

22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Deuteronomy 32:22

13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

Psalm 86:13

28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Job 21:28-30

13 Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

Psalm 96:13

2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel 12:2-3 (KJV)

8 For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

Isaiah 34:8-10

  • This previous scripture from the Old Testament sounds similar to the writings in Revelation:

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Revelation 14:10-11

  • The notion of a resurrection was believed by Pharisaic Jews of Jesus's day.
  • In addition even Maimonides (known as the Rambam) listed the resurrection as the last of his 13 articles of faith.
  • This is known as "Olam Habah" or the "The World to Come"
  • Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1 and Talmud Sanhedrin 90a list the belief in the Resurrection as one of three core beliefs

The general resurrection of the dead is appointed for the day of judgment, and when it takes place the revived souls will sing angelic songs.

Midrash Eccles. 1.

The faithful of Israel are desirous of sepulture in the land of Palestine because, at the advent of Messiah, the resurrection will take place there before any other part of the world, but that will be the resurrection of the righteous only.

Midrash Genesis Rabbah 96

  • The above is interesting because mentions life after death, and also infers a judgement for both the Righteous and Non-Righteous. The latter to be part of a SECOND resurrection, which is related to the idea of the "Rapture" in Christianity.
  • Also interesting, Midrash Genesis Rabbah 56 refers to the resurrection, and just as Jesus mentions he would be buried 3 days and be raised again, this part of the Talmud is very similar:

I. ON THE THIRD DAY, etc (XXII, 4). It is written, After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence (Hos VI, 2). E.g. on the third day of the tribal ancestors: And Joseph said unto them the third day: This do, and live (Gen XLII, 18); on the third day of Revelation: And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning (Ex. XIX, 16); on the third day of the spies: And hide yourselves there three days (Josh. II, 16); on the third day of Jonah: And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights (Jonah II, 1); on the third day of those returning from the Exile: And we abode there three days (Ezra VIII, 32); on the third day of resurrection: 'After two days he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us up'; on the third day of Esther: Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel (Est. V, 1) - i.e. she put on the royal apparel of her ancestor. For whose sake? The Rabbis say: For the sake of the third day, when Revelation took place. R. Levi maintained: In the merit of what Abraham did on the third day, as it says, ON THE THIRD DAY, etc.