The Hebrew Bible mainly concerns this worldly phenomenon. [1] In other words, life in this world is essential and therefore must flourish on earth as God blessed the first human family: “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen 1:28). Accordingly, justice and peace should be established in this world as the 8^th century prophets advocated (Amos 5:21-24). Reward and punishment also occur only in this world (Deut. 11:16-17; 28:15-68). Death seems to be final in the Bible except for Enoch and Elijah (Gen 5:21-24; 1 Kings 2:11). [2] At Moses’ death, there is no mention of afterlife for him (Deut 34:5-8). The dead go to sheol (a deep pit), a kind of shadowy existence, with no form of life and with complete separation from the living world (Isa. 5:14; 38:1-10, 18-19; Prov 27:20; Job 7:9-10; 10:10-21; 14:21-22; 17:13-16; Ps 30:9-10; 88:11-13; 139:8; Gen 37:35; 42:38). [3] Thus, bodily resurrection is not explicitly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible except in Daniel 12:2. The passages of Isaiah 25:7-8 and 26:18-19 seem to suggest the idea of resurrection, but they should be understood in the exilic context where people need hope for a restored Israel. In the same vein, Ezekiel 37:11-12 is not a reference to the notion of bodily resurrection but it should be taken as “a metaphor for the national regeneration of Israel.” [4]

The seed of bodily resurrection comes from Daniel 12:1-3 during the post-exilic period when enormous suffering took place among the pious Jews. God’s justice was questioned. Job is a typical reflection on the problem of theodicy. Job challenges a system of reward and punishment, suggesting that the righteous people are not necessarily rewarded in this world. [5] As such, the theodicy problem demanded a deeper reflection on the reality of suffering. As a result, the notion of bodily resurrection emerges in Daniel to justify God: resurrection of some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting abhorrence. Here resurrection is the means of God’s justice. But only in the later rabbinic period does bodily resurrection take on the universal application, based on the rabbinic affirmation of God as source of life, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Ultimately, this bodily resurrection is combined with the notion of immortality of soul, which is not evidenced from the Hebrew Bible but clearly influenced by Greek thought: for example, in Plato’s dialogue, Phaedo, Socrates views death as good because the soul can be liberated from the body at death. [6] But the use of the immortality of the soul in a rabbinic application is quite different and creative. In God’s time separated souls will return to the body, whereas in Greek thought the body is the prison of the soul, and once the soul departs, that is final: the soul never returns. But in Jewish thought the body is not necessarily bad; it only needs God’s redemption. This merging of two separate doctrines (bodily resurrection and immortality of soul) developed through the later Pharisees and rabbis who saw the necessity to combine them in view of their life context and theology.  Accordingly, in this essay, firstly, the origin of the afterlife will be investigated through the Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in conjunction with their social, cultural, and historical context. Secondly, rabbinic literature (Talmud, midrashim, Prayer Book) will be examined to find further evidence of the origin and development of the afterlife. Then, lastly, an attempt will be made to find a rabbinic paradigm that made possible the convergence of these two doctrines. 

2. The Origin of Afterlife

2.1 Bodily Resurrection

It is hard to draw the line where in the Bible or when exactly the notion of bodily resurrection came into Jewish consciousness. A large line can be drawn from the second century BCE on the one hand, when Daniel was written in response to “Antiochus IV’s reign and killing of the pious Jews,” [7] and on the other hand, a small line can be also drawn from the Hebrew Bible, namely, from the notion of God as an almighty, source of life, creator, redeemer, and sustainer. In this thought, bodily resurrection is not impossible with God. A prominent line can be drawn by the second century BCE, the beginning of a period of enormous suffering for the pious Jews. [8] Antiochus IV’s cruel reign of Judea and his attempt to annihilate the Jewish religion gave rise to Jewish protests. As a result, many righteous Jews were killed and persecuted as a result. Daniel was written in response to this situation of unjustified evil and the suffering of the righteous. [9]   Daniel 12:1-3 affirms God’s vindication for those who died unjustly and His punishment for those who are evil:

Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, others to reproaches, to everlasting abhorrence. And the knowledgeable will be radiant like the bright expanse of sky, and those who lead the many to righteousness will be like the stars forever.  (Daniel 12:1-3)

Daniel’s affirmation of God’s vindication is clearly understandable in light of the theodicy that God will certainly reward those righteous persons, and that God will punish those who are evil. The question is, why is the second century BCE a starting point rather than other historically difficult times in biblical history, for example, the time of exile in Babylonia (586 BCE). The answer is this: the Babylonian exile was interpreted as a result of Israel’s sin. [10] So in this case God’s justice was not questioned; rather, the problem was the sin of Israelites. This interpretation was that of the Deuteronomic School that emphasized the system of reward and punishment. But the situation of the second century BCE was different because of the massive unjust suffering of Israelites caused by Antiochus IV. The pious Jews then questioned God’s justice and came up with the idea of God’s justice in the future through bodily resurrection. Here bodily resurrection became the means of God’s justice (vindication) for the righteous. The pious Jews had the conviction that God would take care of them even beyond this earthly life because “God is omnipotent, compassionate and just.” [11]

Does that conviction include heaven as a place for the righteous? This is a difficult question to answer but the possibility of heaven is not completely ruled out in the apocalyptic context where the righteous people need an immediate solution and therefore comfort in the midst of suffering. Daniel 12:2-3 expresses with apocalyptic language the urgent need for God’s vindication, through which everlasting life will be given. In this sense, this “everlasting life” (12:2) could be interpreted as a sort of the immortality of the soul. But that is not the end. The idea of everlasting life involves bodily resurrection though the notion of bodily resurrection is not yet fully developed. For example, Daniel 12:1-3 is not concerned with “the resurrection of masses of Jews, nor with the resurrection of all the dead, nor the dead of prior generations.” [12]   Later in rabbinic Judaism the idea of afterlife was developed with emphasis on both elements of the everlasting life: bodily resurrection and immortality of soul.

            Extra-biblical parallels of the second century BCE to the second century CE also should be included in the discussion of bodily resurrection. These parallels can be understood as Daniel in the context of God’s justice for the righteous and His punishment of evil. See the following quotes from various extra-biblical materials.

The righteous one shall arise from his sleep (Enoch 91:10).

 

The righteous one shall awaken from his sleep; he shall arise and walk in the ways of righteousness… (Enoch 92:2).

 

You, you fiend are making us depart from present life, but the King of the universe will resurrect us, who die for the sake of His laws, to a new eternal life (2 Macc. 7:9).

 

Surely, then, the creator of the universe, who shaped man’s coming into being … with mercy will restore spirit and life to you…” (2 Macc. 7:22-23).

The earth shall give up those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who dwell silently in it (4 Ezra 7:32).

God himself will again form the bones and ashes of men, and he will raise up mortals again, as they were before. And then judgment will take place (Sibyline Oracle IV:180).

 

 

Then you will see Enoch, Noah and Shem, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob rising on the right hand in gladness. Then we also shall rise, each over our tribe, …then all will rise, some to glory and some to dishonor.

(Testament of Benjamin 10:6-8).              

Enoch 91:10 spells out the necessity of arising from sleep because the righteous persons should be vindicated. The idea of resurrection is similarly expressed here as in Daniel 12:2. Overall, the above parallels both extend and expand the earlier notion of bodily resurrection found in Daniel. They are extensions in terms of God’s vindication of justice, but more than that, they are expansions: “God is more powerful than death.” [13] 2 Macc. 7:9 and 7:22-23 indicate that God is more than justice; now God gives a new eternal life because God is merciful and is creator of the universe. Another interesting development of the notion of bodily resurrection comes from the Testament of Benjamin 10:6-8, where ancestors of the Jews are also included in the resurrection.

2.2 Immortality of Soul

Immortality of soul is no doubt from Greek thought as stated before. In the Hebrew Bible there is no concept of dualistic body as in Greek philosophy. In Greek thought a human is composed of body and soul. The soul is immortal but body perishes. So death is necessary and good; otherwise, the soul cannot attain immortality. But the Hebrew Bible in general does not support the notion of immortality of soul. The Bible portrays death as final even though there are good deaths: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, for example. All these died in the old age and are gathered to their ancestors.

More often than not, Gen 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:7 are quoted as biblical references to the immortality of the soul. But that is not the case.

The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Gen 2:7).

And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7).

The breath of life (Gen 2:7) is nishmat in Hebrew, meaning “breath” which animates a human being to be a living being (nefesh). The word nefesh means a whole person, life force, etc, but it is not the soul in the Greek concept. [14] While in the original context nefesh is a single entity, which cannot be separated between body and soul, but in the rabbinic tradition this term came to be understood as soul.

Eccl. 12:7 does not support the dichotomy of a human being as composed of body and soul. But it is actually an extension of Gen. 2:7 in the sense that the spirit as God’s animating breath returns to God, which is not the same as the soul of Greek. [15] From the Bible there is hardly a notion of soul that survives death. Then, where does this idea of immortality of soul come from? General scholarly agreement situates it in Greek thought and philosophy where human life is viewed dualistically: body and soul. This borrowed idea of immortality of soul appears in the Wisdom of Solomon:

And they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls; for God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity, but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it. (Wisdom of Solomon 2:22-24).

 

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be an affliction, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace. For though in the sight of men they were punished, their hope is full of immortality. (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-4)

 

As seen from the above, the language of “blameless souls” and “incorruption” is closely related with the Greek idea of immortality of Soul (2:22-24). In 3:1-4, immortality of the soul is the theme. 

3. Afterlife in Rabbinic Literature

Thus far an attempt has been made to find the origin of two separate doctrines. Each took its own course of development but eventually the two doctrines converge through the Pharisees, who are forerunners of rabbinic Judaism.  

            Josephus wrote two important books, containing a historical description of the Pharisees. According to him, the Pharisees believed in afterlife:

 Their belief is that souls have a deathless vigor, and that beneath the earth there are rewards and punishments according as they have been devoted in life to virtue or vice… but the former shall have the power to revive and live again. (Antiquities of the Jews 18: I:3).

According to Josephus, Pharisees won loyalty from the masses because they “promoted the doctrine of afterlife for the individual”. [16] In contrast, the Sadducees denied the notion of resurrection altogether, whereas Essenes accepted “a Platonic belief in the immortality of the soul”. [17] It should be noted that the Pharisees took a middle position “which seems to combine elements of bodily resurrection and spiritual immortality”. [18] How is this possible? While the Sadducees clung to a more literal interpretation of the Bible without believing in resurrection and afterlife, (probably they were not interested in afterlife because this life seemed to be enjoyable on earth), the Pharisees read the Bible with an oral tradition, which revolutionized their understanding of scripture and life. Through the oral tradition they could read the text from the afterlife doctrine. In this way, the authority of non-scriptural tradition becomes a cornerstone of rabbinic Judaism, which is shown in the very first Mishnah of tractate Avot 1:1: “Moses received Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, and Joshua to the Elders, and the Elders to the prophets, and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly. Thy said three things…” [19]

3.1 Talmud & Midrashim

By the end of the second century CE, resurrection became a doctrine. [20] In Mishnah there is a strong affirmation of bodily resurrection:

And these are the ones who have no portion in the age to come: He who says, the resurrection of the dead is a teaching that does not derive from the Torah, and the Torah does not come from heaven, and Epicurean. (Sanhedrin 10:1) [21]  

With flexible biblical hermeneutic, Talmudic rabbis read the Bible creatively to affirm their belief in resurrection and looked to the Bible to prove it. Rabban Gamaliel said:

From the Torah: for it is written, ‘And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your father and rise up’ (Deut. 31:16). …From the Prophets: as it is written, ‘Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you that live in the dust, for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out its dead’ (Is. 26:19). … From the Writings, as it is written, ‘And the roof of your mouth, like the best wine of my beloved, that goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those who are asleep to speak’ (Song 7:9).

(Bab. Talmud Sanhedrin 90b)

In fact, Rabban Gamaliel’s resorting to the text is out of context. From the Torah: people rise up, not Moses (Deut. 31:16). From the Prophets: the original context has to do with Israel as a whole, to give hope to them, not with individuals’ resurrection as such. The Song of Songs is more inventive, with his relating of resurrection to an image of sleeping while the original context has to do with loving. The point is that Rabban Gamaliel made efforts to read the text to support the conviction of the resurrection of the dead.                     

Another example of such creative reading of the Torah can be found in Sanhedrin 91b:

It has been taught on Tannaite authority:

R. Meir says, “How on the basis of the Torah do we know about the resurrection of the dead? As it is said, ‘Then shall Moses and the children of Israel sing this song to the Lord’ (Ex. 15:1). “What is said is not ‘sang’ but ‘will sing,’ on the basis of which there is proof from the Torah of the resurrection of the dead. Along these same lines: ‘Then shall Joshua build an altar to the Lord God of Israel’ (Josh. 8:30). What is said is not ‘built’ but ‘will build,’ on the basis of which there is proof from the Torah of the resurrection of the dead. Sanhedrin 91b. 

From the above Talmud the future tenses are construed as a time of the future resurrection. “Sing and build” relates to future events, rather than to a mere event of history. Though the Torah does not clearly mention a notion of resurrection, in the rabbis’ mind, the Torah is a place to show the concept of resurrection, because of a creative reading.

The following Sanhedrin is another example of creative reasoning that affirms the notion of resurrection:

A min said to Gebiha, son of Pesisa, [a hunchback,] “Woe for you! You are guilty! For you say that the dead will live. Those who are alive die, and will those who are dead live?” He said to him, “Woe for you! You are guilty! For you say that the dead will not live. [Now if we] who were not [alive before birth] now live, will not those who do live all the more so [live again]?” Bab. Talmud Sanhedrin 91a.

 

The logic of the above Sanhedrin goes like this: The resurrection of the dead is based on God’s power through which humans are born and also restored to life again. [22] Similarly, Eccl. Rabbah 1:4 also talks about God’s power of resurrection: “I wounded and I will heal” (Deut. 32:39). [23]

The convergence of body and soul is expressed in the following:

Antonunus said to Rabbi, “The body and the soul both can exempt themselves from judgment. “How so? The body will say, ‘The soul is the one that has sinned, for from the day that it left me, lo, I am left like a silent stone in the grave.’ “And the soul will say, ‘The body is the one that sinned. For from the day that I left it, lo, I have been flying about in the air like a bird.’” He said to him, “I shall draw a parable for you. To what may the matter be likened? To the case of a mortal king who had a lovely orchard, and in it were [91b] luscious figs. He set in it two watchmen, one crippled and one blind. “Said the cripple to the blind man, ‘There are luscious figs that I see in the orchard. Come and carry me, and let us get some to eat. The cripple rode on the blind man and they got the figs and ate them. After a while the king said to them, ‘Where are the luscious figs?’ “Said the cripple, ‘Do I have feet to go to them?’ “Said the blind man, ‘Do I have eyes to see?’ “What did the king do? He had the crippled climb onto the blind man, and he inflicted judgment on them as one. “So the Holy One, blessed be he, brings the soul and places it back in the body and judges them as one, as it is said, ‘He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth, that he may judge his people’ (Ps. 50:4). “‘He shall to call to the heavens from above’ – this is the soul. “‘And to the earth, that he may judge his people’ – this is the body.” (Bab. Talmud Sanhedrin 91a-91b) 

It should be noted that a rabbinic notion of resurrection is personal and individual. “Just as wounding and healing happen to one person, so death and then resurrection happen to one person” (Sanhedrin 91b). Individuals’ defects can be healed after rising from the grave (Sanhedrin 91b). These all suggest that resurrection is a guarantee and comfort for individuals who can be perfect at the time of resurrection.

            In Bab. Talmud B’rachot 60b, there is a repeated use of “me” which implies the personal and individual focus on resurrection and new life: see below. This part of B’rachot is also used in Early Morning Benedictions (Birkhot Hashahar): [24]

My God, the soul that You have given me is pure. You created it, You fashioned it, You breathed me, You safeguarded it within me, You will eventually take it from me and return it to me in time to come. As long as the soul is within me, I thank You O Lord, my God and God of my ancestors, Master of all things, Lord of all souls. Praised are You Lord who restores souls to dead bodies. Bab. Talmud B’rachot 60b

As seen from the above, two doctrines merge and the individuality of the soul and of the body is emphasized. God creates, fashions the soul and breathes “me,” take it and return it to “me” in time to come. Furthermore, this notion of the personal aspect of resurrection is also shown in Bab. Talmud Kebubot IIIb: “R. Hiyya ben Joseph further stated: the just in the time to come will rise in their own clothes…”

3.2 Prayer Book

The Prayer Book is one of the best places to explain the notion of resurrection. Gevurot benediction of the Amidah reads as follows:

You are eternally mighty, O Lord. You revive the dead; great is your power to save. (you make the wind to blow and the rain to fall). You sustain the living with compassion; you revive the dead with abundant mercy. You support the falling, heal the ailing, free the captivity; and maintain faith with those who sleep in the dust. Whose power can compare with yours, who is comparable to You O King Who brings death and restores life and causes salvation to sprout. You are faithful to restore life to the dead. (Gevurot Benediction of the Amidah) [25]

In this prayer, “maintaining faith with those who sleep in the dust” is reminiscent of Daniel 12:2 and Isaiah 26:19. [26] The above benediction comes from Psalm 146:5-8 but is amplified by introducing the notion of resurrection, for example: “you revive the dead,” “sleep in the dust,” and “restores life to the dead and causes salvation to sprout”. [27]

            In this prayer God’s power is the key to the resurrection, which contrasts the earlier notion of resurrection in Daniel, which is the means of God’s justice. Furthermore, the present tense verb “revive” intensifies God’s power because it is a present reality: (You) revive the dead (mehaye hametim). God’s power transcends time and place. Even now God can restore life, not just in the future. “God has the power to do all these things”. [28] Every day this prayer is recited and it is amazing that every day Jews experience resurrection in a sense because it is God’s present activity and grace. This is a powerful statement of the prayer: You revive (present) the dead like awakening the sleeping in the dust. It is a daily practice of resurrection in a sense because every morning Jews awake from sleep. In this sense, sleeping and awakening is a natural part of human life; such is the blessing of God. As God causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall for the purpose of reviving the earth, God also can revive human life. [29] As the rain and the wind bring about the renewal of crops in the seasons, God also renews the dead in the seasons. This natural metaphor of the rain and the wind vividly shows the power of God.  

4. Rabbinic Thought and Afterlife

How does the afterlife fit into a rabbinic paradigm in a larger context? Why does the body need resurrection? Does it not seem that immortality of soul is enough? If so, why then body? Or vice versa can bodily resurrection be enough without the doctrine of the immortality of the soul?  

First of all, the holistic body concept is the key to the understanding of rabbinic thought. “Holistic” includes all aspects of life: emotional, physical, psychological, economic, aesthetic, spiritual, and sexual. This means that the holistic bodily life must continue in the world to come, with a continuation of an individual identity. [30] In other words, the rabbis are not satisfied with the immortality of the soul only because there is no bodily life to enjoy as a true human being. [31] Partly, this body is also a creation of God in the beginning. So, it must continue even after death because God is more powerful than death. Bodily life itself is God’s blessing. So, an afterlife without the body, namely the soul only, is meaningless. This emphasis on the body was shown in the Talmud Sanhedrin 91a: “the body and the soul both can exempt themselves from judgment” which was quoted in the previous section. And also in the same Talmud the following is found:

R. Simeon b. Laqish contrasted [these two verses]: “It is written, ‘I will gather them… with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that trail travails with child together’ (Jer. 31:8), and it is written, ‘Then shall the lame man leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert’ (Is. 35:6). How so [will the dead both retain their defects and also be healed]? “They will rise [from the grave] bearing their defects and then be healed.” (Bavli Sanhedrin 91b)

From the above Gemara, bodily life is continued with a healed body. There is also a continuation of personal identity after resurrection.  How was this kind of balance possible in rabbinic thought?  I think this has to do with a twofold reason. First of all, they were faithful to the context of the people. In other words, they could read the “text” of life, which also has to do with ordinary people’s existential crisis of human destiny. [32] Secondly, the rabbis brought the people’s agenda to the Bible by reading it back into the Bible, drawing nicely on a new theology from it: God is the one who restores body and gives new life, and who is also more powerful than death. [33]