IT

V.

The Witness of the Old Testament

T is not easy for Christians to approach the Old Testament Scriptures without reading into them the fuller revelation that has been given in the Gospel.

We have to guard against this tendency when our object is not to find out what Christian truth lay hidden in this or that passage of the Old Testament, but what was thought to be the original significance of the words -what belief they expressed or fostered at the time they were written.

There are, for example, indications that we can now see in the Old Testament of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; but it would of course be a mistake to suppose that such passages were understood in that sense by the Hebrews.

Thus also, in dealing with the Old Testament teaching as to a life after death, we have to consider not what we now think to be the full significance of these passages, but, if possible, first to ascertain the exact meaning of the words in which such a life is hinted at or mentioned, and then—from the current Jewish belief and tradition -to find out what teaching these portions of Holy

Writ conveyed to the Hebrew people before the coming of Jesus Christ. It is a further study to follow up this traditional belief and trace its recognition in the teaching of the New Testament.

The difficulty, however, of arriving at the historical or literal meaning of some passages of the Old Testament is often very great, and sometimes impossible. The moral and spiritual meaning may be clear, but the lapse of time may render it beyond our power to arrive at the circumstances attending the original assertion, command, prophecy, or prayer. Again, we learn from the New Testament that very many of the apparently historical events recorded in the Old Testament were typical of some truth of the Gospel, and at times it is not easy to say if the type was meant to be regarded as an historical fact or as an allegory or parable. There are various kinds of inspiration. The Sibyl and the Pythoness of ancient Hellas were thought to be inspired, but no one supposed that the oracles they delivered demanded a literal interpretation. In the Bible we find that inspiration is bestowed for a special purpose to which it is carefully proportioned. At one time it takes the form of certain commands coming directly from God, as in the giving of the Law. At another time the historian is guided to select certain facts, and to record certain actions-some good, some bad. At yet another time the prophet, witnessing the struggles, the sins, and the perils of his time, is "inspired" to seize the lesson that the events should teach, or to point out their remedy. What the

historian records and the prophet proclaims is overruled by God to convey to all ages a spiritual or moral lesson, over and above the immediate meaning of the words at the time they were uttered.

In the order of Nature we are constantly in the presence of mystery-phenomena that at present we cannot explain or understand. Nature bears witness to the existence of God, but she does not manifest Him so plainly that atheism is rendered absolutely impossible. It is only by degrees, "here a little, and there a little,”1 that Science is reading the book of Nature, and we certainly need not be surprised if the same slowness is required for progress in the understanding of the written Word of God. It seems as if we heard once again the words of our Lord," If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"2

In both Nature and Holy Scripture there is a power that witnesses for God-that forces upon us the conviction that we are in contact with a work that is beyond the skill of man. We must therefore be patient and humble, trying to find out what we may, and not be discouraged if we can at the best make but little progress in our knowledge of the deep things of God.

In considering what the Old Testament has to tell us of the life hereafter, it will be well first of all to state briefly the meaning of two words used in the Old

1 Isa. xxviii. 10,

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2 St. John iii. 12.

Testament with reference to the unseen worldHeaven," and "Sheol."

There are four1 Hebrew words used for "heaven." The first of these simply means the firmament; the second is used in the expression "the heaven and the earth," meaning the upper as distinct from the lower regions; the third word is used for a "place above," "He sent from above-from on high-He took me, He drew me out of many waters"; 2 and again, "He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth." 3 In these instances the word means simply a mountain or high place. The fourth word means "expanse," and refers to the extent of the heavens. If we turn to tradition, we find that the Jews divided heaven into three parts -the air, the firmament, and the upper heaven, the abode of God and of the holy angels.*

Heaven is not infrequently mentioned in the Old Testament as the dwelling-place of God and the angels, but there is no reference to its being the destined home of either the disembodied spirits of the righteous, or of man after the resurrection of the flesh.

The other word used of the unseen world is "SHEOL." It means in the Old Testament both "the grave" and the whole nether world of departed spirits. The

1 Ràkîa; Shâmayim; Márôm; Shechâkîm. 2 Ps. xviii. 16.

3 Ps. cii. 19.

4 Job xxii. 12: "Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are. And thou sayest, How doth God know? Can He judge through the dark cloud?”

Authorised Version often uses the word "hell" as the translation of Sheol. This word in its strict sense1 is no doubt a fair equivalent for Sheol in both its significations, but in modern use "hell" is almost exclusively associated with the idea of a place or state of torment— an idea never connected with Sheol. We must beware, then, of allowing the thought of pain to link itself to the word [Sheol or] "hell" in the Old Testament.

When Jacob was told that his son Joseph was dead he said, "I will go down to Sheol2 to my son mourning.'

In the Book of Job we are told that Sheol is deep,3 and dark-" a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death."4 From the Book of Numbers we learn that Sheol was thought to be in the bowels of the earth; hence Korah and his companions are said to have gone "down alive into Sheol." In the Book of the Proverbs the guests of "the foolish woman said to be on the way to "the depths of Sheol,”5 an expression which suggests that in the nether world. there were supposed to be various degrees of gloom.

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From these passages-and they might be multiplied

1 A pit or hole,—hence "the grave,”—and also the place of departed spirits. The Greek equivalent is Hades. The Vulgate translates Sheol by "Infernus" and "Inferus." It was to "hell" in the sense of Hades, or Sheol, that our Lord descended. "He descended into hell," or as the Latin runs, descendit ad inferos-the nether world.

2 "Grave" in the A. V. In Psalm cxxxix. 8, "If I make my bed in hell behold Thou art there," Sheol is the word translated "hell."

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3 Job xi. 8. In Deut. xxxii. 22, "A fire is kindled . . . and burneth unto the lowest Sheol"'—or pit.