Did Moses, Jacob or Judah dream that there would ever be any necessity

to explain these most obvious passages?  Are they not the heart's language of

all men?  That system of doctrine that would put into the mouth of this

sorrowful old man words that arise out of deep theology, rather than of deep

feeling, is evidently hard pressed for support.

Jacob did not necessarily contemplate any one particular grave when he

spoke, for he believed that Joseph was unburied, being eaten by a wild beast.

Of Simeon and Joseph he said: 'Joseph is not, and Simeon is not', so that we

could easily argue that, so far as Jacob was concerned sheol was not the

abode of conscious spirits.  Sheol does not refer to a grave but to the

grave.  Each individual may have his own private place of burial (keber or

bor), but it would still be true that 'all go to one place' namely to

(sheol), which has been expressed by the term 'gravedom'.

If the English language had remained unchanged, and if theological

meanings did not attach themselves to words, then either of the words 'grave'

or 'hell' would be a good translation.  In old English literature we read of

helling a house, that is to say 'thatching'.  A tailor had his hell, a dark

corner into which he threw all his cuttings.  Lads used to lead lasses to a

hell as part of a game where a kiss was the forfeit.  East Suffolk spoke of a

hale of potatoes, whereas Lincolnshire called the same a grave.  Sussex would

speak of heleing a man up in bed.  When the Sussex farmer descended the

stairs from tucking up his children in bed for the night, and stayed to read

the Scriptures, he would have needed no interpreter should his portion for

that night have included the words, 'Though I make my bed in hell', for it

would have been but speaking in his own tongue.  Hell, however, is not a

proper translation of either sheol or hades now, for it is too deeply tinged

with the modern conception of the word to be anything but misleading.

Perhaps the reader would appreciate some modern authority on the

subject, and we accordingly refer to the Etymological Dictionary of the

English Language, by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat, Lit.D., LL.D., whose learning

ought at least to place him on a level with any reader of this little work so

far as the meaning of English is concerned:

'Hell.  (E.) M.E. helle.

A.S. hel., orig. that which hides, allied to

cell, conceal'.

So much for the English word.  We are more concerned, however, about

the words that God has used, and accordingly turn to the Scriptures to seek

the truth.  Job cried:

'O that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave' (Job 14:13).

The context supplies a valuable commentary:

'But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and

where is he?  So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no

more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep' (Job

We are in the happy position of being able to believe all that is here

written without the slightest mental reservation, without needing to add, 'of

course that was Job's idea', or 'Job did not know what we know about the

intermediate state', etc.  Some orthodox writers get angry when we quote Job;

will the Psalms have more weight with them?