opposing Pharisees and Scribes that the men of Nineveh and the queen of the South

would rise in the judgment with "this generation" and condemn it. The word translated

`rise' is anistemi the normal word for physical resurrection, and is used some 38 times in

this sense. The queen of the South was not of the chosen race of Israel, nor were the men

of Nineveh. God had instructed Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and warn

them His judgment for their evil ways and God withheld the threatened judgment, for

they had not filled their cup of iniquity. Assyria was well known for its violence and

cruelty. The king of Nineveh sent out a decree that they should amend their ways and

turn from "the violence that is in their hands" (Jonah 3: 8). "And God saw their works

that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that He had said that He

would do unto them; and He did it not" (Jonah 3: 10).

However, the judgment did fall on Assyria later. It should be clear that the repentance

of the Ninevites to which Christ refers in Matt. 12: was a cessation from their abounding

sin that called for judgment. In no sense can we say that it turned the Ninevites into the

people of God as Israel were. Yet they are to rise in resurrection and condemn the

favoured generation to which the Lord came in the flesh!

Coming to the O.T. and Isa. 26: 14:

The `deceased' does not refer to ordinary human beings but to the Rephaim, having

their origin in the days of Satan, corrupted all flesh on the earth except Noah and his

family. The word is used in the singular and plural, and we see no valid reason for

making any difference in the meaning of singular and plural for the simple reason that

neither rahphah (singular) or rephaim (plural) are the normal words for death or the dead.

These are muth translated to die some 420 times and maveth death 128 times. The

Rephaim, as monsters, are to have no resurrection, "they shall not rise". If the reader has

The Companion Bible he should read appendices 23 and 25 which deal with this subject

including the Rephaim very fully, also The Berean Expositor Volume XX, p.193 in the

article "Who are the Deceased?"  The Companion Bible notes each of the eight

occurrences of the plural Rephaim, including Prov. 21: 16, "The man that wandereth

out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead (rephaim)".

(See also 2: 18 and The Companion Bible note). Prov. 21: 16 clearly teaches that the

sinner will end up in destruction like the Rephaim. The word remain `nuach', does not

mean "to permanently stay in" but "to rest". Young's Literal Version read "in an

assembly of Rephaim resteth", or Moffatt, "will find his rest among the dead below".

The assembly of the Rephaim is not a description of dead human beings as such. If it

were, then the usual word muth would have been used and not rephaim.  As The

Companion Bible points out, there is no reason why this word, either singular or plural,

should not be treated as a proper name, "Rephaim", in all its occurrences and not just

ten times as it is in the A.V. It would then be apparent that it does not refer to the normal

dead, but to the monsters and their descendants of Gen. 6:, and so cannot be used to

support the idea that there is no resurrection for the unsaved.