Sheol

[2] The implications of Sheol within the texts are therefore somewhat unclear; it may be interpreted as either a generic metaphor describing "the grave" into which all humans invariably descend, or an actual state of afterlife within Israelite thought.

Though such practices are forbidden, the inhabitants of Sheol can, under some circumstances, be summoned by the living, as when the Witch of Endor calls up the spirit of Samuel for King Saul.

[3] While the Hebrew Bible appears to describe Sheol as the permanent place of the dead, in the Second Temple period (roughly 500 BCE – 70 CE), a more diverse set of ideas developed.

[6] Later in the book of Genesis, the same formula is repeated when describing the sorrow that would befall Jacob should another of his sons, Benjamin, not return to him with his remaining brothers.

Sure enough, as he finishes his speech, Yahweh splits the earth open, causing Korah, his family, and all of his possessions to, as the text describes it, "enter Sheol alive.

"[8] In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses sings that the anger of Yahweh is a flame which burns in the "depths" of Sheol, consuming the entire earth from the bottom up.

Job mentions Sheol in several of his laments, calling it his "home" as he lies in anguish,[16] and yearning for death to take him there to put an end to his suffering.

Furthermore, despite the evidently abstract nature of Sheol, there is some physicality to it: it was clearly understood to be subterranean,[22] which is further supported by its association with the term bōr (בור‎, "pit"), found in Isaiah 14:15, 24:22, and Ezekiel 26:20.

The general characteristics of an afterlife such as Sheol were not unique to the ancient Israelites; the Babylonians had a similar underworld called Aralu, and the Greeks had one known as Hades.

It is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between proper sepulture and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife".

[29] Some scholars argue that Sheol understood anthropomorphically fits the semantic complex of the other ancient Near Eastern death deities such as Nergal, Ereshkigal or Mot.