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In the enochian literature, the angel bids enoch, “come and i will show you the spirits of the righteous who have already been created and have returned, and the spirits of the righteous who have not yet been created.” after seeing various pre-existent souls, the ancient midrashic explanation is given us by himself enoch regarding these many souls says : “the spirit shall clothe itself in my presence” refers to the souls of the righteous which have already been created in the storehouse of beings and have returned to the presence of god; and “the souls which i have made” refers to the souls of the righteous which have not yet been created in the storehouse.” (3rd enoch 43:1-3)
When the prophet sedrach is about to die, the only begotten refers to this same tradition, saying : “give me that which our father deposited in the womb of your mother in your holy dwelling place since you were born.” (apocalypse of sedrach 9:1-2 and 5).
The many examples of how the early Judeo-Christians believed and how they interpreted their texts clarify how they would interpret the biblical text ” …the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to god who gave it.”. Such texts are in this same tradition of the return of the spirit to heaven referred to in thomas : “blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. for you are from it, and to it you will return.” (the gospel of thomas v 49), in apo ezra the tradition is the same : “therefore, fear not death. For that which is from me, that is the soul, departs for heaven. That which is from the earth, that is the body, departs for the earth from which it was taken.” (the greek apocalypse of ezra 6:26 & 7:1-4)
This doctrine and its repetative pattern repeats itself many, many times in the vast amount of early Judeo-Christian literature written by the early Jews and Christians themselves. We know what they believed because they tell us. And they did not believe the same as you do. This is not to say they were right and you were wrong. That is a different point. The point is, that their beliefs were different. And it is clear that they believed in a spirit that existed independent from the body.
We could continue with example upon example ad nauseum that confirm this ancient Judeo-Christian belief.
In the early christian text clementine recognitions, the apostle peter repeats the same tradition as the zohar (… at the time that the holy one, be blessed, was about to create the world, he decided to fashion all the souls which would in due course be dealt out to the children of men…) in the very same context (almost the same words as the zohar) in explaining to clement that " that "this world was made so that the number of spirits predestined to come here when their number was full could receive their bodies and again be conducted back to the light." (clement-recognitions)
This is an ancient Judeo-CHRISTIAN doctrine.
The sethian literature refers to heaven as the “home” of our spirits, which we then left and came into this world into bodies : “after we went forth from our home, and came down to this world, and came into being in the world in bodies, …” (the second treatise of the great
AFTER DEATH, THE SPIRIT LEFT THE BODY AND WENT TO A WORLD OF SPIRITS (HADES/SHEOL/DEATH/THE GRAVE/WORLD OF SPIRITS/SPIRIT WORLD, etc. – whatever you want to call it)
1) HADES AS “THE PLACE IN THE MIDDLE”
It’s always been apparent to historians that Hades often means the place between death and judgment/resurrection. However, her suggestion that references to hades ALWAYS means this “place in the middle” and never is associated with the principle of the final punishment of those who do evil is new to me. Regardless of the fact that I've not heard this before, it raises some interesting contextual points historically.
Early Judeo-christian textual descriptions of Christian belief are often disorienting for individuals who start to study them, partly because there are so many terms that are used for the same principle. For example, descriptions of the “intermediate” world between mortality and Final Judgment is described by many terms in early texts.
Both texts and translators of various early texts use many words to refer to this place such as SHEOL - HADES - SPIRIT WORLD, PARADISE, sometimes "HELL" is used. Occasionally, it is only the context that saves us from confusion in terms. For example, instead of Hades, other terms have also been used to describe this same place in different contexts.
The description that “paradise is in between the corruptible and the incorruptible.” (2 Enoch 8:5) indicates the ancient meaning for Paradise which moderns often forget. (i.e. it refers to the gardens OUTSIDE of the kings castle, and not inside his dwelling). The different terms for the same place or principle create confusing contexts and interpretations.
For example, this ancient meaning of the word “Paradise” changes the meaning of Jesus promise to Dymas (the thief crucified beside Jesus) that he would “be with me in paradise” (luke 23:43). In this context, It was not “heaven” Dymas the thief was promised, but it was “paradise”, which, in this case was also the place between corruptible mortality and judgement.
In a similar context, it was said, “ Either he will be in this world or in the resurrection or in the places in the middle.” (The gospel of Phillip) All who leave mortality through death enter the place in the middle, i.e. Sheol, hades, spirit world, paradise, etc. (or whatever other term a text or person uses)
The “complainer” Ezra also uses the same term when he remarks to Jesus in a vision, regarding the end of his (the prophet Ezras’) life : “Bewail me, all holy and just ones, because I have entered the bowl of Hades.” (Apoc of Ez 7:1). The glorified Jesus reminds Ezra that he himself had been there as well : “Hear, Ezra, my beloved one. I, being immortal, received a cross, I tasted vinegar and gall, I was set down in a grave. And I raised up my elect ones and I summoned up Adam from Hades (The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra 6:26 & 7:1-4).
This refers to Jesus descensus as a spirit into this middle place while his body remained in the tomb before resurrection. But more on this later.
2) ALL WHO DIE GO TO THIS SPIRIT WORLD (THE PLACE IN THE MIDDLE)
In this ancient Christian theology, all souls, including the Patriarchs and prophets, upon dying, have their spirits placed into this spirit world. Quote : “do you not know that all those who (spring) from Adam and Eve die? And not one of the prophets escaped death and not one of those who reign has been immortal. Not one of the forefathers has escaped the mystery of death. All have died, all have departed into Hades, all have been gathered by the sickle of Death.” (TESTAMENT OF ABRAHAM (recension A) 8:9; 7)
“ And Death said, “Hear, righteous Abraham, for seven ages I ravage the world and I lead everyone down into Hades – kings and rulers, rich and poor, slaves and free I send into the depth of Hades (T of Abr (rec A) 19:7) .
“For Death deceived Abraham. And he kissed his hand and immediately his soul cleaved to the hand of Death....13...the undefiled voice of the God and Father came speaking thus : “Take, then my friend Abraham into Paradise, where there are the tents of my righteous ones and (where) the mansions of my old ones, Isaac and jacob, are in his bosom... (TESTAMENT OF ABRAHAM (recension A) 20:9,13-15) Though the english translater uses the word, "paradise", it is this place in the middle that he is actually referring to.
3) CONDITIONS IN HADES VARY ACCORDING TO THE MORAL CHARACTER OF THE PERSON WHO INHABITS IT
Another point of confusion regarding Hades is that the experience there is NOT the same for all individuals since individuals are divided according to their degree of righteousness. For the righteous, it was pleasant, for those who were evil, it was a prison of sorts. This partly explains it's association with punishment....
Thus the ancient texts describe it differently according to who is sent there (i.e the righteous vs the unrighteous). Since the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage of sorts, was often referred to as a "prison" in early textual references.
In describing Sheol, Enoch is shown in his vision that this middle place has separate “areas” for individuals to be “assigned to”. In his vision, Enoch asks the angel : ”For what reason is one separated from the other? And he replied and said unto me, “These three have been made in order that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And in the manner in which the souls of the righteous are separated (by) this spring of water with light upon it, in like manner the sinners are set apart when they die and are buried in the earth and judgment has not been executed upon them in their lifetime,... until the great day of judgment...They will bind them there forever–even from the beginning of the world. ....Such has been made for the souls of the people who are not righteous, but sinners and perfect criminals; they shall be together with (other) criminals who are like them. (1Enoch 22:9-13)
Since the righteous are with the righteous, they seem to adapt to a calm existence, the unrighteous, being grouped with others of their type and having increased awareness of the result of their moral choices become unhappy in their regrets and distress. And, Sheol itself also had a “middle place” according to this ancient model.
In Abraham’s description of Hades, he asks the angel : “Is one who is unable to enter through the strait gate unable to enter into life?...4 And Michael answered...you will enter through it unhindered, as will all those who are like you.”...And when they went, they found an angel holding in his hand one soul of a woman from among the six myriads, because he found (her) sins evenly balanced with all her works, and they were neither in distress nor at rest, but in an intermediate place.. ( TESTAMENT OF ABRAHAM (recension B) 9:1-10)
The point is that for the righteous, the spirits are cognisant and communicative and this world of spirits was not particularly unpleasant but for the unrighteous it was a place of some distress. It is this variable nature of Hades which allows it to acquire multiple names such as "paradise" AND "prison".
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