SHEOL (she'ol), (Heb. sheh-ole', Hades, or the world of the dead), a word usually derived from • ?%. shaw-al'," to ask or seek." The invisible world, or the place of departed spirits, in the intermediate state, prior to the res urrection. The corresponding term in Hebrew is Sheol, which is derived from the root shae, to demand, inquire; and either signifies the place with respect to which it may be asked, "Man giveth up the ghost, and where is her (Job xiv : so) or the insatiable receptacle which crieth Give, give, and never saith, It is enough (Prov. xxx : 15, 16). Both words, Sheol and Hades, are em ployed to express the state of the dead, in its most comprehensive point of view ; including the grave as the invisible residence of the body, and the world of spirits as the invisible abode of the soul. At other times they arc used, either of the one or the other, taken separately. They are often very improperly rendered hell in our com mon version ; the instances being comparatively few in which the words have the accessory sig nification of the place of punishment. In other passages the term grave is too limited a rendering. The reader must judge from the context, and all the circumstances of the case, in which acceptation of the words are to be taken.
That the Hebrews, however, ordinarily under stood something beyond the grave by the term Sheol is evident from the circumstance that the common name for that receptacle of the human body is Heber; so that when in any given instance i they did apply in this sense, it was only designa ting a part for the whole. It was the state in which
the aged patriarch expected to meet his deceased on (Gen. xxxvii :35), into which the fathers had entered, and whither their posterity were removed at death to join their society (Gen. xxv :8, xxxv : 29, xlix :29 ; Deut. xxxii :5o). In all these pas sages, the being "gathered to one's people," is spoken of as something distinct from mere burial; and, indeed, in the cases of Abraham and Moses, it is obvious that, in such a sense, no phrase can be more incongruous, since the former had no people in the cave of Machpelah, Sarah being the only individual who as yet had been buried in it ; and of the grave of the latter, the children of Israel were profoundly ignorant. To his peo ple he certainly was not gathered. if by the phrase be meant that his body was deposited in his family grave. It has justly been observed that Hades, and the corresponding Hebrew word Sheol, are always singular, in meaning as well as in form. The word for grave is often plural. The former never admit the possessive pronouns, being the receptacle of all the dead, and therefore inca pable of appropriation to individuals ; the latter frequently does. Where the disposal of the body or corpse is spoken of, taphos, or some equivalent term, is the name of its repository. When men tion is made of the spirit after death, its abode is called Hades. (See HADES.)