She’ol, Hades & Gehenna: Mapping the Biblical Underworld
What is She'ol? Korach's descent into the earth opens a study of the Jewish concept of the underworld, its gates, chambers, and appearances of this tradition in the New Testament.
In the Book of Numbers, we meet Korach, Moses's first cousin. Korach's notoriety stems from his rejection of G_D's priestly arrangement in Chapter 16. Korach challenges the authority of Moses and Aaron, rallying 250 leaders of the assembly into his rebellion. The rebellion ends when the ground opens and swallows Korach and his household alive.
While many envision a miraculous sinkhole, there is something deeper going on here. One clue is found in Numbers 16:33.
"They went down alive into She'ol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them, and they vanished from the midst of the congregation."
The text, twice, in verses 30 and 33, tells us that they went down alive into She'ol. This was neither random nor natural.
This brings us to the question, What is She'ol?
What is She'ol?
She'ol (שְׁאוֹל) appears in the Hebrew Bible many times, each occurrence giving us another hint.
Generally viewed as the realm of the afterlife, She'ol seems to have various compartments and even Gates. It is sometimes translated as hell, or grave, and may at times be synonymous with other terms like Abaddon, which means destruction¹.
Appearances of this word in the New Testament are often rendered as Hades and sometimes Tartarus, though these are not exactly the same as She'ol in a theological sense.
In She'ol, the dead seem to retain a degree of consciousness. That the rebels went into She'ol alive indicates they are headed for a kind of judgment. It is not a sudden death, in the natural sense.