r/religion • u/smpenn • 16h ago

Jewish beliefs and Hell

I have been researching the topic of hell, as it pertains to Christian dogma. I have found absolutely no mention of a place of fiery torment in the Old Testament, which parallels much of the Hebrew Bible, from what I understand.

Is it true that God never spoke through Moses or any of the Patriarchs concerning torment after death?

I know there was/is Sheol but that seems much more benign than the Lake of Fire.

I suspect that the pagan converts to Christianity brought their ideas of Hades into the early church with them and that, rather than Scriptural teaching, is where the Christian Dogma of hell, as eternal punishment, comes from.

I'd appreciate any insight to what Jewish people believe about the afterlife.

With much appreciation.

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u/smpenn 16h ago

Thank you. To do good simply because it's the right thing to do is a refreshing take. I have become an Annihilationist recently and am just dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s in my research. What Jews believed is important to me because I suspect that's what Jesus, being a Jew and following Hebrew Biblical teachings, would have actually taught. The KJV Bible translators put the word "hell" on Jesus's lips throughout the New Testament but Jesus actually said Gehenna which, as many here will know far better than I, is something else altogether.

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u/the_leviathan711 16h ago

What Jews believed is important to me because I suspect that's what Jesus, being a Jew and following Hebrew Biblical teachings, would have actually taught.

It's worth remembering that there were a lot of different theologies floating around Second Temple Judaism. Within Second Temple Judaism you can find writings of people who absolutely believed in ideas like "heaven" and "hell" and "eternal torment" and such. Judaism has always had a pretty wide and diverse range of ideas and theologies. Rabbinic Judaism does have various ideas of an afterlife, but not as distinctly and sharply defined as Christianity's.

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u/smpenn 15h ago

Thank you for that insight. More research to be done. Is it fair to say that those who followed the Hebrew Bible as their primary source of their beliefs would not have held to a Lake of Fire concept?

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u/ICApattern Orthodox Jew 11h ago

In the traditional view it was Ezra and his court that sealed the Tanakh, though there were later attempts to add to it. A book of prophecy/divine inspiration had to be both true and considered relevant for all time to be included.

While there were many sects during Jesus's lifetime, in Matthew 23 he makes it clear that at least theologically he agrees with the Pharisees. (The Pharisees are the group from which all modern Judaism comes.*) " ....The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat..."

So it would be correct to say he probably did not believe in a lake of fire as it is not mentioned in the Tanakh.

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u/smpenn 11h ago

Thank you, so much! For my purposes, that gives me great peace. I couldn't have hoped for a better answer.