{"id":83772,"date":"2020-11-21T18:13:27","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T16:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=83772"},"modified":"2020-11-21T18:13:27","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T16:13:27","slug":"what-happens-in-the-pit-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-happens-in-the-pit-of-death\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens In The Pit Of Death?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"83772","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"616","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Death is their shepherd, and their form shall waste away, losing all nobility\r\n\r\n","content":"

In Psalm 49, the psalmist describes the fate of the evil doers. While they might appear to be successful in life, ultimately their deeds will catch them up. That is particularly true after death, where their judgement awaits, and there is nothing they can do to avoid it \u2013 \u201cShall he live eternally, and never see the grave?\u201d (49:10)<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalmist describes the wicked in Sheol \u2013 the pit of death \u2013 where honor no longer accompanies them. One verse uses descriptive language to portray their descent to Sheol:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSheeplike they head for Sheol, with Death as their shepherd. The upright shall rule over them at daybreak, and their form shall waste away in Sheol till its nobility be gone.\u201d (49:15)<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a difficult verse to translate, particularly the last phrase \u2013 \u201ctill its nobility be gone.\u201d Other English translations offer \u201cleaving behind their dwelling\u201d and \u201cfar from their mansions.\u201d The challenging Hebrew word here is <\/span>zevul<\/span><\/em>\u00ad<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

We find that word in Kings I 8:13 in the phrase <\/span>beit zevul<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u00ad<\/span><\/i> \u2013 translated as a \u201cstately house.\u201d This sense of the word is the source of the translations \u201cdwelling\u201d and \u201cmansions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It also influenced the traditional understanding of the origin of the name Zebulun, the sixth son of Leah with Jacob. Leah explains his name, using the root <\/span>z-v-l<\/span><\/em>: \u201cLeah said, \u2018God has given me a choice gift; this time my husband <\/span>yizbleni<\/span><\/em>, for I have born him six sons.\u2019 So she named him Zebulun.\u201d (Genesis 30:20)<\/span><\/p>\n

Most classic commentators and translations say that <\/span>yizbleni<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>means \u201cwill dwell with me,\u201d since <\/span>zevul<\/span><\/em>\u00a0had been associated with dwelling, as above.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Prof. Moshe Held, using analysis from the ancient Semitic languages Akkadian and Ugartitic, gave a new insight into the meaning of the words we\u2019ve been discussing. In Akkadian, <\/span>zabalu<\/span><\/em>\u00a0means \u201cto carry up, lift,\u201d and in Ugaritic the word for \u201cprince\u201d is <\/span>zbl<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on this scholarship, the JPS translates <\/span>yizbleni<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as \u201cwill exalt me\u201d (i.e., lift me up.) This also explains the translation of <\/span>zevul<\/span><\/em>\u00a0in our verse as \u201cnobility\u201d \u2013 those that are exalted. And we also understand now that <\/span>zevul<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>in Kings was an adjective, describing the house as stately (and not \u201ca settled place,\u201d as in earlier translations.)<\/span><\/p>\n

And for those familiar, what about the Hebrew word <\/span>zevel<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2013 which today means \u201cgarbage,\u201d but originally meant \u201cdung, manure\u201d? It doesn\u2019t appear in Biblical Hebrew, but some scholars say comes from the same root, in the sense \u201cto heap up\u201d, and originally meant, \u201ca pile of manure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is interesting that the root <\/span>z-v-l <\/span><\/i>can have such opposite connotations \u2013 very positive and very negative. But if we\u2019re discussing the afterlife, that may not be so surprising. Rabbi Haim of Romshishok told his congregation this allegory:<\/span><\/p>\n

In both heaven and hell, the residents are given access to food, but the spoons are too long to serve themselves with. In hell, the people don\u2019t cooperate, so they starve. In heaven, the diners feed each other across the table and are satisfied.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":83773,"id":83773,"title":"ps49-death","filename":"ps49-death.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-happens-in-the-pit-of-death\/ps49-death\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps49-death","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":83772,"date":"2020-11-21 16:13:13","modified":"2020-11-21 16:13:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"What Happens In The Pit Of Death?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Death is their shepherd, and their form shall waste away, losing all nobility","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":83773,"id":83773,"title":"ps49-death","filename":"ps49-death.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-happens-in-the-pit-of-death\/ps49-death\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps49-death","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":83772,"date":"2020-11-21 16:13:13","modified":"2020-11-21 16:13:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps49-death-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83774,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83772\/revisions\/83774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}