More Than Nephesh

Soul sleep proponents believe that Greek philosophy significantly influenced traditional Christian ideas about the soul and the afterlife rather than Scripture alone. For that reason, they reject the continued existence of the soul after death, also known as the intermediary state. Instead, they have a more Hebraic worldview that places far less emphasis on heaven and the afterlife than later Jewish and Christian theology.

It is founded on the belief that humans don’t have a soul; we are souls. This belief is interpreted from Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (nephesh).” The Hebrew word for “soul” is “nephesh” and is broadly defined as the whole living being or person.

The question is, are we only nephesh? “Nephesh” is translated to “psyche” in the Septuagint. If nephesh were strictly biological, they could have used the Greek word “bios,” from which we get the English word “biological.” Using “psyche” suggests something that includes the physical but is not limited to the physical.

Nephesh is certainly part of our being, but it’s not necessarily all of our being. Scriptures indicate we also have a ruach (spirit/breath/wind) and neshamah (breath of life/divine spark), also found in Genesis 2:7. This indicates there are layers to our being.

Animals also possess nephesh, ruach, and neshamah. But if animals and humans have the same composition, then being a nephesh alone cannot be the thing that distinguishes humans from animals; it can only be part of the picture. That would suggest there has to be something more to our being that transcends the physical. Regardless, being a nephesh would not exclude the possibility of life after death.

There are logical reasons why the Hebrews put little emphasis on the afterlife. For one, the grave (Sheol) was all the Hebrews knew about. It’s where both the righteous and unrighteous went when they died. There was simply no path for them to ascend to the third heaven to be with God prior to Christ atoning for the sins of humanity. That’s why they spoke only of the grave (Sheol) in negative or neutral terms with little emphasis on the hereafter. They did, however, have the hope that God would provide the means for them (Psa 49:15).

The assertion that since the Hebrew Bible does not clearly teach an immortal soul, the Hebrews must not have believed in one is primarily an argument from silence. The mistake is to presume that the Hebrews knew it all and were more enlightened than us. To the contrary, some of the Hebrews’ beliefs appear to be borrowed from their Mesopotamian neighbors. Sheol, for instance, is very similar to Kur in Sumerian and Irkalla in Akkadian cosmology. Ultimately, the Tanakh’s primary focus was on earthly matters, specifically God’s dealings with Israel. It did not concern itself with much outside of that limited scope.

Second, it’s reasonable to conclude the Hebrews simply weren’t given much revelation (knowledge/understanding) about heaven, the afterlife, or the spirit world in general. There were, in fact, many things that were concealed from them. They didn’t know, for example, that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, or that there would be a church age that included the Gentiles. Even the resurrection wasn’t clearly taught early on, though it was later hinted at (Dan 12:2, Job 19:25–26, Isa 26:19).

There is something known as progressive revelation, which is the impartation of divine revelation gradually over time. That means that we start with a limited understanding of spiritual truths, and more is revealed as time goes on. It’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. We don’t always see the full picture until it is completed. As Paul said, “We see through a glass darkly.” In that regard, the Hebrews’ understanding of the afterlife was limited and incomplete.

A common argument is that the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh) don’t teach of an afterlife or an immortal soul. However, that is not accurate. Sheol was more than just the grave; it was an underworld, the abode of the dead. The dead were not nonexistent but still aware, albeit as a weak, diminished version of themselves in a shadowy underworld. We know this because the Hebraic worldview of Sheol was similar to other ancient Near Eastern imagery of the underworld. Scriptures also confirm this was their understanding of Sheol.

In the Book of Isaiah, the king of Babylon goes to Sheol, where the dead rulers of the earth greet him. Some might dismiss this as mere poetic language, but the King of Babylon was an actual person. Regardless, it clearly depicts Sheol not merely as the grave but as an underworld of the dead who were still very much conscious:

Isa 14:9 “Hell (Sheol) from beneath is excited about you, To meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, All the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones All the kings of the nations.

Isa 14:10 They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us?

In the Book of Ezekiel 32:21, Egypt and others were consigned to the pit and depicted speaking to one another:

The strong among the mighty
Shall speak to him out of the midst of hell (Sheol)
With those who help him:
‘They have gone down,
They lie with the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

Perhaps a little-known reference to Sheol, but highly relevant, is found in the Book of Jonah. Everyone knows the story: a giant fish swallows Jonah, and he spends three days and nights in the belly of the fish until he is spit out. What is often missed is that while Jonah’s body was in the belly of the fish, his soul was in Sheol:

Jon 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish,

Jon 2:2 saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

This is why it was written that when they died, they were gathered to their ancestors. It doesn’t mean they were merely gathered in the tomb, but that they were gathered with their people in the underworld. Taken literally, it implies an immediate life beyond the grave. Ecclesiastes 12:7 also affirms, “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit (rûaḥ) returns to God who gave it,” demonstrating a distinction and separation between the body and soul after death.