Korach - Yeshua & She’ol (Hell)

In the Torah portion of Korach, we learn about the rebellious assembly of Korach and how they were swallowed up by the earth, which points towards Gehennom and the final judgement. We also learn about how Aharon’s staff blossomed and came to life, which points towards the line of Messiah and Messiah himself.


It says in Numbers 16:33:

“So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth dosed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.”

Moshe asked God to send a sign that would show that Aharon was indeed appointed by heaven. A couple of verses later, the earth opens up and swallows Korach and his followers, along with Dathan and Abiram. It says in the Torah that these people went down alive into She'ol (שאל). The Midrash Rabbah tells a tale about a tour guide who took his customer to hell and back:

“Rabba son of bar Chana said, ‘Once I was walking on the way when an Arab trader said to me, “Come, and I will show you the place where Korach's men were swallowed by the earth.” I went with him, and I saw two crevices in the ground from which smoke was rising. The Arab took a ball of wool, soaked it in water and affixed it to the top of a spear and lowered it into the crevice. When he withdrew it the wool was singed and burned. He said to me, “See if you can hear anything.” I heard voices saying, “Moses is true and his Torah is true, and Korach and his followers are liars.” The Arab explained, “Once every thirty days, Gehenna whirls them back to this spot like meat stirred in a pot ...” In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will take them out of there.’” (Numbers Rabbah 18:20)

She’ol is the name the Bible gives for the place of the dead. This word means different things in different places. The simplest way that the Bible portrays it is as a poetic name for death. Some passages of Scripture seem to depict it as an underworld where the dead are confined. The spirits of the deceased were often depicted by Ancient Near Eastern mythology as shades, moping around somewhere under the earth. The idea of She’ol sometimes echoes these concepts. However, She’ol should be generally understood as a synonym for death or the grave.


The translators of the Septuagint translated the word She’ol to the Greek word Hades. The Greek New Testament also translates it this way. For example, in Matthew 16:18 it says that "the gates of Hades'' will not prevail against God’s assembly. This same idiom, the "gates of Sheol", appears in Isaiah 38:10, where it simply means death. When Yeshua said, "The gates of death will not prevail against God’s assembly," He meant that God’s assembly will pass through death, and return to life. She’ol will not confine them.


The Talmidim (apostles) quoted Psalms 16:10 in regards to Yeshua’s death, which says, "You will not abandon my soul to Sheol." This simply means, "You will not leave me in the grave." However, The early church misunderstood the Greek translation of this passage and thought that, when Yeshuah died, he descended into hell. This is how the Christian concept of the harrowing of hell came to be.


When the gospels refer to "hell" or "Hades," the reader should keep in mind that those terms are merely Greek substitutions for the Hebrew words Gehenna and Sheol, but the mythological realms of “hell” and “Hades” are not the same as Gehenna or Sheol.


In Greek mythology, the despotic Greek god Hades rules the realm of the dead. The Church's popular Dantesque vision of souls in torment, ruled over by Satan, came from a misunderstanding. Biblically speaking, the ruler of the underworld is not Satan. Rather, he is "the prince of the power of the air." The lake of fire is his final destination, not his kingdom. Neither hell nor Hades was a part of Yeshua's vocabulary.


The book of Enoch depicts She’ol as a kind of detention, where souls await the resurrection and the final judgment. It has a divide between the souls of the wicked and the righteous. The righteous enjoy a bright spring of water but the wicked are in torment.


Pharisaic theology divides She’ol into two places, Gehenna for the wicked and Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden, i.e., Paradise) for the righteous. In Yeshua’s time, Gehenna meant the place of suffering, where the souls of the dead waited for the final judgment. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus awaited the resurrection in Paradise, while the rich man waited in the torment of Gehenna.


Yeshua prevailed over Sheol. After his resurrection, in Revelations 1:18, Yeshua appeared to John and said, "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." Later on in Revelations, it says that death and Sheol receive authority over a fourth of the earth, that one fourth of humanity will die. At the end of Revelations, death and Sheol release the dead they hold for the final judgment in Revelations 20:14, "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." Then it will be as it says in Hosea 13:14, "O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting?"


It says in (Numbers 17:23[8]):

“Behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.”

The blossoming of Aaron's staff proved that he was worthy for his position. A staff is dead, a dry and lifeless stick. When the staff came back to life, blossoming and bringing forth buds, which in turn produced almonds, Aharon’s position was miraculously justified. A resurrection had proven his worthiness. Likewise with the Messiah. Yeshua’s resurrection indicated that his claim of being the chosen Son of David was true. Rabbi Ephraim Luntshits' commentary, Ir Gibburim says something along these lines:

“Just as the blossoming of the staff alluded to the rule of the crown of the priesthood, so too, the blossoming staff ultimately alludes to the rule of the crown of the kingdom, as it says in Isaiah 11:1, ‘Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.’ Amen. Yes may it be His will.”

Isaiah depicts the Messiah as a blossoming shoot. Isaiah foretold the end of the line of David. He said that the flowering tree of the Davidic line would one day be reduced to a tree stump. When the Babylonians invaded Yerushalayim and took the last king of Yehudah captive, they essentially chopped down the Davidic tree. Nonetheless, the stump remained because the Davidic family still lived. Isaiah predicted that a new shoot would spring up from the old stump. Isaiah 1:11 and the Targum on Isaiah 1:11 Have something to say about this concept:

“Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.”


“And a King shall come forth from the sons of Jesse, and from his children's children the Messiah shall be anointed.” (Isaiah 1:11, Targum Yonatan)

One of the things that Isaiah refers the Messiah to is a branch (netzer, נצר) that blossoms and bears fruit, growing out of David's otherwise lifeless family tree. The Davidic clan to which Yeshua came from named their community Nazareth (Netzeret, נצרת), this naming might have been in anticipation of the fulfillment of Isaiah's words through them. Nazareth can be translated to "Branch-town." Every son born in the Davidic dynasty had the potential to reclaim the throne of David. The descendants of David in the late Second Temple Period saw every baby boy as a potential Netzer (Branch) growing from the stump of Jesse.


Matthew paraphrases Isaiah 11:1 in order to highlight the connection between Yeshua, Nazareth and Messiah:

“He came and resided in a city called Netzeret, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Notzri.’” (Matthew 2:23)

In the parasha of Korach, we learn about Korach and his assembly being swallowed up by the earth, which points towards She’ol and the coming judgement. We learn about the staff Aharon being resurrected, which points towards the resurrection of the Messiah and the Davidic line.


Korach | קורח

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