Jewish views of hell before the ministry of Christ

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thrombomodulin
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Jewish views of hell before the ministry of Christ

Post by thrombomodulin » Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:04 am

I have been reading Edward Beecher's "History Of Opinions On the Scriptural Doctrine Of Retribution". Until encountering the following, I had been unaware that each of the three views had developed prior to Christ:
"The three leading forms promulgated among the early Christians were - 1. The eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal punishment of the wicked. 2. The eternal blessedness of the righteous and the annihilation of the wicked. 3. The eternal blessedness of the righteous and the limited remedial punishment of the wicked, resulting in the final restoration to holiness of all fallen beings, and the unity and harmony of the universe in God. Every one of these doctrines of retribution had been held and defended before Christ came, by the Jews or among them"
In Chapter 9, he identifies UR as being presented in the Sibylline Oracles:
"Sibylline verses there were at least two authors. One was a Jew, who wrote about one hundred and twenty years before Christ, and foretold the coming and kingdom of the Messiah, following, mainly, the Hebrew prophets. Of his views of the Messiah and his kingdom Westcott has given a summary (pp. 114-116, "Study of the Gospels"). In these, although there is retribution when the Messiah establishes his kingdom, and rewards his people, and punishes his enemies, yet the peculiar features of the final day of judgment and its results spoken of in the New Testament are not found. These are presented in the second book, which obviously proceeded from a Christian writer. And yet he follows no one of the New Testament writers absolutely, and sometimes introduces matter found in none of them."
The above paragraph, however, seems to be saying that "the final restoration of all fallen beings" is only found in the second author of these Oracles - who was a Christian. How is it that Beecher can be affirming the idea of the final restoration of all fallen things as having preceded Christ, when it is not found in the portion of the Sibylline Oracles attributed to the first author? Is there any author who wrote before Christ who was "in or among" the Jews that affirmed the possibility or certainty of postmortem reconciliation?

steve7150
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Re: Jewish views of hell before the ministry of Christ

Post by steve7150 » Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:40 am

Is there any author who wrote before Christ who was "in or among" the Jews that affirmed the possibility or certainty of postmortem reconciliation?

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thrombomodulin

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Kevin Miller just produced a documentary called "Hellbound" which is on DVD. I heard him interviewed and he said the jews believed hell lasted up to a year for all bad people except for five people. (Hopefully i'm not one of the 5) He didn't mention the source but it may be in the documentary.
His interview was on Christianquestions.net (are all people hellbound?) on two recent shows under archives.

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