The idea of llndcs and the e.\istence after lieath, however, did not continue to stand at tliis level. In ccjurse of time, by the experience of faith, the teaching of the prophets, and the operation of other influences which we less clearly understand, it changed in more tlian one direction. The pro- cess is seen in the OT itself, esjiccially in the poetical liooks and in the writings of the prophets, yet in dillerent ways. In the former, faith is .seen overlea[)ing the dark domain of Hades, negativing the thought of a perpetual existence in its drearj- and futile depths, having visions and forecasts of a more satisfying future (e.g. Ps IG. 17. 49. 73, Job 14'3-" 16'»-17'» 19^-=' etc.). In the latter we find not merely surmises and anticipations, but definite teaching, which grows from less to more till it declares the lio]>e of a resurrection of Israel's dead, and an awakening from the sleep of death to ever- lasting life or to everlasting contempt (Is 26'", Dn 12-- '). But that is the most i hat the OT books give.
The jirocess of change, however, went farther. It is reflected in the apocryphal, tlie rabbinical, and especially the apocalyptic literature. New ideas became connected with Hades and the future, yet without settling into a uniform faith or obtaining general acceptance in any one mode. In some of the books the old conception of Hades is continued with little or no change (Sir IT'-''-"" 41*, Bar 2", To 3«- '» lit", 1 .Mac 'i"" 14*"). In these there is little or nothing beyond a simple acquiescence in the fact of man's mortality (Sir 4 1 '•■*). In others there is the hope of an immortality for the soul, liut no certain liope of a resurrection of the body (Wis 2-'' S'-* 4''- " 15"). In others there is the ilelinite statement of the com- pleter belief in a future life with moral is.sues, the doctrine of the bodily resurrection being in some cases less prominent and less distinct than that of a general continuance of life or return to life (Enoch 22"- " 51'» t;i» 91" 92', I's-Sol 3" 13» etc.), in others more so (2 Mac 7»- "• ^ 12"- " ; cf. Sibyll. IMO .2-.H. «» 4.* :r.ip_ AiKjc. liar 30'-» 50' 51«, 2 Es 7'-'). In others the idea that Hades is a place of relative
moral awards appears, though in no very definite or pronounced form (Wis S''" 5'"'* e'*"" H" '"■ as compared with 3"- '8 etc., 2 Mac 7"- "• "• =* 12"-" 14" etc.) J while in the apocalyptic books the pre- vailing conception has come to be that of an intermediate state, inth relative rewards for the good and penalties for the evil (Enoch 10'^ 22. 100* 103' etc., ISook of Jub. 5--" 7=^ 22=' 24" 36 ; cf. 2 Es 7^1-30. 3<i.-38.. 61.- 75.-101- gtc. (Jafflcs, T. atid S. iii. 2) ; Apoc. Bar 52'"' etc.). In the rabbinical literature further developmen lis of opinion are seen, especially in the direction of regarding Hades as an inter- mediate state with purgatorial processes for those of Israel and (at a later sta^'e) with two distinct compartments or divisions within it — one of pre- liminai-y blessedness, and another of preliminary woe. Our Lord and His apostles spoke to the ideas which the Jews of their time had on these subjects as on others. Regard must be had to this in interpreting the occurrences of the word Hades in NT. The question is, how far these modifica- tions of the prevalent OT idea of Hades are reflected in the NT ; what precise sense is to be attached to the term there ; and to what extent it has a doctrinal significance or suggests doctrinal conclusions.
The small place which is given to the term itself, or to any equivalent for it, in the NT is tlie first thin" that calls for attention. The word occurs onlj- ten times in all, including parallels, according to the be.st text. It is found nowhere in John's Gospel, the Epistles of Paul, the E|)i.stle to the Hebrews, or the Catholic Epistles, 'j'liree of its occurrences are on Christ's lips, viz. Mt 11^ (with its parallel Lk 10") 16'», Lk 16». In two of these the word is obviously used in a figurative sen.se : in the one to express, in the case of Capernaum, an absolute overthrow, a humiliation as deep as the former loftiness and pride had been great ; in the other, to express, in the ea.se of the Church, a security which shall be proof against death and destruction. The third occurrence, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, is of a dillerent kind, and has even been taken to put our Lord's imprimatur on the Jewish idea of two compartments in Hades, distinct from, yet near, one another. The point of the parable, however, is the broad moral lesson of the penaltj* of a sellisli life. Everything else is secondary and ancillarj' to this. Tliat being so, the use of the word here is ethical rather than doctrinal. It does not take us beyond the broad fact that there is a state of being into which men pass at death, and that the divine righteousness follows them thither with moral decisions atl'ecting their conditions there and re- versing antecedent estimates and circumstances. In the second chapter of Acts the word occurs in a quotation from the 16th Psalm, and with an appli- cation of that utterance of OT faith to the case of Clirist, His death and His resurrection ; in which, therefore, it has again the broad sense of the world of the departed into which Christ pa.ssed like other men, though only to be raised from it. Neither do the pa.s.sagcs in the Apocalypse of St. .lohii carry us bejond this. In the first (!'*), wliere Christ claims to have 'the keys of death and Hailes,' we have simply the declaration of His power over death and the habitation that receives the dead. His ability to deliver or bring up from these. In the second (Ci") we have a personification of Hades as a demon following Death, the rider on the i>nle horse, to devour those slain bv him. In the tliinl and fourth (20"- ") Death and Hades appear again as demon figures, striking down and swallowing men, but compelled at la.st to render up their victims, and doomed themselves to be destroyed by Christ. In the passage in 1 Co (15") the reading q.'iri in the second clause must give place to OiraT.