Immortality and the Unseen World: A Study in Old Testament Religion

William Oscar Emil Oesterley

thg 1 1921 · Pantianos Classics

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What does the Bible say about immortality and the afterlife? In this study, we discover the origins and development of religious beliefs in life after death, and the existence of beings from realms beyond.

In mounting this comprehensive and scholarly study of the Old Testament, W. O. E. Oesterley examines a variety of pertinent passages from the Biblical lore. By the time the Bible was written, demons and their ilk were already an established presence in ancient belief systems. Ancient Judaism included a variety of new demons, together with details on their habitat, behaviors and interaction with humans living on Earth. With demons synonymous with evil, angels were synonymous with good, enacting God's will that humans spend their mortality in virtue.

What happens to humans after death has for millennia been an important spiritual question. The Bible contains a series of details on the traversal and immortality of the deceased's souls. In the ancient times ancestor worship was common, and these cults of the dead are acknowledged in the Old Testament. To compliment his narrative, the author also provides supplementary historical details of mourning and funerary customs, with a series of rituals said to ensure the soul's safe transit to the immortal realm.