“Hades” is used in some 75 verses of the LXX, usually translating the Hebrew sheol , which is used about 65 times. But the distyribution of the usage is not even. Genesis uses sheol/hades four time, but outside of Genesis the word appears infrequently in the Pentateuch (Numbers 16; Deuteronomy 32:22). The term appears at the beginning and end of 1-2 Samuel (1 Samuel 2:6; 2 Samuel 22:6), and twice in 1 Kings 2 (vv. 6, 9). Otherwise, it is not used in the historical books at all.
When we open the wisdom literature, however, it pops up everywhere, and a few times in the prophetic books ( hades in LXX: Job 7:9; 11:8; 14:13; 17:13, 16; 21:13; 26:6; 33:22; 38:17; Psalm 6:6; 9:18; 15:10; 17:6; 48:15-16; 54:16; 85:13; 87:4; 88:49; 93:17; 113:25; 114:3; 119:137; 138:8; 140:7; Prov 1:12; 2:18; 5:5; 9:18; 14:12; 15:11, 24; 16:25; 30:16; SoS 8:6; Is 14:9, 11, 15, 19; 28:15, 28; 38:10, 19; 57:9; Hos 13:14-15; Amos 9:2; Hab 2:5). Sheol is used in fewer than 20 verses in the MT of the prophetic books, half in Isaiah. It is used in 30+ verses in the five wisdom books.
That suggests that biblical wisdom has something significant to do with death and the grave.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
