The many uses of "hades" (really dumb question x_x)

[Momo-P]

Somebody recently brought this up, and it got me thinking as well.

I don't believe the bible mentions hades very often (in fact the only time I know of is in revelation), but I do know many Christian teachers and whatnot use the word from time to time. But sometimes their usage of it confuses me...

I've heard most people obviously use it to refer simply to hell, but some people act like it's the general "underworld/death/whatever". I mean...when people die they go to heaven or hell (or in the past the believers went to Abrahm's bosom and the unbelievers still to hell), but somebody once used it before Jesus came to refer to death as a whole...which just left me totally confused.

I mean, I'm pretty sure greeky mythology used it to refer to death as a whole, but then again, wasn't death for all them hell? I don't think any of them went to heaven since they believed that was just their crazy gods.

I always assumed the word, regardless of language, just simply meant hell (which would explain it's usage in the Bible), but...ugh.

Anyone wanna fill me in here? So does it simply mean hell, or not? And if not why the HECK would you use it to refer to hell? Like I said, it's a stupid question (deep down I know it means hell), but it doesn't help that it all started with a kid talking with an atheist (I wasn't the person, but that person is the one that got me thinking) and, as usual, a non-believer isn't going to tell you anything that's going to prove that the Bible is consistent with everything. If anything they're going to mess with your head and avoid mentioning anything valuable (instead they'll probably steer toward things that confuse you more).

So...answers? Please forgive me for being a moron.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades_in_Christianity

=)

[EricTheFred]

The Old Testament doesn't treat the afterlife much at all. A few hints, like Enoch or Elijah been taken directly into heaven without having to die first, but no descriptions of any sort.

By the time of Jesus, Jews had developed diverse ideas of what the afterlife might be, that varied from some who flat didn't believe human souls were immortal at all (the Sadducees) to those who believed in Reincarnation. The Pharisees taught roughly the structure that Jewish, Christian and Muslim now generally accept (not including certain minor additions like Purgatory and Gehenna) of a single mortal lifespan followed by an eternity in Heaven or Hell.

The Greeks had a variety of alternatives to Hades. You are correct that the Graeco-Roman 'Hades' is not a good parallel. It included places for punishment and places for reward, and a more-or-less neutral afterlife for those not deserving of either.

Jesus himself apparently agreed with the Pharisaic view, based upon certain clues such as the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, or his promise to one of the criminals crucified beside him. It's for this reason that most Christians accept this view as correct.

[Momo-P]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades_in_Christianity

=)

Well actually I would go to wiki, but a lot of their stuff just confuses me...just the wording and whatnot, not to mention I have a bad habit of taking things the wrong way compared to most people...

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I have a bad habit of taking things the wrong way compared to most people...

Yes, but you do have some interesting threads.

[Syreth]

Hades is used in the gospels and in the book of Acts as well. In general you can find out what the word is referring to by looking at the context, like in Luke 16.

[GhostontheNet]

Alright, here's the history of "Hades" in a nutshell. In the Old Testament period, they spoke of going to Sheol in two senses. The first was along the lines that one is going to die and descend into the grave, probably very soon. The second was that one would descend into the underworld. At this time, people usually used downward spatial metaphors for the nature of the afterlife, while the turn to upward spatial metaphors came later in history. One of the classic passages of Sheol in this latter sense occurs in the prophet Isaiah:

[quote="Isaiah 14:3-17 ESV"]When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

"How the oppressor has ceased,
the insolent fury ceased!
The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
that struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
The whole earth is at rest and quiet]

Where the proud and arrogant king of Baybylon once lived in such pomp and glory it was as if he would rule from heaven like God himself, instead he descends to the shades of Sheol to be shamefully equalized with everyone else. I believe the reason this passage refers to disembodied souls as mere shades is that the Jewish people have always emphasized that the body and soul is a unified totality, and so the severance of body and soul at death renders a person fragmented and incomplete. This is one major reason why Judaism, in common with Christianity, insisted upon the resurrection of the dead to reunite the two in incorruptibility and immortality. As relates to Christian literature, including the New Testament, its important to note that in the 3rd century B.C., Ptolemy II Philadelphus commissioned a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures that became known as the Septuagint. The translators of the Septuagint decided to render Sheol with the Greek Hades, which was famously the name of the underworld ruled by the Greek god Hades. Because the whole body of New Testament literature was written in Greek to gain readership in the vast domains of lands that spoke Greek alongside their native tongue, it too used Hades to describe the grave or the underworld. One of the most well-known Hades passages occurs in Luke's Gospel, which recounts the Jewish folk story of The Rich Man and Lazarus with a twist that foreshadows Jesus' own resurrection:

[quote="Luke 16:19-31 ESV"]"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets]

Here we have some interesting developments in the Sheol tradition that build upon the image we find in the Old Testmanent while staying true to its foundation. The Old Testament has always emphasized that Sheol is a peaceful refuge for the poor and oppressed, a great equalizer that subdues the wealthy and powerful to the basic human level, and a snare or trap for the wicked. Here the wealthy and powerful are subversively conflated with the wicked to suffer the snares of Sheol, while the poor and oppressed take refuge with the great patriarch Abraham. Now we see that Sheol is a two-tier system, in which the blessed wait for resurrection day in Abraham's bosom, while the wicked endure personal torment and anguish as they contemplate the shame that awaits them on judgment day. Ironically, this two-tier system inverts the worldly two-tier system of the wealthy class and the underclass so that the last are first and the first are last. And where the old folk story usually ended with Lazarus being raised from the dead to cause his oppressor's brothers to repent, Jesus instead emphasizes a narrative of disobedience to the good and saving works of God that would keep them unrepentant to the bitter end. In their complacent disobedience to the scripture they claim to believe, not even one raised from the dead would change their minds (as it would be with Jesus himself when he was raised from the dead).

Such was the Jewish tradition interpreted by Jesus himself in light of his looming resurrection. Unsurprisingly, the Christian tradition following that event reinterpreted the Sheol tradition in its light. While the traditions of what exactly Jesus did in the three days before his resurrection are complex, one element of them is that he descended in power (as opposed to the powerlessness of the fallen king of Babylon) to Sheol to proclaim his victory over it. The classic statement of this event comes from 1 Peter 3:18-20: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water." One element of this victorious arrival was the oft-misunderstood "harrowing of Hades." Apparently, the resurrection the blessed ones were waiting for was not in fact their own (which was still to come), but that of Jesus. Just as the Temple curtain was torn in two at his death to signify that the veil dividing God and man had been destroyed, so now the blessed could leave Abraham's bosom to be directly in the presence of God, a fate shared by all believers. As a byproduct of this glorious event, however, the language of Hades in the New Testament period became synonymous with the sphere of the damned awaiting judgment on resurrection day. As a result, many make the mistake of projecting this latter usage on the Old Testament, which results in distortions of its meaning and great confusion. I apologize for going on so long, and I hope this answers your question.

P.S. Do you mind if I repost your question and my reply in a blog?