ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

SIULAI 13, 2023

 שאול Sheol

HETESI

1 SAMUEL 2:6-7

"THE LORD KILLS AND BRINGS TO LIFE; HE BRINGS DOWN TO SHEOL AND RAISES UP. THE LORD MAKES POOR AND MAKES RICH; HE BRINGS LOW AND HE EXALTS."

1 SAMIUELA 2:6-7

6 ‘Oku tāmate‘i ‘e Sihova, ‘oku ne fakaola foki: ‘Oku ne ‘ohifo ki Hētesi, pea ne fokotu‘u mei ai. 7 ‘Oku fakamasiva ‘e Sihova, pea ‘oku ne fakamo‘umo‘ua, ‘Oku ne fakatōkilalo, pea ko ia foki ‘oku ne fakatau‘olunga.

Imagine being down in the dumps, feeling trapped, smothered by darkness, dead but alive, and shackled to misery. Hebrew sums all that up in a single word: you're in Sheol. This word doesn't mean hell - as in everlasting punishment - but our slang phrase "going through hell" is close. Sheol occurs overwhelmingly in poetry, as in Hannah's song, which fits with its metaphorical meaning. Its open mouth is never satiated. Silence, death, and hopelessness permeate this grave-like place. Sheol democratizes; rich and poor, righteous and wicked, descend there. Sheol is, in essence, those times and places in life where we suffer the deepest pangs-and plead for Deliverance.

When we cry out from the depths (130:1), the Lord hears, for he is not absent. "If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!" the psalmist says to God (139:8). The Messiah himself was there not only metaphorically but in a real grave, but God did not abandon his soul to Sheol or let his body undergo decay (Ps. 16:10). His resurrection was the Father's exclamation point that he will not leave us in Sheol either. He will hear. He will answer. He will raise us up, just as Hannah sang.

Lord Jesus, "great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol" (Ps. 86:13).