Resurrection
By The Late Rev. Sam Stern

In Jewish theology the important doctrine of the resurrection is called Techiat Hameitim, which both the Bible and the Talmud teach. In addition, Maimonides [the Rambam] in his Thirteen Principles of Faith, which every believing Jewish person is supposed to adopt and live by, states in Article 13:

I believe in the resurrection of the dead, which will come from God, Blessed be He.

Yet, when we ask Jewish people about life after death, the majority of them insist that their rabbis do not speak, teach or preach about this tenet. Their most frequent remark is, "Once I am dead, I’m dead. No one ever came back from the grave to tell me there is life after death."

However, the Bible deals with the subject of the resurrection in I and II Kings, Daniel, the Psalms, Job and Isaiah. The great Jewish prophet Daniel, for example, writes about a resurrection from the dead in Chapter 12, verses 2 and 3 as follows:

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

Rashi and other commentators interpret these two verses in the Book of Daniel as referring to the resurrection of the dead either to eternal life in heaven [gan aden] or to everlasting shame in hell [gehenna]. Rashi’s brief comment identifies the time Daniel spoke of here as follows:

This will happen at the time of the resurrection of the dead, and the wise ones who study the Torah and those who do good deeds shall shine like the stars in heaven.

Rabbi Sadia Gaon adds the teaching of eternal life either in heaven or hell and also mentions that the wise ones will be blessed:

The Jewish dead will be resurrected because their destination is to live forever. However, those who leave God will go to the lowest steps of gehenna. But the wise ones who teach little children will shine like stars.

Although Sadia Gaon refers only to the Jewish dead, Eben Ezra advances the idea that many Gentiles will be resurrected also. He pinpoints the time of the resurrection, connects it with the redeemer and gives other details about the world to come [olam habah]:

Those who shall awake will live forever, and those who shall not awake will go to everlasting shame. And many shall be resurrected… many Gentiles will be converted and worship God. According to my [Eben Ezra’s] opinion, the righteous who died in the diaspora will be resurrected when the redeemer comes. They will eat from the fish, leviathan, and other animals.

Then they will die a second time and be resurrected to live in the world to come [olam habah]. They will no longer eat or drink but will enjoy being in the presence of the face of God. It says they will be like the stars because they are higher than the sun and the moon. The sky is lower than the satellites, and the satellites are lower than the stars.

Beeuir Hainian mentions that the dead will arise with physical, emotional and spiritual attributes. They will be rewarded with either eternal life or eternal shame. Further, they will preach true faith in one God for all nations:

In that time the dead will revive with a body, with a soul as they were before they died. Therefore the dead are called the sleepers in the ground… Not every one will get up, but some will be from the righteous and some from the sinners. They will be rewarded according to their deeds…

This will happen when the redeemer comes to those who suffered in the diaspora and gave their lives for the honor of God’s name. The sinners will see the happiness of those whom they persecuted. They who revive will tell the living what is really important in the world--which faith is the true one.

Another major scripture regarding Techiat Hameitim is I Kings 17:17-24, which reveals that Elijah the prophet prayed to God to let the soul of a widow’s son come back into him after he was dead. This kind of resurrection was a special miracle that occurred before the end of the world:

And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?

And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?

And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.

And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.

And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

Book Lev Melachim gives the most important comment on this section of the Bible by saying that God is the only one who can cause a person’s soul to return to him after he dies. In this instance, Elijah was God’s instrument in both prayer and action:

No human can make the soul to come back into the body, from death to life. Therefore, Elijah prostrated himself on the body of the child and prayed to God to bring back the soul to the body.

Moreover, Israel’s King David sang the following words in Psalm 30:3, showing that he believed in a physical realm out of which God could bring him up:

O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave [sheol]: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

This reference and comment deal not only with resurrection from the grave, but also with salvation.

Rashi, in his comment on the above verse, translates the words sheol for grave and gehenna for pit, David thanked God for not going to gehenna, for taking his soul out from sheol.

Radak also brings out a way of avoiding gehenna in the afterlife:

David said that all my suffering in this world is in order not to go to gehenna. He wants to say that he is separated from those who go to gehenna.

Both Metsidat David and Beeuir Hainian stress the point that there is a way to salvation from death. Metsidat David says:

You saved me from death by forgiving my sins.

Beeuir Hainian’s comment on Psalm 30:3 follows:

I [David] suffered in my body because of sin, but you forgave my sins. I will not go to sheol and be lost. My body was healed because you forgave my sins.

Job, well known for his endurance while undergoing great suffering, was able to rejoice because he believed in his resurrection:

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me [Job 19:25-27].

Rashi, commenting on the above verses, confirms the miracle of resurrection:

And I know that my redeemer liveth. He will exist and stand up. After all those who rest in the earth will vanish, He will be the last to stand up and exist. After my skin shall be destroyed yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Metsidat David comments that God will vindicate Job and redress his suffering:

I know, am sure that, in those days, [in the resurrection] He will read my words and redeem my blood and will fight my battle to make me righteous. Even if he will be in the last generation on earth, a person must be found who will accept my opinion and doctrine and say that I am right. He will write it in a book and on tables of stones…

II Kings 13:21 relates still another special example of resurrection. It presents the miraculous restoration of life on earth, but not on Judgment Day.

And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood up on his feet.

Radak considers this occurrence as an example of resurrection, although it refers only to a restoration of life on earth. He tells of the expediency of burying this man in Elisha’s grave and also advances some theories about the man’s identity:

Because they were in a hurry, they were afraid of the soldiers. They cast him in Elisha’s grave because they did not have to dig a new grave. They were interested in burying him in a rush. His bones touched Elisha’s bones. He revived and stood up on his feet.

The rabbis say he lived and had sons…this man was Shallum ben Tikva. He was great in his generation. He did good things daily. His wife was Chulda the prophetess: as it is written, Chulda the prophetess, the wife of Shallum ben Tikva…[see II Kings 22:14].

Isaiah, in Chapter 26, verse 19, also deals with resurrection. He expresses the hope that he too will gain eternal life:

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise…

The following Jewish sages, commenting on this verse, all write that God will resurrect the dead.

Targum Onkeles states that God will raise the righteous from the dead, but that the sinners will suffer eternally:

You are resurrecting the dead. You are making the dead bodies stand up. They will praise you. Those that are in the ground, the sinners, will be given to gehenna.

Rabbi Joseph Caro, in the following comment, shares the belief that only the Jewish people will survive the grave. This concept may have its roots in Ezekiel’s parable of the dry bones, which deals with the resurrection of Israel only [see Ezekiel Chapter 37].

The Jewish dead will survive. The Jews will get out of the graves standing tall, but the Gentile dead will go to the grave and not come out.

Radak, on the other hand, provides some details of the resurrection:

When help will come, the dead will survive. God will resurrect the dead when the time of help will come…The righteous will be resurrected, but not the sinners. A voice will come from heaven: Revive!

Finally, Beeuir Hainian presents the teaching that both body and soul will be resurrected:

In the everlasting world the dead will revive. Not only souls will survive, but also the bodies. The same as the tal [morning dew] revives the grass, so will the dead revive. In the world to come the graves will be opened. The righteous will revive but sinners will be thrown into the ground. They will be in the ground forever.

The Bible itself, as well as some of its commentators and the Rambam all support the doctrine of the resurrection, but some Talmudists also have written about this doctrine. Tractate Shabbat 152b, for example, shows that some ancient rabbis believed not only that they could communicate with the deceased, but that the deceased themselves believed that God would raise them from the dead:

Diggers worked in the garden of Rabbi Nachman. They heard snoring of a dead person in his grave. His name was Rabbi Achai ben Ashai. They told this to Rabbi Nachman. Rabbi Nachman said to Rabbi Achai ben Ashai, who was buried: Stand up and come into my house.

Said he [ben Achai] to him, You do not know the scripture. It is written, And ye shall know that I am the LORD when I open your graves [Ezekiel 37:12, 13]. For it is written, for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return [Genesis 3:19]. One hour before the resurrection God shall open the graves. Until then I cannot come into your house.

Rabbi Jacob taught that there is no precept in the Torah where reward is stated from which you cannot infer the teaching of the resurrection of the dead. Wherever the Bible promises long life it means after the resurrection, when Messiah comes.

Tractate Shabbath 88b proposes that God will raise the dead by a miracle, the same as He did in the days of Moses:

When God pronounced the Ten Commandments [Asereth Hadibroth] on Mount Sinai, the people died at each word uttered by God. If they died by the first word, how could they hear the second word? But He [God] resurrected them by sprinkling on them a special rain [tal] that He will use at the resurrection of the dead, and they revived.

When Rabbinic Judaism, as Phariseeism, began to unfold during the last part of the Second Temple period, the Pharisees believed in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, who were descendants and followers of the priest Tsadok, opposed this doctrine. They constituted the priestly hierarchy and formed the ruling class.

One of the most crucial conflicts between the Sadducees and the Pharisees lay in their doctrinal differences, notably their teachings about immortality and resurrection. The Sadducees went so far as to accuse the Pharisees of violating Moses’ teachings. Although the Bible set forth passages teaching faith in the resurrection, and although the Bible and some Talmudic scholars taught it, the Sadducees rejected both the doctrines of resurrection and of immortality.

From the references cited, we conclude that resurrection is a doctrine fully discussed in early Judaism and believed by many learned and ancient Jewish scholars and rabbis. This fact of rising from the dead was not new to Talmudic rabbis, some of whom lived two hundred years B.C.E. Other Talmudists during this time, and some, who lived later, also accepted the doctrine of resurrection.

© 2003 Dorothy Stern - Mayim Hayim Ministries