Im very confused on this matter? Please help?

Question

Why does most of the Old Testament teach that there is no afterlife (see Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, for example), while later Old Testament writings and the New Testament do?

Answer 1

It is not saying that there is no afterlife. Read this commentary by John Gill:

Ecc 9:5 - For the living know that they shall die,.... Death is certain, it is the demerit of sin, the appointment of God and the time of it is fixed; it may be known that it will be, from the word of God that assures it, from all experience which confirms it, and from the decline of nature, and the seeds of death in men. This "the living" know that live corporeally, even the wicked themselves, though they put the evil day far from them; and so good men, that live spiritually, being quickened by the Spirit and grace of God, and live a life of faith and holiness; they know they shall die, though Christ died for them, and has abolished death, as a punishment and a curse, and took away its sting, and made it a blessing; wherefore it is desirable to them, as being for their good: but there are some things about death they ordinarily know not; they do not know the time of their death; nor the place where they shall die; nor of what death they shall die; nor in what circumstances, both outward and inward: of these the Targum understands the passage;

"for the righteous know that if they sin, they shall be reckoned as dead men in the world to come, therefore they keep their ways, and sin not; but if they sin, they return by repentance;''

but the dead know not anything; this is not to be understood of their separate spirits, and of the things of the other world; for the righteous dead know much, their knowledge is greatly increased; they know, as they are known; they know much of God in Christ, of his perfections, purposes, covenant, grace, and love; they know much of Christ, of his person, offices, and glory, and see him as he is; they know much of the Gospel, and the mysteries of it; and of angels, and the spirits of just men, they now converse with; and of the glories and happiness of the heavenly state; even they know abundantly more than they did in this life: and the wicked dead, in their separate spirits, know there is a God that judgeth; that their souls are immortal; that there is a future state; indeed they know and feel the torments of hell, the worm that never dies, and the fire that is not quenched: but this is to be interpreted of their bodily senses now extinct, and of worldly things they have now nothing to do with; they know not any thing that is done in this world, nor how it fares with their children and friends they have left behind them; see Job_14:21; nor therefore are they to be prayed unto, and used as mediators with God. The Targum is,

"and sinners know not any good, so that they do not make their works good while they live; and they know not any good in the world to come;''

neither have they any more a reward; not but that there will be rewards in a future state, in which everyone shall have his own reward; there will be a reward for the righteous; they will receive the reward of the inheritance, though it will be, not of debt, but of grace; and particularly in the millennium state, Psa_58:11; and every transgression of the wicked will receive a just recompence of reward; to whom the reward of their hands will be given them, Heb_2:2; but the sense is, that after death there will be no enjoyment of a man's labours; he will not have the use, profit, and advantage of them, but his heirs that succeed him, Ecc_4:9;

for the memory of them is forgotten; not the memory of the righteous with God, for whom a book of remembrance is written, and whose names are written in heaven; these are had in everlasting remembrance, and their memory blessed: but the memory of wicked men; who, though they take pains to perpetuate their names, which they give to their lands, yet the Lord causes their memory to cease, and they are forgotten in the place where they lived; not only among the righteous, as the Targum, but among others, Isa_26:14; even among those that enjoy the fruit of their labour; they will scarce think of them any more, or, however, in a little time they will be quite forgotten by them.

Ecc 9:6 - Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished,.... Not that the separate spirits of the dead are without their affections, or these unexercised; the spirits of just men made perfect will love God and Christ, and angels, and good men, and all that is good, more intensely; love will continue after this life, and be in its height, and therefore said to be the greatest grace, 1Co_13:13; they will hate sin, Satan, and all the enemies of Christ, and be filled with zeal for his glory; so the word (z) for envy may be rendered; see Rev_6:9; and the spirits of the wicked dead will still continue to love sin, and hate the Lord, and envy the happiness of the saints; and will rise again with the same spite and malice against them; see Eze_32:27; but this respects persons and things in this world; they no more love persons and things here, nor are loved by any; death parts the best friends, and the most endearing and loving relations, and puts an end to all their mutual friendship and affection; they hate their enemies no more, nor are hated by them; they no more envy the prosperity of others, nor are envied by others; all such kind of love and hatred, enmity and envy, active or passive, cease at death; out of the world, as the Targum adds;

neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is under the sun: the worldly man's portion is only in this life, and when he dies, he carries nothing of it with him; whose ever his possessions will be at death, they are no more his, nor will he ever return to enjoy them any more; his houses, his lands, his estates, his gold and silver, and whatever of worth and value he had, he has no more lot and part in them: but the good man has a portion above the sun; God is his portion, heaven is his inheritance for ever and ever. The Targum understands it of the wicked;

"and they have no good part with the righteous in the world to come; and they have no profit of all that is done in this world under the sun.''

Answer 2

Ecc. 9:5-6 tells of the bodies state at death. The resurrection is sometime later.

Most Christians have some strange idea that they immediately go to heaven when they die. The new testament does not say this.

The old testament does talk of a resurrection but it occurs at the same time the new testament one does. When Yahshua returns.

It's a theological embarrassment that so many Christians take for granted the doctrine of their church and do not study this out for themselves.

And please before you start your screams of protest and point out one or two isolated verses please check all the scripture concerning the resurrection not the ones you've learned to parrot from your pastor before you start trying to refute what I'm saying.

Answer 3

Eccl 9:5-6 means life is over for u. You will not rember this life. Your children u will not remeber, your wife, everything is under the sun or meaningless. Jesus speeks about living on in a new life. This life is over, If u have been seeking his face u might have found some hidden tresures that got stored away for the next life. So they both go to gether. Even the new testement says stuff like this.

1 Cor 7:29 but this I say, brethren, the time is short:it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none.

we r not to desire this life, but the next one.

Answer 4

Ecc 9:5-6 -- The point is, this is the way it looks if death is the end and there is nothing after death.

Solomon is speaking of life apart from God.

God has already told us what happens after death in 2 Cor:5:6-8.

You have to really read the whole chapter to understand where Solomon is coming from.

Answer 5

Until Jesus came and died for the sin nature of man, there was no redemption. After His death and before His resurrection, He went and preached to those who had died before His sacrificial death for their redemption. 1 Peter 3:18-20 says, For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteousness for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. Etc.

Answer 6

This is just my opinion.

The revelation regarding the afterlife and the divine plan of God was just starting then. This may attribute that some of the wirtings on the subject was incomplete or missing.

It was only explained when Jesus Christ came.

Answer 7

Because until Adam and Eve ate of the tree , no one was supposed to die, or be sick, or in pain. The wages of sin is death. To be able to have an afterlife God sent Jesus to die on the cross and to carry all the sins of the world upon His shoulders. He died, was buried, went to hell, conquered death and resurrected, giving us the chance at eternal life.

Answer 8

God's original plan was for man to live forever on earth, and to enjoy the creation he had made. When man began to sin and destroy the earth by their own hands, it became clear that if man were to live beyond the barrier of death, it would need to be with God apart from the earth.

Even after Adam, God's plan for Israel was that he would dwell among them and they would be his people, his light for the world. When man continued to disobey, it was only then clear that Jesus needed to come to earth to die for man's sins and reunite them with God. It is about then that the "kingdom of God" is talked about.

Answer 9

Because the 'Son of man" lived and died and rose on the 3rd day

Answer 10

Because the Bible is filled with contradictions.