ETERNAL LIFE IN TORAH

Eternal Life in the Torah

•Job had the assurance that although he was going to be eaten by worms, he would receive a new body and in that body would actually see God face to face, obviously conscious.

In Job 19:25-27 he says that “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

•Isaiah 26:19: “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You, who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.”

•Dan 12:1-3, is clear: “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book— will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”

•The wicked are like ‘the beasts that perish’ (Ps 49:12, 20) without any hope that they ‘should live on forever’ (Ps 49:9). However, the righteous have the triumphant expectation that ‘God will redeem [them] from the grave [ Sheol]; he will surely take [them] to himself’ (Ps 49:15).

•Genesis 5:24: God will snatch, take or receive us to himself when we die.

•Psalm 73:23-25 makes contrast between the wicked and the righteous.  ''You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory’ (Ps 73:24).”

•Daniel 12:1-3 clearly refers to life after death and a bodily resurrection.
In the 73rd Psalm a man named Asaph describes “You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:24-26).

•Other Psalms too mention the existence after death and affirm continued existence after death, such as: Ps.16:10 “... will not abandon me to the grave... will... fill me with... eternal pleasures at your right hand.”;

•Ps. 21 “surely you have granted him eternal blessings.”;

•Ps. 49:15 “but God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.”

•Other verses assuring us of eternal life and ressurection for those who observe the commandments:
*Isaiah 26:19.
*Daniel 12:2.
*Ezekiel 37:12-14.
*Psalm 16:10.
*Psalm 86:13.
*Psalm 71:20.

•Torah speaks of several noteworthy people being "gathered to their people." See, for example, Gen. 25:8 (Abraham), 25:17 (Ishmael), 35:29 (Isaac), 49:33 (Jacob), Deut. 32:50 (Moses and Aaron) II Kings 22:20 (King Josiah). This gathering is described as a separate event from the physical death of the body or the burial.

•Belief in resurrection of the dead is one of Rambam's13 Principles of Faith. The second blessing of theShemoneh Esrei prayer, which is recited three times daily, contains several references to resurrection.