How the belief in an afterlife developed

Sheol was a “place” where all people, whether good or evil, go. Jacob, Judah, Hannah, David, the sons of Korah expected to go there. Job was looking forward to finding rest in “Sheol”.

After Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon, a new idea developed. The Jews actually got some of the ideas of the afterlife from the Babylonians.

The Kabbalists viewed Sheol as a stopping point for all souls on their journey from this world to the next. Later, the Jewish mystical tradition began to see Gehenna as a “place” where wicked souls have a “layover” before ascending to the Garden of Eden, a layover for at most 12 months.

Gehenna began to be seen as a place to work through life’s hangovers as they prepare for Olam Habah (the world to come). Gehenna began to replace Sheol as the place of the dead.

Gehenna had first been seen as a place of physical destruction. It was “the cursed valley” (literally meaning “the valley of Hinnom") that, according to Jeremiah and Isaiah, bodies were cast into, after the destruction of Jerusalem by foreign armies. It’s worth to note that Jesus opposed the Pharisees as a prophet in “the vein of Jeremiah”, as he often recalled the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon as a warning of the impending fall of Jerusalem to Rome. Gehenna is never translated "hell" in the Old Testament.

But a more “apocalyptic” view developed by the Pharisees. The idea of Gehenna as a place of torment, came from the Book of Enoch, which identified it as such, although maybe only a temporary torment (Sim of Enoch 62:12).

The Talmudic Rabbis then developed an idea of three classes that would appear on the day of judgment: 1.) The perfectly righteous, who will be sealed for eternal life. 2.) The wicked, who will be purified (Zech 13:9). 3.) The utterly wicked, who will either cease to exist or be punished for a longer period, maybe even for “ages and ages”.

This “apocalyptic” idea was fully developed at the time of Jesus, and it was held by the Pharisees of that time – a group which Jesus strongly disagreed with. The Sadducees however did not even believe in an afterlife. And Jesus strongly disagreed with them as well.