Deepest Sheol

*Tehoma d-Sheol - Deepest Sheol: Is There Depth to the Good Side? Jewish Understanding of Depth in Sheol* We have argued Peshitta primacy from Rom 10:7 - Peshitta says _tehoma d-Sheol_ - deep of Sheol, where Greek just says abyss. Greek softens. Peshitta is exact. But that raises the debate: which side of Sheol did Yeshua go to preach? Some say paradise / Abraham's bosom / the sea - good side. Some say prison side - bad side. Paul says deepest Sheol. If that's correct understanding of _tehoma_ in context, it seems irresponsible in light of Jewish understanding to put deepest on good side. Everywhere depth indicates bad side. Is there any reference of depth to the good side? No. *Jewish map of Sheol:* *1. Sheol has levels, but good side is never called deep.* - *Lowest Sheol - _Sheol tachtit*_ - Deut 32:22: "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the _lowest Sheol_ - _Sheol tachtit_." Lowest is where fire burns. Not paradise. - *Targum Deut 32:22:* "For a fire shall kindle in my anger and burn to the _deepest Sheol_ - _Sheol tachtita_." Targum calls lowest = deepest = place of fire. - *Psalm 86:13:* "Great is thy mercy toward me: thou hast delivered my soul from the _lowest Sheol_." Lowest = danger, bad. Good side is never lowest. Good side is lifted. *2. Good side is _bosom_, _Gan Eden_, _heights_, not depths.* - Luke 16 - Lazarus in _kolpa_ - bosom of Abraham. Bosom is chest, high, held. Not depth. - Talmud - Gan Eden is above, Gehinnom below. Berakhot - Garden above, pit below. - Peshitta Luke 16:22 - _be-ubba d-Abraham_ - in bosom, not deep. No one says _deep of Abraham's bosom_. That phrase does not exist. *3. Tehoma - _abyss_ - is always prison side.* - Genesis 1:2 - _tehoma_ - deep over which darkness was. - Psalm 71:20 - "Thou shalt bring me up again from the _depths of the earth_ - _tehomot ha-aretz_." Depths are place of death, need bringing up from. - 1 Enoch 10:13 - Watchers bound in _tehomata_ - depths until judgment - bad side. - Targum Job 38:16 - "Hast thou entered into springs of the sea? hast thou walked in search of _tehoma_?" Tehoma is deep sea of judgment. *4. Even Peshitta 2 Pet 2:4 proves it.* Greek says Tartarus - deepest prison of Greek. Peshitta flattens to _tehumata_ - depths. Where? Context says angels who sinned in days of flood, kept in chains. That is bad side. So when Peshitta says depths without qualifier, it means bad side. But Romans 10:7 Peshitta does NOT flatten. It clarifies: _tehoma d-Sheol_ - deep of Sheol. Why clarify? Because he wants you to know which deep - not just sea deep, not just abyss, but Sheol's deepest part. That is _Sheol tachtit_ of Deut 32:22. That is fire place. That is Watchers prison. That is Korah who _descended alive into Sheol_ - Num 16:33 - _yardu chayyim Sheolah_. *5. Is there ANY reference of depth to good side?* Searched Targums, Midrash, Zohar, Enoch - good side is: - _Ramah_ - height - _Uba_ - bosom - _Gan_ - garden - _Paradise_ - orchard Bad side is: - _Tehoma_ - deep - _Tachtit_ - lowest - _Bor_ - pit - _Gehinnom_ - valley of wailing - _Abaddon_ - destruction No text says "deep of paradise." No text says "lowest bosom of Abraham." Depth language is exclusively bad side. *Conclusion for Yeshua's descent:* Paul says who shall descend into _tehoma d-Sheol_? If tehoma everywhere in Jewish understanding is bad side prison, lowest place where fire burns and Watchers are chained and Korah went, then Yeshua descended to bad side to preach to spirits in prison - 1 Pet 3:19. Not to good side to visit friends. Good side doesn't need preaching. Good side is comfort. Bad side needs preaching. And because He descended to deepest Sheol and ascended, that is why every knee - heavenly, earthly, and _under-earthly_ - _katachthonion_ - Phil 2:10 - shall bow and confess. Peshitta is exact because temple language is exact. Greek says deep and leaves you guessing. Peshitta says deep of Sheol and tells you - He went to the bottom.