On Isaiah 14:9-15:
"In this way it expresses some of the central Old Testament truths about the dead. First, the dead are alive -- in Sheol. In the Bible 'death' is never 'termination' but a change of place and of state with continuity of personal identity. Sheol is the 'place' where all the dead live (see Jb. 3:11-19; Ps. 49:9). Secondly, in Sheol there is personal continuity and mutual recognition; the king is recognized as he arrives (10). ... Thirdly, Sheol is a place of weakness with loss, not enhancement, of earthly powers. ... The Old Testament awaits Jesus and the illumination of immortality (2 Tim. 1:10) to fulfill its hints of the resurrection of the body. Yet in this as in all else, the Old Testament establishes truth, not error; the dead live on, personality continues with mutual recognition. The dead, as incomplete personalities awaiting fulness, can neither help nor hurt the living -- a perfect answer to spiritism." -- J. Alec Moyter, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary, 143-144.
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