The Ground
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
(Genesis 2:7) KJV
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
(Genesis 3:23) KJV
In the text of Genesis, “the ground,” is a translation of the Hebrew word ืึธึฃืึฒืึธืึธึื – adamah Adam, from whence Adam gets his name since he was made from the dust of the ground.
In March we’re examining what the Bible tells us about planet Earth to deduce a model of Earth’s internal structure. This model has to accommodate all of the physical features mentioned in the Bible. It has to be possible to modify the model over time to reflect the physical changes which transform the Earth as God created it, into the planet that we know: present day Earth. For the rest of the month we are going to go below the surface and consider what the Bible tells us about the other regions: the mantle, the great gulf, and the core.
So far we’ve considered features which pertain to the surface of the Earth, the ground, including topography and the development of vegetation. Now we’re beginning a journey into the center of the Earth. It starts at the grave.
The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
(Proverbs 15:24) KJV
The Grave: ืฉึฐืืึฃืึนื – sheol
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
(Hosea 13:14) KJV
The Hebrews had a well developed idea of life after death. For them death, the grave, was a portal into a complex underworld realm. The grave is just the beginning of what happens next.
A word frequently translated as the grave is the Hebrew ืฉึฐืืึฃืึนื – sheol, but sheol is far more than just the grave. It’s modified in ways which are very similar to the ways that erets is modified to describe regions of the interior of the earth, so much so that the two are harmonious in describing four regions, or levels, which are synonymous with the zones of the internal structure of the earth.
Levels of Hell
| Grave (sheol) Pit (sahat/bowr) | Earth (erets) | World (tebel) | |
| Crust | sheol | erets | tebel |
| Mantle | mibbeten sheol tavek sheol yerekah bowr | tachti erets erets tachti | mowcadah tebel |
| Great Gulf (outer core) | bad sheol | erets beriach matsuq erets mayim tachath erets | |
| Core (inner core) | sheol tachti tachti erets bowr, shachath missahat beli | mowcadar erets |
Read through the Bible in a year
| Reading plan | March 13 | |
| Linear | 1 Samuel 4-6 | |
| Chronological | Deuteronomy 5-7 | |
| TikTok | Distracted… by a library | |
| TikTok | The Ground | |
| TikTok | Gamma World |
Salvation
- Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
- believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
- confess your sin.
