Were the Ancient Israelites Materialists?

"The Hebrews were materialists who believe in a wholistic view of the human being and the Greeks substance dualists who see the human as made up of at least two parts."

I can hardly blame anyone for believing this statement. The idea that the ancient Israelites are materialists in contrast to the Greeks who are substance dualists is a common myth that gets repeated over and over again ad nauseam.

Materialism, when it comes to anthropology, is the belief that human beings are only made up of the physical body that has a life force to it but that life force, whatever it may be, dies when the body dies because there is no other element to the human being that can live apart from the body. In contrast, substance dualism is the belief that human beings are made up of both spirit and body (perhaps more elements but primarily a visible and an invisible nature), and hence, the spirit lives on after the body dies.

First, let's deal with the fact that the ancient Near Eastern religion absolutely affirms a belief that man is, at least, made up of spirit and body. It likely would divide man up even more. For instance, some Egyptian texts seem to divide man up into numerous parts: various parts of the body, his ba, his ka, etc.

The spirits of individuals were thought to be able to travel at night when the body was asleep. Hence, dreams provided access to the world of the spirits because one's spirit traveled there. Likewise, the very idea of talking to spirits, whether those of gods or the dead, had to do with the fact that the spirit was disconnected from the body in order to enter into the realm of spirits. Hence, prophets, seers, mediums, necromancers, etc. went into a trancelike state, much like sleeping while awake, in order to let their spirits connect to that spirit realm and receive information from it.

Funeral rites were important in honoring the dead because the dead often needed them to survive the netherworld. Many looked for omens from the dead. The netherworld is talked about quite a bit as a place where the dead are conscious. Obviously, if one is separated from the body in death, and yet still conscious, that assumes a body-spirit distinction.

If the ancient Israelites believe similarly to their surrounding culture then they are substance dualists like the Greeks and are not somehow their anthropological opposites. If this were true then a whole lot of verses don't make a whole lot of sense.

But what about Israel and the Bible itself? It is possible that Israel had different beliefs. However, if the ancient Israelites did not accept common ideas found in ancient Near Eastern culture of an afterlife in the netherworld involving their spirits, and at the very least, a dualistic anthropology, how is that they are constantly warned not to talk to the dead or consult anyone who talks to the spirits of the dead?

Leviticus 19:31 warns: "Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek the spirits of dead family members to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God." 

In Deuteronomy 18:11, it reads וחבר חבר ושאל אוב וידעני ודרש אל המתים [There must never be found among you anyone who] casts spells, inquires of spirits of the dead, gets information from the dead, or a necromancer (lit. one who seeks after those who have died).

Lev 20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

1Ch 10:13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits.

Isa 8:19 They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?”

Isa 19:3 The Egyptians will panic, and I will confuse their strategy. They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.

2Ki 21:6 He passed his son through the fire and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

2Ki 23:24 Josiah also got rid of the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

Isa 29:4 You will fall; while lying on the ground you will speak;from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.

Isa 3:3 captains of groups of fifty,the respected citizens, advisers and those skilled in magical arts, and those who know incantations.

Jer 27:9 So do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim to predict the future by divination, by dreams, by consulting the dead, or by practicing magic. They keep telling you, ‘You do not need to be subject to the king of Babylon.’

Now, one could argue that these texts are merely speaking phenomenologically in terms of describing only what the people think they are doing, and not actually what they are doing. The problem with this line of interpretation is that it ignores texts that affirm that this is being done as well as never saying that these people are deluded and not actually talking to spirits of dead humans.

In 1 Samuel 28:7-15, we see the following narrative described.

So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.”

8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.”

9 But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed the mediums and magicians from the land! Why are you trapping me so you can put me to death?” 10 But Saul swore an oath to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not incur guilt in this matter!” 11 The woman replied, “Who is it that I should bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up for me Samuel.”

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly. The woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” 13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! But what have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen a supernatural being coming up from the ground!” 14 He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!”

Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down. 15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” 

This narrative evidences that the Bible affirms the ancient Israelite and Near Eastern view that when the body of humans die, their spirits remain conscious in another realm. In other words, humans are not just physical, but also have spirits that can think, travel and speak apart from the body. Saul believes the woman can conjure the spirit of Samuel (v. 11). The woman says she conjures the spirit (v. 13). The Bible affirms that she conjured the spirit of Samuel (v. 12, 20). This would be impossible if Samuel were only made up of his physical body which is dead and buried.

Leviticus 20:27 states: "“‘A man or woman who has in them a spirit of the dead or a spirit of a family member must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; their blood guilt is on themselves.’”

Notice that the text does not say that they are to put to death one who claims to have a spirit of a dead person or a family member in them, but rather one who is channeling the spirit of a dead human being. 

Furthermore, there are strange uses of language that describe what happens when a human dies. In Psalm 90:10 (an old Psalm and the only one attributed to Moses), the years of a human pass quickly and then the text says that "we fly away." Some have argued that this refers to life flying away as a bird, but it does not say "it flies away," but rather נעפה "we fly away."

When Job (26:5-6) describes the makeup of the cosmos, he describes the reaction of the netherworld to God.

5 “The dead tremble—

those beneath the waters

and all that live in them.

6 The underworld is naked before God

When the Bible talks about the dead not being able to praise God or do any more labor, etc. it is not talking about what they can or cannot do in the netherworld but about what they can contribute here upon the earth. They descend into silence, as in Ps 115:17, because those living upon the earth can no longer hear them, not because they no longer exist.

What all of this means is that the ancient Israelites, and the Old Testament, affirms substance dualism, not materialism.

But if this is true, why is there an emphasis on the physical world in the Hebrew Bible over the spirit realm in contrast to the New Testament's emphasis on the life of the Spirit in the here and now? Why not more talk of heaven and hell and the world of the spirits?

The answer to these questions is found in what God is promising to His people in the Old Testament if they are faithful. They are not inheriting heaven. They are inheriting the earth. Hence, the physical world is being promised to them. The Old Testament does not emphasize an otherworldly setting because it is not the final destination of saints. Instead, it emphasizes the inheritance and prosperity of this world that will be given to all of God's people. Why would it emphasize an intermediate state?

In contrast, the reason why an intermediate state and the realm of spirits is mentioned more in the New Testament is because of the already-not yet paradigm, where Christians are spiritual Israel who now gain access to the inheritance to come only spiritually in the here and now. It is a downpayment to them as they wait for their full inheritance by becoming physical Israel and inheriting its physical promises. Hence, the New Testament agrees with the Old that eternity is not about inheriting heaven but inheriting the earth (Matt 5:5) and ruling upon it (Rev 5:10), but it also affirms that the physical promises must wait until the very end and so the intermediate state provides comfort for Christians who die (1 Thes 4:13-18; Phil 1:20-24; 2 Cor 5:6-9).

Furthermore, the spirit-flesh dichotomy, often erroneously seen as a product of Greek influence, in the New Testament is important because of the "already not yet" nature of salvation where God has united us to Christ through the Spirit and we are regenerated in our spirits, but our bodies are not yet redeemed (John 5:24-29;  Rom 6-8). Hence, the distinction between spirit and flesh is important to understand the order of salvation as it is applied to us.

So the Israelites were being promised contingent upon their holiness that they would receive the world, which is what God's people were meant to inherit from the beginning (Gen 1:28; Rev 21-22). They failed to follow God in holiness, however, and did not receive it. It will be received through Christ now, but not immediately as God saves men in their spirits first and then in their bodies with the rest of the physical world (Rom 8; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21). They also provided a picture of that inheritance to the church to come. But the church is now in the state in between where understanding the salvation already applied and given is of the spirit first and looks forward to the salvation that is not yet applied to the physical body.

Either way, the idea that the ancient Israelites are materialists is ignorant of both the ancient Near Eastern cognitive culture and the Hebrew Bible's affirmation of those beliefs. There is no Hebrews believed this and Greeks believed that nonsense. They may emphasize one over the other differently, but they do not disagree on the matter of substance dualism.

This does not at all mean that the spirit and body should be radically divorced in any way or thought of as opposed in their ontology, as various Platonists would assume, but simply that man is his body and he is his spirit and they are created and meant to be one. The enmity between them is not a natural one in the intermediate state but an effect of both the Fall and the partial application of redemption that has already been obtained from Christ.