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September 29, 2018 |
| To Sleep, Perchance to Dream | ||
The title of this study comes from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, where the character Hamlet is contemplating death and what comes after. In his words he uses "sleep" to describe death and he wonders if the dead have dreams. In this study we will do something similar. Our interest is Jesus' use of "sleep" to describe death and how sleep can be considered to be like death.
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." 12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. (John 11:11-13)
Using "sleep" this way is not unique to Jesus of course. It appears repeatedly in 1 and 2 Kings.
Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David (1 Kings 2:10)
This can't be thought of as a respectful and perhaps euphemistic usage that is reserved for royalty, though. The first occurrence of it in the Bible is Genesis 47:30, where Jacob / Israel is making a request to be fulfilled after his death.
In the example with Jesus we see that it was uncommon for him, and that culture, to use "sleep" for "death" - otherwise his disciples would have been quicker to figure out what he meant. Therefore we can see that Jesus has used it purposely. He is teaching them something.
That lesson took hold. The apostle's epistles use "sleep" in that sense with some frequency. We also see that practice continue into the early churches. In our culture, where exactness of speech is prized over subtlety and depth, we never do that.
We draw from the above that, from antiquity, there has been an understanding that there are meaningful parallels between sleep and death.
We see that Jesus used "sleep" for "death" and that his disciples picked that up when they understood. There is, however, no place where the deeper understanding of the parallels is given.
Some would say that Jesus used "sleep" for "death" in the case of Lazarus only to show that Lazarus would be brought back to life.
That doesn't agree with the text though. Jesus knew that they were not going to understand his use of "sleep" and that he would need to go on to explain that he meant death. Therefore he could have simplified the message to "Lazarus has died and I am going to raise him." He didn't do that which would mean he only used "sleep" to baffle them - not a good practice for a caring teacher.
It's much more reasonable to believe that Jesus was doing this to encourage his disciples to look deeper, something he often did with them.
Others might say Jesus' meaning is obvious, that he means there is a first death and a second death and the first death is to the second death, what sleep is to death.
While there is a first death and a second death and the first death much less serious than the second death, this doesn't fit with this story of Lazarus. This isn't a first death / second death scenario. Lazarus is going to be raised back to life.
Jesus is, however, calling his disciples to think more deeply about the nature of death, and the depth of that would not necessarily be limited to the story of Lazarus. So we can't require that the sleep / death relationship fit this story of Lazarus.
This idea also fails to explain it's own logic. I sounds sensible but on closer inspection it turns out to be hollow. In what way is the first death related to the second death that is the same as the relationship between sleep and death? If the only answer is "permanence" that tells us very little. Surely Jesus intended more for his disciples.
Even permanence is not truly valid. Google tells me the number of people who have ever lived is 107 billion. Of those how many people have truly died and come back to life? Are we past fingers and into counting toes? So the first death, for all practical purposes is permanent. Sleep, on the other hand, is a daily cycle that everyone who ever lived has experienced on a daily basis.
Going back to the Old Testament usages, they could not have been based on a first death / second death understanding. That concept does not appear until the New Testament.
Solomon deals with this question of sleep versus death, to a certain degree
3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead. 4 For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. 6 Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun (Ecclesiastes 9:3-6)
When Solomon says "the dead do not know anything" he means it in the context of this section and the entirety of the book. The theme of all of the book is "under the sun." We might say it as the land of the living. The book is about living life and the futilities of the efforts of men.
Therefore he means the dead know nothing of the living, those under the sun. He supports this by saying:
Our bodies are the source of our entire awareness of what happens under the sun. From the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches our bodies receive, our minds build an internal reality. One of Solomon's points is that, with the body dead, we no longer have any awareness of the world.
That might seem too obvious a point to be worthy of mention but it flies in the face of those who think the dead exist as ghosts or angels and interact with the world.
This wisdom from Solomon does take us a step further in the direction we are going - the ways in which sleep and death are the same that allow "sleep" to be used in place of "death". Solomon says the dead are unaware of the world of the living. The same is true of those sleeping. They are unaware of anything going on in the world. They are also unaware of the passage of time.
This turns out to be an important insight. The important similarities between sleep and death exist in the internal state, rather than the external, physical state. Externally, a dead person may appear no different from a sleeping person. The only real similarity is "motionlessness." Even that is flawed, as a sleeping person can be seen to be breathing … and sometimes heard.
That single similarly may be true immediately after death, but given a day or two the difference becomes apparent. Also, the state of the body after death may show a cause of death that no one would ever call sleep-like. The external similarity is fleeting at best; the internal is permanent. The insight then is that we need to look at the internal state to find these similarities.
Another obvious internal characteristic of sleep is that we dream. In a previous study1 it was shown that the dead must retain all their memories, be cognizant of them, and understand that they are the first-person actor in them.
This gives us a strong similarity between sleep and death, dreams versus reviews of the memories of a life. In the same vein not all dreams are good dreams. Stripped of the deceits of the body, not all reviews will reveal good lives.
While death is a practical reality, the Bible also treats it as a metaphor. Both the first death and the second death are about separation. In the first death we are separated from our bodies, from the living, and from the world. As Solomon says it in Ecclesiastes, we are separated from everything under the sun.
Those experiencing the second death are separated from God, the angels and children of God, and from all of creation2. We are only concerned about the first death in this study, though, because that is what Jesus and others relate to sleep.
Sleep is similar to the first death in that our lack of awareness of the world has separated us from it. This is so well understood that it even appears in Gru's bedtime story in Despicable Me, "Though while you sleep, we are apart, your mommy loves you with all her heart."
While we are asleep we do not plan. In fact that is probably part of the purpose of sleep - to give that a rest. All of our ambitions, aspirations, and goals fade away. That isn't to say that the world does not affect our dreams or that we may awake with revelations. We don't dream about planning the coming day or further in the future.
This meaning is probably included in Solomon's words about the dead, they are unaware of the world, have no part in what happens in it and make no plans that involve it.
24 And he said to them, "Get out, for the girl is not dead, but she is asleep", and they were laughing at him. (Matthew 9:1)
The verse above shows that Jesus did not only use "sleep" this way with his disciples but with others. Therefore it wasn't a private point that he was making to his disciples nor a reference to Lazarus only.
The verse above repeats in other gospels without significant difference.
51 And at once the curtain entrance of the Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom. The earth was shaken and the rocks were split. 52 Tombs were opened, and many bodies of the Saints who were sleeping arose. (Matthew 27:51-52)
59 And they were stoning Estephanos [Stephen] as he prayed and said, "Our Lord Yeshua, accept my spirit!" 60 And when he knelt down, he cried out in a loud voice and he said, "Our Lord, do not let this sin stand against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60)
This is the first verse where "sleep" is used this way by someone other than Jesus. The remainder of the references are by others.
39 A wife is bound by the Law (Torah) to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband should fall asleep, she is free to be whosever she will, only in Our Lord. (1 Corinthians 7:39)
The verse above is the first of a long set of verses from 1st Corinthians that use "sleep" this way.
30 Because of this, many among you are ill and sickly and many are asleep. (1 Corinthians 11:30)
6 And after that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren together, many of whom remain until now, and some of them have fallen asleep. ( 1 Corinthians 15:6)
17 And if the Messiah is not alive, your faith is empty and you are yet in your sins; 18 Doubtless also those who fell asleep in the Messiah have themselves perished. 19 And if in this life only we hope in the Messiah, so it is that we are more wretched than all people. 20 But now the Messiah is risen from among the dead and is the first fruits of those who sleep. (1 Corinthians 15:17-20)
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be transformed … (1 Corinthians 15:51)
14 Therefore it is said, "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from among the dead and the Messiah will illuminate you." (Ephesians 5:14 probably paraphrasing from Isaiah 60:1)
13 I want you to know my brethren, that you should not have sorrow for those who are asleep, as do the rest of mankind who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Yeshua died and arose, in this way also God shall bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. 15 But this we say to you by the word of Our Lord, that we, those who remain at the coming of Our Lord, we who have life, shall not overtake those who are asleep; (1 Thessalonians 4:13-15)
10 He who died for our sake, that whether we are awake or asleep, we shall live together with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:10)
4 And they say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For from when our forefathers fell asleep, everything continues in the same way from the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:4)
1 http://ourhope.site/2018-05-29%20WhatAreWe/WAW.html
2 same as the above