aturally, these popular views were subjected to considerable
modification with the development of the religion of the Hebrews. While
many features remained, as is shown by the occurrence of the primitive
conception of Sheol in comparatively late productions, in one important
particular, more especially, did the spread of an advanced ethical
monotheism lead to a complete departure from the Babylonian conceptions.
While, in the popular mind, the belief that there was no escape from
Sheol continued for a long time, this belief was inconsistent with the
conception of a Divine Being, who, as creator and sole ruler of the
universe, had control of the dead as well as the living. As long as
Yahwe was merely one god among many, no exception was made of the rule
that the concern of the gods was with the living; but Yahwe as the one
and only god, could not be pictured as limited in his scope. He was a
god for the dead, as well as for the living. The so-called song of
Hannah[1303] expresses the new view when it praises Yahwe as the one
'who kills and restores to life, who leads to Sheol, and who can lead
out of it.' Such a description of Yahwe is totally different from the
Babylonians' praise of Ninib, Gula, or Marduk as the 'restorer of the
dead to life,' which simply meant that these gods could restrain Allatu.
The power to snatch the individual from the grasp of Sheol was also
ascribed to the national god, Yahwe. Elijah's restoration of the widow's
child[1304] to life is an instance of this power, and Jonah,[1305] who
praises Yahwe for having delivered him when the gates of Sheol already
seemed bolted, may not have had anything more in mind than what the
Babylonians meant; but when the Psalmist, to indicate the universal rule
of Yahwe, exclaims

If I mount to heaven, thou art there,
If I make Sheol my couch, thou art there,[1306]

the departure from the old Hebrew and Babylonian views of the limitation
of divine power is clearly marked. The inconsistency between the view
held of Yahwe and the limitation of his power was not, however, always
recognized. Hence, even in late portions of the Old Testament, we find
views of the life after death that are closely allied to the popular
notions prevailing in the earlier productions. It is not, indeed, till
we reach a period bordering close on our era that the conflict between
the old and the new is brought to a decided issue in the disputes of the
sects that arose in Palestine.[1307