There is no doubt that the Jews and the Christians believed in the world after death and this is found in the books of the New Testament in abundance. But this is rarely found in the Old Testament.

This difference is because of what is evident in their history, that they were great materialists and worshipped this world. It is because of this love that they believed the resurrection to be a source of impediment in their doings. So when they began to rewrite their books with innovations they retained those passages that spoke of this material world but deleted whatever they found about the Day of Judgment and the punishment of the materialists.

In verse 96 of Surah Baqarah the Qura’n introduces them in these words:

“And surely you will find them the greediest of mankind for life even greedier than those who make partners for God. Every one of them wishes that he could be given a life of a thousand years.”

Despite their negligence about life after the death and their innovations we still find some sign in the Old Testament which speak of belief in such a world.

The Book of Isaiah says:

“Your dead will live again and the dead bodies will stand.” (2)

The Book of Samuel says:

God kills and renews life; take you below to the graves and then raises you.” (3)

In the Psalms of David:

“Even if I walk in the shadows of the valley of death I will not fear evil since You are with me; Your beneficence will remain with me throughout my life and I will live in the house of God till eternity.” (4)

Prophets like Samuel, Isaiah and David have given us clear signs about the Day of Judgment though such uttering did not make the Jews happy so the deleted many such sayings.

Some historians have described the Jewish belief as:

“They believed that at the end the dead will rise from the graves on the Judgment Day (and start a new life). A savior will come soon and the dead with good deeds would rise with his success from their graves and will move on to the eternal Paradise. (5)

The same author writes in another book about the Zoroastrians:

“The dead will rise and they will have a renewed life. The breath will come back into the chests and the entire world will be rid of old age, death and destruction and this will remain for ever.”

1. The Holy books of the Jews which are called the Old Testament have 39 chapters; five of them are of the Torah and 17 have been named after the historians. In the chapter Kings the chronicles are about them written by the historians. The rest of the 17 books are called the book of Prophets which contains the stories about them and their teachings. But in the New Testament there are not more than 27 chapters, and 14 have been written by the apostles of Jesus or their successors. There are 22 chapters written on Paul and his epistles on Christianity to the famous people. The final book is John’s testament containing the revelations.

2. Isaiah 26:19

3. Samuel I 2: 6

4. The Psalms of David 23: 4-6

5. The History of Civilization by Will Durant vol. 3 page 637