ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an examination of the relevant texts on the afterlife from the period of Second Temple Judaism, the importance of which cannot be overstated, for it is here that, for many scholars, the Jewish concept of the resurrection of the body finally becomes unmistakably clear. It argues against such a proposition and suggests, rather, that the majority of Second Temple Judaism texts are actually consistent in presenting various afterlife scenarios for the soul and not the body. Indeed, Josephus argues that the concept of an immortal soul was actually a Jewish doctrine. If one seeks to find consistency in the text, it is best construed either as a reference to the 'self', or, within an eschatological context, seen within a framework of an afterlife experience of the soul to be followed at the eschaton by the soul entering some kind of 'physical entity'.
