Slept With His Fathers

Acts 13:22

²²And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

God spoke well of King David.  So where did David go when he died?  1 King 2:10

¹⁰So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

David died and slept with his fathers.  However, David was not buried with his fathers; his fathers were shepherds, not kings.

Hezekiah, a descendant of David, was a good king, 2 Chronicles 31:20.

²⁰And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before Yehovah his God.

Where did Hezekiah go when he died?  Probably the same place as David, 2 Kings 20:21.

²¹And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

Hezekiah slept with his fathers too.  This should makes sense, since both were good kings.  Hezekiah’s son Manasseh became king in 2 Kings 21:1-2.

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yehovah, after the abominations of the heathen, whom Yehovah cast out before the children of Israel.

Manasseh was probably the worst king in the history of Judah.  As for Manasseh, it states in 2 Kings 21:18A:

^18AAnd Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house,

Manasseh went to the same place his father went.  Although, he was not considered a good king like his father, Manasseh rested with his fathers.

For many, this does not match up with the theology they were taught.  The theology that the good go to one place and the bad to another.  Yet according to scriptures, all go to the same place, Sheol.

 One might ask, how does one know that the statement “slept with his fathers” is not in reference to a location?  Hezekiah and Manasseh were buried in different locations.  Hezekiah was buried in 2 Chronicles 32:33A.

^33AAnd Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death

Where as Manasseh was buried in 2 Kings 21:18.

¹⁸And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza:

Thus scripture shows that Hezekiah and Manasseh were not buried in the same physical locations.  Yet scripture states about both of them that they slept with their fathers.  The phrase slept with fathers is used it refer to the soul.  Whereas the body is buried in qeber {keh’-ber}, the grave.

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