Early Hebrew scriptures do not depict immediate transition to heaven upon death, but rather portray the dead as entering a state of unconscious sleep in their graves.

Rather than an instant flight to a celestial kingdom, biblical texts often describe death as a state of inactive slumber. Passages like Ecclesiastes 9:5 and Psalm 6:5 suggest the dead possess no active awareness or memory. Even prominent figures like King David are described in Acts 2:29 as dead and buried, rather than residing alive in heaven. This intermediate state of soul sleep positions the physical resurrection at the end of time as the necessary gateway to any future life.