While some believed that upon death the wicked awaited punishment (as stated above), others believed that the wicked would enter fiery punishment immediately upon death. It seems that the Pharisees believed this. They said that the righteous receive rewards and the wicked receive punishment immediately after they die (Ant. 18.14). This also seems to be reflected in Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31, which Richard Bauckham says is the only place in the New Testament that mentions punishment immediately upon death (“Early Jewish Visions of Hell,” 376).
