I came to the conclusion that Jewish people had no reason to ignore life after death. They lived about 400 years in Egypt as slaves where a very important activity for them was building pyramids and tombs for the Pharaohs.

• Jewish Building Cities In The Nile Delta

There is some evidence that the Hebrews picked up at least something from Egyptian mortuary customs: the descriptions in Genesis of the embalming of Jacob and Joseph. But they still expected resurrection of the body rather than a continuation of life after death in a different phase.

• Jewish Burial Must Be Within Hours of Death, Even If On The Sabbath
• Effect of long term slavery on psychology of slave groups - Large parts of Deuteronomy are devoted to an effort to turn the people against the customs and beliefs of their former Canaanite masters.

• Old Testament Texts About Resurrection