Nobody escapes the punishment, as everybody dies.
I think old testament times were different as regards the possibility of eternal punishment. This is because they had no proof of a general resurrection except clues from Enoch and Elijah who didn't die but were taken 'up". The teaching of the prophets was that repentance had real consequences in this life, rather than that if we repent we will have eternal life.
Jesus taught the latter, and that there will be a resurrection of everyone, knowing that he would rise from the dead as evidence.
This doesn't subvert any rules, does it?
Odd that God didn't let the ancient Hebrews know unequivocally whether there was an afterlife which involved judgment and eternal pain or bliss. Apart from the two hints you mention, there is only the vague reference in the very late Book of Daniel, which points to a conscious afterlife. And of course, Ecclesiastes say definitely that "the dead are conscious of nothing at all".
