Psalm 16, Part 2: A Promise of Resurrection

Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 16.

Christ is the only Being who can be described as God’s “Holy One.” “In Christ’s deliverance from the tomb and in His resurrection the full meaning of these verses became clear.” What was David’s understanding of the state of the dead? He uses the Hebrew word nephesh in verse 10 to describe a soul. “A definition for nephesh may be derived from the Bible account of the creation of man (Gen. 2:7). The record declares that when God gave life to the body He had formed, the man literally ‘became a soul of life.’ The ‘soul’ had not previously existed, but came into existence at the creation of Adam. . . . This uniqueness of individuality seems to be the idea emphasized in the Hebrew term nephesh.” The word nephesh (root naphash) means “to breathe.” When God created man, He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). Ecclesiastes 9:5 says, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” (Psalm 6:5). “All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust” (Job 34:15).

Upon death, the body returns to dust, and consciousness ceases.

The Bible calls death a sleep. The grave is the “hell” of which David speaks.

All dead go to this place, but they are not conscious (Genesis 37:35; Numbers 16:30; Psalms 30:3; 89:48; Acts 2:27, 31). The grave—Sheol, Hades, hell—will surrender its dead at the last trumpet! “Attended by all the shining angels, / Down the flaming sky / The Judge will come, and will take His people / Where they will not die.”