Preaching and Teaching the Last Things

Old Testament Eschatology for the Life of the Church

Walter C. Kaiser

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780801039270
• eBook ISBN:
  9781441232007
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Distinguished Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser believes that the Old Testament is sorely neglected today in teaching and preaching, but it is even more neglected when it comes to setting forth the hope that Christians have for the future. Firmly believing that the Old Testament offers important insights into biblical eschatology and the Christian life, he provides guidance for expositing fifteen key Old Testament eschatological passages to preachers, teachers, and Bible students. Each chapter focuses on a single biblical text. Kaiser introduces the topic, examines the issues, notes who has contributed to some of the solutions, and shows how this sets up the text to be exegeted and prepared for exposition.

The Individual and General Eschatology in the Old Testament

Many assume that the matters of individual life, death, and the resurrection of the body were not on the radar of the Old Testament writings. However, most will be surprised to learn that this impression is incorrect, for ancient people thought much about these matters, as shown by signs of the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians left in the pyramids.

It was probably the removal of Enoch to heaven, the seventh very important person (VIP) from Adam, that started a whole new line of thinking. If Enoch, a mere mortal, could be taken directly into the immortal presence of God (as was Elijah some time later), then the theoretical objections to the resurrectability of the body are moot from the very start. Here was a mortal who did not pass through death, but was taken immediately into the presence of God where he has been ever since. All objections as to whether a mortal can go into the immortal presence of God become immediately passé from the very start.

Both Psalm 49 and Job 19 are two great teaching texts that should give Old Testament readers a jump start as we prepare for these seminal ideas to develop into full doctrines in the New Testament.

1

Life and Death in the Old Testament

Psalm 49:1–20

“But God will redeem my life from the grave.”

Psalm 49:15

Death, of course, is the opposite of life; it is the cessation of breathing and the termination of life as we know it here on this earth (Pss. 104:29; 146:4). Life, on the other hand, is a gift from God, who alone controls all of our days (Ps. 103:13–16). The Hebrew root haya, “live,” occurs about eight hundred times in the Old Testament while the Hebrew root mut, “death,” appears more than one thousand times.

The people of the Old Testament operated in a culture where pagan mythological ideas taught that the gods controlled what was on earth, in heaven, and in the underworld, the place of the dead. Countering that set of beliefs was the biblical concept where the Lord himself is King over the earth, heaven, and even “in the depths” (Ps. 139:8). Everything is under his control and not in the hands of the mythological gods.

The norm in the Old Testament was for the dead person to be buried in the family grave (Gen. 25:8–10; Josh. 24:30, 32; 2 Sam. 2:32). Those who were landless were buried in graves for the common people (2 Kings 23:6; Jer. 26:23). But the worst of all curses was to be left unburied on the land. In later times, some bodies were burned, as was true in the case of King Saul (1 Sam. 31:12), but that did not appear to be the norm in earlier days except for notorious criminals (Lev. 20:14; Josh. 7:25).

Especially in the Psalms, what is celebrated most is life, a life redeemed from dangers found all around (Ps. 40:2). The hope of an Old Testament person was the anticipation of enjoying God’s goodness and presence—even beyond his or her days on this earth (Ps. 56:13). It is Yahweh alone who is the Author of life and the Redeemer. That is why Ethan the Ezrahite prays in Psalm 89:48: “What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave? Selah.”

But the hope of God’s people was in the life he would give them beyond death. Psalm 141:8 reads: “But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.” For even in death, Yahweh is still there: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15).

The Lord Jesus himself provides the substance of the hope that not only King David had, but that all who believe the Lord Jesus also have.

I have set the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the grave,

nor will you let your Holy One [Hebrew hasid] see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Ps. 16:8–11; cf. Acts 2:24–28)

The Old Testament has a fairly large number of Hebrew words with overlapping ideas for the dead. First of all is the term sheol, used some sixty-five or sixty-six times. It does not have a cognate in any other Semitic language and is usually translated in the NIV as “grave,” but always with a footnote saying “Sheol.” The Authorized Version (King James) renders it as “grave” thirty-one times, “hell” thirty times, and “pit” three times. Its etymology is uncertain, but it did appear in the Jewish Elephantine Papyri once as “grave.” Both good and bad persons go to Sheol (Jacob in Gen. 37:35, yet Korah and Dathan did as well, Num. 16:30). Therefore, Sheol may have originally just meant the “grave,” but then it came to also signify “hell.”[10]

Twenty-one times Sheol was located in the depths of the earth where one had to “go down” or “be brought down” to the earth (Gen. 37:35; Num. 16:30, 33; Isa. 14:11, 15). But six times Sheol is also parallel with the “pit” (Job 17:13–14; Ps. 16:10; Prov. 1:12; Isa. 14:15; 38:18; Ezek. 32:18, 21). In nine other cases, Sheol is parallel with death (2 Sam. 22:6; Pss. 18:4–5; 49:14; 89:48; 116:3; Prov. 5:5; etc.). Sheol is certainly not an attractive place in the Old Testament. It is surprising that there is not a more adequate view of death and what happens after death in the Old Testament. But the seminal ideas that are found in the Old Testament do come to full expression in the New Testament. Thus, for the Old Testament saint, Sheol is primarily the tomb, the place where speaking, laughing, and praising God no longer take place as they did in life. It is a place where it is dark, dusty, and filled with bones and where tongues lie silent in the grave.

The Hebrew word ’abaddon occurs in parallel with Sheol (Prov. 15:11; 27:20) and “grave” (Hebrew qeber, Ps. 88:11). It appears, then, that ’abaddon denotes the place where the physical body dissolves. In the book of Revelation, Abaddon is personified as Satan in his cause for death, destruction, and chaos.

Another word we should consider is bor, “pit,” which is another synonym for Sheol (Ps. 88:3; Prov. 1:12; Isa. 14:15). Those who end up in the “pit” find themselves in slime and mud (Ps. 40:2) and in a powerless position (88:4). The expression “lowest pit” also occurs (Hebrew bor takhtiyot, Ps. 88:6). These “lowest” parts of the earth are pictured as gloomy and cavernous places, an idea that usually finds its home more in pagan associations than in the Old Testament.

The Hebrew word for “death” (mawet) is found in other Semitic languages and is the state of being dead or the place of the dead. The Canaanite god Mot, “death,” is the god of the underworld. But this too is not a place where the Lord cannot go; he is even here if need be.

As already mentioned, death is the place of “silence” (Hebrew duma, Pss. 94:17; 115:17). Another word, “darkness” (Hebrew makhshak), is used in parallel with “lowest pit” (Pss. 88:6; 143:3). Finally, the Hebrew word shahat, from the root for “to sink down” or “to destroy,” completes our survey of the main Old Testament Hebrew terms for death and its accompaniments.

All of this background study brings us to the key teaching passage we have selected for the study of life and death (Ps. 49:1–20).

Delivering Our Lives from the Power of Death and the Grave

Text: Psalm 49:1–20

Title: “Delivering Our Lives from the Power of Death and the Grave”

Focal Point: Verse 15, “But God will redeem my life [nefesh, “soul”] from the grave [sheol]; he will surely take me to himself. Selah.”

Homiletical Keyword: Answers

Interrogative: What? (What are the answers we can give to the dilemma posed by death and the grave in the Old Testament?)

Teaching Aim: To demonstrate that God is sovereign over death and the grave.

Outline

1. We Are Faced at First with a Proverb and a Riddle—49:1–4
2. We Are Presented with the Question of Life and Death—49:5–6
3. We Are Faced with the Certainty of Death—49:7–14
4. We Are Given the Resolution to the Problem of Death and the Grave—49:15–20

Exegetical Study

1. We Are Faced at First with a Proverb and a Riddle—49:1–4

This wisdom psalm is meant as an encouragement for those who are haunted by the power and ubiquity of death and the grave. The language of this introductory set of verses is a call that has gone out to all humanity. This call is not restricted to Israel or Judah, but instead it goes to “all who live in this world” (Hebrew haled, “world,” is a rare poetic word) (1). Moreover, it includes “both low and high, rich and poor” (2). The words “low” and “high” are dynamic equivalents for the “sons of man” (using the general term for “man,” ’adam) and the more individual name (Hebrew ’ish), which may signify a person of wealth. Therefore, this psalm is meant to speak to all people, in their common or noble humanity.

In words that are reminiscent of the opening to the book of Proverbs, verse 3 announces that “the sons of Korah [who are said to be the authors of this psalm in the introduction, which probably is as original in the book of Psalms as the body of the text] will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from [their] heart will give understanding.”

The contents of Psalm 49 are called a “proverb” (4) in which “instruction” is given in short, pithy, abstract thought. The sons of Korah propose to “expound” (Hebrew patakh, “to open”) the riddle posed here also by using a harp. This implies that what will be explained will be both a proverb and an enigmatic question.

2. We Are Presented with the Question of Life and Death—49:5–6

The psalmist begins with the kind of question a teacher asks: “Why should I fear when the evil days come?” It is as if he said, “I thought everyone feared old age and the uncertainty of the future and rejection that comes from others in those senior years. What is there available that will cushion a person in old age from fears such as these? Will the heaping up of wealth insulate a person in that situation?” (6).

But even wealth does not seem to provide that sense of security and well-being that is needed in this situation. While on the surface of things this may seem like the “Teacher” (Qoheleth) in Ecclesiastes, who often raises questions to get his students involved, the psalmist will in this case provide his own answer right within this psalm. But he wants to make sure that all understand the question and are prepared to hear his answer.

The “wicked deceivers [who] surround [the psalmist]” (5) literally reflects “the guilt of my heels surrounds me.” The NIV emends the Masoretic text of the Hebrew, assuming the word “heels” (‘aqebay, a Hebrew word that reflects the name of “Jacob,” yaqab) actually means “those who cheat me” (Hebrew ‘oqebay), as one’s enemies often do.

3. We Are Faced with the Certainty of Death—49:7–14

Verse 7 begins with the confident answer: “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him.” There is just no way money or anything else is going to act as an appropriate “ransom” to redeem anyone from death. People do not live forever, so all must face death at one time or another, no matter how grandiose or poverty-stricken their earthly lives may have been. More often than not, many trust in their wealth, but wealth is especially and notoriously unstable (Prov. 23:5). Hence, we mortals are simply unable to buy our way out of dying!

The wisdom teaching continues, beginning with a “surely” (in Hebrew; NIV, “for”). Everyone, Korah urges, can see that even “wise” persons die along with the “foolish” and the “senseless” (10). But whatever they have hoarded for themselves, they must abandon to others whether they want to leave it or not (10). Even those who have wanted to perpetuate their own memory, even “though they had named lands after themselves” (11), cannot tell what the result will be. Their tombs will have their names engraved on them (11), but that does not guarantee that the memory of their lives will be perpetuated.

So in each case the end result is the same, according to verse 12—“But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish.” All too quickly this life is over and the question then is, what will happen to us? At this point, the psalmist is not interested in showing what the difference is between persons and animals. His point simply is that death is a universal experience that overtakes all life, regardless of whether it is animal or human.

So far, the emphasis of this wisdom psalm is on the mortality of all life. Even those “who trust in themselves” (13a), and those who are their “followers” and “who approve their sayings” (13b), face the common lot that comes to all—death.

Mortals are destined for the grave just like a herd of sheep (14). Here death is pictured as a monster that “feed[s] on them” (14b), mu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part 1: The Individual and General Eschatology in the Old Testament
• Part 2: The Nation Israel in Old Testament Eschatology
• Part 3: The New Davidic King and the City of the Great King in the Old Testament
• Part 4: The Day of the Lord and the Beginning of the Nations’ Struggle with Israel
• Part 5: The Events of the Last Seven Years and the Arrival of the Western Confederacy
• Part 6: The Coming Millennial Rule of Christ and the Arrival of the Eternal State
• Selected Bibliography
• Notes
• Author Index
• Subject Index
• Scripture Index