Monday: Death in the Old Testament

Daily Lesson for Monday 3rd of June 2024

Read Psalms 6:5, Psalms 115:17, 1 Kings 2:10, 1 Kings 11:43, and 1 Kings 14:20. What do these verses teach about the state of the dead?

The Old Testament does not teach the immortality of the soul. Nor does it teach that after death the faithful soar off to the bliss of heaven for eternity and the unfaithful descend to hell, where they burn for eternity.

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It teaches that death is a sleep. The book of Kings uses the expression “they rested [slept] with their fathers” to describe the death of the patriarchs. The Psalms call it the “sleep of death” (Psalms 13:3; compare Psalms 90:5). Referring to death, Job speaks of not awaking from sleep (Job 14:12). The psalmist adds, “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness” (Psalms 17:15, NKJV).

When the Assyrian army was defeated and destroyed, the death of the soldiers is called their “final sleep” (Psalms 76:6, CJB). The idea of the dead as disembodied spirits hovering around to communicate with the living is not a biblical concept at all but pure paganism.

A failure to understand the truth about death leaves us open to the deceptions of Satan. “Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends and declaring the most dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies and will work miracles to sustain their pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything and that they who thus appear are the spirits of devils.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 560.

Read Daniel 12:2 and Job 19:25-26. What elements about the state of the dead are added by these verses?

Death is a rest in sleep until the resurrection. There are no disembodied spirits hovering around to communicate with the living. Although the pagans believed in a spirit world, the Israelites understood death as a sleep until resurrection morning.

Though we mourn for the dead, think this way about those who die in Christ: they close their eyes in death, and then, regardless of how long it takes until Jesus returns, the next thing they know is the Second Coming. The first thought they might have at the resurrection is Wow! Jesus really did come back soon after all!