“Then David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David.”-1 Kings 2:10
So we’re told David went to “sleep with his ancestors.”
This is a carryover phrase from the days of ancestor worship.
And yes, the ancient Israelites at this time did believe that after death, a righteous person would, in some form, be able to commune eternally with one’s ancestors in some netherworld.
The phrase to “sleep with one’s ancestors” was the equivalent of dying in peace to the ancient Hebrew mind.
But that was as far as it went in terms of thinking positively about death.
No matter how you looked at it, death was never a welcome thing.
The only hope was to live an afterlife of comfort by being reunited with departed family members.
This was as opposed to an eternity of discomfort or torment, which was considered to be the fate of the wicked.
So what takeaway can we extract from this?
Well, it kinda goes back to what I said yesterday.
The Bible is a book of life, not death.
And the God we worship is a God of life, not death.
That said, the Bible obviously doesn’t ignore the reality of death.
In fact, it provides the ultimate solution.
I’m talking about the resurrection.
The fact that Yeshua was resurrected from the dead is the ultimate hope for mankind.
I don’t use that word “fact” lightly.
The resurrection of Yeshua of Nazareth is one of the most well-attested events in human history.
And again, I ain’t talking about religious belief here.
I’m talking about cold, hard, and indisputable legal evidence…
The kind that holds up in the highest courts.
You feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin;
And the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Messiah Yeshua.”
-1 Corinthians 15:55-57
“And if Messiah has not been raised,
our preaching is useless
and so is your faith.”
-1 Corinthians 15:14
“But God raised him from the dead,
freeing him from the agony of death,
because it was impossible for death
to keep its hold on him.”
-Acts 2:24
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