Facing death

But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

Job asks where a person goes at death and answers that he lies down and does not rise while the heavens last. Then the question, if a man die shall he live again, is left open. He says he will wait, without claiming to expect anything.

Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

The one psalm that never turns toward comfort. These verses argue from the grave's side: the dead do not rise and praise, and loyal love is not declared in the pit. The psalm's closing word is darkness, and nothing in it is resolved.

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 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. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

The bluntest passage in the Hebrew Bible about the dead, who know nothing, whose love and hatred and envy have perished, who have no portion in anything done under the sun. A living dog outranks a dead lion. The book will not offer consolation it cannot support.

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

A lamp cord snapping, a pitcher breaking at the well, and then the plain sentence: the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. It says the breath goes back to its source, and no more than that.

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

One of the few clear statements of resurrection in the Hebrew Bible, from a book addressed to people dying under persecution. Many who sleep in the dust will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame. It expects an accounting later, not relief now.

And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

A vision of a feast on a mountain where the covering spread over all peoples is torn away and death itself is swallowed up. Paul quotes the line centuries afterward. In Isaiah it is a hope held out to all nations, set at no stated date.

Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Spoken at a grave to a sister four days into her mourning. Martha already believes in a resurrection at the last day, and Jesus moves the claim from a date to a person, then asks whether she believes it. He weeps a few verses later.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Paul's argument for bodily resurrection, written to a church that doubted it. The taunt about death's sting is borrowed from Hosea. He is claiming the mortal body is changed rather than the spirit simply released, and he stakes his entire message on it.

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

Written to people frightened that believers who had already died would miss what was coming. Paul does not tell them to stop grieving but to grieve differently from those with no hope. What he offers is reunion, with no indication of when.