Naked Bible Podcast 327 — The Old Testament Afterlife and the Psalms of Korah

[Music] You're listening to the Naked Bible podcast. To support this podcast, go to nakedbiblepodcast.com and click on the support link in the upper right hand corner. If you're new to the podcast and Dr. Hiser's approach to the Bible, click on new start here at nakedbiblepodcast.com. [Music] Welcome to the Naked Bible Podcast, episode 327, the Old Testament afterlife and the Psalms of Kora. I'm the Laban Trey Strickland and he's the scholar Dr. Michael Heiser. Hey Mike, how you doing? Pretty good. Ready to to jump into some again topical stuff. You know, you know, I I just love the topics. I'll I'll confess here. But I like them a lot better than book store book studies. But you know that's just me. Got to do a little bit above. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, since the book studies take, you know, a year thereabouts. Uh, right. I think we all enjoy these single topics. Jude is next. Ruth, you know, we get some of these. We did Oadia. So, let's just knock off all the lowhanging fruit and do all the the short ones. That'd be Yeah, that still a bad idea. That'd still take us uh you know, I mean, we've got more than enough material. Yeah, but you can call it a book study, so Yeah, that's true. That's true. Good way to cheat, you know. Well, Mike, uh what are we talking about today? The afterlife. Yeah. Old Testament afterlife and, you know, assorted related things, but specifically, you know, with an eye toward the Psalms of Kora. Now, you know, I I I have a big folder, you know, because once we were out of, you know, Exodus, you know, I was collecting things that I'd like to do topically. And again, I if you haven't caught on to the logic here, you know, I I do these these topics to sort of, you know, get into the literature uh in topics that I know, you know, down the road if if there ever is an unseen realm to that, okay, you know, we got to include this, got to include that, got to cover this, got to cover that. So, I mean, I've got literally 18 pages, okay, of of things that that I want to do in in a follow-up book again. And and and let me let me just qualify this because I'll mention, you know, in interviews and here on the podcast, I'll say things like, it's unseen realm 2 territory. Please do not conclude from that that I'm working on unseen realm too. I am not. I am not. This is all preparatory. Um, you know, but it just it helps not to have to jump into so many things just cold that I've made notes on, you know, maybe two, three, four years ago. Hey, make sure you do this in the next one. Well, this is the chance to do that kind of thing. So, I I enjoy the topics because, you know, it gives it gives you the audience a little bit of a of a heads up on, you know, hey, you know, we'll we'll take a dive over here and and do things that are related to this this or that topic, you know, when we get there. Again, Lord willing, if if there ever is a second book, then this is a heads up. And if there isn't a second book, well, you know, you got some information here at least a little bit. So, this is one of those. So, it was prompted by my list, you know, dipping into the pool, but it was also prompted by something I got an email a week or well, yeah, a week a week ago. I think that's fair to say. I mean, I knew I was going to do this, but this this thing I got in email really kind of said, "Yep, yep, good time for this." And that is uh I I got an email from my friend Tom Horn who he all he sent said said was he sent a link to a Yahoo news article asked me what I thought and and we were blessed once more. The world was again blessed by the scholarship of Bart Irman. Okay. So on May 8th uh man got something published in Time at least Time magazine online. The title was what Jesus really said about heaven and hell. And of course what Bart says is that you know the Jews of Jesus day didn't believe in an afterlife at all. You died and that was it. I mean you you read something like that and there are so many examples not only in the New Testament but outside the New Testament so many examples to the contrary. I look at that and I just scratch my head like is Bart writing this because no one will ever check like in the popular audience maybe. But you know there are people who have no theological commitments at all who would say what like what in the world is that? Uh so I thought yep this is a good week you know to get into this to show uh you know take a little little bit of a dip. We've done this before in Q&A but a little bit of a dip into the contrarian material in this thing we call the Bible sacred scriptures of Jews and of course Christians. So, I want to cover a few, you know, thoughts on on this specifically, the positive afterlife idea in the Old Testament, you know, to be with the Lord. And as as I've said before in Q&A and, you know, here and there and where it's relevant in other episodes, you know, there are a lot of scholars, including, you know, evangelicals, you know, some evangelicals anyway, that suggest or say that there was no such thing as a positive afterlife idea in the Old Testament. I mean, they won't go as far as Bart to say like like this wasn't even in Jewish consciousness, you know, Jesus day. I mean, that that that borders on the absurd to be honest. But with the Old Testament, you know, there there are a number of evangelicals even that will go this direction. So, my launching point specifically is an article I came across a few months ago uh that I just sort of put in the hopper. It's by a scholar in Belgium named David C. Mitchell and his article is entitled it comes from 2006 so it's an older article but the title is God will redeem my soul from shiel subtitle is the psalms of the sons of kora that's k o r ah for those of you listening to whom the name might not be familiar and this is from the journal for the study of the old testament volume 30 number three 2006 and it's about 20 pages in that journal so the article's title uses a phrase from these these Psalms of Kora, God will redeem my soul from shil. U again that I I've mentioned certain psalms before when we get these Q&A questions about the afterlife, but Mitchell has developed the phrase and the idea its surrounding ideas and its contexts pretty nicely in this article. Uh I will this is not publicly accessible, so I'll put it in the protected folder for newsletter subscribers. So this article, if you'll pardon the pun, ought to put to rest the idea that there is no positive afterlife in the Old Testament. Now, this is a narrow look and he's just looking at the Psalms of Kora. There are other things that we could talk about. For instance, would a people who really believe that that you just died and and that's it? No afterlife, really bury people with personal items? Like, would they really do that? Bart, hello. Um, no, they wouldn't. No, nobody does that who believes that idea. Okay, so you have archaeological evidence. You've got things outside the Psalms that refer to again the hope to be taken out of Shiel at some point and to be with the Lord. I mean, it's not just the Psalms of Kora, but this is where we're going to focus today to kind of narrow uh the episode. And and even within the Psalms of Kora, I'm only going to really look at at three three Psalms specifically that part of of Mitchell's article uh just to get us into this. So, I'm going to read you the abstract or at least part of it from Mitchell's article. This is this is essentially what it's about. He says after defining the Kora collection this study shows that biblical tradition about the Kora heights is marked by the theme of redemption from shiel. Shil of course the Hebrew term for the grave or the the realm of the dead. This theme is discussed particularly in regard to the resurrection of the dead. Then an examination of the Kora Psalms shows that the theme appears there also. So he's, you know, the article starts a little bit wide, then he funnels it to these specific psalms. Lastly, the abstract says, "Corresences are drawn between these traits of the Kora Psalms and the author's proposed esqueological program in the psalter, you know, as a whole." So what what Mitchell's going to do here is he's going to talk about some Kora Psalms. He's going to set the context first. Who was Kora? and and and why would this be a theme associated with his sons who again are linked uh to certain psalms in terms of authorship you know why why would that make sense and then after he discusses that he's going to say hey if you look at the whole psalter there's something esqueatological going on in the way it's arranged okay so I I want to hit these things today I think it'll be a good uh episode again just to provide some some uh contrarian material to to at Wellspring of Biblical Scholarship, Time magazine. Now, I'm going to jump in here and uh I'm going to read a little bit from Mitchell as to how he gets into this as far as you know the context. So, he writes, "11 Psalms bear the heading of or for the sons of Kora. They are set in two groups. The first group forms an almost complete sequence from Psalms 42:49. Only Psalm 43 has no heading, but it can be taken as a chorus psalm because of its affinity with Psalm 42. They seem in fact to be one psalm which has been deliberately split perhaps to bring the chorus psalms up to the talismanic 12. Again, 12 is an important number. The second Kora group also forms a sequence from Psalms 84 to 88, but is divided by David, the Davidic Psalm 86. Then Psalm 89 comes immediately after the Kora collection to close the third book of Psalms. So Psalms 86 and 89 because of their editorial placement and because they share as we will see other Korahite traits should be considered affiliates of the group. Therefore including Psalm 43, there are 12 Kora Psalms and two further Psalms which fall within their orbit. Psalms 86 and Psalm 89. The Kora collection opens book two of the psalms and with the kod of psalm 89 closes book three. Moreover, the first group of kora psalms opens the eloistic psalter. That is the group of psalms 42 to83 in which Elohim predominates while the second kora group reopens the Yahweh psalms. Again, different divine names predominate in those two collections. The two core groups are separated by a group of Assaf and David Psalms. Psalms 50 to83 and they're interspersed there. So, you know, that's a little bit of a summary as far as what the Kora Psalms that he talks about. You know, we're going to talk about here are. And of course, it raises the question right away. Well, which Kora are we talking about? Because the Bible has a number of koras and ko r a h in in English spelling. So Mitchell summarizes this too real nicely. He says there are several koras in the Bible. The Genesis 36:5-16 again has this a Levite Exodus 6:16-21 Numbers 16:1 and 1st Chronicles 6. And perhaps clans of Judahites 1st Chronicles 2:43 and Benjamites 2 Chronicles 12:6, you know, could be associated with Kora. The kora of the heading is usually though again in the psalms the head the kora identified in the headers of the psalms is usually identified with the Levite. Okay. So the one mentioned in Exodus 6:16-21 and the number 16. Mitchell continues. He says this is because the Bible's only mention of the sons of Kora refers to this clan. That's specifically in Numbers 26:11. Kora the Levite is the only Kora whose story is told in detail. The Korahite Levites were musicians and singers in the temple cult. And the Kora psalms actually refer to their functions as singers and gatekeepers. As Levite musicians would both compose and sing, the question of whether these psalms are of or for the sons of Kora doesn't really arise. The heading is probably best taken as simply denoting psalms from the collection of the sons of Kora. Now, as a side note here, just in case it it still isn't clear, this is the Kora who led a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Okay, that's that's what Numbers 16 is about. And we're going to quote a little bit from Numbers 16 as we proceed. But this is that guy. Now, you know, if you remember the story, there's a there's this rebellion against Moses and Aaron. And Yahweh, you know, the God of Israel, judges Kora and other people involved by opening the earth and it swallows the rebels. They go down alive into shol. I'm going to read numbers 16 and I'll we'll start here in verse 30. Numbers 16:30-33. Uh let's see here. But if the Lord creates something new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into shale, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord. And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, this is Moses speaking. The ground under them split apart, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the people who belong to Kora and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into shal and the earth closed over them and they perished from the midst of the assembly. So that Kora is the guy you know that the phrase sons of Kora is referencing. You say well how that just seems really odd. You know how's that a fit? Well, unlike the children of Dayan and Abram who were involved in this rebellion, the sons of Kora did not die in this judgment. And that is a note that is given to us specifically in Numbers 26 in verse 11. So I'm going to go to Numbers 26 here quickly. This is a reference back, you know, to the to Levitic or not Leviticus but number 16, the judgment here of Kora and his associates. So, let's just uh let's go back here. Um Numbers 26:9. Again, this is some genealogical stuff or some census stuff numbering. And we I'll start in verse 9. The sons of Eliab, Nemuel, Deathon, Dayan, and Abram, Aviram. These are the Dethon and Aviram chosen from the congregation who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Kora. when they contended against the Lord and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Kora when that company died when the fire devoured 250 men. So there's a different detail and they became a warning. Here's verse 11. But the sons of Kora did not die. Okay, so hold on to that thought. It's actually going to become important. You know Mitchell, you know, says something to the effect that that the phrase is really significant. The Kora event is like a sign. you know, pointing presumably to things to come that okay, you hear why why would we why would we single out this group and make sure that people knew that they didn't die? I mean, you know, Kora and his other associates, they go down into shiel into the earth and it swallows them up and they they of course die. They perish as numbers 16 said. But then it has to make this note that but the sons of Kora didn't die, right? Mitchell spells out the implication here. Let me just quote a little bit more from him. And he says, "The sons of Kora therefore," okay, because we have this specific note that they did not die. They they didn't suffer the judgment that everybody else suffered. He says, "The sons of Kora then were redeemed from Shil. They were spared." The Reubenites, their children and their households, their own father's household, perhaps their father too, fell alive into the underworld. But the sons of Kora, who might have expected the same fate, survived. They bore this memory high on their heart, recalling it in their names. Now, catch this. These are these are all relatives of Kora. And he's going to go through a a number of of names here that commemorate the fact that they were redeemed from Shil. So, they recalled it in their names. Kora's own sons were Elana, which means whom God redeemed or the jealous God. That's Exodus 6:24 and 1st Chronicles 6:8-12. Also, Assir, which is translated captive. Exodus 6:24. Their descendants were Nath, which means gone down, also known as Toahak, which means low down. 1st Chronicles 6:11 and 19. Zuf, which means to overwhelm. 1st Chronicles 6:20. Aimoth, which means brother of death, known also as Makath, taken away. 1st Chronicles 6:10 and 20. And Takath, which means underworld. It's another word for the underworld. 1st Chronicles 6:9 and 22. So again, he goes through this list. It's kind of obvious that the people who extend from, you know, Kora and his sons, you know, specifically his sons, because they're the ones who who were redeemed from shield. They didn't die. They didn't suffer this judgment. They remember the event and and they name people in their family to be a reminder that we weren't sent to Shal, we weren't left there, you know, we we were redeemed from Shil. He also says, you know, Mitchell points out uh at one point in his article uh that the story of Hannah. He says the redemption from shiel is also hinted at in the song of Hannah. He observes and this is quoting Mitchell now Hannah was a Korahite perhaps by birth but certainly by marriage to the Korahite Elana most of all she is a Korahite in spirit like her Korahite forebears. She speaks of redemption from Shal. Here's 1st Samuel 2:6. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to Shil and he raises up. That's the song of Hannah. You know, 1st Samuel 2:6. Now, the question for the rest of our time again is signaled by by Mitchell in this way. And here's here's where he goes through this background and he he's going to launch off into these psalms. He says, "Redemption from Shil is then a dominant theme of Korahite tradition. But what might such an idea have meant to its writers? He says, you know, there's there's a range of possibilities. You know, what what are these possibilities? Well, there's there's really, you know, fundamentally two. You know, one would be in regard to the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, any talk about deliverance from shol is always figurative for being rescued from physical death or danger. Now, it's fair to say that this is the dominant view of scholarship. Again, even evangelical scholars, you know, have bought into this view. And and this is, in Mitchell's own words, an extreme. It it's just it's extreme. The other extreme, you know, the other view, if if you're going to make them polar opposites here, would be to say that all the passages are talking about physical resurrection. He says that's also just not the case. It's, you know, that's that's an extreme as well. So, obviously, he's going to angle for the truth is really somewhere here in the middle. And let me illustrate the tension here with a psalm. I'm going to go out to Psalm 16:7. Now, this isn't something that Mitchell gets into, but this psalm always comes up in this discussion. So, Psalm 16, this is a mtom of David. Okay? And I'm going to read starting in verse 7. Just listen to this. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel in the night. Also, my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to shore or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forever more. Now, it's pretty obvious in verses 10 and 11 there that that was Psalm 167- 11. Verses 10 and 11, I mean, they get referenced of of Jesus, okay, that the Messiah and and specifically in the context of the resurrection. Now, there are those again to illustrate the tension there's one side that would say, look, you know, in in Psalm 16, this doesn't have resurrection in view at all. It doesn't have afterlife in view at all. What what David is is is praising God for is deliverance from some physical calamity. I mean, the guy is always getting chased by Saul. He's got numerous enemies. People are always trying to kill him. So, when he says, "You will not abandon my soul to shield," it's a way of saying God won't let people kill him. God won't let him get killed. You know, he he won't, you know, end up in the grave like this. Now, you notice even probably in the way I'm saying this that the the question might pop in your head, well, that just doesn't seem really consistent because if if you're really taking it as the reference to shield as only physical deliverance from death, why not just say that the psalmist is saying something crazy like you will never let me die? And of course, the answer would be, well, that would be silly. I mean, David's not going to think that. David knows he's going to die. So he, you know, he has to be here just referencing God's protection in some time of crisis. Now, when Old Testament scholars say that, whether they do this intentionally, and some do or or not, but they just sort of let it on the table and hope maybe they hope people don't notice, but it creates uh this question of, well, then did the New Testament writers like misuse this when they use the psalm about Jesus, the son of the son of David, and his resurrection? Did did the New Testament writers just abuse the text here? Because if this is what you're saying that this text rightly understood means only physical deliverance from some danger, some calamity, then it sure looks like they're just, you know, pillaging the text, you know, like they're taking it out of context. Now, the other view of course would would affirm that no, they're they're not taking this out of context, you know, because, you know, these references to being delivered from shiel in in the Old Testament, you know, they do refer to bodily resurrection. In other words, we're I'm doing the polar opposite thing here now in the discussion. So, they would they would go back to Psalm 16 and say, what David's really talking about here is his own physical resurrection. Well, you know, that seems to be a little bit of an overreach, too. I mean, maybe, you know, you will not abandon my soul to shield. I mean, I personally think that there's a hint there, at least a hint that David hopes, may maybe he doesn't like know, like, I'm putting money on it. Okay. But he at least hopes that the Lord will look favorably on him and remember him and remove him from shield. I I think that's that that that's legit. But again, we're doing the polar opposite thing here. So, people will try to force physical bodily resurrection into every reference like this. Again, my view is that some of them, I think, really do suggest this, and we're going, this is why we're doing this episode because there there is a a Korahite tradition especially, but it's not just in Korahite Psalms. This is Psalm 16. This isn't a Korahite psalm that have this hope expressed of of being with the Lord. You know, at your right hand are pleasures forever more. you know, telegraph to Bartman. If if you're saying something like that at your God's right hand are pleasures forever more, you're not just thinking that when you die that's it. You just aren't. Okay. So, again, nobody at Time magazine is going to fact check Bart. I understand that. I just kind of wish Bart would check would fact check Bart occasionally um because it's just such an exaggeration, you know, on the other side. But again, I'm hoping you get the idea that that you have again these two polar opposite opinions. You I'm going to suggest that, you know, we don't want to read overread the Psalms in either direction, but I think in Psalm 16, there is this this hint again, you know, when David's talking about his holy one, is David really referring to the esqueological Messiah? You know, probably not. I mean, he he's he's the king, you know, he's he's chosen. He is God's, you know, elect, you know, that that sort of thing. your your holy one. I mean that idea you know could be again part of you know psalm kingship language or or or something like that. I mean it people can can try to make that I think you know that there might be a tangential uh relationship there because if you remember an unseen realm I I I have a whole chapter I can't remember what the chapter number is but I talk about how Adam parallels Israel parallels you know David parallels the Messiah parallels Jesus. I mean the you know the the the servant the servant is corporate Israel you know who also is connected back to Adam who also is connected you know forward to the singular Messiah. I mean all of these things are connected these are these are interlocking you know it's the old like I like to say it's the matrix of ideas. So you know it you you can you know see kingship kind of stuff in in a title like holy one but you know elsewhere it's very clear that holy one is a reference to God himself. And so again, if you just if you just do exoggetical math on the along those trajectories, when if David is referring to either himself as king or again, you know, people would say it's an esqueological king. I mean, David obviously knows that God has given him a promise that that his seed is going to occupy. It's the only one legitimate for the for the Jerusalemite throne. David's not foreseeing, you know, the what's going to happen, the divided monarchy and the exile and all this kind of stuff. But you you could do the exegetical math that that the son of David is spoken of like this and so is God. So like maybe those two thoughts go together because again we we've seen you know God is man you know in the Old Testament God comes you know to his people you know he's trying to kickstart the restoration of Eden you know coming to to be among his people and and it's very easy to if that God is a warrior to tie that into messianic stuff. I mean this is how it works. This is how the messianic profile works. You don't get to just remove one element and call what what's left the messianic profile. That's cheating, right? But on the other side, you don't you don't get to to say things like, well, you know, David or or some other Old Testament writer could see the whole picture like like he didn't he wouldn't have needed hindsight like the apostles did. Well, that's just that's way overstated, too. So, we don't want to be given, you know, to overstatements. So, I think again, you know, Mitchell's going to angle for this. I' I've already telegraphed this. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. So Mitchell then from this point he he talks about a little he gives a little bit a few pages of ancient neareastern context. I'm just going to pull out two two things he says here. He writes our view of such issues again this this afterlife idea this deliverance from shiel. Our view on such issues should surely be influenced by what we know of Israel's cultural millu. Well that would be nice. Some form of resurrection belief was widespread in the near east from early times. In old kingdom Egypt, Pharaoh was to rise to happy immortality in the Elysian field of rushes. Nearer to Israel, resurrection was familiar among the Canaanites in the second millennium millennium B.C. at the Ugaritic New Year festival. Baal Baal and his retinue of Raphaim, the deified royal ancestors appeared from the underworld on chariots as the stars of heaven and the warriors of Baal and Anat. So in Kai religion, there was this belief that Baal, you know, died and then came back, you know, because he's he's the grain deity and all this kind of stuff. But they were they were familiar with the idea with Baal and the Raphaim that that even though these these royal ancestors had died, they were still living. Okay? And they would come out annually. This was Canaanite religion. All right. So, so death wasn't just the end even for Canaanites is his point. As a side note, in the, you know, the the reference to Egypt, yeah, that that's true of Pharaoh. You know, in the Old Kingdom, Mitchell writes, you know, afterlife was the prerogative of royalty. That's certainly true. But later, the lower classes increasingly expected and included the notion of of a positive afterlife. And you know, this is, you know, we have something called the book of the dead. The book of the dead is not just for Pharaoh, okay? It expresses an afterlife belief among the Egyptians, you know, and it's also, you know, we also have to point out that, you know, even though Canaanites were thinking that there was life beyond the grave, that's still not physical bodily resurrection. Again, we understand these things. Again, I just I'm saying this more or less for people who might listen to the podcast. But at the very least, what we're what we're commenting on here is that bodily death was not the end. Like like no conscious existence. I mean, almost nobody's thinking that. The question is not is there conscious existence in Shil because like everybody's thinking that the question is will the righteous get delivered from the cadaavverous existence of Shil and especially for the Israelite you know it's this cadaavverous existence and and since the Israelites take a term like Raphaim and also associate it with the giants you know who who come from the Nephilim and the spawn of Genesis 6 and the chaos forces and all that you know the the if you're left in the underworld, that's a really unpleasant place to be because there's, you know, for lack of a better term, I'll just use the the later term there. There's demonic guys down there. This is where they live, too. So, I sure I sure don't want to get stuck there. Is the point. So, the righteous again in this context are hoping for deliverance. They want to be removed from Shil. So, is that a legitimate part of Old Testament theology? Do you have this hope? You know, if if you're again among the righteous, those who are are, you know, loyal to Yahweh, you I'm not going to elapse in a in a rabbit trail about believing loyalty, if you listen to the podcast or red unseen realm, you know what we're talking about there. So, circle back to our main question. Does the Old Testament exclude, this is another way of putting it, does the Old Testament exclude the idea of being rescued from shield after death? If you're Bartman, you say yes. But again, we're trying to look at the text here. So, you know, another way of saying it is, does the Old Testament in its talk about deliver me from shield include the notion of a p of a positive afterlife? So, it does it exclude does it include it? The dominant view, of course, he says if you're in the Old Testament, again, we're not doing the Bart that all Jews, you know, didn't think there was an afterlife. That's just a hopeless exaggeration. But if you're Old Testament scholarship, again, most Old Testament scholars are going to say, "Nope. Nope. You're in Sheil. Everybody goes there. That's where you stay." Mitchell and again, me and of course other scholars, we're not alone here, say that goes too far. So, if we're correct, psalms like Psalm 16 that get applied to the Messiah, the esqueological son of David, are not misinterpretations on the part of the New Testament writer. The New Testament writer is reading that psalm not only in hindsight, you know, of what what happened with Jesus, but he's also reading it in the context of the matrix of ideas that are in Old Testament theology. So, let's go to Psalm uh a couple of these Korahite psalms. And again, to for for the sake of, you know, abbreviating the episode, you know, staying within a reasonable time limit here, we're only going to talk about a few of the Korahite psalms, specifically Psalms 46 and 48. um you know maybe drifting over to Psalm 49. We'll see as as we go here. But the Kora Psalms again recall the ancestral experience of the Korahites. They were they did not die when Shiel opened and swallowed up you know their their forefather and other people. The sons of Kora did not die. They were redeemed from Shil. So in Psalm 46, Mitchell writes, "The deliverance seems to be by an earthquake," which is interesting given the number 16 uh context. But let's go to let's go to Psalm 6 uh Psalm 46, excuse me, and pick up with a little of this um just starting in the psalm here. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way. And this is a song, this is a psalm of Kora. We're not going to fear that the earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. And that that's actually a reference to shiel as well because shiel was thought to be a watery, you know, place. It was the abyss, but there's also water there because it was under the earth. I mean, think Israelite cosmology here. Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Okay, we're not we're not going to be afraid. We're not going to be afraid. So you get this sort of earthquaking, earthshattering, you know, earth upheaval imagery. And Mitchell points out that the same verb is present here in Amos 9:5. Let me read you that. Again, I'm just giving you an idea of what what Mitchell does in this article. The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts and all who dwell in it mourn. Okay? Touches the earth and it melts. All of it rises like the Nile and sinks again like the Nile. So this up and down, you know, motion to the earth. Now, the reason why the Amos reference is is interesting is because Amos 1:1 actually refers to a an earthquake in Uziah's reign. And Mitchell continues. He says, "Likewise, Psalm 48 tells how the invaders are seized upon by trembling, quote unquote." That is by analogy with Psalm 46, the trembling of the earth. Psalm 48:7. Amid this cataclysm, Jerusalem stands unshaken. That's Psalm 46:5 and 6. Psalm 48:4-9, which makes known the name of God to all the ends of the earth. So, Jerusalem is unshaken. It makes known the name of God to all the ends of the earth. Psalm 46:11. Psalm 48:11. Zechariah tells of the destruction of an invading alliance by an earthquake like that of Uzziah's time which shall split the mount of olives and by plague. Zechariah 14:4 and 5. Thereafter all nations shall worship Yahweh. It is just such an event that Psalms 46 and 48 seems to anticipate against some some cataclysmic earthshattering event. As in Kora's rebellion of old, the fluid earth will convulse and reveal the gaping underworld of shol. Rebels will fall alive into the depths, but the righteous, the righteous will be redeemed. Now, at this point, he goes back to Psalm 46. And let me read the verses that he references. Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most high. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her when mourning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord. How he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. It's very clear, you know, day of the Lord imagery here. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Now, that's the end of the psalm. Now if you're a Korahite and you have this tradition of being delivered from shil and shil is something you associate with earthly upheaval like an earthquake the earth splitting open and swallowing you know the sinners okay when you say when that happens sometime down the road to Jerusalem the Lord will be with us see we're the ones that didn't die back then the sons of Kora And when that happens again, when shiel, you know, opens its mouth, we're not going to be swallowed then either. The Lord will be with us. Now, is that the kind of thing that someone who believes that you die and that's it would say? Of course not. Of course not. They're saying the opposite. They're expecting that God again will deliver them once more. If you go over to Psalm 48, this is God, our God forever and ever. Olam is the the Hebrew word there. Forever and ever. He will guide us forever. Now, interestingly enough, that's the ESV. The Hebrew has he will guide us. Almoot. Let me read the previous line again. Our God forever and ever is olam. He will guide us forever. It's not olam. It's it's a different phrase. It's al-mut. Now, a lot of English translations will translate that forever. And if you read the commentaries, basically they do that because they're following the Septuagent. That's with the way the Septuagent translator read it. But if you keep the words separate instead of combining them, if you combine them, you can make an argument that it means forever. You know, al-moot. You put those two words together and you can sort of get olam with a T on the end. But that isn't the way the traditional Maseretic text has it. It has al-mut. It's a prepositional phrase. If you keep them separate, guess what you have? He will guide us above death. In other words, he'll deliver us from shield. He'll take us out. You know, Mitchell, of course, you know, spends a little time on this and he argues that this reading is confirmed by Psalm 49:15. This is another Korah height psalm. Let's go there real quickly. Psalm 49:15. And it's just it's really explicit here. Let's go back up to 14. Um, make it 13. So Psalm 49:13-15. Just listen to this again. Psalm of Kora. The ones who were redeemed from Shol. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence. Again, the stuff that's happened before. It's basically perishing. Death. Okay. Yet after them people approve of their boasts. Like sheep they are appointed for shal. Death shall be their shepherd. And the upright. Now, okay, again, you know, this is an urban flasher. Does does the rest of the verse say, "And the upright will be in the same place because everybody knows you die and that's it." No. Like death they are appointed for shal death shall be their shepherd. Their shepherd. And the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form their form shall be consumed in shal with no place to dwell. It's going to swallow them up. But God, this is verse 15, but God will ransom my soul from the power of shal for he will receive me. Now that sure sounds like a positive hope of afterlife in the Old Testament. God will ransom my soul from the power of shield. I mean, you can't just read the verse. Look at what it's contrasted with. Like sheep, they are appointed for shal. Death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form, their form, not not our form, their form shall be consumed in shield with no place to dwell. But God will ransom my soul from the power of shal for he will receive me. It seems just abundantly clear. You know Mitchell, you know, spends again a little time in his article talking about Psalm 49. You know, he makes a comment like, you know, it references shil three times whereas no other psalm mentions it more than once. I mean, it it's it's obviously a point of focus in this psalm. You know, God will ransom my soul from the power of shield. He will receive me. Interestingly enough, well, let's just think about it. If the point of verse 15 is physical deliverance only, this is tanamount to the psalmist claiming he'll never die. I'm not going to die. God's going to ransom my soul from the power of shield. Any any physical threat out there against me, God's going to keep me from. Really, it just doesn't make sense. You know, Mitchell has a whole section of his article comparing some of the the Korahite vocabulary, believe it or not, to Enoch and Elijah. And this is one of the one of the points. Again, I'm not going to rabbit trail into this, but but that last verse, Psalm 49:15, God will ransom my soul from the power of shield. He will receive me. The verb is lak. He will take me. Lak can be translated take or receive. It's the same verb used in Genesis 5:24. Okay, Genesis 5:24 ought to be familiar, at least again, to this audience. Enoch walked with God and he was not. For God him, God took him, he received him. You know, however, whatever way you want to translate, it's the same verb. 2 Kings 3 3-10. Again, this is the Elijah episode about Elijah being, wait for it, taken by God. Okay, it's the same verb used in in those verses. So, this is what what Mitchell does in the article. Again, I want I want to expose you to this just in again, this is a very abbreviated form and and I'll admit, you know, this is a scholarly journal article. It's technical. Um, but again, I'm still putting it in the protected folder because I think, you know, some of you can pick around the Hebrew stuff and and still get a lot of benefit from it. But you need to realize that the next time you hear or see something on YouTube or the internet about how the Old Testament has no concept of heaven, believers being with God forever and the New Testament does and therefore that the the two testaments of the Bible are contradictory. Just laugh, okay? Just have a good time with that, you know, or lament. I don't know. Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry. But again, this is why why we're here to expose you to this. Now, the last point that Mitchell makes, I think, is is an interesting one. I'll toss it in here as we wrap up. He writes this. He says, "Within the context of the psalter's esqueological program, the Kora collections shme works in different ways. Low-key shiel imagery first appears in Psalms 42 to 44 where it represents Israel's exile." Let me just stop there. So again, part of his article, he'll he'll deal with how when Israel goes into exile, it's like a death. Okay? And so you get this sh imagery that that gets attached to Israel going into exile. So it it represents Israel's exile from which they long and pray to be redeemed. Psalm 45 represents the coming. Catch this. Just just look at the ordering. And again, this is Mitchell's point. Look at the ordering of the stuff. Okay? So Psalm 42-44, Israel, their ex her exile is compared to Shiel. Psalm 45 represents the coming of a bridegroom, king, like the Messiah, the Messiah. And that's actually in Psalm 458, that term. With the opening of Psalm 46, we begin to hear the distinctive rumble of the Korahite shield imagery. And that's where we've been today. Psalm 46, Psalm 48, Psalm 49. It tells of a cataclysmic day when, as in the desert of old, the earth will convulse and open up, revealing the underworld. In Psalm 47, after delivering Jerusalem amid cataclysms, the king, okay, the bridegroom king receives the homage of the nations at his Jerusalem throne. Psalm 48 then returns to the Jerusalem deliverance. Let me stop there. Remember Psalm 48, unseen realm, the first two verses. Just read them to you. Psalm 48. It's good stuff. Great is the Lord. Great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation is the joy of the whole earth or of all the earth. Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great king. Remember the chapter in unseen realm about Yarotate Safon, the heights of the north, how that was language for Baal's council, you know, the the the seed of the gods in Canaanite religion, you know, the the ones that they thought ran the show. Again, the psalmist says, "Nah, not so much." Now, the the heights of the north is Mount Zion. That's where everything is focused. That that that's the center of the cosmos, as it were, as far as what matters and who is king. And you know who who is in charge of history? Yeah, this is this is Psalm 48. This is in the mix of the Korahite Psalm stuff and the deliverance from Shil. So Psalm 48 then returns to the Jerusalem deliverance. God will redeem his people and carry them over death. Remember that al-mut comment we made. He will carry them over death. He will carry them above shiel. Finally, to close the first core group, Shiel language appears fullon in Psalm 49. Oh, yes it does. Three times it's mentioned where the psalmist speaks for faithful Israel who will be redeemed from shol on that day. I mean th this was the hope of every Old Testament person. Now, of course, in this audience, you're, you know, we have mostly Christians here, and they're going to say, "Well, you know, that sounds like it's all day of the Lord and esqueological and blah blah blah blah blah." Okay, we're back to the already and not yet because who is the bridegroom? Okay, it's Jesus. Okay. When when do people get delivered? And and why? It's the resurrection. I mean, this is where you've you've got to take the resurrection language. You've got to take statements of of you know Paul to be absent from the bodies to be present with the Lord. You've got to look at scenes like the transfiguration where you know Moses and Elijah they're already you know they're already with the Lord. Okay. It's not just all this stuff you know put into the remote future. Okay. There's lots of stuff going on both in in in second temple Jewish tradition and also in the New Testament that basically says that you know when the Messiah comes and of course from the New Testament Messiah has come all of this stuff is launched. It's inaugurated. It begins. It is already present but it is not yet consummated. It's already but not yet. Okay. So this is yet another one of those things that is presented in this dual way already a reality but not yet. I mean there will be an an end resurrection. There will be a day of the lord. There will be this final judgment the final resurrection you know you know on both sides. This is what we read in revelation. Okay. And and again that's consistent with day of the lord language all of that. But what we have to factor in is that there are certain scenes in the New Testament where you get day of the Lord imagery quoted of the first coming and the resurrection and the ascension, but then you'll get other passages that that still put it out into the future. That's because New Testament esquetology and frankly Old Testament esquetology is already but not yet in its thinking. So again, I wanted to take a little time and do this topic because yep, it's on the list. And you can see again, this is just a little a little introduction, a little smattering here. And there there are resources like, you know, Mitchell's article that, you know, in in in subsequent books, you know, if there's an unseen realm two or three, I mean, we're going to drill down into different psalms and do this or that, you know, all that stuff. This is this is just a little bit, you know, getting your feet wet here. But even more so than that, this is the kind of thing that that you need to remember when you're out there in the hinterlands of Middle Earth and you're running into Bartman, okay? And and and others who who will dramatically overstate the position that they're fond of regardless of the contrarian material. They just do that. It's just part of the game. So I I wanted again to introduce you to this. can pass it on to others, you know, get people to listen to the podcast, you know, certainly not only this episode, but others, but also just to have and, you know, to re-reference again when people need it. All right, Mike, do you have any idea what we're going to be discussing next week? I'll tell you what I'd like to discuss next week. Oh, no. This this is this is kind of a a really I mean, okay, Trey, let's be honest, all of our topics are interesting. But but I'd like I'd like to This is an odd one and and you know how we like odd ones. Okay. Luke 24:42. Okay. Luke 24:42. Not I'm taking the time to read it for a specific reason because this is going to depend on your English translation, but it's really odd. This is Jesus uh you know when he appears to his disciples and he's cooking a meal for them. You know, it says they they and and you know, he eats as well. So, this is like part of the the resurrection proof. They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it before them. Now, that's ESV. Some of your translations will add this phrase. They gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb and he took it and ate it before them. I'd like to do an episode on on the honeycomb. And you think, well, what what can you get out of that? Okay, again, it's not in every manuscript. It's kind of like the John five thing with the angel, you know, troubling the water and all that stuff, you know, that isn't in a lot of translations, but but this is actually a really interesting rabbit trail uh for for those of you who have that phrase in your Bible. So, that's what I'm angling for for next time, you know, Luke 24:42. And really, it's it's going to take us into um how the how the New Testament writers, you know, will characterize, you know, some some parts of the resurrection. uh a Jesus body. So there you go. Sounds sweet. No pun intended. So Oh, that's just Yeah. All right. All right. My Well, I wish I We need to insert a rim shot there, Trey. I know. We need sound effects. I need to get on that. Can you do that? I could. You know, let me just pencil that in on all the list of things that I have to do. Add sound effects. I got a lot of pencils laying. All right, Mike. Well, we look forward to that one. We uh enjoyed this one. And with that, I want to thank everybody for listening to the Naked Bible Podcast. God bless. Thanks for listening to the Naked Bible Podcast. To support this podcast, visit www.nakedbibleblog.com. To learn more about Dr. Heiser's other websites and blogs, go to www.drmssh.com. [Music]