Psalm 103:4

Psalm 103:4

Redeemed from the pit

We’ve talked before about the threat of Sheol that hung over the people of Israel as they surveyed the future and the afterlife that would follow. There are numerous Old Testament references to this place of the departed, many of them occurring in the Psalms. Sheol has several names but the general consensus seemed to be that at the moment of death, the soul of the deceased went down! Down to a resting place or waiting room below, this was a place of silence and was not to be welcomed! In Psalm 6:4-5 we looked at this place in some detail as follows: -

Sheol is mentioned 16 times in the Psalms and the meaning moves between ideas of the grave, the underworld and the state of death.  What do we know about this Sheol?

·      Whilst heaven is always above, Sheol is always below the earth.

·      Sheol is spoken of as a land divided into compartments with far corners.

·      All the dead meet there regardless of their status on earth;- the good and bad, the rich and poor, the old and young, the ruler and the slave. 

·      Sheol is a place of silence and limited emotions.

·      Souls usually sleep in Sheol and there is darkness.

·      Men tried to contact spirits in Sheol as did King Saul via a witch - that is why we are told to have nothing to do with divination, mediums, witchcraft, soothsayers, spiritists etc.

·      God is not worshipped in Sheol but He has control of it.

·      The righteous are at peace there, there are suggestions that the righteous and the wicked are separated.

The triumphant message of our Psalm today is that the Lord God redeems the righteous who have descended to the pit. The psalmist had no doubt that redemption awaited him and that, one day, he would wear a crown of love and compassion. We now know how that has become possible, the grave has been defeated, our future does not lie in Sheol. We are “in Christ Jesus” so we cannot die! Hallelujah!

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