Psalms 31:17, commentary and pictures

David asks God to keep him from shame because he has prayed, and asks instead that the wicked be put to shame and brought down silent into the grave. The word for the grave here is sheol, the common abode and receptacle of all the dead, righteous and wicked alike, meaning the grave or state of death rather than a place of torment. To be silent there is to be unconscious in death, without knowledge, thought, memory, speech, praise, or activity, for the whole thinking person rests until the resurrection. Sheol itself is a place of darkness, silence, sleep, and corruption beneath in the earth, not the place where the wicked are now punished, for those who died in sin await the decision of the Judgment.

Sheol and the Grave

The word rendered grave is the Hebrew sheol, meaning the grave, sepulcher, underworld, or state of the dead. Here it belongs with those occurrences rendered hell, grave, or pit, and denotes the grave or state of the dead rather than a place of torment. It is counted among the thirty-one instances rendered grave, showing it is not a place of conscious happiness or bliss.

To be silent in the grave is to be in sheol, the Hebrew name for the place of the dead called hades in Greek. That word for the place of the dead is rendered in English sometimes as grave and sometimes as hell, and in this verse as grave. The verse identifies sheol, rendered grave, as the place of the dead and says that the wicked are silent there. All the wicked go into that sheol where the dead go.

Sheol is the common receptacle and abode of the dead, righteous and wicked alike, and the common destination of both. The wicked go to the grave and are silent there, and grave refers to Sheol, the place of the dead shared by the righteous and the wicked. There they remain until the resurrection.

The sheol where the wicked are silent is the place of the dead beneath in the interior of the earth. It is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption, and worms where there is no praise of God and no knowledge. It is a place of darkness and silence, not conscious activity, where the wicked who enter it are silent. It is silence, darkness, sleep and rest, where there is no knowledge and no thoughts, no memory or speech.

Sheol itself is not the place of the wicked's punishment. Those who died in sin are not presently suffering punishment there but await the decision of the Judgment. The dead are silent in sheol while awaiting that decision.

Silence Means Unconscious Death

The prayer is that the wicked be put to shame and be silent in sheol, the realm, state, and place of the dead. Their shame and their silence belong to death itself, for sheol the grave is presented as a silent place.

That silence means unconsciousness, an inability to praise, perceive, speak, or act. In the grave there is no conscious thought or activity, intelligence in thought and act is suspended, men have no thoughts and know nothing, and thoughts and emotions perish.

The dead do not praise the Lord and do not remember Him. Even the righteous there do not praise God and do not remember Him, so there is no sadness, gloom, or disappointment in that condition. The dead rest in their graves until their change comes, rather than immediately entering heavenly reward, unconscious and unable to praise or perceive what happens around them.

This silence describes the real person, the whole thinking, remembering, praising man, not the body alone. So far as man is concerned death ends all and the grave covers all. Death suspends the whole person's conscious thought and activity until the resurrection.

In hades, the place of the dead, there is darkness and no knowledge, memory, or conversation. The dead therefore do not converse there. Dives could not converse there with Abraham nor make plans to warn his brothers.

Prayer, Christ and Hope

David's prayer is that the one who has called upon the Lord should not be put to shame, while the wicked should be put to shame and silenced in the grave. The plea against being ashamed rests on the ground that unanswered prayer bringing shame might turn others away from God. The counterpart of the prayer is that the wicked in sheol are silent in death, without praise of God and without knowledge.

The psalm is a prophetic picture of Christ's inner experience in His struggles with the enemy. Read in this light it shows that Christ suffered when tempted. It therefore shows that He is able to help those who are tempted.

The prayer that the wicked be ashamed and silent in the grave applies to the death of the wicked, even to future generations who rebel against God. In death they are silent, not conscious and suffering eternally, but unconscious and unable to praise or perceive what happens around them. Those who died in sin are not presently suffering punishment there but await the decision of the Judgment. They rest in their graves until their change comes rather than immediately entering heavenly reward. Left to themselves they would never live again, but in the unfailing purpose of God they live and will as surely exist again as though already present.