Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
The verse asks whether God will show wonders to the dead and whether the dead will rise to praise Him, and the answer to both is No, for the dead do not witness His working nor rise in conscious praise. With the verses that follow it pictures the grave as destruction and darkness, silence and the land of forgetfulness, where His lovingkindness and faithfulness and righteousness are neither declared nor known. The dead are asleep and unconscious, knowing nothing and having no thought, feeling, work, knowledge or wisdom, silent and inactive until they are raised. This is true of the whole person, not of the body only, for the thinking and remembering part enters an unconscious state and loses knowledge, and the dead are not living conscious souls apart from their bodies. They must arise in order to praise God, and the sleeping saints will remain in the grave without awareness or praise until they awake at the resurrection.
Question and Grave
The verse asks two rhetorical questions, whether God will show wonders to the dead and whether the dead will arise to praise Him, and both admit only No for an answer. It is a strong denial that the dead witness God and rise in conscious praise, teaching that the dead do not arise to praise God and are not conscious and praising Him in heaven. If the dead were conscious and happy they would praise the Lord, and it would be a greater wonder if they did not, for a good man praises God only while he lives and has being, but when he dies he stops praising, which he would never do while consciousness lasted. The word wonders there refers to miraculous manifestations, including the resurrection of the dead.
Read with the following two verses, the passage portrays the grave as destruction, darkness, silence and the land of forgetfulness. In Sheol, the grave, the dark and the land of forgetfulness, God's lovingkindness, faithfulness, wonders and righteousness are neither declared nor known, and the dead have no remembrance or thanks. The dead there know nothing and praise nothing, do not see God's wonders, do not declare them, and do not rise to praise Him, but remain silent and inactive. This shows that the dead are not active, conscious souls apart from their bodies, and that the belief that the righteous at death go to heaven to join the angels in praise is not true. It also shows that the preaching mentioned in 1 Peter 3:18-19 did not take place in Sheol.
By presenting the dead as presently unable to rise and praise, the question is framed as a plea for deliverance. The declaration is inspired truth about the state of the dead, spoken by David as moved by the Holy Ghost and not out of his own heart, and it cannot be set aside as mere human sentiment that is not the word of God. It is David's reason for deprecating the approach of death, proving he believed death ends conscious remembrance, thanksgiving and praise of God rather than freeing his soul to praise God unceasingly in heaven immediately, for otherwise he would have abstained from such remonstrance.
Unconscious Death and Hope
The dead are unconscious and asleep, knowing nothing, without conscious thought, feeling, emotion, work, knowledge, or wisdom, performing none of the acts of a living person, silent and inactive until they are raised. Read with the following verses, the questions whether the dead witness wonders and rise to praise show that the grave is a land of forgetfulness where the dead do not declare wonders or faithfulness, do not arise to praise or proclaim loving-kindness, faithfulness, wonders, and righteousness, do not remember God or give Him thanks, and do not exercise any power of mind. Death is the return of all, good and bad alike, to the dust, and the dead are incapable of feeling or emotion and cannot arise to praise.
This unconsciousness concerns the whole person and not the body only, for the thinking, remembering, intellectual part enters an unconscious state at death and loses its knowledge, leaving nothing but the particles of which the person was composed. The dead are not active, conscious souls apart from their bodies, and death suspends the person's thought and activity so that the dead do not perform the acts of a living person and remain silent until raised. Unless there is a resurrection this condition of utter unconsciousness for the intellectual being and decay and ruin for the body is eternal destruction.
All the dead, righteous and wicked alike, go to the grave and do not remain conscious, for death brings all to the dust, the grave, Sheol or Hades, described as a land of darkness, forgetfulness, and silence where the dead do no work and have no knowledge or wisdom. Sheol is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption, and worms, where the dead do not rise to praise God or proclaim His faithfulness and have no knowledge of what is done. There the dead remain till God calls them, silent and inactive, with wonders neither shown nor known.
Praise is impossible while dead, so the dead must arise in order to praise God. The grave is destruction, darkness, and the land of forgetfulness where the dead do not know or declare loving-kindness, faithfulness, wonders, and righteousness, and death leaves its victims without awareness or praise until they awake. The sleeping saints remain in the grave without awareness or praise until they awake at the resurrection, asleep until God raises them at the day of restoration.
The verse therefore denies the immortality of the soul and denies that the dead are conscious and praising God in heaven. It denies that the righteous at death go to heaven to join angels in praise or enter God's presence, denies that the dead pass at death into conscious bliss or misery in heaven or hell fire, and denies that death is birth into higher life or a gate to endless joy. Death is an enemy's domain brought by sin, not a passage into heavenly life, and the grave is darkness, destruction, and forgetfulness rather than conscious bliss or misery. Unless there is a resurrection this unconscious ruin is eternal destruction, while immortality is to be sought and is put on only at the resurrection through the gospel.
For the same reason the preaching mentioned in 1 Peter 3:18-19 did not take place in Sheol, where wonders and righteousness are not known and loving-kindness and faithfulness are not declared. The conversation between the rich man and Lazarus cannot take place immediately after death, since the dead are unconscious, incapable of feeling or emotion, and unable to arise to praise. Being taken to God is different from dying and happens by bodily translation as with Enoch and Elijah, not by death releasing a conscious soul to pass into conscious joy or woe, for the dead go to the grave to be buried with their people and praise and celebration end. Those who trust in God may have to pass through this land of darkness and valley of the shadow of death, but comforted by His rod and staff they will come again from the place of the dead and live by Him who died and lives again.
The verse asks whether God will show wonders to the dead and whether the dead will rise to praise Him, and the answer to both is No, for the dead do not witness His working nor rise in conscious praise. With the verses that follow it pictures the grave as destruction and darkness, silence and the land of forgetfulness, where His lovingkindness and faithfulness and righteousness are neither declared nor known. The dead are asleep and unconscious, knowing nothing and having no thought, feeling, work, knowledge or wisdom, silent and inactive until they are raised. This is true of the whole person, not of the body only, for the thinking and remembering part enters an unconscious state and loses knowledge, and the dead are not living conscious souls apart from their bodies. They must arise in order to praise God, and the sleeping saints will remain in the grave without awareness or praise until they awake at the resurrection.
Question and Grave
The verse asks two rhetorical questions, whether God will show wonders to the dead and whether the dead will arise to praise Him, and both admit only No for an answer. It is a strong denial that the dead witness God and rise in conscious praise, teaching that the dead do not arise to praise God and are not conscious and praising Him in heaven. If the dead were conscious and happy they would praise the Lord, and it would be a greater wonder if they did not, for a good man praises God only while he lives and has being, but when he dies he stops praising, which he would never do while consciousness lasted. The word wonders there refers to miraculous manifestations, including the resurrection of the dead.
Read with the following two verses, the passage portrays the grave as destruction, darkness, silence and the land of forgetfulness. In Sheol, the grave, the dark and the land of forgetfulness, God's lovingkindness, faithfulness, wonders and righteousness are neither declared nor known, and the dead have no remembrance or thanks. The dead there know nothing and praise nothing, do not see God's wonders, do not declare them, and do not rise to praise Him, but remain silent and inactive. This shows that the dead are not active, conscious souls apart from their bodies, and that the belief that the righteous at death go to heaven to join the angels in praise is not true. It also shows that the preaching mentioned in 1 Peter 3:18-19 did not take place in Sheol.
By presenting the dead as presently unable to rise and praise, the question is framed as a plea for deliverance. The declaration is inspired truth about the state of the dead, spoken by David as moved by the Holy Ghost and not out of his own heart, and it cannot be set aside as mere human sentiment that is not the word of God. It is David's reason for deprecating the approach of death, proving he believed death ends conscious remembrance, thanksgiving and praise of God rather than freeing his soul to praise God unceasingly in heaven immediately, for otherwise he would have abstained from such remonstrance.
Unconscious Death and Hope
The dead are unconscious and asleep, knowing nothing, without conscious thought, feeling, emotion, work, knowledge, or wisdom, performing none of the acts of a living person, silent and inactive until they are raised. Read with the following verses, the questions whether the dead witness wonders and rise to praise show that the grave is a land of forgetfulness where the dead do not declare wonders or faithfulness, do not arise to praise or proclaim loving-kindness, faithfulness, wonders, and righteousness, do not remember God or give Him thanks, and do not exercise any power of mind. Death is the return of all, good and bad alike, to the dust, and the dead are incapable of feeling or emotion and cannot arise to praise.
This unconsciousness concerns the whole person and not the body only, for the thinking, remembering, intellectual part enters an unconscious state at death and loses its knowledge, leaving nothing but the particles of which the person was composed. The dead are not active, conscious souls apart from their bodies, and death suspends the person's thought and activity so that the dead do not perform the acts of a living person and remain silent until raised. Unless there is a resurrection this condition of utter unconsciousness for the intellectual being and decay and ruin for the body is eternal destruction.
All the dead, righteous and wicked alike, go to the grave and do not remain conscious, for death brings all to the dust, the grave, Sheol or Hades, described as a land of darkness, forgetfulness, and silence where the dead do no work and have no knowledge or wisdom. Sheol is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption, and worms, where the dead do not rise to praise God or proclaim His faithfulness and have no knowledge of what is done. There the dead remain till God calls them, silent and inactive, with wonders neither shown nor known.
Praise is impossible while dead, so the dead must arise in order to praise God. The grave is destruction, darkness, and the land of forgetfulness where the dead do not know or declare loving-kindness, faithfulness, wonders, and righteousness, and death leaves its victims without awareness or praise until they awake. The sleeping saints remain in the grave without awareness or praise until they awake at the resurrection, asleep until God raises them at the day of restoration.
The verse therefore denies the immortality of the soul and denies that the dead are conscious and praising God in heaven. It denies that the righteous at death go to heaven to join angels in praise or enter God's presence, denies that the dead pass at death into conscious bliss or misery in heaven or hell fire, and denies that death is birth into higher life or a gate to endless joy. Death is an enemy's domain brought by sin, not a passage into heavenly life, and the grave is darkness, destruction, and forgetfulness rather than conscious bliss or misery. Unless there is a resurrection this unconscious ruin is eternal destruction, while immortality is to be sought and is put on only at the resurrection through the gospel.
For the same reason the preaching mentioned in 1 Peter 3:18-19 did not take place in Sheol, where wonders and righteousness are not known and loving-kindness and faithfulness are not declared. The conversation between the rich man and Lazarus cannot take place immediately after death, since the dead are unconscious, incapable of feeling or emotion, and unable to arise to praise. Being taken to God is different from dying and happens by bodily translation as with Enoch and Elijah, not by death releasing a conscious soul to pass into conscious joy or woe, for the dead go to the grave to be buried with their people and praise and celebration end. Those who trust in God may have to pass through this land of darkness and valley of the shadow of death, but comforted by His rod and staff they will come again from the place of the dead and live by Him who died and lives again.