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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
16:9-11 Hope of Everlasting Joy. As in 49:15 and 73:24-26, here there is a clear affirmation that the human yearning to be near to God and to know the pleasure of his welcome forever, beyond the death of the body, finds its answer in the covenant. Peter cites 16:8-11 in his Pentecost speech (Acts 2:25-28), applying the verses to the resurrection of Jesus; Paul used Ps. 16:10 in his similar speech (Acts 13:35). If the apostles meant that David's words were a straight prediction of the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is difficult to know what function the psalm could have played in ancient Israel: the congregation would have scratched their heads in puzzlement every time they sang it. This puzzlement goes away if the psalm is seen as cultivating the hope of everlasting glory for the faithful, with the resurrection of Jesus (the holy one par excellence) as the first step in bringing this hope to fruition (cf. Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 15:23).
16:10 Sheol. See note on 6:5. Here it is likely the abode of the wicked. Likewise, corruption probably describes the experience of being far from God forever. These are not likely terms for the grave, since everyone singing these words would know that his body would one day die and rot.
16:11 path of life. A master metaphor of the Bible: the covenant provides a "path" by which one walks to life in all its fullness (Prov. 5:6; 6:23; 10:17; 12:28; 15:24; Matt. 7:14); this is what the Lord makes known to his followers. To enjoy God's presence, or his face, is the fruition of the covenant (cf. Ex. 33:14-15; Num. 6:24-26). The word pleasures is related to "pleasant places" (Ps. 16:6); the pleasure that he has begun in this life will continue into its fullness in the world to come.
