The Resurrection in the Old Testament
Some time ago, I read through the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. The Old Testament Editor was John H. Walton, and the New Testament author was Craig S. Keener. The experience as a whole was fascinating, since they delved into the works of literature and other cultural references that would have been plain to the original readers, but which few of us living today would even know about.
Overall, I recommend this study Bible, especially for history buffs like me. However, I will say that Dr. Walton irked me in three ways throughout his Old Testament notes. For one, he discounted the conversion of almost all Gentiles to worshipping the God of Israel in the Old Testament, casting doubts that they really gave their life to Him instead of just accepting Him as one God among many. (I did notice he has no study note regarding Naaman the Syrian’s unequivocal confession in II Kings 5:15.) Another was that he argued against the interpretations of the figures that have long been understood as appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament (the Angel of the LORD throughout the OT, the Commander of the LORD’s Army in Joshua 5, and the Son of the Gods in Daniel 3). Knowing very little Hebrew myself, I do not intend to challenge those conclusions in this post. Plenty of other commentators have made the connection about OT Gentiles converting to Judaism or these theophanies being a preincarnate Christ, so I’ll leave that to them. What this post is about, however, is the third and biggest thing I disagree with Dr. Walton on; he believes the Old Testament nowhere teaches the Resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day.
Now, anyone who says that is automatically wrong because Jesus expected His hearers to believe in the Resurrection based on the OT. He told the Sadducees in Luke 20:37 that the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3 teaches the Resurrection. When God proclaims Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Jesus said that He meant that those three patriarchs were still alive in some sense, not annihilated like the Sadducees believed. Anyone who posits that the OT doesn’t teach the Resurrection is not arguing with me, but with the very author and subject of the whole book. I would like to expand on Jesus’s teaching, however, after I read through the Bible specifically marking out the verses where I saw the Resurrection being prophesied in the OT.
I Samuel 2:6 and Deuteronomy 32:39 say that the LORD kills and makes alive, I Samuel 2:6 adding that He brings up from the grave after bringing down to it. I think the wording here is very deliberate to put the making alive after the killing for a reason- i.e., that God makes one alive after He kills them. (This verse may seem harsh, but Christians should believe that they do not die at any time apart from God’s sovereign will.)
Psalm 115:17-18 says the dead don’t praise God, but we will praise Him forever. Either they don’t expect to die (which is patently not what they mean given the curse after the Fall), or they don’t expect to remain that way. Job pronounces in verse 19:26 that he will see God in his flesh after his flesh is destroyed. Again, the ordering is important. He expects to still have flesh after the decaying of his body.
Isaiah devotes several verses to the resurrection. 25:8 refers to God swallowing up death forever, which is a turnabout on Mot the god of death personified swallowing up people. This means death is not a permanent state. Like Jesus, Paul expected his listeners in I Corinthians 15 to take this to refer to a resurrection of everyone. 26:19 then talks about dead living. Dr. Walton contrasts this with the oppressors who are dead in 26:14, using similar language, which he takes to mean a national “resurrection” of exiled Israel to sovereignty. I would posit in reply that it doesn’t explicitly refer to the nation rising as in Ezekiel 37. Isaiah 26:21 further says the earth will not cover the slain any more, although this might be more in the context of the murderers being punished. 51:6 describes Heaven and Earth passing away and the inhabitants thereof dying, but God’s salvation will last forever. So here we have another situation like Psalm 115:17-18. Either they don’t expect to die, which is contradicted by the preceding sentence, or God will restore them to life to enjoy His salvation forever.
Daniel 12:2 refers to many awaking from sleep in the dust of death to everlasting life or shame. Dr. Walton takes this to be the rebirth of Israel since it says “many,” not all. Maybe, but Daniel is promised his inheritance after his death at the end in verse 13. Lastly, in Hosea 13:14, God specifically speaks of redeeming His people from Sheol and destroying it, which is where Dr. Walton believes ancient Israelites believed all people go in death. So God is rescuing people explicitly from the realm of the dead, most plausibly after they have already died. Like Isaiah 25:8, Paul cites this verse in his discourse on the Resurrection in I Corinthians 15:55.
So, on the whole, reading the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible was a positive experience for me. I learned a lot and could make more sense of certain verses than I could before. Many of the interpretations were unique and thought-provoking. However, when forced to choose between Jesus and Paul’s interpretation of the Old Testament and Dr. Walton’s, I side with Jesus and Paul. But Dr. Walton did do me a service by making me think harder about where in the OT the Resurrection of the dead is prophesied. We can rest secure that that was God’s plan all along.