Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
The dark and the land of forgetfulness are death and the grave, called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek, where all the dead go to a place without order where light is as darkness. The questions expect no for an answer, for God's wonders and righteousness are not known or declared there. The dead are unconscious and know nothing, with no remembrance, thought, feeling, work, device, knowledge, or wisdom. They do not praise, remember, thank, or hope in God, and do not at death ascend to heaven in praise or descend to hell fire, but remain silent until the resurrection. Man is therefore mortal and not possessed of an immortal soul, immortality being found only in the gospel of Christ to be put on at the resurrection, so there is no probation after death and no conscious spirits returning to communicate with the living.
Language and Setting
The dark named in the verse is death and the grave, a land of darkness and forgetfulness where wonders, lovingkindness, faithfulness and righteousness are not known or declared. It is the land of darkness and the shadow of death without order where the light is as darkness, where those long dead dwell. It is the dust where good and bad alike go at death, where all the dead go and where there is no work, knowledge, or wisdom and the dead are unaware. The land of forgetfulness is that same grave, called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek, the place of the dead. In that Sheol, the dark land of forgetfulness, wonders are not known and righteousness is not remembered, and that which can praise and remember and know goes at death into silence.
The questions ask for no for an answer: wonders are not known in the dark and righteousness is not known in the land of forgetfulness, and the dead do not arise and praise. For this reason the verse is a plea against the approach of death, since praise and remembrance belong to the living and death stops praise, thanksgiving, and declaration. Its picture of being buried before having time to act or even think shows the sudden helplessness of death.
The primary and scriptural meaning of Sheol is a land of darkness as darkness itself and the land of forgetfulness, with no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, so the dead there are unconscious and know nothing. When Hades was chosen as the Greek word to represent Sheol its inspired meaning is the same, so there is no knowledge in Hades. The idea of conscious activity with rewards and punishments was later mingled in from heathen mythology, but the inspired meaning still stands, and there is no Gehenna or hell-fire there. This description rules out Hades as a place where living beings enjoy Paradise, since death is the gate to Hades, where the dead have no knowledge, wisdom, work, or plans.
Unconscious Sleep in Death
The dark is the grave where nothing of God is known or declared, and entering it leaves a person knowing less than before, for if some things are forgotten there all things may be. There thought and action are suspended, with no remembrance, thought, mental awareness, feeling, or emotion. The dead are therefore unconscious and do not remember or know what they once knew.
The forgetfulness does not belong to the body alone, for the body separated from what thinks has no knowledge to forget and cannot remember or think or exercise any mental power. It belongs to the thinking, remembering part itself, which goes into the land of forgetfulness and forgets its knowledge at death. That which can praise God and remember and know goes at death into silence and ceases to praise. What is spoken of is the whole person, whose thinking and other personal faculties cease, so speech and action attributed to the dead are personification and not proof of conscious converse after death.
In that state the memory of the dead is forgotten, their love and hatred and envy have perished, and their thoughts perish. There is no work, device, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, where all the dead go. The dead lie unaware in the dust, without knowledge, thought, interest in the living, or activity, whether righteous or wicked. Judgment, reward, and punishment therefore remain future.
The dead do not know or respond to what takes place in the world and have no awareness of what happens on earth. They do not remember the events of their lives and cannot see or converse with one another. They do not return to reveal the secrets of that realm nor come back as conscious spirits to communicate with the living. They remain there until they return.
Death is a sleep of forgetfulness, like a sleeping man who knows nothing of what goes on around him, incapable of feeling or emotion. Good and bad alike go at death to that dust, that dark grave. There they remain unaware and inactive, without knowledge or praise, rather than in heaven. They sleep thus until the Lord brings them back at the resurrection at Christ's coming.
Silence Toward God
In the dark of the grave, the land of forgetfulness, God's wonders are not known and His righteousness is not known, nor are His lovingkindness and faithfulness remembered, declared or proclaimed by the dead. The questions expect no for an answer, for the dead do not arise and praise God, and thought and action are suspended in that dark, forgetful silence. The forgetfulness belongs not to the body alone, which separated from the thinking part has no knowledge to forget and cannot remember or think or exercise any mental power, but to the soul itself, the part that thinks and remembers, which goes into that land and forgets its knowledge, knowing less on entering that state than before. If some things are forgotten there, all things may be, for the memory of the dead is forgotten, their love and hatred and envy have perished, their thoughts perish, and there is no work, device, knowledge or wisdom in the grave. Sheol is thus a place of darkness and forgetfulness where the dead do not rise to praise God or proclaim His lovingkindness and faithfulness, and where they cannot receive preaching.
Death ends remembrance of God, praise, thanksgiving, declaration of His lovingkindness and faithfulness, and hope in His truth. That which can praise God and remember and know goes at death into the land of forgetfulness, so that man as a conscious being goes into silence and ceases to praise Him. The grave is darkness and forgetting where the dead cannot know God's wonders and righteousness, declare His lovingkindness and faithfulness, arise and praise Him, or remember and thank Him. For this reason the approach of death is pleaded against, because praise and remembrance belong to the living and death stops praise to God. If the soul survived death and went at once to heaven to praise God unceasingly, such pleading would have no place, for the expectation is to die entirely and remain dead and buried without ascending to heaven.
The dead therefore do not at death enter into God's presence, ascend to heaven to join in unceasing praise, go to be with Christ, or go into hell fire, but remain silent and unable to praise until the resurrection. They do not know more than the living, they exercise no power of mind, with no remembrance of God and no thanksgiving to Him. The place of the dead is the grave, a place of darkness and unconsciousness rather than heaven, where the dead remain unaware until the Lord brings them back at the resurrection. The dead do not consciously praise God before they arise in the resurrection.
Those whose trust is in God will pass through this valley of the shadow of death comforted by His rod and staff and will come again from it. The dead remain there until they return, and they will live by Him who died and lives again. The dead do not know or respond to what takes place in the world, yet this supports the hope of their later return.
Doctrine and False Teachings
The verse denies the immortality of the soul and shows man to be mortal. Death is a state of utter unconsciousness for the thinking being and of decay and ruin for the body. The forgetfulness does not belong to the body alone, for the body separated from the soul has no knowledge to forget and cannot remember or think or exercise any mental power, but belongs to the soul itself, the part that thinks and remembers, which goes into the land of forgetfulness and forgets its knowledge. A man knows less when he enters that state than he did before, and if some things are forgotten there all things may be, while God's wonders, lovingkindness, faithfulness and righteousness are not known or declared in that dark land. This proves the dead are unconscious, for immortality is subject to neither death nor decay, but is to be sought by patient continuance in well doing and is found only in the gospel of Christ to be put on at the resurrection.
There is no probation after death. The grave is a land of darkness and forgetfulness where God's wonders and righteousness are not known or declared, and the dead do not rise to praise God or proclaim His loving-kindness and faithfulness. The dead cannot hear a message, repent, or act, so preaching to them in Sheol in the grave would be futile. For the same reason the dead do not possess greater knowledge of truth than the living and are not conscious spirits returning to communicate, for they know nothing, do not know what happens on earth, do not praise the Lord or hope in His truth.
The conscious meeting and talking pictured in the rich man and Lazarus cannot take place immediately after death. Death is a land of darkness, the dust, the grave, where good and bad alike go and where the dead are unconscious and incapable of feeling or emotion. In hades the dead have no knowledge or wisdom, cannot remember the events of their lives, cannot see or converse with one another, their thoughts perish, they do not praise the Lord, and their condition is sleep, not conscious life. Seeing Abraham and fixed rewards and punishments belong instead to the resurrection and final judgment at Christ's coming, when the cases of the righteous and wicked are fixed forever and reward and punishment remain future.
The description rules out Hades as a place where living beings enjoy Paradise and rules out conscious rewards and punishments there. Sheol is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption, worms and dust, where God's wonders are not known and His righteousness is not made known or proclaimed. The dead are in the grave, in the dark and in the land of forgetfulness, not with Christ in heaven nor in hell fire, for they praise not the Lord and exercise no power of mind, with no remembrance of God and no thanksgiving to Him. That is the primary and scriptural meaning of Sheol, a land of darkness as darkness itself and of forgetfulness with no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, carried over when Hades was chosen as its Greek equivalent, so there is no knowledge in Hades and no Gehenna or hell-fire there, while the idea of conscious activity with rewards and punishments was later mingled in from heathen mythology. Death is therefore an enemy's land rather than birth into a higher life or a gate to endless joy, and the dead do not arise and praise God while in the grave. Unless there is a resurrection it is eternal destruction with nothing remaining except the particles of which the person was composed, so life after death depends on resurrection.
The dark and the land of forgetfulness are death and the grave, called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek, where all the dead go to a place without order where light is as darkness. The questions expect no for an answer, for God's wonders and righteousness are not known or declared there. The dead are unconscious and know nothing, with no remembrance, thought, feeling, work, device, knowledge, or wisdom. They do not praise, remember, thank, or hope in God, and do not at death ascend to heaven in praise or descend to hell fire, but remain silent until the resurrection. Man is therefore mortal and not possessed of an immortal soul, immortality being found only in the gospel of Christ to be put on at the resurrection, so there is no probation after death and no conscious spirits returning to communicate with the living.
Language and Setting
The dark named in the verse is death and the grave, a land of darkness and forgetfulness where wonders, lovingkindness, faithfulness and righteousness are not known or declared. It is the land of darkness and the shadow of death without order where the light is as darkness, where those long dead dwell. It is the dust where good and bad alike go at death, where all the dead go and where there is no work, knowledge, or wisdom and the dead are unaware. The land of forgetfulness is that same grave, called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek, the place of the dead. In that Sheol, the dark land of forgetfulness, wonders are not known and righteousness is not remembered, and that which can praise and remember and know goes at death into silence.
The questions ask for no for an answer: wonders are not known in the dark and righteousness is not known in the land of forgetfulness, and the dead do not arise and praise. For this reason the verse is a plea against the approach of death, since praise and remembrance belong to the living and death stops praise, thanksgiving, and declaration. Its picture of being buried before having time to act or even think shows the sudden helplessness of death.
The primary and scriptural meaning of Sheol is a land of darkness as darkness itself and the land of forgetfulness, with no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, so the dead there are unconscious and know nothing. When Hades was chosen as the Greek word to represent Sheol its inspired meaning is the same, so there is no knowledge in Hades. The idea of conscious activity with rewards and punishments was later mingled in from heathen mythology, but the inspired meaning still stands, and there is no Gehenna or hell-fire there. This description rules out Hades as a place where living beings enjoy Paradise, since death is the gate to Hades, where the dead have no knowledge, wisdom, work, or plans.
Unconscious Sleep in Death
The dark is the grave where nothing of God is known or declared, and entering it leaves a person knowing less than before, for if some things are forgotten there all things may be. There thought and action are suspended, with no remembrance, thought, mental awareness, feeling, or emotion. The dead are therefore unconscious and do not remember or know what they once knew.
The forgetfulness does not belong to the body alone, for the body separated from what thinks has no knowledge to forget and cannot remember or think or exercise any mental power. It belongs to the thinking, remembering part itself, which goes into the land of forgetfulness and forgets its knowledge at death. That which can praise God and remember and know goes at death into silence and ceases to praise. What is spoken of is the whole person, whose thinking and other personal faculties cease, so speech and action attributed to the dead are personification and not proof of conscious converse after death.
In that state the memory of the dead is forgotten, their love and hatred and envy have perished, and their thoughts perish. There is no work, device, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, where all the dead go. The dead lie unaware in the dust, without knowledge, thought, interest in the living, or activity, whether righteous or wicked. Judgment, reward, and punishment therefore remain future.
The dead do not know or respond to what takes place in the world and have no awareness of what happens on earth. They do not remember the events of their lives and cannot see or converse with one another. They do not return to reveal the secrets of that realm nor come back as conscious spirits to communicate with the living. They remain there until they return.
Death is a sleep of forgetfulness, like a sleeping man who knows nothing of what goes on around him, incapable of feeling or emotion. Good and bad alike go at death to that dust, that dark grave. There they remain unaware and inactive, without knowledge or praise, rather than in heaven. They sleep thus until the Lord brings them back at the resurrection at Christ's coming.
Silence Toward God
In the dark of the grave, the land of forgetfulness, God's wonders are not known and His righteousness is not known, nor are His lovingkindness and faithfulness remembered, declared or proclaimed by the dead. The questions expect no for an answer, for the dead do not arise and praise God, and thought and action are suspended in that dark, forgetful silence. The forgetfulness belongs not to the body alone, which separated from the thinking part has no knowledge to forget and cannot remember or think or exercise any mental power, but to the soul itself, the part that thinks and remembers, which goes into that land and forgets its knowledge, knowing less on entering that state than before. If some things are forgotten there, all things may be, for the memory of the dead is forgotten, their love and hatred and envy have perished, their thoughts perish, and there is no work, device, knowledge or wisdom in the grave. Sheol is thus a place of darkness and forgetfulness where the dead do not rise to praise God or proclaim His lovingkindness and faithfulness, and where they cannot receive preaching.
Death ends remembrance of God, praise, thanksgiving, declaration of His lovingkindness and faithfulness, and hope in His truth. That which can praise God and remember and know goes at death into the land of forgetfulness, so that man as a conscious being goes into silence and ceases to praise Him. The grave is darkness and forgetting where the dead cannot know God's wonders and righteousness, declare His lovingkindness and faithfulness, arise and praise Him, or remember and thank Him. For this reason the approach of death is pleaded against, because praise and remembrance belong to the living and death stops praise to God. If the soul survived death and went at once to heaven to praise God unceasingly, such pleading would have no place, for the expectation is to die entirely and remain dead and buried without ascending to heaven.
The dead therefore do not at death enter into God's presence, ascend to heaven to join in unceasing praise, go to be with Christ, or go into hell fire, but remain silent and unable to praise until the resurrection. They do not know more than the living, they exercise no power of mind, with no remembrance of God and no thanksgiving to Him. The place of the dead is the grave, a place of darkness and unconsciousness rather than heaven, where the dead remain unaware until the Lord brings them back at the resurrection. The dead do not consciously praise God before they arise in the resurrection.
Those whose trust is in God will pass through this valley of the shadow of death comforted by His rod and staff and will come again from it. The dead remain there until they return, and they will live by Him who died and lives again. The dead do not know or respond to what takes place in the world, yet this supports the hope of their later return.
Doctrine and False Teachings
The verse denies the immortality of the soul and shows man to be mortal. Death is a state of utter unconsciousness for the thinking being and of decay and ruin for the body. The forgetfulness does not belong to the body alone, for the body separated from the soul has no knowledge to forget and cannot remember or think or exercise any mental power, but belongs to the soul itself, the part that thinks and remembers, which goes into the land of forgetfulness and forgets its knowledge. A man knows less when he enters that state than he did before, and if some things are forgotten there all things may be, while God's wonders, lovingkindness, faithfulness and righteousness are not known or declared in that dark land. This proves the dead are unconscious, for immortality is subject to neither death nor decay, but is to be sought by patient continuance in well doing and is found only in the gospel of Christ to be put on at the resurrection.
There is no probation after death. The grave is a land of darkness and forgetfulness where God's wonders and righteousness are not known or declared, and the dead do not rise to praise God or proclaim His loving-kindness and faithfulness. The dead cannot hear a message, repent, or act, so preaching to them in Sheol in the grave would be futile. For the same reason the dead do not possess greater knowledge of truth than the living and are not conscious spirits returning to communicate, for they know nothing, do not know what happens on earth, do not praise the Lord or hope in His truth.
The conscious meeting and talking pictured in the rich man and Lazarus cannot take place immediately after death. Death is a land of darkness, the dust, the grave, where good and bad alike go and where the dead are unconscious and incapable of feeling or emotion. In hades the dead have no knowledge or wisdom, cannot remember the events of their lives, cannot see or converse with one another, their thoughts perish, they do not praise the Lord, and their condition is sleep, not conscious life. Seeing Abraham and fixed rewards and punishments belong instead to the resurrection and final judgment at Christ's coming, when the cases of the righteous and wicked are fixed forever and reward and punishment remain future.
The description rules out Hades as a place where living beings enjoy Paradise and rules out conscious rewards and punishments there. Sheol is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption, worms and dust, where God's wonders are not known and His righteousness is not made known or proclaimed. The dead are in the grave, in the dark and in the land of forgetfulness, not with Christ in heaven nor in hell fire, for they praise not the Lord and exercise no power of mind, with no remembrance of God and no thanksgiving to Him. That is the primary and scriptural meaning of Sheol, a land of darkness as darkness itself and of forgetfulness with no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, carried over when Hades was chosen as its Greek equivalent, so there is no knowledge in Hades and no Gehenna or hell-fire there, while the idea of conscious activity with rewards and punishments was later mingled in from heathen mythology. Death is therefore an enemy's land rather than birth into a higher life or a gate to endless joy, and the dead do not arise and praise God while in the grave. Unless there is a resurrection it is eternal destruction with nothing remaining except the particles of which the person was composed, so life after death depends on resurrection.