Psalms 16:10 - Exposition

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; literally, to Sheol , or "to Hades." The confidence in a future life shown here is beyond that exhibited by Job. Job hopes that he may not always remain in Hades, but may one day experience a "change" or "renewal" ( Job 14:14 ); David is certain that his soul will not be left in hell. Hell ( Sheol ) is to him an "intermediate state," through which a man passes between his life in this world and his final condition in some blest abode. Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption . The present Hebrew text has חסידיךָ , "thy holy ones," i.e. thy saints generally; but the majority, of the manuscripts, all the ancient versions, and even the Hebrew revised text (the Keri) have the word in the singular number, thus agreeing with Acts 2:27 , Acts 2:31 ; Acts 13:35 , which give us the translation, τὸν ὄσιον σου , and declare the psalmist to have spoken determinately of Christ. Certainly he would not have spoken of himself as "God's holy one." The translation of shachath ( שָׁחַת ) by "corruption" has been questioned, and it has been rendered "the pit," or "the grave," but quite gratuitously. The LXX . have διαφθορὰν as the equivalent; and the rabbinical commentators, giving it the same meaning, but expounding it of David, invented the myth that David's body was miraculously preserved from corruption.