Waltke: ...if death has the last word, then death is god and swallows up the path of life.

Salvation from the grave in the Bible is more than being spared an untimely death, for if death has the last word, then death is god and swallows up the path of life. But the Bible teaches that death will be swallowed up by life from the dead (cf. Gen. 4:24; 2 Kings 2:1; Pss. 49:15 [16]; 73:23; Isa. 14:13–15; 1 Cor. 15:50–56).

As noted above, Proverbs clearly teaches immortality (not necessarily the resurrection of the body), but Proverbs 15:24 implies an ascending from the grave below. Other texts outside of Proverbs teach that the journey of the righteous ends in resurrection and/or the presence of God himself (Job 19:25–27; Pss 16:9–11; 49:15 [16] (cf. 49:8); 73:23–26; Isa. 14:13–15; Dan 12:2; John 14:1–4; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:2).

The doctrine of immortality and resurrection from the dead is brought into the full light of day in the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the midst of history to assure the resurrection of those in him at the end of history (1 Cor. 15; 2 Tim. 1:9–10; cf. John 11:23–26; passim).

Waltke, B. K., & Yu, C. (2007). An Old Testament theology: an exegetical, canonical, and thematic approach (p. 229). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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