Ps. 49.18-19 (there is no covenant with the dead)

“For / he was blessed / in his lifetime – people praise you / when things go well / for you! – yet / he enters / his ancestors generation – who will never again / see light!” The same ‘movement’ we detected in the previous verse—of ascent and decline—is tracked again here in this verse. “Above”, and “in life” the rich man was blessed. “Below” he “enters his ancestor’s generation” and the light is snuffed out, forever. One important contrast here, that has not been as emphasized in past reflections, is the fact that “above” he seems to stand in splendid isolation, basking the glory of his wealth (“people praise you when things go well for you!”). It is, however, when he goes below that he is described as joining a community—his ‘ancestor’s generation’. It could have positive overtones but here it seems to be almost oppressive, as if he is joining a horde of shades in their everlasting darkness. Further, he is losing every mark of separation he had above ground and simply becoming a ‘number’ within the generations below. Notice too that he is not described as dying, but ‘entering’ his ancestor’s generation. Everything is reversed: above-below; wealthy-poor; individual-communal. This points to a final contrast that may serve to confirm our previous reflection: above he is ‘blessed’; below, the reverse, would be ‘cursed’. I think we may see here a hint of the incredible jarring nature of death and the fact that it is erupts and interrupts man. As a ‘curse’ it indicates a ruptured covenantal relationship. “Blessing” on the other hand is something that occurs only to the living, those who reside ‘above ground’; “blessing” and “light” are here closely aligned such that Sheol and the grave as the place of ‘curse’ becomes a perpetual darkness. It is only the living who can enter into covenant; as Paul will say, once someone dies they are released from the covenant (they descend into the ‘curse’ of death).  There is no covenant with the dead.