David, the author of this psalm desperately wants the Lord to hear him. He says if the Lord turns a deaf ear to him he would be like the dead buried in the ground. David equates “Sheol”, the abode of the dead with a pit, “bor” in Hebrew. “Bor” is any hole in the ground like a pit, cistern, dungeon, or well. In the Old Testament, “Sheol” is described as deep within the earth (Psalm 88:6), entered by crossing a river (Job 33:18), a city with gates (Isaiah 38:10), a place of ruins (Ezekiel 26:20), and a trap (2 Samuel 22:6; Psalm 18:5). All went there when their physical bodies expired.
As presented in the Old Testament and David’s time, human existence is the unity of body, soul, and spirit. The dead are individuals whose bodies have decayed leaving a conscious but limited existence of soul and spirit deep within the earth. The Old Testament states that it is impossible to hide from God even in Shoel (Job 26:6; Amos 9:2), thus in some way, God is there (Psalm 139:8; Proverbs 15:11). God has power over Shoel. He can ransom anyone from Shoel. (Psalm 16:10, 30:3, 49:15, 86:13; Job 33:18, 28-30)
David starts this prayer-psalm by stating that if the Lord his Rock does not hear him he will be like the dead. His relationship with God was that important. If God did not listen it would mean he did not have a proper relationship with the Lord Jesus. He cherished his time with the Lord more closely than his relationship with his wife, children, parents, and friends. Any relationship needs communication. For David, not having communication with the Lord was akin to being abandoned to the grave. Going through the psalms I realize how lax my prayer and meditation times are. A measure of a relationship is how rich the communication is. Do not live as a poor man in prayer, a man in “bor”.
