For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. (Psalm 16:10)

Psalm 16 has brought spiritual comfort to many believers through the years. It is a message of faith, an expression of trust, for all who struggle in our fallen world. Notice some of the more memorable sections:

“Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.” (vs. 1)

“You are my Lord; I have no good besides You.” (vs. 2)

“As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.” (vs. 3)

“The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup.” (vs. 5)

“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.” (vs. 6)

“I have set the LORD continually before; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (vs. 8)

But what do we make of verse 10? In Peter’s great Pentecost sermon, he lifts this verse out of its context and applies it to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:27). So does the apostle Paul on his first missionary tour, where he preached in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:35). There he made the distinction that this applies to our Lord’s resurrection.

Yet, the verse does situate itself in the very personal psalm of David’s own experience. In its original context, David’s body did experience decay. In fact, Paul made the very point that “David … was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay” (Acts 13:36). So how could David have included Psalm 16:10?

Clearly, David would not refer to himself definitively as “Your Holy One.” He probably knew he was speaking prophetically that he would ultimately be raised from the dead, because there was coming God’s Holy One who would be raised from the dead. How much of this he understood is not clear. But we read in the NT:

“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” (1 Peter 1:10-11).

Lord Jesus, You are God’s most Holy One. Therefore, I want to be holy also.