Tehillim 16–17 | “At Your Right Hand, Bliss For Evermore”

Psalm 16, titled “A mikhtam of David,” is recited at mourning houses and when commemorating a yahrzeit at a cemetery. We will examine the connection between this custom and the plain meaning of the psalm. The psalm opens with verses in which the poet declares his loyalty to God and his rejection of idolatry — to the point that he says of the idols, “I will not bear their names on my lips” (16:4), precisely as the Torah commands (Shemot 23:13).

The next section of the psalm expands on this idea: not only is the poet loyal to God, but his relationship with God envelops his entire being: God is his portion (v. 5), ensures him a good heritage (v. 6), and serves as his moral compass (v. 7). The peak of this description appears in the well-known verse: “I have set the Lord before me always; He is at my right hand; I shall not be shaken” (v. 8).

In the final part of the psalm, the poet describes how his connection to God grants him security — both for his body, which will rest securely (v. 9), and for his soul — which will not be abandoned to Sheol (v. 10), but will always reside in the presence of God (v. 11). These verses can be understood in two main ways:
1. Chazal and most commentators interpreted them as referring to the world-to-come, which the righteous will merit.
2. Some contemporary commentators and scholars interpreted them as describing the protection and salvation of the righteous in this world: rescue from Sheol means rescue from an unnatural death, and the poet’s remaining in God’s presence is a poetic image of the divine protection the righteous enjoy.

In the Da’at Mikra commentary, Amos Hakham suggests that the psalm indeed refers, in its final verses, to the world-to-come — and that this can help us understand the beginning of the psalm as well. The poet mentions the idols, whose worshipers believed they dwell beneath the earth (“as for the holy ones in the land”), in Sheol where the dead reside. Idol worshipers would offer sacrifices to their gods so that they might benefit in Sheol. By contrast, the poet describes authentic devotion to God during this life, which instills him with confidence for both body and soul: he knows God will not abandon him to Sheol and that a life of closeness to God will continue to be his lot. The poet even mentions the eternity of this closeness to God: “At Your right hand, bliss for evermore” (16:11).

If this is indeed the meaning of the verse, then the setting of mourning and the cemetery is a most fitting context to recall these ideas — the belief that a person's closeness to God does not disappear upon death. This possibility — that the chapter alludes to the world-to-come — is also connected to a fundamental feature of Ketuvim. In Jewish thought, there is broad discussion of why the Torah’s sections on reward and punishment do not mention the world-to-come. One explanation, offered by the Abarbanel, is as follows:

“The seventh answer is that the material rewards mentioned in this covenant could not include any spiritual reward at all, because such rewards were meant for the entire nation. Abundant rainfall, agricultural blessing, military victory, and the rest of what is mentioned here are collective in nature… But the covenant was made with all of Israel, and the blessings and curses were expressed in plural form, therefore they were stated in this section in the plural: ‘If you follow (תלכו) My decrees… But if you do not listen (תשמעו)…’” (Vayikra 26:3)

The Torah — and Nevi’im as well — deal with the story of the nation of Israel as a collective. A central feature of Ketuvim, distinct from the Torah and Nevi’im, is their extensive focus on the world of the individual. As part of this focus, it is natural and expected for Ketuvim to include references to the world-to-come and the state of the human soul, which seem to be reflected in our chapter. Psalm 17 also ends with verses that perhaps express a similar idea: the poet speaks of “his share in life” (17:14), and at the end of the psalm, of being in God’s presence: “As for me, in justice I will gaze upon Your face; wide awake, I am sated with Your image” (17:15).