For his soul to come out of decay

and in the light of the living he shone forth.443

These words are less ambiguous than in Psalm 15, and given the context of the entire book of Job, it is best to see deliverance from an untimely death rather than an afterlife. Nevertheless, both of these passages could well be understood in post-biblical Judaism as an indication of salvation after death. Subsequent translations and interpretations eliminated the uncertainty of meaning.

(iii) Glory after suffering?

Of Psalm 72 something more definite can be said.444 This is one of the classic biblical lamentations about life's injustices (the wicked and arrogant get away with everything), which is why this psalm is on a par with the Book of Job. However, he offers a different answer. When the psalmist enters God's sanctuary, he understands that condemnation will befall the wicked, although how and when this will happen remains unclear:

So! Thou hast set them on slippery paths, and hast cast them into the abyss.

How accidentally they came to ruin,

disappeared, perished from horrors!

As a dream upon awakening, so Thou shalt destroy their dreams by awakening them.445

But that's not all. The psalmist finds that he himself is seized by a love that will not let him disappear, a power that even death and decay of the body cannot stop:

But I am always with Thee: Thou hast held me by the right hand;

Thou hast guided me by thy counsel, and afterwards thou shalt receive me into glory.

Who am I in heaven?

And with Thee I desire nothing on earth.

My flesh and my heart are faint;

God is the stronghold of my heart and my part forever...

And it is good for me to draw near to God!