Psalm 49 and the Path to Redemption

Book excerpt: In Psalm 49 and the Path to Redemption, Janet Smith revisits her PhD dissertation, Dust or Dew: Immortality in the Ancient Near East and in Psalm 49, reconfiguring the book for a general audience and expanding it to focus on a theme of biblical redemption. The new work takes the reader through the development of Israel’s belief in an afterlife, both the positive hope but also the negative fate of those who are spiritually impoverished. Beyond that, Psalm 49 takes the reader into the mind and heart of the sages and priests who wrote many of the psalms. There we find how much we share with them emotionally and spiritually. Since Christianity is a movement with roots in the Old Testament, the reader is introduced to some important redemption concepts as expressed by Jesus Christ. Finally, the book reviews a few modern near-death experiences to ask if the Scriptures regarding afterlife have relevance today. This book is thought provoking and should cause anyone reading it to think about their own personal path to redemption.