In the psalmist’s experience, death is like an enemy that entraps its prey (Ps. 18:4–6); none can escape from its clasp. Death is also like a ravenous creature whose appetite is insatiable; it greedily devours human lives (Ps. 69:15). Death seizes people suddenly and unexpectedly (Ps. 116:3). It appears like a phantom shepherd, escorting the dead to the grave (Ps. 49:14). Death rises up like an ocean that swallows human beings whole (Ps. 69:15). And it is a place of utter darkness, where a person is forever forgotten (Pss. 31:12; 88:12).
