Thy Holy One Shall Not See Corruption: David's Psalm and the Resurrection
Old Testament: Psalms 15:9-10
Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.
New Testament: Acts 2:29, 31; Acts 13:35-36
Ye men, brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David; that he died, and was buried; and his sepulchre is with us to this present day. ... Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. ... And therefore, in another place also, he saith: Thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. For David, when he had served in his generation, according to the will of God, slept: and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.
The connection
David sang of a death that would not end in decay: "my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption" (Psalms 15:9-10). On the day of Pentecost St Peter quotes the psalm at length (Acts 2:25-28) and first tells the crowd whom it is about: "For David saith concerning him" (Acts 2:25). Then he argues from a grave everyone in the city could visit. David "died, and was buried; and his sepulchre is with us to this present day" (2:29), so the words cannot be about David, whose flesh did see corruption. "Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption" (2:31). "This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses" (2:32). St Paul makes the same argument in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia: "Thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption", for David "slept: and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption", but He whom God raised saw none (Acts 13:35-37). Two apostles, two sermons, one psalm. St John Chrysostom notes why Peter begins "For David saith in reference to him": "that you may not refer that saying to the Prophet". The words show, Chrysostom says, that "His resurrection was not like that of other men. For though death laid hold on Him, yet it did not its own work then." St Augustine asks, "Who but He that rose again the third day could say his flesh had rested in this hope?" The Catechism teaches that Christ's death was a real death, yet His Body was kept from corruption, since it was not possible for death to hold Him (CCC 627).
Moral sense
David's own grave became the proof, and his epitaph is a good one: he "served in his generation, according to the will of God, slept" (Acts 13:36). No one is asked to be the Holy One; we are asked to serve our own generation and then to rest, as the psalm says, in hope. When the crowd heard Peter, "they had compunction in their heart" and asked, "What shall we do?" The answer was not to admire the argument but to change: "Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:37-38).
Anagogical sense
What the Head was first, the members will be. "It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption" (1 Corinthians 15:42), "for this corruptible must put on incorruption" (15:53). And the psalm ends where the saints end: "Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end" (Psalms 15:11).
The Fathers
St John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, VI, on Acts 2:25: "that you may not refer that saying to the Prophet." And on verse 31: "it shows that His resurrection was not like that of other men. For though death laid hold on Him, yet it did not its own work then." St Augustine, City of God, XVII.18: "Who but He that rose again the third day could say his flesh had rested in this hope; that His soul, not being left in hell, but speedily returning to it, should revive it, that it should not be corrupted as corpses are wont to be ..."
Warrant
Scriptural. St Peter (Acts 2:25-31) and St Paul (Acts 13:35-37) both quote Psalm 15:10, and both argue that it cannot be about David, whose flesh saw corruption, but must be about Christ. Checked in the Greek: Acts 2:27 is the Septuagint of Psalm 15:10 word for word, ouk enkataleipseis ten psychen mou eis haden, oude doseis ton hosion sou idein diaphthoran, and Acts 13:35 repeats its second half, doseis ton hosion sou idein diaphthoran. St Augustine (City of God XVII.18) and St John Chrysostom (Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles VI) read it the same way. The site numbers the psalm as the Douay does, 15; the Hebrew and most English translations call it 16. The verse came to the site from Dunk's search of the Douay.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 627.
The verses
Psalms 15:9 · Psalms 15:10 · Acts 2:29 · Acts 2:31 · Acts 13:35 · Acts 13:36
