The Old Testament, the afterlife and resurrection

 In my undergraduate degree, there was a bit of discussion of the hope of the afterlife in the Old Testament. It seems that in some passages that hope is somewhat shadowy or undefined. 

Yet a few passages do seem to envisage a general resurrection. 

We know from the New Testament that there was some division amongst the parties in Judaism at the time of Jesus: the Pharisees believed in a resurrection; the Sadducees did not. 

But the resurrection is central to the Apostolic preaching. And their claim is that their preaching is the authentic fulfilment of the Old Testament. Acts 2, for example, sees resurrection promised to God's Holy One in Psalm 16.

In Luke 24, Jesus insists that the Scriptures said that the Christ must suffer and enter into his glory. It is written, even, that the Christ must rise on the third day. 

In Acts 23 and 24, are particularly emphatic that resurrection is the hope of Israel.

If we are to read the Old Testament with Jesus and the Apostles, then, we must read it in such a way that the resurrection is clearly the answer. 

Perhaps this begins to make sense when we remember that in Genesis 3, death is the great consequence and curse of sin. Death echoes through the genealogies of Genesis 5. We need a son of Adam and Eve who will crush the serpent's head and undo death.