Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 49:11
Their inward thought [is, that] their houses [shall continue] forever, [and] their dwelling places to all generations; they call [their] lands after their own names.
11. Their inward thought is &c.] If they do reflect that they must die, they comfort themselves with the delusion that their houses will last for ever, and their names be perpetuated in the names of their estates, which like builders of cities or conquerors (2Sa 12:28) they have named after themselves. But the rendering their inward thought is questionable; and the LXX, Vulg., Syr., and Targ., all point to a different reading, involving simply a transposition of letters (qbrm for qrbm), which gives the sense:
Graves are their houses for ever;
The dwelling-places for all generations
Of those who called lands after their own names.
This reading suits the context best. They must surrender their wealth, and a narrow grave will be the only possession left to the man who called a vast estate by his own name. The first line recalls the name ‘eternal house’ applied to the grave in Ecc 12:5, and in inscriptions: cp. ‘eternal place,’ Tob 3:6 : and Isaiah calls Shebna’s pretentious sepulchre a ‘dwelling-place’ (Isa 22:16). Is there an ironical allusion in the last line to the vast estates of Isaiah’s day (Isa 5:8)?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Their inward thought is – Their secret expectation and feeling is that they have secured permanency for their wealth in their own families, though they themselves may pass away. The essential thought in this verse is, that the rich people referred to in the foregoing verses imagine that their possessions will be perpetuated in their own families. The word rendered inward thought – qereb – means properly the midst, the middle, inner part; and hence it comes to mean the heart, or the mind, as the seat of thought and affection: Psa 5:9; Psa 64:6. It means here, their hope, their calculation, their secret expectation; and the whole verse is designed to show the value or importance which they attach to wealth as being, in their apprehension, suited to build up their families forever.
That their houses shall continue for ever – Either the dwellings which they rear, or – more probably – their families.
And their dwelling-places to all generations – Margin, as in Hebrew, to generation and generation. That is, forever. They expect that their possessions will always remain in the family, and be transmitted from one generation to another.
They call their lands after their own names – They give their own names to the farms or grounds which they own, in the hope that, though they must themselves pass away, their names may be handed down to future times. This practice, which is not uncommon in the world, shows how intense is the desire of people not to be forgotten; and at the same time illustrates the main thought in the psalm – the importance attached to wealth by its possessor, as if it could carry his name down to future times, when he shall have passed away. In this respect, too, wealth is commonly as powerless as it is in saving its possessor from the grave. It is not very far into future times that mere wealth can carry the name of a man after he is dead. lands and tenements pass into other hands, and the future owner soon ceases to have any concern about the name of the former occupier, and the world cares nothing about it. A man must have some other claim to be remembered than the mere fact of his having been rich, or he will be soon forgotten. Compare the notes at Isa 22:15-19.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever] Thus, by interpolation, we have endeavoured to patch up a sense to this clause. Instead of kirbam, their inward part, the Septuagint appear to have used a copy in which the second and third letters have been transposed kibram, their sepulchres; for they translate: “For their graves are their dwellings for ever.” So six or seven feet long, and two or three wide, is sufficient to hold the greatest conqueror in the universe! What a small house for the quondam possessor of numerous palaces and potent kingdoms!
They call their lands after their own names.] There would have been no evil in this if it had not been done on an infidel principle. They expected no state but the present; and if they could not continue themselves, yet they took as much pains as possible to perpetuate their memorial.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Their inward thought is; though they are ashamed to express it, yet it is their secret opinion, and hope, and wish.
Their houses; either,
1. Their posterity, oft called mens houses 2Sa 7:11, &c.; Psa 113:9; 115:12. Or,
2. Their mansion houses, as it is explained in the next clause, which also serve for this purpose, to preserve a man name for ever.
Shall continue for ever; not to them in their own persons, but to them and theirs in succeeding generations, as it follows.
They call their lands after their own names; fondly dreaming by this means to immortalize their names and memories.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Still infatuated andflattered with hopes of perpetuity, they call their lands, or”celebrate their names on account of (their) lands.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Their inward thought [is, that] their houses [shall continue] for ever,…. This is the thought of their hearts, what they secretly imagine, and conclude within themselves; either that their families, which may be meant by their houses, see 2Sa 3:1; shall continue in succeeding ages, to the end of the world, to inherit their possessions, and perpetuate their name; though often so it is, that great families become extinct, and the seed of the wicked is cut off: or that their magnificent buildings, which they have erected to dwell in, and for their honour and glory, shall abide for ever; though in a little time, so it is by one means or another, like the buildings of the temple, not one stone is left upon another. Or the words may be rendered, “in the midst of them” (their heirs to whom they leave their wealth) “their houses shall remain for ever”, so Aben Ezra; that is, so they fancy they will; but this is not always true, for fine houses and large estates belonging to them often pass into other hands and families. The word , rendered “their inward part”, by a transposition of two letters in it may be read , “their graves”, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe; and to this sense the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions render the words: and then the meaning is, that of all the houses they have built or been possessed of, they have only one left, and that is the grave; in which they shall dwell until the resurrection, and therefore is called “a long home”, Ec 12:5; see Job 17:13;
[and] their dwelling places to all generations; which signify the same as before;
they call their lands after their own names; as Egypt was called Mizraim, Ethiopia was called Cush, and Palestine Canaan, from men who were the first possessors of them, Ge 10:6. Or “they proclaim their names throughout the land” x; they seek to get a name, and spread and continue it in all part of the world; being unconcerned about their names being written in heaven, or about having a house not made with hands eternal there.
x So Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(11) Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever.These eleven words represent three in the Hebrew, and, as the text stands, give its sense, which is intelligible and consistent:
They believe their houses will last for ever,
Their dwelling places from generation to generation;
They call the lands by their own names.
The reading followed by the LXX., Chaldee, and Syriac, kibram for kirbam gives a different thought
Their graves are their homes,
Their dwelling places for ever.
(Comp. his long home, Ecc. 12:5.)
The last clause, which literally runs, they call in their names upon lands, is by some explained (see Isa. 44:5) to mean, they are celebrated in their lands, which suits the text followed by the LXX.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Unable to redeem themselves from death, (Psa 49:6-8,) these worldlings bend their thoughts to schemes whereby they vainly hope to perpetuate an ideal immortality, as if they could secure a posthumous enjoyment of their earthly grandeur. The futility of this scheme is the psalmist’s second ground of argument.
Their inward thought The thought of their inmost being, ( , kereb,) the product of their profoundest faculty of reason and sensibility. The original is abrupt, but the sense is clear and pungent.
Here we have the true measurement of their moral manhood; the highest reach and deepest soundings of their soul-life, and their spirit-life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Man’s Vain Attempt To Perpetuate Himself Will Be In Vain Whatever He Does ( Psa 49:11-13 ).
Men do in their own ineffective way seek to perpetuate themselves. They think that they will live for ever in their children and their children. They set up establishments and foundations in their own name. And they vainly imagine that they will be perpetuated for ever. But it will always fail. Families die out, foundations fail, and any idea of the people themselves disappears into oblivion. Even Alexander the Great is but a bust and a name.
Psa 49:11-13
Their inward thought is,
That their houses will continue for ever,
And their dwelling-places to all generations,
They call their lands after their own names.
But man being in honour abides not,’
He is like the beasts which perish.
This their way is their folly,
Yet after them men approve their sayings. [Selah
Man’s vanity and hopeless search for continued remembrance is well brought out here. They vainly hope that they will live on in their children’s children, that their houses will continue for ever. They vainly hope that their family residence will abide for ever. They even call their lands after their own name. Surely that will last for ever? But it does not. Sooner or later it will vanish from the combined memories of man.
For no man’s honour is permanently abiding. Even those whose memories abide are at the mercy of historians and wits. They are not remembered as they would wish to have been. So the truth is that in the end men are like the beasts that perish, with the result that all their attempts to perpetuate themselves turn out to be but folly. And yet after them other foolish men actually approve of their attempts to perpetuate themselves. Such is the folly of mankind.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 49:11. Their inward thought, &c. Their sepulchre is their dwelling for ever; their abode to all generations: they put their names upon heaps of earth. So the LXX read, which seems to give the easier and more natural sense. The latter part refers to the monumental inscriptions. “There is nothing left but their names, inscribed on heaps of earth.” Houbigant, who agrees in this interpretation, renders the latter clause somewhat differently. The sepulchre is their dwelling for ever, the habitation for many generations of those who have had a name upon earth.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 49:11 Their inward thought [is, that] their houses [shall continue] for ever, [and] their dwelling places to all generations; they call [their] lands after their own names.
Ver. 11. Their inward thought is, that their houses, &c. ] Some join this verse to the former, and read the words thus: Whereas each of them seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool, &c., yet their inward thought is, &c., they have a secret fond conceit of their own immortality, they would fain believe that they shall dwell here for ever. The Hebrew runneth thus, Their inwards are their houses for ever; as if their houses were got within them, as the Pharisee’s goods were, Luk 11:14 , . So here, Internum vel interiora; not the thoughts only, but the very inmost of the thoughts of wicked worldlings, the most retired thoughts and recesses of their souls, are about these earthly things; these lie nearest to their hearts; as Queen Mary said when she died, Open me, and you shall find Calais at my heart. It was a pitiful case, that a rotten town lay where Christ should, and yet it is ordinary.
They call their lands after their own names
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Their inward: etc. Or, “Their grave is their house forever, their dwelling place through all generations, though their names are celebrated over countries.” Psa 5:9, Psa 64:6, Eze 38:10, Luk 11:39, Act 8:22
all generations: Heb. generation and generation
they call: Gen 4:17, 1Sa 15:12, 2Sa 18:18
Reciprocal: Gen 11:4 – and let Psa 10:3 – and blesseth Psa 39:6 – he heapeth Ecc 2:4 – I builded Hab 2:9 – set Luk 16:25 – thy good Col 3:2 – not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 49:11. Their inward thought Which they are ashamed to express, but which is yet their secret hope; is, that their houses Either their families, or rather their mansion-houses, as it is explained in the next clause; shall continue for ever To them and theirs in succeeding generations; they imagine, and secretly please themselves in this fancy, that when they can stay no longer in the world, their goodly houses which they have built shall stand for ever, and the places of their abode continue in their family from age to age. They call their lands after their own name Though they cannot be immortal themselves, yet they hope their names, which they put upon their lands, shall never die. Various are the contrivances, says Dr. Horne, of vain men, to have their names written on earth, and to procure, after their deaths, an imaginary immortality, for themselves and their families, in the memory and conversation of posterity; which is not often obtained; and, if obtained, is of no value; when, with less trouble, they might have had their names written in heaven, and have secured to themselves a blessed immortality in the glorious kingdom of their Redeemer.