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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 49:1

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To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Hear this, all [ye] people; give ear, all [ye] inhabitants of the world:

1. all ye people ] Rather, all ye peoples, as in Psa 47:1. All peoples, all the inhabitants of the world, are summoned to listen, for the theme is one of universal interest; it concerns all humanity. It is characteristic of the ‘Wisdom’ or religious philosophy of Israel to view the problems of life in their wider aspect. It treats of man as man, not of Israel as the chosen people. The first line recalls the opening words of Micah’s prophecy (Mic 1:2), and the words of his older namesake (1Ki 22:28). For the form of the verse cp. Elihu’s words (Job 34:2).

the world ] A peculiar word, found in this sense only in Psa 17:14. It denotes the lapse of time, the fleeting age, the world as uncertain and transitory.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1 4. A solemn introduction, addressed to men of every nation and every class, emphasising the importance of the Psalmist’s theme.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Hear this, all ye people – That is, What I am about; to utter is worthy of universal attention; it pertains equally to all mankind. The psalmist; therefore calls on all the nations to attend to what he is about to say. Compare the notes at Isa 1:2.

Give ear – Incline your ear; attend. Compare the notes at Psa 17:6. See also Isa 37:17; Isa 55:3; Dan 9:18; Pro 2:2.

All ye inhabitants of the world – The truth to be declared does not pertain exclusively to any one nation, or any one class of people. All are interested in it. The term here rendered world – cheled, – means properly duration of life, lifetime; then, life, time, age; and then it comes to denote the world, considered as made up of the living, or the passing generations.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 49:1-20

Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: both low and high, rich and poor, together.

The inequalities of society

Impressive and instructive that scene in the wood of Senart, when a luxurious Louis, royally caparisoned for hunting, met a wretched peasant with a coffin. For whom? . . . For a poor brother slave, whom your majesty has sometimes noticed slaving in those quarters. What did he die of? . . . Of hunger. The king gave his steed the spur. Sad is it that such a contrast was ever possible on earth, and sadder still that it may yet be witnessed even in this enlightened and philanthropic land. There are other inequalities. I read, not long since, that a Glasgow bank director, convicted of having appropriated half a million sterling, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment; and that on the same day a little half-starved boy, charged with stealing cake worth a halfpenny, was sentenced to fourteen days hard labour and four years in a reformatory. One law for the rich, and another for the poor. These social inequalities have led to much disturbance. Christian divines have abandoned the subject to philosophers, agitators, and would-be reformers. It always has seemed to me that Christianity must have something to say that the world has a right to know; and unless this is done, there never will be a complete mastery of the problem. Social inequality must have arisen from some other kind of inequality. Social inequalities sprang out of the irregularities of human nature. No two men are made alike. Social inequalities are not without relief and compensation in some other kind of inequality. Uneasy is the head that wears a crown, and uneasy the heart of him who owns millions of dollars. The Saviour did not devote His attention to surface measures of reform, but to a new heart, confident that the regeneration of man means the regeneration of society. (G. C. Lorimer, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

PSALM XLIX

All men are invited to attend to lessons of wisdom relative to

the insufficiency of earthly good to save or prolong life; to

secure the resurrection frown the dead, 1-9.

Death is inevitable, 10.

The vain expectations of rich men, 11-13.

Death renders all alike, 14.

The psalmist encourages and fortifies himself against envying

the apparently prosperous state of the wicked, who are brutish,

and die like beasts, 15-20.

NOTES ON PSALM XLIX

The title, To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah, has nothing particular in it; and the Versions say little about it. One of the descendants of the children of Korah might have been the author of it; but when or on what occasion it was made, cannot now be discovered. The author aimed to be obscure, and has succeeded; for it is very difficult to make out his meaning. It is so much in the style of the Book of Job, that one might believe they had the same author; and that this Psalm might have made originally a part of that book. “It seems,” says Dr. Dodd, “to be a meditation on the vanity of riches, and the usual haughtiness of those who possess them. As a remedy for this, he sets before them the near prospect of death, from which no riches can save, in which no riches can avail. The author considers the subject he is treating as a kind of wisdom concealed from the world; a mystery, an occult science with respect to the generality of mankind.” Dr. Kennicott has given an excellent translation of this Psalm, which is very literal, simple, and elegant; and by it the reader will be convinced that a good translation of a difficult passage is often better than a comment.

Verse 1. Hear this, all ye people] The four first verses contain the author’s exordium or introduction, delivered in a very pompous style and promising the deepest lessons of wisdom and instruction. But what was rare then is common-place now.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

All ye people, Heb. all people; Jews or Gentiles; for all are concerned in this matter, as being apt to stumble and murmur at it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1-3. All are called to hear whatinterests all.

worldliterally,”duration of life,” the present time.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Hear this,…. Not the law, as some Jewish writers l interpret it, which was not desirable to be heard by those that did hear it; it being a voice of wrath and terror, a cursing law, and a ministration of condemnation and death; but rather , “this news”, as the Targum; the good news of the Gospel; the word of “this” salvation; the voice from heaven; the word not spoken by angels, but by the Lord himself: or , “this wisdom”, as Kimchi interprets it; which the psalmist was about to speak of, Ps 49:3; also the parable and dark saying he should attend unto and open, Ps 49:4; and indeed it may take in the whole subject matter of the psalm;

all [ye] people: not the people of Israel only, but all the people of the world, as appears from the following clause; whence it is evident that this psalm belongs to Gospel times; in which the middle wall of partition is broken down, and there is no difference of people; God is the God both of Jews and Gentiles; Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer of one as well as of the other; the Spirit of God has been poured out upon the latter; the Gospel has been sent into all the world, and all are called upon to hear it;

give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, or “of time”; so the word is rendered “age”, the age of a man, Ps 39:5. The inhabitants of this world are but for a time; wherefore Ben Melech interprets the phrase by

, “men of time”, the inhabitants of time; it is peculiar to the most High to “inhabit eternity”, Isa 57:15. Under the Gospel dispensation there is no distinction of places; the Gospel is not confined to the land of Judea; the sound of it is gone into all the world, and men may worship God, and offer incense to his name, in every place; and whoever fears him in any nation is accepted of him.

l Midrash Tillim in loc. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 106. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(Heb.: 49:2-5) Introduction. Very similarly do the elder (in the reign of Jehoshaphat) and the younger Micha (Micah) introduce their prophecies (1Ki 22:28; Mic 1:2); and Elihu in the Book of Job his didactic discourses (Psa 34:2, cf. Psa 33:2). It is an universal theme which the poet intends to take up, hence he calls upon all peoples and all the inhabitants of the . Such is the word first of all for this temporal life, which glides by unnoticed, them for the present transitory world itself (vid., on Psa 17:14). It is his intention to declare to the rich the utter nothingness or vanity of their false ground of hope, and to the poor the superiority of their true ground of hope; hence he wishes to have as hearers both , children of the common people, who are men and have otherwise nothing distinctive about them, and , children of men, i.e., of rank and distinction (vid., on Psa 4:3) – rich and poor, as he adds to make his meaning more clear. For his mouth will, or shall, utter , not: all sorts of wise teachings, but: weighty wisdom. Just in like manner signifies profound insight or understanding; cf. plurals like , Isa 27:11, , Ps. 42:12 and frequently, , Jer 22:21. The parallel word in the passage before us, and the plural predicate in Pro 24:7, show that , here and in Pro 1:20; Pro 9:1, cf. Psa 14:1, is not to be regarded, with Hitzig, Olshausen, and others, as another form of the singular . Side by side with the speaking of the mouth stands (with an unchangeable Kametz before the tone-syllable, Ew. 166, c): the meditation (lxx ) of the heart, and in accordance therewith the well-thought-out discourse. What he intends to discourse is, however, not the creation of his own brain, but what he has received. A , a saying embodying the wisdom of practical life, as God teaches men it, presents itself to his mind demanding to be heard; and to this he inclines his ear in order that, from being a diligent scholar of the wisdom from above, he may become a useful teacher of men, inasmuch as he opens up, i.e., unravels, the divine Mashal, which in the depth and fulness of its contents is a , i.e., an involved riddle (from , cogn. , ), and plays the cithern thereby ( of the accompaniment). The opening of the riddle does not consist in the solving of it, but in the setting of it forth. , to open = to propound, deliver of a discourse, comes from the phrase – , Pro 31:26; cf. Psa 119:130, where , an opening, is equivalent to an unlocking, a revelation.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

A Call to Attention.

To the chief musician. A psalm for the sons of Korah.

1 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: 2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together. 3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. 4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. 5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?

This is the psalmist’s preface to his discourse concerning the vanity of the world and its insufficiency to make us happy; and we seldom meet with an introduction more solemn than this is; for there is no truth of more undoubted certainty, nor of greater weight and importance, and the consideration of which will be of more advantage to us.

I. He demands the attention of others to that which he was about to say (Psa 49:1; Psa 49:2): Hear this, all you people; hear it and heed it, hear it and consider it; what is spoken once, hear twice. Hear and give ear,Psa 62:9; Psa 62:11. Not only, “Hear, all you Israelites, and give ear all the inhabitants of Canaan,” but, Hear, all you people, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the world; for this doctrine is not peculiar to those that are blessed with divine revelation, but even the light of nature witnesses to it. All men may know, and therefore let all men consider, that their riches will not profit them in the day of death. Both low and high, both rich and poor, must come together, to hear the word of God; let both therefore hear this with application. Let those that are high and rich in the world hear of the vanity of their worldly possessions and not be proud of them, nor secure in the enjoyment of them, but lay them out in doing good, that with them they may make to themselves friends; let those that are poor and low hear this and be content with their little, and not envy those that have abundance. Poor people are as much in danger from an inordinate desire towards the wealth of the world as rich people from an inordinate delight in it. He gives a good reason why his discourse should be regarded (v. 3): My mouth shall speak of wisdom; what he had to say, 1. Was true and good. It is wisdom and understanding; it will make those wise and intelligent that receive it and submit to it. It is not doubtful but certain, not trivial but weighty, not a matter of nice speculation but of admirable use to guide us in the right way to our great end. 2. It was what he had himself well digested. What his mouth spoke was the meditation of his heart (as Psa 19:14; Psa 45:1); it was what God put into his mind, what he had himself seriously considered, and was fully apprized of the meaning of and convinced of the truth of. That which ministers speak from their own hearts is most likely to reach the hearts of their hearers.

II. He engages his own attention (v. 4): I will incline my ear to a parable. It is called a parable, not because it is figurative and obscure, but because it is a wise discourse and very instructive. It is the same word that is used concerning Solomon’s proverbs. The psalmist will himself incline his ear to it. This intimates, 1. That he was taught it by the Spirit of God and did not speak of himself. Those that undertake to teach others must first learn themselves. 2. That he thought himself nearly concerned in it, and was resolved not to venture his own soul upon that bottom which he dissuaded others from venturing theirs upon. 3. That he would not expect others should attend to that which he himself did not attend to as a matter of the greatest importance. Where God gives the tongue of the learned he first wakens the ear to hear as the learned, Isa. l. 4.

III. He promises to make the matter as plain and as affecting as he could: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. What he learned for himself he would not conceal or confine to himself, but would communicate, for the benefit of others. 1. Some understood it not, it was a riddle to them; tell them of the vanity of the things that are seen, and of the reality and weight of invisible things, and they say, Ah Lord God! doth he not speak parables? For the sake of such, he would open this dark saying, and make it so plain that he that runs might read it. 2. Others understood it well enough, but they were not moved by it, it never affected them, and for their sake he would open it upon the harp, and try that expedient to work upon them, to win upon them. A verse may find him who a sermon flies. Herbert.

IV. He begins with the application of it to himself, and that is the right method in which to treat of divine things. We must first preach to ourselves before we undertake to admonish or instruct others. Before he comes to set down the folly of carnal security (v. 6), he here lays down, from his own experience, the benefit and comfort of a holy gracious security, which those enjoy who trust in God, and not in their worldly wealth: Wherefore should I fear? he means, Wherefore should I fear their fear (Isa. viii. 12), the fears of worldly people. 1. “Wherefore should I be afraid of them? Wherefore should I fear in the days of trouble and persecution, when the iniquity of my heels, or of my supplanters that endeavour to trip up my heels, shall compass me about, and they shall surround me with their mischievous attempts? Why should I be afraid of those all whose power lies in their wealth, which will not enable them to redeem their friends? I will not fear their power, for it cannot enable them to ruin me.” The great men of the world will not appear at all formidable when we consider what little stead their wealth will stand them in. We need not fear their casting us down from our excellency who cannot support themselves in their own excellency. 2. “Wherefore should I be afraid like them?” The days of old age and death are the days of evil, Eccl. xii. 1. In the day of judgment the iniquity of our heels (or of our steps, our past sins) will compass us about, will be set in order before us. Every work will be brought into judgment, with every secret thing; and every one of us must give account of himself. In these days worldly wicked people will be afraid; nothing more dreadful to those that have set their hearts upon the world than to think of leaving it; death to them is the king of terrors, because, after death, comes the judgment, when their sins will surround them as so many furies; but wherefore should a good man fear death, who has God with him? Ps. 23:4. When his iniquities compass him about, he sees them all pardoned, his conscience is purified and pacified, and then even in the judgment-day, when the hearts of others fail them for fear, he can lift up his head with joy, Luk 21:26; Luk 21:28. Note, The children of God, though ever so poor, are in this truly happy, above the most prosperous of the children of this world, that they are well guarded against the terrors of death and the judgment to come.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Psalms 49

Counsel to Foolish Men

Scripture v. 1-20:

Verses 1, 2 call all men of low and high degree, to heed a Divine message. It is for the rich and the poor to heed together, because God is interested in all men, who belong to Him, by creation and His daily sustaining them, Eze 18:4; Act 17:28; Luk 14:35; See also Deu 32:1; Psa 1:1; Mic 1:2; He then warns the rich, v. 6, 7, 17, and consoles the poor, v. 15, 16.

Verses 3, 4 is a Davidic commitment to speak words of wisdom and meditate from his heart things of spiritual understanding, Proverbs ch. 8; 1Co 2:13; Jesus is the embodiment, the essence of that wisdom, Col 2:13. He added, “I will incline mine ear (to understand) a parable even open my dark saying upon the harp,” of praise and thanksgiving to God, who gives wisdom liberally, and does not even scold or chide those who ask Him for it, Pro 1:7; Jas 1:5; 1Ki 10:1; Psa 78:2; Amo 8:5.

Verse 5 asks, “why should I fear in the days of evil (of judgment), when the iniquity of my heels, my treacherous foes shall compass (or encircle) me about?” Gen 25:25; Gen 27:36. Why fear when God is with you? 1Jn 4:18; Psa 23:4-5.

Verses 6, 7 assert that those who trust in their (uncertain) wealth and boast or gloat in the multitude of riches shall none by any means redeem or ransom his brother (from hell), nor give (dole out) to God a ransom for him, as repeatedly certified Job 31:24; Pro 10:15; Pro 23:5; Mar 10:24; 1Ti 6:17. See also Mat 16:26; Mat 20:28; 1Ti 2:6; 1Pe 1:18.

Verses 8, 9 add that the “redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever,” Job 36:18. The gold is left behind forever, but not the soul! It lives on forever, in heaven’s joys or hell’s horrors, Luk 12:20.
Verse 9 adds further “He should live still forever and not, never see, corruption,” But to each the response of His faith to the will of God, the call, of God, determined his destiny, as certified 1Pe 3:15; John 7; John 17; Joh 6:37; Rom 1:15-16; Rom 10:8-13.

Verse 10 declares that the wealthy sees that wise men die, for “There is (exists) no man that dieth not,” Ecc 9:5; Heb 9:26-27. Not only wise ones but also the foolish and the brutish perish, leaving their earthly wealth to others. So it is, and has been, and will ever be! “Naked we came, naked we return, “Job 1:21.

Verses 11-13 describe the ungodly rich whose inward thought is that their houses, estates, dwelling places, and lands will pass on to many generations, called by their names, desirous of earthly honor, Luk 18:14. However man being in honor abideth not that way, is soon forgotten, much as the beast of the field, sporting about without a thought of speedy death, Ecc 3:19; Ecc 9:12. It is added that this is their way, course or disposition of life, living for this life only, is one of folly. Yet their (greedy) posterity approve their sayings, their desire to leave a name of earthly honor, Psa 1:6; Psa 37:5. They have a “mouth speaking great things,” Dan 7:8; Psa 73:8. Selah, pause and reflect, Ecc 12:13-14.

Verse 14 adds that “like sheep” they come to the grave, Hab 2:5. The worms of death shall “feed on them,” and the upright shall have dominion over them, their estates and wealth, “in the morning” of the resurrection. And their former beauty in wealth shall consume in the grave from their dwelling, of the former earthly tabernacle, their temporary residence of their soul while on earth, Psa 46:5; Dan 7:22; Mal 4:3; Rev 2:2. ,

Verse 15 certifies “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me, Job 19:25-29; Rom 8:11; 2Co 5:1; Joh 5:28-29; Selah, pause and take spiritual nourishment from this, Psa 73:24.

Verses 16, 17 advise that the righteous be not afraid when he sees the wicked accumulate wealth, as his house is increased, for when he dies, as die he will, he shall carry nothing with him, to the grave, pr into hell; His days of glory are done, Luk 12:20-21.

Verses 18, 20 conclude that though while the wicked rich lived he blessed his soul, lived for this life only, as the rich man in hell, Luk 16:25; And men will praise you when you “do well to yourself, are materially prosperous.” But it is added that he who is praised in and for his earthly prosperity, tho he have not God, live wickedly, shall go like his wicked fathers, they shall never see light again, that shines on the saints, Rev 21:23; but exist in darkness, abandoned of God, for ever and ever, Psa 9:19. It is concluded that man that is in honor, exalted in things of earth, without God, yet understands not the direction of his soul, is like the dumb beast that perishes, goes headlong to the slaughter, Zec 11:3-6.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. Hear this, all ye people. Whoever may have been the penman of this psalm, it discusses one of the most important principles in divine philosophy, and there is a propriety in the elevated terms designed to awaken and secure attention, with which the Psalmist announces his purpose to discourse of things of a deep and momentous nature. To a superficial view, indeed, the subject might seem trite and common-place, treating, as he does, of the shortness of human life, and the vanity of those objects in which worldly men confide. But the real scope of the psalm is, to comfort the people of God under the sufferings to which they are exposed, by teaching them to expect a happy change in their condition, when God, in his own time, shall interpose to rectify the disorders of the present system. There is a higher lesson still inculcated by the Psalmist — that, as God’s providence of the world is not presently apparent, we must exercise patience, and rise superior to the suggestions of carnal sense in anticipating the favorable issue. That it is our duty to maintain a resolute struggle with our afflictions, however severe these may be, and that it were foolish to place happiness in the enjoyment of such fleeting possessions as the riches, honors, or pleasures of this world, may be precepts which even the heathen philosophers have enforced, but they have uniformly failed in setting before us the true source of consolation. However admirably they discourse of a happy life, they confine themselves entirely to commendations upon virtue, and do not bring prominently forward to our view that God, who governs the world, and to whom alone we can repair with confidence in the most desperate circumstances. But slender comfort can be derived upon this subject from the teaching of philosophy. If, therefore, the Holy Ghost in this psalm introduces to our notice truths which are sufficiently familiar to experience, it is that he may raise our minds from them to the higher truth of the divine government of the world, assuring us of the fact, that God sits supreme, even when the wicked are triumphing most in their success, or when the righteous are trampled under the foot of contumely, and that a day is coming when he will dash the cup of pleasure out of the hands of his enemies, and rejoice the hearts of his friends, by delivering them out of their severest distresses. This is the only consideration which can impart solid comfort under our afflictions. Formidable and terrible in themselves, they would overwhelm our souls, did not the Lord lift upon us the light of his countenance. Were we not assured that he watches over our safety, we could find no remedy from our evils, and no quarter to which we might resort under them.

The remarks which have been made may explain the manner in which the inspired writer introduces the psalm, soliciting our attention, as about to discourse on a theme unusually high and important. Two things are implied in this verse, that the subject upon which he proposes to enter is of universal application, and that we require to be admonished and aroused ere we are brought to a due measure of consideration. The words which I have translated, inhabitants of the world, are translated by others, inhabitants of time; but this is a harsh mode of expression, however much it may agree with the scope of the psalm. He calls upon all men indiscriminately, because all were equally concerned in the truths which he intended to announce. By sons of Adam, we may understand the meaner or lower class of mankind; and by sons of men, (212) the high, the noble, or such as sustain any pre-eminence in life. Thus, in the outset, he states it to be his purpose to instruct high and low without exception; his subject being one in which the whole human family was interested, and in which every individual belonging to it required to be instructed.

(212) The original words for the first of these expressions are, בני אדם bene adam; and those for the second, בני איש bene ish אדם, adam, from אדמה, adamah, earth, means an earthly, frail, mortal, mean man. The term איש, ish, on the other hand, is often used to describe a man who is great and eminent, distinguished for his extraction, strength, valor, and dignity. Thus, in 1Sa 25:15, we read, “Art thou not איש, ish, a man?” which is explained by what follows, “And who is like thee in Israel?” denoting there the military valor and reputation of Abner. When the two expressions, בני אדם, bene adam, and בני איש, bene ish, are used together as in this place, in Psa 62:9, the Jewish Rabbins and modern Christian interpreters have understood a difference of rank to be stated; the former expression, denoting persons of obscure birth, of low rank, the common people: and the latter, meaning men of illustrious descent, the great or nobler sorts of men. See Archbishop Secker’s Dissertation on the words אנוש איש אדם, in Appendix to Merrick’s Annotations on the Psalms, No. 5. The Septuagint translates the former phrase by “ Οἵ γηγενεῖς, ” the earth-born.” The Chaldee expresses the former by the sons of old Adam, and the latter by the sons of Jacob; thus intending to comprehend Jews and Gentiles, all men in the world. “But,” says Hammond, “it is more likely that the phrases denote only the several conditions of men, men of the lower and higher rank, for so the consequeents interpret it, rich and poor. ”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

RUIN AND REDEMPTION

Psalms 42-50

WE have already called attention to the fact that the Books of the Psalms constitute a Pentateuch, and there are excellent students of the Word who consider that the five Books of the Psalms correspond, in spiritual character, to the five volumes that constitute the Pentateuch.

Beginning, then, with the forty-second chapter and concluding with the seventy-second, we have the second Book, which is supposed to parallel Exodus.

Exodus is the Book of Redemption, the story of Israels recovery from Egyptian bondage. This fact is voiced in the following sentence, Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation (Exo 15:13).

It will be conceded also that the types in Exodus turn the attention to redemption. Even the Divine title Jah, the abbreviated form of Jehovah, is employed first in the Book of Exodus (Exo 15:3) and it is a significant fact that this same title is employed in this second Book of the Psalms (Psa 68:4).

There are those also who see another point of parallelism: The Book of Exodus opens with a picture of oppression in Egypt, while the second Book of the Psalms opens with a cry for God. The second Book of the Psalms also refers, in passing, to localities and individuals, as for instance, Sinai and Miriam, found in the second Book of the Pentateuch.

It is not unnatural, therefore, to discuss the first ten chapters of this Book under heads that would naturally remind one of the old Exodus experience, namely, The Ruin Realized, The Deliverance Needed, and the Deliverer Discovered.

THE RUIN REALIZED

First, in The conscious loss of God!

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me; for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the House of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God; for I shill yet praise Him for the kelp of His countenance (Psa 42:1).

One wonders at such language. It involves figurative difficulties and also excites a certain astonishment. Does the hart always pant after the water-brooks? No! There is but one time when the hart pants after the water-brooks and that is when he is chased by his enemy, when the dog is on his trail, or the wolf pack has sighted or scented him and is crowding him hard. Then the exhaustion of the race is such, and the terrible fear that takes possession of him is so great, that moisture leaves his body and he is compelled shortly to reach the brook and be refilled and refreshed that his strength may suffice in further efforts of escape. In truth it is commonly the habit of a deer or hart, when thus in danger, not only to seek the brook for drink, but to plunge its entire body into the water with the dual purpose of cooling the fevered veins and at the same time throwing the enemy off the scent and thereby securing time in which to escape the vicinity of danger.

Its a satisfactory figure then. The Psalmist had his enemies, and as they pressed him hard, thirsting for his life-blood, he felt his need of Gods refreshing and protecting presence. In all likelihood David wrote these words at the very time when he was being hunted like the partridge on the mountain; when Absaloms henchmen sought his life. He was compelled to accomplish a hiding in a well over which a woman threw a cover and spread corn thereon until the danger was over-past, and David and his followers made their escape over Jordan as recorded in 2 Samuel 17.

In evidence of this probable fact, it will be remembered that that chapter closed with the statement that certain people

brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,

And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat; for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness (2Sa 17:28-29).

It is great to believe that God is the answer to heart-hunger. It is great to know that God is rest for the weary. It is good to know that in Him is an unfailing fountain for the thirsty. It is good to believe that God is for the hour of danger and need!

Second, the consequent sense of loneliness!

O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts; all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me.

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

I will say unto God my rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Psa 42:6-11).

It is doubtful if there is any more disquieting experience than the feeling that one has lost God. One of the most pathetic questions to be found in all the Book of the Psalms is (Psa 77:7-9), Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no more? Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He, in anger, shut up His tender mercies?

Such is an hour in which the soul is cast down. Such is the day in which the waves and billows go over one. Frightful is the feeling that one is God-forsaken. The oppression of the enemy is then heavy indeed. The very bones are thrust through with the sword and the daily reproaches of the enemy, Where is thy God? produce a disquieted spirit, and praises perish from the lips and the countenance shows no health!

But even here Jesus has gone before! On the Cross even He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Mat 27:46). That was the darkest hour of His days on earth.

Three times in very recent years, young women have come to me, whose God has been taken from them by the false philosophies of the present-day college-life and teaching, and with cheeks scalded with hot tears, have told how they lost Him, how their teachers had taken away their Lord, and they could no longer find Him; how even their very eyes had been blinded, not alone to His beauty, but also to His existence; and how heart-loneliness and soul-anguish had followed. One might imagine that with David there was sufficient mental and even physical resources to keep from despair, but it is doubtful if any or all the natural resources of life bring the least satisfaction to the soul that feels that God is gone. The consciousness of His presence and the certainty of His loving-kindness these and these alone can satisfy the soul. That is the true meaning of Davids cry for both.

The third suggestion is inevitablewhen one has consciously lost his God and has come into the consequent sense of loneliness, he seeks to no other than did David.

He cried for the Light!

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

For Thou art the God of my strength; why dost Thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

O send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles;

Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God my God.

Why art Thou east down, O my soul? and why art Thou disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Psa 43:1-5).

The significant sentence in this Psalm is this: O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles (Psa 42:3).

How strange; and yet, how natural! Men are always asking God to do what He has long since done. They are asking Him to show mercy. He has proffered it a thousand times, and it is always awaiting the man who will appropriate it. They are asking that He send out light as if He could withhold it, even! God is light! The difficulty with men is that they turn their backs on God and look into the darkness cast by their own shadows, and feel as if the light did not exist. It is a strange conclusion, but it is a natural product of human sin and human skepticism. No man ever got light by asking for it. The light is secured by turning to it.

I saw some years ago a statement that illustrates just what I mean. Dwight S. Bayley, writing in the Sunday School Times, said, It was just after sunset, and I was enjoying a short wheel ride before supper. The sun had sunk behind the mesa, whose outline drew its dark, rugged silhouette boldly against the red sky beyond. Presently I came to the railroad crossing, and there I dismounted to stand and watch the western glory. The rails stretched their parallel course east and west, and, as I looked toward the east, to see if any train were approaching, I saw the track soon disappear into the gloom of the approaching night. But turning again to the west, I saw the rails become two paths of shining light, penetrating, and, for the moment, making me forget the gathering dusk.

And as I stood there in the sweet silence of the closing day, I thought of One who is the Light of the world. How many, said I, find their path dark, and leading only into deeper gloom, because they are facing away from the light. And how many, thank God, forget the surrounding dusk, and tread a path that is clear and joyful, because they are walking toward the Light.

Gods light is shining constantly and as certainly for one as for another. Those who face toward it will be led by it. By it they will be brought unto Gods Holy hill and unto Gods tabernacle. By it they will go unto the altar of God with exceeding joy, and in consequence of it they will praise God with the harp and hope in Him who is the help of their countenance and their God.

But we pass to the future study,

THE DELIVERANCE NEEDED

Gods help is a matter of history!

We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

How Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plantedst them; how Thou didst afflict Thy people, and cast them out.

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favour unto them.

Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

Through Thee will we push down our enemies: through Thy Name mil we tread them under that rise up against us.

For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy Name for ever. Selah (Psa 44:1-8).

The providential dealings of God are matters of history. He made records long before Edison devised his scheme of catching the voice and giving permanence to words. So important were His acts that men made note of them and not only rehearsed them, but wrote them down that the future might be refreshed by the reading; and perhaps the most dependable records that exist in the archives of man relate to Gods dealings with His people and with the world.

We live in a day when men are attempting to trace God in nature, or, if they deny His existence, to tell us what nature itself has accomplished. They talk of what took place trillions of years ago and what happened a few billions since, and what man was doing 500,000 summers gone. And then they have the effrontery to call that science, or even to speak of it as the history of the ages. They seem to forget that science is knowledge gained and verified, and they seem to ignore the fact that history is a systematic record of past events, especially the record of events in which man has taken part. What nonsense then to talk of the history of a trillion or a million or even of 20,000 years ago!

Scientists, at this present moment, are mad with speculations, and in order to add authority to their speech they name it science or history, when it is neither.

But we have history, and it honors God. It tells how He bared His arm in behalf of His people; how it was His Word rather than their sword that gave His people the promised land, and His arm, not their own strength that saved them, and His favor that prospered them. It was in a power Divine that they pushed down their enemies and trod under foot those who rose against them. In Him alone, had they any right to boast.

Stopford Brooke truthfully said, God dwells in the great movements of the world, in the great ideas which act in the human race. Find Him there in the great interests of man. Find Him by sharing in those interests, by helping all who are striving for truth, for education, for progress, for liberty all over the world.

The man who said, Gods in His Heavenalls well with the world, spoke a half truth, which is always a whole falsehood. God is in His Heaven ; but all is not well with the world! That is not Gods fault! He is constantly intervening in the affairs of men to make things right. He is constantly overthrowing heathenism in that interest. He is constantly favoring His people to that very end. God doesnt favor His people because He is partial; but He favors them because He is righteous. God doesnt favor His own because they are His own, and He has no interest in others. He saves His own because His own are worth saving and were willing, and He overwhelms their enemies because their enemies are evil.

The history of Divine providence is at once the most interesting and the most inspiring history ever written. We do well to study the relationship that God sustained to our fathers. We do well to make ourselves acquainted with how He wrought with them and how He fought for them. The man who would make God his King, and be content under that Divine administration, must needs know God, who He is and what He has done. In other words, history must be His teacher and the record of Divine providences the inspiration of His faith.

The charge of Gods withdrawal is unjust.

But Thou hast cast off and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price.

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.

My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face covered me,

For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.

All this is come upon us, yet have we, not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.

Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way;

Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.

Yea, for Thy sake are we kilted all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

Awake, why steepest Thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.

Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression.

For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth,

Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies sake (Psa 44:9-26).

The Psalmist certainly has spiritual chills and fevers. One moment he is filled with praises to God and the next he is mouthing complaints.

Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies,

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves,

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen,

Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price,

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us,

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people,

My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger,

All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant,

Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way;

Though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart,

Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter,

Awake, why steepest Thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever,

Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth,

Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies sake (Psa 44:9-26),

What biliousness! Strange what foolish speech can escape the lips of true believers and how unjustifiable complaints can characterize a Christian! It is always true perhaps that a man looking into the past, thinks God treated his fathers better than He is treating him. That is because he sees in history the very path by which his fathers were led, and marks the fact that it is a path which, however crooked, leads ever upward and ever onward toward the shining gates of the Celestial City. He doesnt see the bleeding feet that pressed that path. He cannot mark the edges of the sharp stones that cut deeply into the flesh. The distance is too great for him to make observation in minutiae! He cam not even tell how precipitous the difficulty hills were. He cannot even see any of the lions that stalked that path or the dangers that beset the journey! And so he concludes that God was good to his fathers, but that He is forgetting him.

It is a foolish reasoning! We sing quite often, at least in orthodox circles,

Faith of our fathers, living still,

In spite of dungeon, fire and sword,

O how our hearts beat high with joy

Wheneer we hear that glorious word!

Faith of our fathers, holy faith,

We will be true to thee, till death.

But the sad part of it is that we sing it without experience of dungeon, without smell of fire, and without ever having felt the edge of the sword.

We render a second verse:

Our fathers chained in prisons dark,

Were still in heart and conscience free;

And blest would be their childrens fate,

If they, like them, should die for Thee:

Faith of our fathers, holy faith,

We will be true to thee till death.

But the probabilities are that if we had a little touch of dungeon, fire and sword, or any prospect whatever of martyrdom, we would make a louder complaint than the Psalmist here records. We would think that we were utterly forgotten, that God had turned His back upon us and flung us willingly into the hands of our enemies, to let us be eaten as sheeps meat, or sold for nothing according to the opponents pleasure. We would imagine that He had made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to men of the world, a byword among the heathen and that all this had come upon us in spite of our utter loyalty to Him, and our perfect keeping of every covenant made and our upright walk.

How ridiculous! What poor occasions we have for parading our faithfulness or even referring to the importunity of our prayers, or, for that matter, to the sacrifices we have made. We slip ourselves and imagine that God is slipping. We turn our backs upon Him and imagine that He has hid His face. We call upon Him to arise for our help when the truth is that He is up already and we are down!

It is difficult to be patient with people that not only complain of their fellows, but even reach the point where they complain of God; and seldom is there any instance of the sort divorced from personal unworthiness and self-blame.

Gods Son is the souls adequate solace!

My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.

Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty.

And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.

Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the Kings enemies; whereby the people fall under Thee.

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of Thy Kingdom is a right sceptre.

Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.

All Thy garments smelt of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad.

Kings daughters were among Thy honourable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy fathers house;

So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.

And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.

The kings daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.

She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.

With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the Kings palace.

Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.

I will make Thy Name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever (Psa 45:1-17).

Beyond all question, this is a picture of Jesus, the King, the One fairer than the children of men, into whose lips grace is poured; who wears the sword at His thigh and whose glory and majesty and might know no measure; whose truth, meekness and righteousness render majestic; the power of whose right hand is to be truly feared; the sharpness of whose arrows can lay the enemy low and whose throne is established; whose sceptre is a right sceptre; who loves righteousness, hates iniquity, and who is, therefore, the One that God hath anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. As if to put beyond question who this person is, the Psalmist says, All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad (Psa 45:8).

When was there ever any life in this world that had the aroma of beauty and sweetness about it that Christs life had? Kings daughters were among Thy honourable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen of Ophir, plainly refers to the women redeemed by His Word and to the Church, His coming Bride, the Bride whose beauty the King Himself desired and in whose worship He delighted.

What a picture this also of the Churchs pleasure in her Lord!

The kings daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold.

She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.

With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the Kings palace.

Instead of Thy fathers shall be Thy children, whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.

I will make Thy Name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever (Psa 45:13-17).

Join all the glorious names Of wisdom, love, and power,That ever mortals knew,Or angels ever bore:All are too mean to speak His worth,Too mean to set the Saviour forth.

Great Prophet of our God,Our tongues shall bless Thy Name;By Thee the joyful newsOf our salvation came,The joyful news of sins forgiven,Of hell subdued, and peace with Heaven.

Jesus, our great High Priest,Has shed His Blood and died;Our guilty conscience needsNo sacrifice besides:His precious Blood did once atone And now it pleads before the throne.

THE DELIVERER DISCOVERED

The forty-fifth chapter, then, discovers the Deliverer in Christ, the coming One, the all glorious One! That naturally leads to the exclamations of the forty-sixth chapter.

Faith finds herself a voice.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble;

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth.

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;

He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah (Psa 46:1-11).

It is a great utterance. It is a rebound from the black unbelief of chapter forty-four. A man is never quite so happy, never quite so joyful, as when he comes out of the storm into calm, out of the black night into a bright morning, out of poverty and weakness into riches and strength, out of feelings of insufficiency into a consciousness of Gods sufficiency.

It is a triumphant utterance:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble;

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof (Psa 46:1-3).

Is it possible that this is the same man who wrote but yesterday

Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies;

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy; and they which hate us spoil for themselves;

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen;

Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price;

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a, derision to them that are round about us;

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen (Psa 44:9-14)?

Yes, the very same man! What is the difference? This: yesterday the Psalmist had his eyes upon himself; he reflected upon his weakness, his failure, his confusion, his shame! Today, he has his eyes upon God. The night is gone, the sun has risen. The flood is over, and in its stead there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God. * * God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early; the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted; the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (Psa 46:4-7). Oh, what a change! The God of refuge is with us.

God is the refuge of His saints,

When storms of sharp distress invade;

Ere we can offer our complaints,

Behold Him present with His aid.

Loud may the troubled ocean roar;

In sacred peace our souls abide,

While every nation, every shore,

Trembles and dreads the swelling tide.

There is a stream, whose gentle flow

Supplies the City of our God,

Life, love, and joy still gliding through,

And watering our Divine abode.

That sacred stream, thy holy word,

Our grief allays, our fear controls;

Sweet peace thy promises afford,

And give new strength to fainting souls.

Praise discovers fit expression.

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph;

For the Lord Most High is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth;

He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.

God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet

Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto, our King, sing praises.

For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding.

God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.

The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the City of our God, in the mountain of His holiness;

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.

Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish it for ever. Selah.

We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy Temple.

According to Thy Name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness.

Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments.

Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof.

Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our Guide even unto death (Psa 47:1 to Psa 48:14).

Was there ever a more blissful burst of true belief? This is an instance in which the Psalmist starts a solo, but his singing becomes a contagion; it swells not to a duet or quartette, but into a mighty chorus. He directs; O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph (Psa 47:1); and he gives the reason, He is a great King over all the earth; He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet; He shall choose our inheritance for us? (Psa 47:2-4); and as if to bring the last tongue to praises, he calls to all that have breath, Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King; sing praises (Psa 47:6).

O worship the King, all glorious above,

And gratefully sing His wonderful love,

Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of days,

Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,

It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain

And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,

In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;

Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,

Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

God and God alone is adequate.

Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world;

Both low and high, rich and poor, together.

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my keels shall compass me about?

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him;

(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever;)

That He should still live forever, and not see corruption.

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

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; nevertheless man being in honour abideth not; he is like the beasts that Perish.

This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me. Selah.

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.

Though while he lived he blessed his soul; and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from; the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice; and the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is judge Himself. Selah.

Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against Thee; I am God, even thy God.

I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, to have been continually before Me.

I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds;

For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell Thee; for the World is mine, and the fulness thereof.

Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High;

And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.

But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth?

Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee.

When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mothers son.

These things hast Thou done, and I kept silence; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as Thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.

Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight; that Thou oughtest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and 1 shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the hones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners Shall be converted unto Thee.

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.

O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.

For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt-offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering; then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar (Psa 49:1 to Psa 51:19).

Here we come to the conclusion of the matter, so far, at least, as certain experiences are concerned; and that conclusion is that God, and God alone, is adequate. He would have all the people hear it, men of both high and low degree, rich and poor. The perverse, the boastful, the corrupt, the brutish, he would have them see that their way is folly, that death awaits them and Sheol will consume; but God will redeem his soul and receive him into glory. He would have men realize that even death shall strip them of both wealth and honour, they will perish as the beasts do, but the mighty one will remain. The Jehovah who called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, whose perfection of beauty doth shine, and whose speech is above the storm, and to him the heavens themselves will respond and the very earth tremble will gather His saints to Himself and show His covenant by His sacrifice, while the heavens declare His righteousness; and then, as if God Himself was at hand to speak, the Psalmist steps aside and gives audience to the voice Divine,

O Israel, * * I am Thy God, even Thy God.

I do not reprove them of these sacrifices nor the multiplication of burnt offerings;

I will not take a bullock out of thy house, nor a he goat from thy folds, since I have no need;

Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills;

I know all the birds of the hills and that which moveth in the fields.

If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is Mine and the fullness.

I am no eater of bulls flesh, nor drinker of goats blood.

I am God; sacrifice to Me thanksgiving and pay to Me thy vows and call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me (Psa 50:7-15).

Then, after having shown his attitude toward the wicked, and the wickeds attitude toward Him, and after having warned these God-forgetters, of the day of judgment when none shall deliver, he concludes, He that offereth praise, glorifieth Me; and he that altereth his way, will I show the salvation of God (Psa 50:23)

I have sought to bring you this morning the three major thoughts to be found in these ten chapters. Beyond all question they are the Recognition of Ruin by Sin, the Conscious Need of a Deliverer, and the Joyful Discovery of God. I confess frankly, very frankly, that I have had other objectives than merely to interpret these Psalms. I believe that knowledge of Scripture always fruits in increased faith and further, in effective service. I am anxious that you should know God, that you should know Him as one who can redeem us from the ruin of sin, that you should know Him as one who can meet all the demands of the heart life, that you should know Him as one who proved His power and love to your predecessors, that you should know Him as one who is the source of strength against adversaries and for all conceivable service.

There are tasks ahead, great undertakings, as important and prophetic as enormous; and I want you to enter upon them, upon those that are immediately ahead of us for this week and for those that are planned for the two weeks following, believing God and trusting Him for all needed strength.

We are told that when Napoleon was leading his soldiers over the Alps, the cold and fatigue of the journey caused many of them to falter. Some were about to turn back. Napoleon ordered the band to play, and the spirits of some of the men revived, but not all. Then he told them to play music that would remind them of the home-land and more of them revived. Then at his word, the buglers sounded the bugle call. The men sprang to arms, and new life surged into the brains of every breathing body, for they knew not where the enemy might be.

Activity is the best and surest cure for faltering souls. My candid conviction is this, that the effort of this church will be glorious in proportion as we actively undertake big things and bring them to pass; and why not? when Jehovah is our God.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

INTRODUCTION

Superscription.To the Chief Musician, a psalm for the sons of Korah. See Introduction to Psalms 42. Both the author of the psalm, and the occasion on which it was composed, are unknown. This psalm, says Matthew Henry, is a sermon, and so is the next. In most of the psalms we have the penman praying or praising; in these we have him preaching; and it is our duty, in singing psalms, to teach and admonish ourselves and one another. The psalm meets the temptation, which arises to the righteous from the prosperity of the wicked (whose persecution it sets forth), with the very consolation which is presented for it throughout the Old Testament, viz., that the issue divides between the righteous and the wicked, that the glory and ascendancy of the latter are only temporary, that they end in terrors, while the righteous is delivered by God.Hengstenberg.

THE PREACHER OF WISDOM

(Psa. 49:1-4.)

The Psalmist appears as a preacher discoursing of wisdom, and in these verses, which are introductory to the main theme, he calls the attention of all men to what he is about to say. It was not of wisdom in general, but of wisdom in estimating the value of worldly wealth and honour, that he was about to speak.

I. The preacher of wisdom addresses himself to all peoples. Hear this, all people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world. This summoning all men to attention implies

1. The great importance of the subject. It is common in Scripture when important announcements are made to call the whole world to listen (Deu. 32:2; Psa. 1:1; Mic. 1:2). How important is the message of the Gospel Preacher!

2. The universal applicability of the subject. The statements he was about to make pertained not to one nation or race only, but to all mankind. The gospel of Christ pertains to the whole race of man. All men need the gospel. The gospel is sent to all men. Go ye into all the world, &c.

II. The preacher of wisdom addresses himself to all classes. Both low and high, rich and poor together. What the Psalmist has delivered, serves to the rich for warning, to the poor for consolation. The poor are in danger from the inordinate desire of wealth, and the rich from an inordinate delight in it. Let the poor neither fear nor envy the rich; let the rich neither trust nor boast in their riches. The message of the Christian preacher is to all classes. The gospel is addressed to man as man, without regard to any distinctions of wealth or rank.

III. The preacher of wisdom duly considers his subject. The meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. The idea is, says Barnes, that he had meditated on the subject, and that he would now give utterance to the result of his meditations. And Matthew Henry: It was what he had himself well digested. What his mouth spoke was the meditation of his heart; it was what God put into his mind, what he had himself seriously considered, and was fully apprised of the meaning of and convinced of the truth of. I will incline mine ear to a parable, saith the Psalmist, implying clearly that the wisdom he was about to communicate is no self-sprung possession, but one that has been acquired by him. = similitude, parable, proverb. Hengstenberg translates it here, similitude. And Fuerst; a sententious poem. The Psalmist will incline his ear to it. This intimates

1. That he was taught it by the Spirit of God and did not speak of himself. Those that undertake to teach others must first learn themselves.
2. That he thought himself nearly concerned in it, and was resolved not to venture his own soul upon that bottom which he dissuaded others from venturing theirs upon.
3. That he would not expect others should attend to that which he himself did not attend to as a matter of the greatest importance. When God gives the tongue of the learned He first wakens the ear to hear as the learned.M. Henry. An unthoughtful ministry is a great curse. Meditation, patient and earnest thought, should ever precede the speech of the preacher.

IV. The preacher of wisdom deals With difficult questions. Dark sayings. = entwined, hence, (a) cunning, trickery (Dan. 8:23), i.e. dissimulation. (b) enigmas, riddles (Jdg. 14:12). (c) pointed, enigmatical speech that surprises, a proverb (Pro. 1:6); a parable (Eze. 17:2); poesy (Psa. 49:5); oracle (Num. 12:8).Fuersts Lexicon. It seems to us to mean in this place something which was obscure, or only imperfectly understood. Hengstenberg explains it thus: riddle, a discourse of difficult comprehension, of deep sense. There are dark sayings, difficult questions, in.

1. The Scriptures, in which there are things hard to be understood, not a few.

2. The Providence of God. Thy way is in the sea, &c. Clouds and darkness are round about Him.

3. Every human life. Mans soul is written all over with dark sayings. The preacher deals with these dark sayings; looks into them, exhibits their uses, explains their significance, endeavours to make them clear and luminous.

V. The preacher of wisdom deals with difficult questions poetically, musically. I will open my dark saying upon the harp. He would speak them in poetry, and attune them to music. The most sorrowful people have known most and felt most the soul of music. The expression of the sorrows and aspirations of the soul in music ministers to our reserve, while it also flows forth in a stream, sad in itself perhaps, yet productive of a divine cheerfulness. There is a mystery and a meaning in music we can never either expound or explore; and it is felt that those natures, which are the greatest burden and mystery to themselves, find most the solace of song in the combinations of all great sounds; we have known this, it is not always that in joyfulness of heart we sing. The girl oppressed by some great trial or loss, as she bends over her needle, or goes about her house-work, will sing; and while she singe, finds unconsciously that her song has been her medicine, and has given to her relief. I have known a woman, disappointed and forsaken, flying to her piano; her fingers rushing over the keys have given liberation to her spirit, and the chords opened the sealed well of tears, and the rains descended, and the floods came. And something like this is a very general experience. Hence we have poetry for all cultured people, and hymns for holy people; and do we not know what it is to become happy while we sing? Good it is sometimes to utter the dark saying to the harp rather than to others; it composes, allays, and tranquillises the mind while we utter it.E. P. Hood.

CONCLUSION. Let us learn how to deal with our dark sayings. Seek light and help in worship. Devotion will illuminate the mind. Intellectual difficulties will vanish before the religious fervour of a grateful and reverent heart.

THE FOOLISH WAY OF WEALTHY WORLDLINGS

(Psa. 49:5-15.)

I. The characteristics of their way. Their way is marked by

1. Trust in their wealth. They place confidence in their riches as the source of all good to them, and the means by which all their wants may be supplied and all their desires gratified. How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

2. Boasting in their wealth. Boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. They pride themselves in the extent of their possessions. Many years ago Judge B. resided in New Jersey. His family was considered the most aristocratic in the town; and not unfrequently some of its members would give their acquaintances to understand that this was their opinion also. On a certain occasion a fishing-party was made up among the ladies. Mrs. Judge B. was one of the number. While fishing, the subject of losing property was discussed. Mrs. B. paused a little, and slipped a splendid gold ring from her finger, and dropped it into the lake, remarking as she did so, that it was as impossible for them to become poor as it was for her to recover that ring. The party returned to their homes, and Mrs. B. gave her fish to the servants. Not long after, the cook came into the sitting-room and showed to Mrs. B. a gold ring that she had taken from one of the fish. The ring dropped into the lake was recovered. Mrs. B., who was so confident that she could never become poor, died a pauper in Elizabethtown, Nova Scotia; and her husband, the judge, died a pauper also in an adjoining town.Dict. of Illus.

3. Fancied power to retain wealth. Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever, &c. (Psa. 49:11). They calculated that they should retain their possessions until death, and then transmit them to their children. There are few wealthy persons who realise the uncertain tenure by which they hold their possessions. The great majority seem to regard themselves, not as stewards, but as proprietors of their possessions, and as able to retain or dispose of them as they please.

II. The folly of their way. This their way is their folly. Their folly is seen in

1. Their inability to retain their wealth. All men must die, and leave their wealth to others.

(1) They cannot continue with it, nor will it serve to procure them a reprieve.
(2) They cannot carry it with them, but must leave it behind them.

(3) They cannot foresee who will enjoy it when they have left it; they must leave it to others, but to whom they know not, perhaps to a fool (Ecc. 2:19), perhaps to an enemy.M. Henry. Riches, says Gataker, though they have great eagles wings, to fly away from us while we are here in this world, yet have not so much as little sparrows wings to fly after us and follow us when we go hence. We brought nothing into this world, neither shall we carry anything hence. Even before the rich man passes away from this world, his riches may pass away from him. A storm at sea, a spark of fire, a flood, &c., may transform him into a beggar. How foolish, then, to trust and glory in wealth!

2. The limitation of the power of wealth. The wealthiest man has no power

(1) to turn aside the stroke of death even from his dearest friend. None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. The wealthiest of men is unable to prolong by an hour the life that is most dear to him. Redeeming, he cannot redeem; that is, according to Hebrew usage, he cannot possibly do it; it cannot be done. What folly is it to trust to that, and boast of that, which will not enable us so much as for one hour to respite the execution of the sentence of death upon a parent, a child, or a friend that is to us as our own soul! The wealthiest man has no power

(2) to turn aside the stroke of death from himself. Wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person. No matter what may be the character of the man of wealth, whether wise or foolish, he must certainly die. His wealth cannot save him from the grave. It is said that a queen of England, knowing that her death was at hand, cried, A million of money for a moment of time, and cried in vain.

(3) Wealth has no power to favourably affect the condition of its possessors after death. Like sheep they are laid in the grave, &c. (Psa. 49:14). When death comes to them, all their possessions and honours must be relinquished finally and for ever. Then the superiority of the portion of the upright will be apparent. All the strength and beauty of wealthy worldlings shall be consumed; but the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who, when upon earth, was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, could not obtain so much as a drop of cold water in hell. How great, then, is the folly of putting our trust in and making our boast of our wealth! And yet, notice how continuous this folly is. This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings. In this folly there is a sad successiveness. The children tread in the footsteps of their fathers. They adopt their principles, and act on their maxims; and, attaching the same importance to wealth which they did, seek, as they sought, to perpetuate their names upon the earth.

And now turning our attention from the wealthy worldling to the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him, two remarks are justified.
First: The godly man has no reasonable cause to fear the power of the wealthy worldling. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? It is difficult to get any reasonable meaning out of the last clause as it is rendered in our version. We take it that the word here rendered heels is from the verb , and signifies a persecutor or lier-in-wait; and so we should translate, When the iniquity of liers-in-wait compass me about. See Fuersts Lexicon. The Psalmist was exposed to danger by reason of the crafty designs of his wealthy enemies; but why should he fear them? With all their wealth, how powerless were they! What could they do to him, they who were weak mortals like himself? They were leaning on a broken reed, and boasting in a shadow. He had no reason to fear them; for his trust was in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength.

Second: The portion of the godly man is far superior to that of the wealthy worldling. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me. The superiority of the portion of the upright consists in this

1. They shall not be held in Sheol. God will rescue them from the power of the grave. They shall arise to a life of blessedness.

2. They shall be received by God. God will receive His people into glory, both soul and body, at the resurrection. So shall they ever be with the Lord.

This superiority will soon be made manifest. In the morning, i.e. in a little time. The night will speedily pass away, and in the morning the vanity of the portion of wealthy worldlings and the excellence of the portion of the godly will be clearly manifested.

CONCLUSION.

1. My rich brother, trust not in uncertain riches; but use thy wealth wisely, and it shall prove a blessing to thyself and to others.
2. My poor brother, do thou neither envy nor fear the power of wealthy worldlings; but rejoice in thine own inalienable and blessed portion.

REDEMPTION

(Psa. 49:8.)

I. The subject of redemption. To acquire right views of the importance of redemption as to its subject, we may glance at the powers, the affections, and the duration of the soul.

1. Its powers.

(1) It is endowed with the faculty of knowledge. Paul tells us that knowledge is a feature of the image of God. The object of redemption is not mere matter, but an intelligent being, the only being on this earth capable of apprehending the discoveries which God has made of Himself.

(2) It is endued with the power of choice. Man is a moral agent; he acts under the influence of moral motives; he is not the creature of chance; he is not willingly the prey of accident; he has the power, to a certain extent, of controlling his circumstances. He is, further, capable of knowing and of loving God, and of becoming like God.

2. Its affections. The soul has lost the image of God. The temple is in ruins, and the Great Inhabitant gone. It is utterly corrupt, polluted, debased, at enmity against God. It is the prey of every bad passion, of every polluting affection; consequently its tendency is to misery; and unless it be redeemed, it will be miserable for ever.

3. Its duration. The soul of man will live for ever, and through the eternity of its existence, it must either be a happy spirit before the throne of God, or a hopeless outcast from His heaven.

II. The price of its redemption. How vast the price paid for the redemption of the soul! The precious blood of Christ. Had the whole creation been consumed in one mighty conflagration as the price of redemption, it would have been as nothing compared with this. How precious the price of redemption! The Deity became enshrined in mannot changed into a man, but most mysteriously united to a man; the price of redemption was His blood. This price was given (1Jn. 3:16; 1Pe. 1:18-19).

III. The period of its accomplishment is limited. It ceaseth for ever. How infinitely precious is time! It is in time only that the redemption of the soul can be ensured. The value of one opportunity of hearing the Gospel is unspeakably great.M. A., from Sketches of Sermons.

MEN OF THE WORLD WHO HAVE THEIR PORTION IN THIS LIFE

(Psa. 49:16-20.)

I. Men who have their portion in this life must resign it at death. We have here

1. Man possessing wealth and honour. One is made rich, the glory of his house is increased. By means of wealth man is able to surround himself with all the luxuries and ornaments produced by nature and by man. The rich have many friends, who fawn upon and flatter them, and extol their state and their doings. In these days many men speedily, from small beginnings, grow rich and pompous, and fond of display.

2. Man rejoicing in wealth and honour. In his life he blessed His soul. He is like the rich man described by our Lord, who said to his soul, Soul, thou hast much good laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, &c. Oh, the awful degradation of manhood when a man calls upon his soul to find its chief good in material possessions! In answer to the inquiry, Who will show us any good? such men are so far from saying, Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us, that they point you to their well-filled barns or their vast estates. Yet it is true that He aims too low who aims beneath the skies.

3. Man praised because of his wealth and honour. Man will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. This is the sentiment of all the children of this world, that those do best for themselves that do most for their bodies, by heaping up riches, though, at the same time, nothing is done for the soul, nothing for eternity. Low-natured people abound who court and fawn upon the man of wealth. Mean sycophants are ever ready obsequiously to flatter the men of the world, who have their portion in this life.

4. Man compelled to relinquish his wealth and honour. When he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. To the man who elects to have his portion in this life it may be said in the future state, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things. What disarrays like death? It defaces the fascination of the beautiful. It withers the strength of the mighty. It snatches the store of the rich. Kings are stripped of trapping, trophy, treasure: Their glory shall not descend after them.R. W. Hamilton.

II. Men who have their portion in this life when they depart hence are gathered to their moral ancestors. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. They depart to their own place and their own company. Under the generation of the fathers, says Hengstenberg, are here to be understood, not so much the corporeal ancestors of the ungodly, as his predecessors in wickedness. And M. Henry: His worldly wicked fathers, whose sayings he approved, and whose steps he trod in. They dwell in a dark and melancholy realm They shall never see lighti.e., they shall never have the least glimpse of any joy or comfort. They are banished into the outer darkness.

III. Men who have their portion in this life degrade their being. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. How unspeakable is the degradation of a spiritual and immortal being, created in Gods image and redeemed by Christs blood, when he lives for this life only, the life of the senses merely! Many there are, says Barnes, in exalted stations, who are surrounded by all that wealth can give, yet who no more admit the thought of a future world into their hopes and plans than if they had no other endowment than the camel or the ox, and whose conduct in this respect would not be changed if all the higher endowments which constitute the nature of man were withdrawn, and they were at once reduced to the condition of a brute. M. Henry: It is better to be a beast than to be a man that makes himself like a beast.

CONCLUSION:

1. To those who have wealth, but not godliness. What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

2. To those who have godliness, but not wealth. It is a temptation, says Dickson, which shaketh the faith of the godly sometimes, when they see the flourishing prosperity of the wicked and their own daily affliction; but this should not move the godly, nor make them suspect themselves to be in a wrong course and the ungodly in a better way: be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Your portion is incomparably superior to that of the most wealthy and distinguished of those who have their portion in this life. The end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Psalms 49

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

Death and Redemption: Oppressed Saints Comforted and Oppressors Rebuked.

ANALYSIS

Startta I, Psa. 49:1-6, An Introduction, consisting of the Proem and the Problem. Stanza II., Psa. 49:7-12, Answer first, Personality more Precious than Possessions. Stanza III., Psa. 49:13-20, Answer second: The Unrelieved future of the Oppressor in Contrast with the Redeemed Future of the Psalmist. The Refram Charges Home the Byword.

(Lm.) Psalm.

Hear ye this all ye peoples,

give ear all ye dwellers in this passing world;[520]

[520] Or: ageaion not kosmosO.G.

Both sons of the low and sons of the high,

together both rich and needy.

My mouth shall speak forth wisdom,

and the soft utterance of my heart be understanding:

I will bend to a by-word[521] my ear,

[521] See Psa. 49:12; Psa. 49:20. Ah aphorismDel.

I will open on the lyre mine enigma:[522]

[522] Or: hard question, riddle: Sep. problem.

Why should I fear in the days of evil,

when the iniquity of my circuniventors encloseth me,

who are trusting in their wealth,

and in the abundance of their riches do boast themselves?

But[523] no man can really effect a ransom

[523] Soak, but, instead of ah brotherin some cod.Gn. Better here, since the problem is whether a man can really redeem at alleven himself. Not at the hands of God, though from man he may (Exo. 21:29-30).

and give unto God his ransom-price

of such worth is the ransom of mens self[524]

[524] Ml.: their soul.

it has failed to the ages

That one should live on continually,

should not see the pit.

For one must see that wise men die,

together with foolish and brutish they perish;
they leave to successors their wealth:

Graves[525] are their houses to the ages,

[525] So Gt. (k-b-r-m or k-r-b-m)Gn.

their habitations to generation after generation,
Though their names had been given to landed-estates!

A man who will not understand his own worth

Bringeth on him the by-wordNo better than brutes![526]

[526] Ml.: Brutes they resemble.

This is their wayin their folly!

and this their future[527] who with their present portion[528] are so pleased.

[527] With Br. substituting th ( ) for h ( ): thus bringing this psalm into verbal relation w. Psa. 37:37-38 and Psa. 73:17.

[528] Ml.: their mouth. Cp. O.G. 805, 5b.

Like a flock to Hades are they assigned

Death will tend them!
So let them descend smoothly to the grave,[529]

[529] So Gt.Gn.

and their image[530] be for Hades to consume out of his dwelling.

[530] Or.: form.

But God will ransom my soul,

out of the hand of Hades will he surely[531] take me.

[531] Cp. O.G. 472, 1, e; 474, note.

Do not fear when a man groweth rich,

when the splendour of his house increaseth;

For when he dieth he can take nothing,

his splendour cannot descend after him:

Though his own self[532] while he lived he used to bless,

[532] U.: his sould. Cp. Intro., Chap. III., Soul.

and thank it because it was doing well for itself.

He will enter[533] as far as the circle of his fathers,

[533] So it shd. be (w. Sep. and Vul.)Gn.

never more can they see daylight!

A man who will not understand his own worth

Bringeth on him the by-wordNo better than brutes![534]

[534] MI.: Brutes they resemble.

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 49

Listen, everyone! High and low, rich and poor, all around the worldlisten to my words,
3 For they are wise and filled with insight.
4 I will tell in song accompanied by harps the answer to one of lifes most perplexing problems:
5 There is no need to fear when times of trouble come, even though surrounded by enemies!
6 For they trust in their wealth and boast about how rich they are!
7 Yet not one of them, though rich as kings, can ransom his own brother from the penalty of sin! For Gods forgiveness does not come that way![535]

[535] Implied from text.

8, 9 For a soul is far too precious to be ransomed by mere earthly wealth. There is not enough of it in all the earth to buy eternal life for just one soul, to keep it out of hell.[536]

[536] Literally, so that he should not see the Pit.

10 Rich man! Proud man! Wise man! You must die like all the rest! You have no greater lease on life than foolish, stupid men. You must leave your wealth to others!
11 You name your estates after yourselves as though your lands could be forever yours, and you could live on them eternally!
12 But man with all his pomp must die like any animal!
13 Such is the folly of these men, though after they die they will be quoted as having great wisdom!
14 Death is the shepherd of all mankind. And in the morning those who are evil will be the slaves of those who are good. For the power of their wealth[537] is gone when they die; they cannot take it with them.

[537] Literally, their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume.

15 But as for me, God will redeem my soul from the power of death, for He will receive me.
16 So do not be dismayed when evil men grow rich and build their lovely homes.
17 For when they die they carry nothing with them! Their honors will not follow them.
18 Though a man calls himself happy all through his lifeand the world loudly applauds success
19 Yet in the end he died like everyone else, and enters eternal darkness.
20 For man with all him pomp[538] must die like any animal!

[538] Literally, but without insight. It is uncertain whether this phrase was part of the original text.

EXPOSITION

This psalm is one of great beauty and power. Its breadth is at once evidence; since it appeals to men everywhere, of all sorts and conditions: peopleslow, high, rich, needy. Its elevation is clear; inasmuch as it implies that the present order of things is temporarya mere passing world, during which the days may be evil, and the wealthy iniquitous, overbearing and boastful; but beyond which God may interpose in redemption. Its insight is penetrating; for it pierces through to mans true worth, which money cannot measure. Its structure is simple: one stanza, containing proem and problem, and two stanzas of argument, crowned each by an identical refrain. Its unity is complete; rendering the psalm, to a large extent, self-interpretive. But, withal, its chief characteristic is, that it is parabolic, enigmatic and ironical: its sarcasm is as biting as it is benevolent. It has its surface meanings, and its deeper intentions. It plays upon words. Its wise men are only clever: they perish, or at least they pass into the land of shadows. They are brutes in behaviour; yet, if they were really only brutes, they would not thus be blamed. They think much of themselves; and yet how little! if they would only think more of themselves, they would not think so little of their poor neighbours. Such is the style; and it is this which makes successful translation and exegesis difficult. The more difficult these are, however, the more need is there that the unity of the psalm should be held fast, and the interpretation be made as self-consistent as possible.

The proem or exordium, so far from being an afterthought of a later date, strikes the key-note of the psalm. It is the utterance of a man who is conscious of having something weighty to say, and is inwardly compelled to give it expression. He has glimpses of a coming better time, or he would not speak of the present as a passing age; esteems his solution radical, or he would not propound it for the consideration of all classes. He bespeaks attention to a by-word, and warrants our expectation of finding one in the sequel. He promises to open his enigma, by the help of his harp; and therefore justifies us in looking for a real solution of his problemhis music should at least do something to calm the troubled breast.

The problem itself is stated in terms sufficiently explicit to reveal its bearings. It is not the brevity of life which perplexes the psalmist, for of that he makes no mention. Nor are the inequalities of life what chiefly trouble him; but mainly the iniquitous scheming and vainglorious boasting of those who have the larger share of this worlds goods. They plot and they plunder; they do as they please, and boast that so they will continue to do. Such neighbors are as formidable as they are unscrupulous. They may well be feared. And if the writer nevertheless asks why he should fear,it can only be because he has good reasons for not being afraid of the injuriousness which he is powerless to arrest. It cannot be merely that these boasters will soon be in the graves; for the same, in the ordinary course of things, may be said of those who are suffering such wrongs.

The solution strikes home, though it takes the form of a paradox. The injurious boasters do not really think enough of themselves: it is for their adventitious wealth that they have such an inordinate affection. If they more highly esteemed their essential selves, they would more highly esteem their poor neighbours. If they would but think of it, they themselves are so precious, that not all their wealth can bribe God to add to their life a single dayhow much less to extend their life indefinitely? And is not every other man essentially as precious as they? They deem themselves wise, and they are very clever; butas any one can seeclever people die as well as the foolish and brutish. And the clever rich afford contrasts, when they die, which their poor neighbours do not occasion: the large mansion, and the little gravehow different they appear! and the tenants of these along homes have left their names on broad acres! Ah! if these, whose helpless relics are thus housed, had only risen to the high level of esteeming themselves aright, they would have esteemed all others as essentially their equals; and would have scorned to brow-beat them with the brute-force of wealth. But now the scorners are scorned. These men lowered themselves to do as the brutes; they intimidated and trampled on the weak. They forgot that they themselves were men!

The poet returns to the charge. His sarcasm bites more bitterly. Look on their late way of self-gloriousnessas the folly of it; and look on the end of the waythe future at which they have arrived. They are My Lord Hades small cattle, under the care of his shepherdDeath! Begrudge them not ease, comfort, plenty, on the road to such an inglorious end. Let them down gently. Let them take with them their good lookswhich will soon enough fade!

But who art thou, O scornful poet? What of thyself? Shalt not thou, too, soon become weak as we? might not these shades of the rich reply? The poets answer is ready:God, saith he, will do for me, what your money could not do for you,and the words are suited to the time of waiting for Messiahs first advent,God will ransom my soulmy personmy essential self.from the hand of Hades will he surely take me. The words have just that measure of ambiguity which fits them to their time; but they have all the point and force needed to adjust them to their context. They are ambiguous so far as this: That they may denote either the fore-stalling of the grasp of Hades by TRANSFORMATION; or the rescuing out of the hand of Hades by RESURRECTION. But they have all the point and force which the context requires. God will place me in such a position of realised immortality, that I shall live on continually, and not see the pit,which is what riches have never yet accomplished. And, looking forward, as I do, for such Divine redemption,I will not fear the worst that iniquitous circumventors can do unto me during the days of evil.

But this final stanza is not yet complete. Having given conclusive reason why he should not fear, the poet counsels others to be equally bold: Do not fear! But as, in his first reply, he descended from argument to irony, so does he, in this his second answer: only, as the argument is stronger now than then, so is the irony keener and more prolonged. Then the argument was drawn from the inherent worth of man: now it is derived from the redeeming purpose of God. And, accordingly, we are here treated to an exquisite picture of the rich mans pampering and flattering of his superficial self, which is terminated only by the fall of a curtain of thick darknesssuited to those premessianic times, when the future of the wicked was as yet unrevealed. The shade of the once great man may penetrate as far into the dark vault of Hades as to bring him into the circle of his fathers; butno more at present can be said: silence reignsand the familiar by-word is once more heard. The clever but foolish tyrant has brought it on himselfno better than brutes! In finally reviewing the psalm, one is struck with its numerous points of contact with other scriptures. Kirkpatrick well says: The theme of the psalm is akin to that of Psalms 37, 73. It reminds us of the parables of Rich Fool (Luk. 12:16 ff) and the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luk. 16:19 ff). Moreover, this psalm contains numerous parallels of thought and language to the Books of Job and Proverbs. There seems to be an allusion in Psa. 49:11 to the vast estates which are condemned by Isaiah and Micah. See Isa. 2:9; Isa. 2:11; Isa. 2:17; Isa. 3:14-15; Isa. 5:8; Isa. 5:15; Isa. 59:9-15; Mi. Psa. 2:1-2, Psa. 3:1-3. But perhaps the most significant reference should be to Mat. 6:26.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

This should be a very vital and interesting psalm to every American because it discusses money and its influence. With this theme in mind read back through the psalm.

There are two answers to the problem of the use and abuse of money: one in Psa. 49:7-12, and the other in Psa. 49:13-20. State these answers in your own words.

Why is there a tendency to bow down before the worldly rich? Let a man be known as a millionaire and the attitude of people changes toward himwhy?

Does verse eleven suggest that there is a vast difference between the two homes of the rich man? What are they?

There is here described a strange and awful flock and shepherdwho are they?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) Hear this.For the opening address, comp. Deu. 32:1; Mic. 1:2; Psa. 50:7; Isa. 1:2.

World.As in Psa. 17:14; properly, duration. (Comp. our expression, the things of time.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. People inhabitants of the world The subject is of world-wide concern, and the psalmist invites attention accordingly. It would seem by this call that the occasion of the psalm was one in which foreign nations, equally with the Hebrews, had cause to consider the brief and deceptive triumph of wickedness. , ( hheled,) world, here means world with reference to its duration a period of time, age. The psalmist’s call is upon all the dwellers of this age.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

An Appeal To Listen To His Words ( Psa 49:1-5 ).

The Psalmist commences by making an appeal to all men, both high and low, rich and poor, to listen to his wisdom. Note his recognition that he is speaking mysteries (parables, dark sayings). This would confirm that he expects them to see in what he is saying something more than the usual platitudes. For he is in fact indicating that for those who trust God this life is not the end. There is hope beyond the grave. Such glimpses of a future hope are found a number of times in Davidic Psalms (e.g. Psa 16:10-11; Psa 17:15; Psa 23:6) and in Proverbs (Pro 11:4; Pro 13:14; compare Pro 10:2; Pro 14:27; Pro 14:32; Pro 15:24).
Psa 49:1-5
‘Hear this, all you peoples,
Give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
My mouth will speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart will be of understanding.
I will incline my ear to a parable,
I will open my dark saying on the harp.
For what reason should I fear in the days of evil,
When iniquity at my heels compasses me about?
His appeal is to all people of all classes. It contains a universal appeal which is characteristic of wisdom literature, but is also found in the prophets (see Mic 1:2). He wants it known that what he has to say applies to everyone. The word for ‘world’ is an unusual one indicating the transitory nature of the world. And it is the transitory nature of life that is a central idea in the Psalm.
He speaks to ‘both low and high’. This is literally ‘both sons of mankind (adam) and sons of men (ish – important men)’. Thus it is to the common man and also to the distinguished man. It is also to rich and poor. To the rich lest they trust in their riches. To the poor lest they become discontented with their lot. All need to heed his words. None must see themselves as outside their scope.
He explains that his aim is to give wisdom and understanding (literally ‘wisdoms and understandings’. The plural indicates the length and breadth of that wisdom and understanding). In other words he is speaking of the deeper things in life. Yet he recognises also that he can only do so in terms of simile and metaphor. He is not speaking of what is commonplace. He thus speaks in comparisons (mashal) and dark sayings (chidah).
‘I will incline my ear –.’ He leans forward, as it were, to hear what God has to say, for what he has to say is coming from God..
The word mashal (parable) indicates a comparison, a proverb, a parable, a metaphorical saying, or a poem (Isa 14:4). It is illustrative rather than literal. The word chidah (dark saying) indicates an enigma or riddle (Jdg 14:12 ff; 1Ki 10:1), a simile or parable (see Eze 17:2), an obscure utterance, a mystery, a dark saying. For both words used together elsewhere see Psa 78:2; Pro 1:6; Eze 17:2. Certainly one of the great mysteries of life to many was the prosperity of the unrighteous. Why should God allow the unrighteous to prosper, and the truly righteous to go in need? Men often saw only the outward trimmings and not the importance of the inner heart which riches could destroy.
‘On the harp.’ He intends to set it to music. Men will often listen to the wisdom of a song where they would eschew the same words if plainly put.
And the question that he raises is as to why he should fear when evil abounds, and when he is dogged by injustice and sin which threaten to trip him up. David especially, for example, had known what it meant to be ‘on the run’, as had Elijah. And they had learned in such experiences to trust in God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Psalms 49
Theme Psalms 49 is placed within the second major section of the book of Psalms, a section that places emphasis upon indoctrination. The theme of this Psalm declares that man’s riches cannot redeem his soul from hell, and only God can redeem a soul from hell. The rich man is referred to in Psa 49:2; Psa 49:6; Psa 49:10-12; Psa 49:16-20; yet, riches are the confidence of fools. God offers man’s only hope of redemption through faith in Him, and under the new covenant redemption is offered through the sacrifice of His Son on Calvary.
Psa 49:1-4 The Call to Assembly the People to Hear God’s Wisdom Psa 49:1-4 begins with a call for God’s people to gather together to hear the decree. The atmosphere of a king setting upon his throne to speak wisdom embraces these opening verses.
Scripture References – The book of Psalms has similar introductory passages when God calls His people together to decree judgment upon them, as in Psa 50:3-6; Psa 78:1-2.
Psa 50:3-6, “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.”
Psa 78:1-2, (Maschil of Asaph.) “Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:”
In Deuteronomy Moses also called heaven and earth to be his witnesses (Deu 4:26; Deu 30:19; Deu 31:28; Deu 32:1-2) as he declares the Word of God to the children of Israel. Thus, Moses is declaring divine judgment which only God can decree. Moses is speaking in behalf of God and decreeing divine judgment upon Israel.
A number of verses throughout the book of Isaiah will reflect the motif of a judgment hearing assembled before God’s throne with heaven and earth as witnesses (Isa 1:18; Isa 41:1; Isa 41:21; Isa 43:9-10; Isa 43:26; Isa 44:23; Isa 45:20-21; Isa 48:1; Isa 48:14; Isa 49:1; Isa 49:13; Isa 49:22; Isa 51:17; Isa 51:22).
Psa 49:1 (To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.) Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
Psa 49:1 “A Psalm for the sons of Korah” Comments – Origen tells us the psalms that include the title “sons of Korah” in its opening verse were written by the sons of Korah, who worked together in the unity of the Spirit to produce it. He justifies this statement by quoting Psa 44:1, which says, “O God, we have heard with our ears.”
“But if it be necessary also from the ancient Scriptures to bring forward the three who made a symphony on earth, so that the Word was in the midst of them making them one, attend to the superscription of the Psalms, as for example to that of the forty-first, which is as follows: ‘Unto the end, unto understanding, for the sons of Korah.’ For though there were three sons of Korah whose names we find in the Book of Exodus, Aser, which is, by interpretation, ‘instruction,’ and the second Elkana, which is translated, ‘possession of God,’ and the third Abiasaph, which in the Greek tongue might be rendered, ‘congregation of the father,’ yet the prophecies were not divided but were both spoken and written by one spirit, and one voice, and one soul, which wrought with true harmony, and the three speak as one, ‘As the heart panteth after the springs of the water, so panteth my soul alter thee, O God.’ But also they say in the plural in the forty-fourth Psalm, ‘O God, we have heard with our ears.’” ( Origen’s Commentary on Mat 14:1) [71]
[71] Origen, Origen’s Commentary on Matthew, trans. Allan Menzies, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, ed. Allan Menzies (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, c1896, 1906), 495.
Psa 49:5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
Psa 49:5 Comments Every person faces “days of evil” (Eph 5:16). Paul refers to the evil day in his exhortation for believers to put on the whole armor of God (Eph 6:13).
Eph 5:16, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
Eph 6:13, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
Psa 49:6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
Psa 49:6 Comments A man’s wealth consists of the accumulation of his physical strength, which proceeds from decisions he made through his mental well-being, his spirit driving him onward to fulfill a destiny that he does not always understand. Thus, man’s spirit, mind, and body are manifested into his physical wealth. For this reason, a man who does not trust in God has no alternative but to trust in his own efforts to redeem his soul from the sufferings of this life.
Psa 49:7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Psa 49:7 Comments Paul the apostle will explain that man’s efforts cannot redeem his soul, for it is by grace that we are saved. Paul writes, “ Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Psa 49:8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
Psa 49:7-8 Comments – Psa 49:7-8 say that the redemption of a man’s soul is costly, price that man is unable to pay. However, and the psalmist will tell us that God will pay that cost, saying, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.” (Psa 49:15) He paid the cost by sending His own Son to die for our sins on Calvary.
Psa 49:14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
Psa 49:14 “and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning” Comments In this life, the rich rule over the poor; but in eternity the poor will be exalted and the rich made low (Jas 1:9-11). In the morning, when eternity rises and this age ceases, the upright will rule and reign upon the earth.
Jas 1:9-11, “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”
Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
Psa 49:15 Word Study on “receive” Strong says the Hebrew word “receive” ( ) (H3947). Is a primitive root that literally means, “to take.” This is the same Hebrew word used when God took Enoch (Gen 5:24).
Gen 5:24, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Of the Vanity of Earthly Goods.
To the chief musician, for use in liturgical worship, a psalm for the sons of Korah, a hymn of instruction and consolation written by a member of the family of Korah, to show that mere earthly advantages do not bring lasting good fortune.
v. 1. Hear this, all ye people, a solemn call for the most careful attention; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, all those living in this present time, in this age, which will soon pass away;
v. 2. both low and high, the Hebrew distinguishing between the children of ordinary people, mankind in general, and the sons of people out of the ordinary, the excellent, the nobles, rich and poor, together, since all men should be interested in the subject broached here, regardless of station and fortune.
v. 3. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, important and ponderous truths; and the meditation of my heart, as brought out in his whole instruction, shall be of understanding, such as goes to the root of matters, such as reveals their principles.
v. 4. I will incline mine ear, in the attitude of the most careful attention, to a parable, a proverb and illustration of true wisdom revealed by God Himself; I will open my dark saying, the counsel of God, His providential dealings with men, which often seem to the believers like an inexplicable riddle, upon the harp, that is, he would accompany his explanations by a tune on the zither, his hymn being of a nature that others could also play it and find comfort in its instructions.
v. 5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when misfortune strikes the believer, when the iniquity of my heels, the calamity inflicted by his oppressors, by bad men who abuse their power for such purposes, shall compass me about? It is the old complaint that the wicked surround the just, trying to attack them unawares and to inflict injury upon them.
v. 6. They that trust in their wealth, as a means of insuring them lasting happiness, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, altogether vainglorious in their entire behavior,
v. 7. none of them, the subject being generalized to include all men, can by any means redeem his brother, deliver him from the fate which will strike him on account of his sins, nor give to God a ransom for him, all the riches of the world are not sufficient to pay the guilt incurred by even one soul;
v. 8. (for the redemption of their soul is precious, too costly to be paid for by anything which mere men may supply, and it ceaseth forever, it is bound to perish, to fail, the debt must remain forever unpaid, and all attempts to settle the indebtedness are futile;)
v. 9. that he should still live forever, in an eternal life, without paying the penalty of death, and not see corruption. The passage plainly teaches the impossibility of redemption of any person in the world by the mutual assistance or by the united efforts of men, a fact which brands all so-called religions outside of Christianity as spurious and futile, for they all are unable to cope with the situation, Christianity alone affording a solution, namely, that of the vicarious suffering of Jesus Christ.
v. 10. For he, every person in the world, including him whom men try to redeem by their own works, as in the supererogatory nonsense of the papists, seeth that wise men die, the so-called solid citizens of the state are subject to death, likewise the fool and the brutish person in whom the animal desires occupy the first place, perish, and leave their wealth to others. How foolish, then, for the rich to imagine himself to be immortal on account of the wealth with which he impresses others.
v. 11. Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever and their dwelling-places to all generations, not subject to misfortune and destruction, so that one generation after the other may pass forward into eternity without witnessing any change in their good fortune; they call their lands after their own names, that is, they celebrate their own names, they see to it that men praise and flatter them on account of their lands, their possessions.
v. 12. Nevertheless man being in honor, occupying the highest positions of honor and glory in this world, abideth not, passing away like a lodger who does not even await the full light of morning to continue his journey; he is like the beasts that perish, whose lives are suddenly, without warning, taken away.
v. 13. This their way is their folly, it is the way all men fare who have such foolish confidence in themselves and in their riches; yet their posterity approve their sayings, the same thing happens to those who imitate them. Selah.
v. 14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave, in spite of their alleged superiority and the greatness of their wealth; death shall feed on them, they are subject to its corruption; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, the certain triumph of the righteous over the ungodly being a fact very soon, under the conditions brought about by the fulfillment of the Messianic promises; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling, literally, “for their form is to be devoured by the kingdom of death,” out of the dwelling which is theirs; they who proudly thought that they had built for eternity find themselves without a dwelling, their body rotting in the grave, and their memory being forgotten on earth.
v. 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, redeeming him from the hand or dominion of the realm of death; for He shall receive me, up into the glory of everlasting life. Selah. The believers of the Old Testament, like the Christians today, held the belief in the resurrection of the body and in eternal life with God. The psalmist therefore makes the encouraging application.
v. 16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased, when men praise him on account of his great wealth;
v. 17. for when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away, he must leave all his wealth behind him; his glory shall not descend after him, for nothing is more evanescent than honor before men.
v. 18. Though while he lived, he blessed his soul, flattering himself that he was truly happy and trying to enjoy life accordingly, Deu 29:18; Luk 12:19; and men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself, though men praise the wealthy person for enjoying life according to his own lights.
v. 19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers, being cut off from the land of the living suddenly; they, all those included in this category, shall never see light, never enjoy the light of everlasting life. And so the poet closes his hymn with an apt conclusion:
v. 20. Man that is in honor, enjoying wealth, good fortune, the esteem of men, and understandeth not, continuing in fleshly security, is like the beasts that perish, excluded from the hope of a higher and better life in heaven with God. All believers, therefore, will refrain from being offended by the apparent good fortune of the godless wealthy, knowing that their own happiness is secure in the hands of their heavenly Father.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION
THIS is a didactic poem, and resembles in some respects Psa 37:1-40, and Psa 73:1-28. It deals with the same problemthe contrast between the lot of the righteous man, whom the wicked persecute continually (Psa 73:5), and these wicked themselves, who are wealthy and prosperous, found families, leave them their wealth, and even “call their lands after their own names” (Psa 73:6, Psa 73:10, Psa 73:11). The problem is solved, more distinctly than anywhere else in the Psalms, by the doctrine of compensation in a future life (verses 15, 19), so that (as Hupfeld says) the psalm “contains a real, though crude and imperfect, theodicy.” The wicked man has his good things in this life, and after death evil things, while with the good man the case is exactly the contrary. The date of the psalm is uncertain; but from its style it may be placed between the time of David and that of Hezekiah. The ascription of it to “the sons of Korah” deserves acceptance.
Metrically, the composition divides itself into three portions:
(1) a short prelude, or introduction (verses 1-4);
(2) a strophe, forming the main body of the psalm (verses 5-15); and
(3) a summing-up, or conclusion (verses 16-20).
Psa 49:1
Hear this, all ye people; rather, all ye peoples. Like Psa 47:1-9; this psalm is addressed to the nations generally, who are all equally interested in it. The writer regards his mission as not confined to Israel, but extending to the whole of mankind. Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world; literally, of the fleeting (), of this fleeting, transitory scene.
Psa 49:2
Both high and low, rich and poor, together. The teaching of the psalm concerns all ranks alike. To the great and rich it will carry warning; to the poor and lowly, consolation.
Psa 49:3
My mouth shall speak of wisdom (comp. Job 33:3, Job 33:4). It is not his own “wisdom” that the psalmist is about to utter, but a wisdom communicated to him from without, to which he has “to incline his ear” (Psa 49:4). And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding; or, of discernment (Kay).
Psa 49:4
I will incline mine ear to a parable. The psalmist is “like a minstrel who has to play a piece of music put into his hands. The strain is none of his own devising; and as he proceeds, each note awakes in him a mysterious echo, which he would fain catch and retain in memory” (Kay). A “parable“ in the Old Testament means any enigmatical or dark saying, into which much metaphor or imagery is introduced, so that it is only . I will open my dark saying upon the harp; i.e. with a harp accompaniment. Music was a help to inspired persons in the delivery of messages which they were commissioned to deliver (see 1Sa 10:5; 2Ki 3:15).
Psa 49:5-15
The prelude, or introduction, being over, the substance of the “dark saying” is now brought forth. The problem is propounded. On the one hand are the righteous, fallen upon evil days, surrounded by treacherous foes, ever on the watch to do them a mischief (Psa 49:5); on the other are the wicked, “trusting in their wealth, and boasting themselves in the multitude of their riches” (Psa 49:6), so opulent that they build houses which they expect to “continue for ever” and proprietors on such a scale that their lands are “called after their names” (Psa 49:11); and both parties equally short-lived, soon swept away from earth (Psa 49:10, Psa 49:12). How is it that God allows all this, and how is man to reconcile himself to it? Simply by two reflectionsone, that for the wicked, who have their portion in this life, there is no hope of happiness after death (Psa 49:14, Psa 49:17); and the other that “God will redeem the righteous from the power of the grave, and will receive them” (Psa 49:15).
Psa 49:5
Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil? i.e. have I reason to fear, or may I trust in God’s protection? Are, or are not, the righteous under his care? When the iniquity of my heels; rather, of my supplantersof those that would trip me up. Shall compass me about; i.e. surround me, lie in wait for me on every side (comp. Psa 17:10-12).
Psa 49:6
They that trust in their wealth; rather, even of them that trust in their wealth. The sense runs on from the preceding verse (so Hengstenberg and Professor Cheyne). And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Such men are always persecutors of the righteous. They are worldly, carnal, godless.
Psa 49:7
None of them can by any means redeem his brother. The text is suspected. If we read for , with Ewald and Professor Cheyne, the right translation will be, Nevertheless, no man can by any means redeem himself. With all his boasting, the rich man cannot effect his own redemption; nor, however great his wealth, can he give to God a ransom for him; i.e. for himself. “Brother” is not used in the Psalms in the sense of “fellow-man,” but only in the literal sense of close blood, relation (Psa 35:14; Psa 50:20).
Psa 49:8
For the redemption of their soul is precious; or, costlytoo costly, i.e; for them, however rich they may be, to be able to effect it (comp. Job 36:18, Job 36:19). And it ceaseth for ever; rather, and one must let that aloes for ever (Cheyne, Kay, Hengstenberg, Revised Version).
Psa 49:9
That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. This verse is to be closely connected with Psa 49:7, Psa 49:8 being parenthetical It describes the effect which the payment of a ransom by the rich, were it possible, might be expected to have.
Psa 49:10
For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish. The rich man must see that any hope of ransoming himself by means of his wealth, and so escaping death and the grave, is vain, since the law of mortality, which is in operation all around him, is universal. No one is redeemed from death, in the sense of escaping “the first death.” Not only do “the fool and the brutish person” perish, but the fate of “the wise” is the same. All die; all quit the earth; all leave behind them everything that they possessed on earth; no one can take with him the gold in which he has trusted (Psa 49:6); all leave their wealth to others.
Psa 49:11
Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations. Still, though they know this, the rich and worldly have an ideaan “inward thought”which they cherish, that they can m a certain sense escape death by founding families and leaving to their children substantial houses, which will keep up the family reputation, and accumulating landed estates, to which they may affix their name, so keeping their memories alive to future ages. They call their lands after their own names (see Gen 10:2, Gen 10:4, Gen 10:6, Gen 10:22, Gen 10:23, Gen 10:29, etc.; and compare the Greek traditions with respect to Hellen, Ion, Achaeus, Pelops, Cadmus, etc.). To call cities after their own names, or the names of their sons, was a still commoner practice of great men in the olden times.
Psa 49:12
Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not. Against these” inward thoughts” and outward actions, the psalmist simply maintains the ground already taken (Psa 49:10): “Man, in whatever honour he may be, abideth not”has but a short time to live. He is like the beasts that perish. He has no more continuance than many of the beasts; like them, he passes from earth.
Psa 49:13
This their way is their folly; or, their vain conceit (Kay). By “their way” must be understood the course of conduct described in Psa 49:7-12. Yet their posterity approve their sayings. Their descendants, or those who come after them, notwithstanding the foolishness of their course, adopt their principles and delight in them.
Psa 49:14
Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them. With the foolish fancies and vain conceits of the ungodly rich men, the psalmist now contrasts the reality. When they die they are “laid in the grave,” or “ranged in Hades” (Kay), as sheep in a sheepfold. There is no escape for them. Death is their shepherd; he keeps them, watches over them, tends them, allows none to quit the fold. And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. When the resurrection morn comesand no other explanation appears to be possible (see even Cheyne)it will bring them no release; the righteous will then “have domination over them,” and will certainly not set them free (Rev 21:8). And their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling; rather, and their beauty is for Hades to consume out of its dwelling; i.e. its clay tenement (so Dr. Kay).
Psa 49:15
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Here is the solution of the “dark saying,” the key to the” parable.” The souls of the righteous will be redeemed, not by themselves, but by Godthey will be delivered “from the power of the grave,” or rather of Hades; and, while the ungodly are held under by death and the grave (Psa 49:14), they will be released, and enter upon a higher life. For he shall receive me. As God “took Enoch,” when he “was not” (Gen 4:24)took him to be with himselfso he will “receive” every righteous soul, and take it home, and give it rest and peace in his own dwelling-place. As Professor Cheyne observes, “It is the weakest of explanations to say that the psalmist rejoices thus in the prospect of mere deliverance from the danger of death. A few years later, and the prospect will return in a heightened form.” The fact is that “the poet has that religious intuition which forms the kernel of the hope of immortality.” At the same time, we may admit, as Hupfeld argues, that the belief in immortality is “not here stated as a revealed doctrine, but as a presentiment, a deep inward conviction, inseparable from real living faith in a living God.”
Psa 49:16-20
The conclusion “repeats and confirms the general lessons of the psalm.” Psa 49:16 is a categorical answer to the doubt propounded in Psa 49:5. Psa 49:17-19 are an echo of Psa 49:14, and at the same time a counterpoise to the views put forth in Psa 49:6, Psa 49:11. Psa 49:20 is a repetition, but with an important modification, of Psa 49:12.
Psa 49:16
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich (see Psa 49:5, Psa 49:6). There is no ground for fear, nor even for perplexity, when the wicked grow rich and prosper. Their wealth will not ransom their souls (Psa 49:7-9). They cannot take it with them to another world (Psa 49:17). They will have no advantage from it there. On the contrary, their misery in another world will be such as to far outweigh any enjoyment which they may have had on earth (Psa 49:14, Psa 49:19). When the glory of his house is increased (see Psa 49:11).
Psa 49:17
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away. Nothing in the way of earthly possessionsnothing but the qualities which he has imprinted on his soul, and made part and parcel of himself. The heathen nations, foolishly, were accustomed to bury clothes, and arms, and vessels, and stores of gold with the departed, as though they could take these with them into the other world. The writer of the psalm, and those whom he addressed, were equally aware of the foolishness of such customs. His glory shall not descend after him. Whatever “glory” his wealth has secured to him in this life shall be left behind. He shall be imprisoned in Sheol, with death to shepherd him (Psa 49:14), and with no hope of returning to the “light” (Psa 49:19).
Psa 49:18
Though while he lived he blessed his soul (comp. Psa 10:3; Luk 12:19). He thought himself happy, and congratulated himself on his good fortune. And men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. A parenthetic remark. Not only do such men congratulate themselves, but the world’s applause follows on them. So long as they are well-to-do, and keep themselves in the forefront of the battle of life, they will have “honour, reverence, and troops of friends,” who will admire them and flatter them.
Psa 49:19
He shall go to the generation of his fathers. In the Hebrew it is “thou shalt go,” or “it (the soul) shall go;” but the meaning is well expressed by the Authorized Version. However much the wicked man delights in his life, and clings to it, nevertheless he has to die (Psa 49:10), to join the “generations of his fathers,” to go where they have gone before him. And, once in Sheol (Psa 49:14), they shall never see light. God will redeem the soul of the righteous from the power of Sheol (Psa 49:15); but the rich ungodly man, and those to whom he goesmen of his sortshall for evermore not see light.
Psa 49:20
Man that is in honour, and under. standeth not, is like the beasts that perish. In Psa 49:12 the writer had said of all men, that they are “like the beasts that perish,” which is true in one sense; i.e. in reference to this life. Now, having taken a loftier flight, and embraced in his mental vision the whole life of man, he makes an important qualification of what he had said. All men die; but only those who are “without understanding” die without hope”like the beasts:” for others there remains the hope enunciated in Psa 49:15.
HOMILETICS
Psa 49:8
Infinite redemption.
“The redemption,” etc. The same astonishing spectacle presents itself to this unknown psalmist which so sorely perplexed his brother psalmist, Asaph”the prosperity of the wicked.” But instead of being “envious at the foolish,” or finding a painful enigma in their wealth and pride, he summons men of all landsrich or poor, high or lowlyto listen while he “opens his dark saying,” expounds the riddle. The world’s pageant is transparent to the prophet’s eye. Behind it are eternal realities. The shadow of death dims its glory. Death, like a spectral shepherd, waits by the grave’s mouth to gather his flock. What can, then, the rich man’s wealth avail (Psa 49:7-9)? Primarily, then, these words refer to the present lifethe impotence of wealth and earthly glory to ward off death. But in Psa 49:15 clearly “soul” means more than the life that now iseven a life of which this is but shadow and prelude, and a “second death.” Following out, therefore, the thought of the text, we have
(1) the infinite value of the soul, and its need of redemption;
(2) the infinite cost at which it has been redeemed;
(3) the infinite issues of the redemption of a soul.
I. GOD BESTOWED IN THE BEGINNING AN INFINITE VALUE ON THE SOUL OF MAN. Man was made in the image of God, capable of knowing, loving, obeying, resembling his Maker. His complex nature has its lower side”of the earth, earthy.” His animal frame allies him to the lower creatures (Psa 49:12, Psa 49:20). Learned leaders of science in our day are labouring to emphasize this side of humanity. Man, they say, has grown up from lower formsis but a glorified, highly developed ape. “But there is a spirit in man” (Job 32:8). This spiritual nature laughs to scorn the attempt to class it with “beasts that perish,” and claims its Divine birthright (Act 17:29). Enoch and Abraham, David, Isaiah, John, Paul, had something within them of which there is no trace, no speck or germ, in the lower ranks of life. So, too, has the humblest Christiannay, the lowest savage, if but his heart will open to the message of God in Jesus.
1. God loves the soulfallen, sinful, at enmity with him though it is, and justly condemnedyea, with infinite love (Joh 3:16). It is in ruins; but these are the ruins of God’s temple. It is lost, but not irredeemably. He has “found a ransom” (cf. Luk 15:24).
2. The greatness of man‘s nature is proved by the very greatness of his ruin. Only from an exalted height could he fall so terribly. Beasts are not capable of sin. Low, materialistic views of our nature necessarily involve slight views of sin. God’s great love, in place of implying indulgence or indifference to sin, is the very measure of his abhorrence, because sin has
(1) defaced his likeness;
(2) robbed him of men’s love and trust;
(3) broken his highest law;
(4) destroyed man’s happiness.
II. THEREFORE “THE REDEMPTION OF THE SOUL IS PRECIOUS;” AND AT AN INFINITE COST IT HAS BEEN EFFECTED. That there is such redemption the psalmist was assured. The faith of Old Testament saints was no doubt imperfect. The guiding light shone dimly. Yet now and then flashes out a gleam of startling brightness (Job 33:23-28). For us the light shines clear (Mat 20:28). Cast away from these words”ransom,” “cost,” “price,” and the likeall narrow (and as it were commercial) associations. Remember the Father not only accepts, but provides, the propitiation; the atonement is his eternal purpose; “the Lamb of God” is “his unspeakable Gift” (1Jn 4:9, 1Jn 4:10).
III. THE ISSUES OF THIS REDEMPTION ARE INFINITE. “It ceaseth for ever;” or else “endures for ever” (Heb 9:12; Heb 10:26; Joh 10:27, Joh 10:28; Rom 8:35-39; Joh 3:18, Joh 3:19, Joh 3:36). Every preacher must judge for himself whether to bring into the pulpit one of the most serious controversies of the daythe ultimate fate of those whom Scripture describes as “lost,” “perishing.” Who would not wish to entertain, if he could, what is called “the larger hope”? But if it is to be realized, it must be by means unrevealed in Scripture, and upon principles and laws contrary to those which in this life form and fix character for good or evil The soul which is hardened in hatred to God and goodness, gnawed with the feverish thirst of depraved appetites, and bound in the fetters of vicious habit, carries within it the elements of a present hell. The danger is real and great, that in peering into the far-off future, beyond the day of judgment, attention should be diverted from such plain warnings as Mat 10:28; Joh 8:24.
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE
Psa 49:1-20
A dark saying: wealth in bad hands.
The author and the date of this psalm are alike unknown. There are, however, matters concerning it of much more importance, which we do know. One of these is that the writer was a believer in God; and that while the dark problems of life perplexed him, as they do and have done so many others, he saw light above and beyond them. Another is that in this psalm we have the words of one who had “inclined his ear” to hear what the great Speaker would say unto him, and what he would have him write. He would not put pen to paper till he received the word from heaven. “Antequam ad alios loquar, prius devote audiam ipse Spiritum Sanctum intus me erudientem.” “In the words, ‘I will incline mine ear to a similitude,’ it is plainly implied that the wisdom which the psalmist would communicate is no self-sprung possession, but one that has been acquired by him he only brought forth what he had learned in the school of God” (Hengstenberg, in loc.). The theme of the psalm is suggested by the fact, so often observed, that much of the world’s wealth is in the hands of the ungodly. Concerning it, “in Psa 37:1-40. David, in Psa 49:1-20. the sons of Korah, and in Psa 73:1-28. Asaph, teach the same truth”. In dealing therewith we shall portion out the homiletic expositions in three distinct outlines. In this we deal with the darker side of the theme.
I. ONE OF LIFE‘S MOST PERPLEXING FACTS IS THAT SO MUCH WEALTH SHOULD BE IN BAD HANDS. No observant man can fail to see many illustrations of this. The greatness assumed by the rich often overshadows humbler souls. It sets them wondering why God should let so many of his people struggle with poverty while many of the ungodly are rolling in wealth. And, to the eye of sense, it darkens the world’s outlook when, while “money answereth all things,” the great bulk of it should be possessed by the godless, the selfish, the oppressors, and the vile. The fact creates fear (Psa 73:5) in the evil day, since those who have the money-power, and are in a sense the lords of the world, use their power unrighteously. So much so that our Lord employs the striking epithet, “the mammon of unrighteousness ‘ (Luke xvh). Only one hint, indeed, is given, in the word “iniquity” (Psa 73:5), that these rich men are evil men. “But this seems to be designed, as m our Lord’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, to show that the selfish, proud, boastful use of riches, the mere luxuriousness of wealth, apart from violence or unscrupulousness of conduct, is evil, and finds its end in the outer darkness” But let us note
II. THERE ARE FIXED CONDITIONS ON WHICH THIS WEALTH IS POSSESSED. These are here specified as fourfold.
1. Wealth cannot screen from death (Psa 73:7, Psa 73:8, Psa 73:12). There may be (Le 25:47-55), according to the Law, redemption from poverty; but no brother has any ransom price wherewith to prevent death or to deliver from it. Then, it must be given up altogether.
2. After death the wealth cannot be controlled; it is left to others (Psa 73:10).
3. The departed one must see corruption (Psa 73:10).
4. He can carry nothing away (Psa 73:17; 1Ti 6:7). The “rich” one is “bankrupt” at the moment of death.
III. YET ITS POSSESSORS CHERISH MANIFOLD DELUSIONS.
1. They trust in riches.
2. They boast of their wealth (Psa 73:6). Yet wealth can never ward off care or sickness.
3. They shut their eyes to their precarious holding of their wealth (Psa 73:11).
4. They even cherish “inward thoughts” of perpetuity (Psa 73:11).
5. They make special efforts to perpetuate their honour (Psa 73:11, Psa 73:12).
6. They congratulate themselves on their greatness (Psa 73:18; Luk 12:19). And all the while they are “fools” in wisdom’s eye (Psa 73:13).
IV. FOR SUCH THERE IS BUT A DISMAL OUTLOOK.
1. Like the brutes, they will yet be reduced to silence (Psa 73:12). Their proud boasts will soon be stilled.
2. They will descend to Sheol; i.e. to the realm of the departed, Neither the word “Sheol” nor the word “Hades” contains per se any moral significance, nor does either word convey per se the notion of joy or sorrow. But the connection may give such significance to the words. Such is the case here and in Luk 16:23; in both the thought of evil and of sorrow is conveyed.
3. Death will shepherd them. They will be under him, for him to lead and feed them. What a shepherddeath!
4. Their flesh will consume away; their glory will be gone (Luk 16:14, Luk 16:17, Luk 16:19, Luk 16:20). No light ahead!
5. In the great awakening, “in the morning “the morning of the resurrectionthe upright, whom they despised, shall have dominion over them (LXX; ). The lordship was theirs during the night, because of their riches; in the morning that lordship will be transferred to the upright, because of their righteousness (Rev 2:26, Rev 2:27). Hence, note:
1. There is no reason to fear in the day of evil; for evil itself is in the restraint of infinite Power.
2. Where the world sees cleverness and riches, be it ours to see folly and poverty, if godliness be not also there! “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness.”C.
Psa 49:1-20
A contrast: unseen wealth.
To those whose character and outlook are depicted in the bulk of this psalm its writer did not belong. He looks on them; he writes of them; but he is not one with them. The emphatic and striking word “but” (Psa 49:15) indicates what the context shows, that there is a great gulf between him and them. While the wicked ones who are rolling in wealth despise him because of his distance from them on the ground of earthly poverty, he, on the other hand, looks down with pity upon them because of their distance from him, on the ground of his having “a life hidden with Christ in God,” and possessions in heaven, where no thief approacheth nor moth corrupteth. And the expositor may well devote his attention to the five lines of contrast indicated in this psalm.
I. THERE IS A CONTRAST IN CHARACTER. (Psa 49:14.) “The upright.” This is the word often used to express the character of the people of God, in distinction from the ungodly (Psa 33:1; Psa 32:11; Psa 112:4). The word does not mean “perfection,” but true sincerity of spirit, combined with the desire to be right in the sight of God. Three things are included therein:
(1) repentance;
(2) forgiveness;
(3) sanctification.
Where sin is duly acknowledged, forsaken, forgiven, removed, there, in the sight of God, is an upright man. How great the contrast between such and the “fools,” however rich the latter may be!
II. THERE IS A CONTRAST IN POSSESSIONS. Such a one can say, “My God!” And he can think and write and speak of God as One who is his Life, his Hope, his Joy, his Friend, his All (Psa 49:15).
III. THERE IS A CONTRAST IN THE IMMEDIATE OUTLOOK. Instead of being driven at death into the shades of Sheol, he will be received by God (Psa 49:15). “He shall receive me.” The same word is used of Enoch, “He was not, for God took him;” and by Asaph, in Psa 73:24.
IV. THERE IS A CONTRAST IN THE AFTER–GUARDIANSHIP, Instead of death being their shepherd by feeding on them, Jehovah is their Shepherd, and leads them beside living fountains of water.
V. THERE IS A CONTRAST IN THE FAR LOOK. (Psa 73:15.) God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; i.e. he will restore me at the resurrection morning. This nature will be completely redeemedbody, soul, and spirit, to be for ever with the Lord.C.
Psa 49:14
A vast change: in the morning.
There have been several different views entertained of the state after death. The realm of departed seals was called by the Hebrews Sheol, or the all-demanding world; by the Greeks Hades, or the unknown world. Practically, either word may be used, since the two simply refer to the same realm looked at under different aspects. To the pagan, Sheol (or Hades) was a dim and grim underworld, with no light beyond. To the Hebrews, Sheol was a dim underworld, with the light at the end”in the awakening” To the Christian, Hades is a realm of perfect rest in Christ, where the righteous are awaiting the resurrection morn. And we may now set forth the believer’s hopes as to that day in far brighter and more vivid tones than were possible to the psalmists and seers of old.
I. THERE WILL BE A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. Whether or no the psalmist descried this, we cannot tell; but we do, for Jesus has brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel. He is the Resurrection and the Life. He is the Saviour of the body; and “whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never die.” It will be indeed a glorious “morning” when death shall be swallowed up in victory.
II. JEHOVAH–JESUS WILL THEN BE THE SHEPHERD OF HIS FLOCK. As he was their Shepherd when here, and had guard of them between death and the resurrection, so he will be their Shepherd still, to lead and feed them with his own hand. “The upright” will have no such doleful shepherd as death; they will know nothing of dying. In the loving care of Jesus they will know only life and joy.
III. THEN THOSE WHO HAVE FOLLOWED THE LORD JESUS WILL HAVE THE SUPREMACY. “Many that are last shall be first, and the first last,” even within the kingdom. But how much more will this reversal be seen in the case of those who are not in the kingdom at all! Many who were among the great, the high, the noble, of earth will not then be owned by the King; while many a poor but humble Christian, whom the world knew not because it knew him not, will hear a voice saying, “Friend, come up higher.” Then many of earth’s despised ones shall enter into the presence of the King; they shall sit with him on his throne; and they shall have dominion “in the morning.” God will cause “all things” to work together for good to those that love him. Evil may ride high for a time, but it must hide its head at last. And when the wicked are ashamed, the righteous will lift up their heads, for the day of their redemption will have come.C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Psa 49:1-20
Be not afraid.
I. THE PREACHER, (Psa 49:3, Psa 49:4.) He is marked by thoughtfulness. He lends his ear in many a secret place to learn wisdom. His inspiration is from above, and he does not speak of himself, but as moved by Divine impulses. What he has gathered by long meditation and experience he gives forth freely for the good of others. His ambition is to make the dark clear, to discern between good and evil, to strip falsehood of its disguises, and to set forth the truth concerning God and human life with all the clearness and charm in his power. Let such a man stand between God and men, and he has a right to be heard.
II. THE AUDIENCE. (Psa 49:1, Psa 49:2.) The call is to all people, for all are interested. Hearing is demanded, for without hearing all speech is vain. It is through hearing that the mind, the conscience, and the affections are reached, and that faith and all the good things which follow, come. Changes there have been, and changes there will be. The old order gives place to the new. But the subject propounded here is for all time. Rich and poor alike would do well to hear and to consider wisely what the preacher has to say; for it not only has the ring of truth, but it is backed by the experience of the ages.
III. THE DISCOURSE. The subject is propounded (Psa 49:5). It is implied here that the wicked may become rich, and that they may even use their wealth in ways unjust and oppressive. Might and good fortune are at their command. They pursue their selfish and unholy schemes unchecked. God seems to leave them to do their pleasure. The stronger the hope of the godly that judgment will come, the greater their perplexity at its delay. Here is a dark riddle, which presses heavily on many a heart, and which has often, in evil times, constrained the cry of the psalmist: “Why?” But light will arise to the righteous. We are taught to look at things as in the presence of God, discerning between truth and falsehood, and discovering that, in spite of all the outward shows and splendour of the ungodly, their inward state is wickedness, their prosperity is folly, and their end is deathdeath without God and without hope. Whereas the godly, though they have their trials, have peace; though they may have little of this world’s goods, are rich toward God, and rejoice in the consciousness of a life which will conquer death, and of a hope of glory strong as truth is strong, pure as Christ is pure, and eternal as the eternal God. The arguments by which these truths are enforced are weighty and powerful.
1. The impotence of wealth in the great emergencies of life. (Psa 49:7.)
2. The transitoriness of all earthly possessions. (Psa 49:10-12.)
3. The degradation of human character through covetousness and pride. (Psa 49:13, Psa 49:14.)
4. The miserable end of the ungodly rich, as contrasted with the happy end of the righteous. (Psa 49:15-20.)
Hear, then, the conclusion of the whole matter. “Be not afraid“ (Psa 49:5, Psa 49:16). The lessons which this old seeker after truth has set forth are elsewhere in Holy Scripture, and especially in the teaching of our Lord and his apostles, expounded and enforced with a clearness which leaves no excuse for ignorance, and with a charm which should win the conviction of all hearts. As we read the Sermon on the Mount, as we study the parables of the rich fool and of the good Samaritan, and as we grasp the great verities of the Gospels and the Epistles, our faith grows in strength and our courage in fervour, and looking unto Jesus, and to the joy set before us, we are able to say to ourselves, in the most evil times, “Be not afraid.”W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 49:1-20
The issues of life.
Connected with Psa 16:1-11; Psa 17:1-15; the writer stands face to face with the great problem of the timethe prosperity of the wicked. The two chief causes which forced the conviction of a hereafter on the later Hebrews were a deep dissatisfaction at the prosperity of the wicked and the misfortunes of the righteous in the world; and the earnest longing of the soul for a more perfect communion with God than was possible in the present life; for they could not but believe that God’s promises to the righteous would be made good. The subject of this psalm is that the issues of life show the difference between the lot of the righteous and the wicked.
I. THE LOT OF THE PROSPEROUS WICKED, WHO TRUST IN RICHES.
1. Their riches cannot purchase a ransom from death. (Verses 7-9.) Money may bribe men, but not God, nor death.
2. They cannot carry their riches or their glory with them when they die. (Verses 16-18.) Both are only transient possessions, which soon pass away.
3. There is no deliverance for them from the grave. (Verses 11-14.) The grave is their everlasting habitation, where all their beauty consumes away.
II. THE PRIVILEGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
1. To be fearless and undaunted in respect to the evil devices of the wicked. (Verses 5, 6, 16.)
2. They shall ultimately obtain dominion over the wicked. (Verse 14.) All the best and devoutest minds have never doubted that good shall at length triumph over evil.
3. Redemption from the grave, from Sheol, into a life with God. (Verse 15) “No more momentous struggle ever swayed the heart of man than that which first led him to suspect himself to be immortal.”
III. THESE GREAT ISSUES ARE WORTHY THE STUDY OF ALL. (Verses 1-4.) High and low, rich and poor.S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 49.
An earnest persuasion to build the faith of the resurrection, not on worldy power, but on God. Worldly prosperity is not to be admired.
To the chief musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
Title. lamnatseach libnei korach mizmor. The author of this psalm is not known, nor the particular occasion of it. But it seems to be a meditation on the vanity of riches: and the usual haughtiness of those who possess them: As a remedy for this, it sets before them the near prospect of death, from which no riches can save, in which no riches can avail. The author considers the subjects he is treating, as a kind of wisdom concealed from the world, a mystery, an occult science, with respect to the generality of mankind.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psalms 49
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah
Hear this, all ye people;
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
2Both low and high,
Rich and poor, together.
3My mouth shall speak of wisdom;
And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
4I will incline mine ear to a parable:
I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
5Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
6They that trust in their wealth,
And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches
7None of them can by any means redeem his brother.
Nor give to God a ransom for him;
8(For the redemption of their soul is precious,
And it ceaseth for ever:)
9That he should still live for ever,
And not see corruption.
10For he seeth that wise men die,
Likewise the fool and the brutish person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
11Their 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.
12Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not:
He is like the beasts that perish.
13This their way is their folly:
Yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
14Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them;
And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
And their beauty shall consume
In the grave from their dwelling
15But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave:
For he shall receive me. Selah.
16Be not thou afraid when one is made rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
17For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away:
His glory shall not descend after him.
18Though while he lived he blessed his soul,
(And men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself,)
19He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see light.
20Man that is in honour, and understandeth not,
Is like the beasts that perish.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Exposition. The Psalmist in a solemn preface (Psa 49:1-4), addresses all persons without distinction of residence, race, or position in life. He calls upon them to attend to his voicewhich is accompanied by his harpbecause he means to teach them an important truth, salutary to all,a truth, which he himself, a disciple of wisdom, has learned by revelation, and has received into his heart. This Maschal discusses the problem of temporal happiness, and the prosperity of the ungodly, and is therefore related to Psalms 27, 73. The fundamental idea is, that the pious have no ground to fear under such circumstances in this transitory world, because the rich man cannot with all his gold purchase exemption from death, but by his vanity and folly becomes more and more like mere brutes that perish, while the just man by Gods grace is delivered from the power of the grave. This thought is expressed in two strophes, each of which terminates with a verse in almost the same words. In these strophes the relations of the thought and the parts of the verses are so artistically interwoven that in the first strophe the Psalmist testifies to his own fearlessness, and in the middle of the second exhorts others to be equally courageous, while in each of the two places there is a sort of conclusion marked by Selah. His language is terse, pithy, and sometimes rough. The phrases are pointed, now and then bold, and in some places obscure, while the structure of the sentences is peculiar, having here and there a kind of artistic intricacy. There are great difficulties in some passages of the present text, which are nearly unintelligible, owing probably, to mistakes of transcribers. If so, however, they must be very ancient, since the oldest translators were evidently perplexed by them, and propose very senseless explanations.
Psa 49:1-4. Hear this.A like solemn call occurs Deu 32:1; 1Ki 22:28; Mic 1:2; Job 34:2. The world Cheled(see Psa 17:1-4), is not heaven and earth or the world of space, but an existencea somethingwhich has its course in time. In Psa 49:3, the gradation of the ideas of wisdom and understanding is expressed in the plural form, as is often done in the Proverbs of Solomon.I will open, Psa 49:4, refers not to the solution but the statement of the problem, since heart and mouth are opened. Psa 109:30; Amo 8:5; Proverbs 26 Such a combination of problem and maxim we also find in Psa 78:2; Pro 1:6.Playing on the harp harmonizes with the souls vibrations, and the latter are both expressed and excited by it. 2Ki 3:15.
[Perowne: The world; the term here used is that which indicates its temporary, fleeting character.Alexander: The word translated world means primarily duration or continued existence; then more specifically, human life, the present state of things; and by a natural transition, the world as the place where it is spent.Perowne. Wisdom,Understanding. In the Heb. these words are plural, but apparently not so used with any intensification of meaning.In the second clause of the verse, I have supplied the copula is, for notwithstanding Hupfelds remark to the contrary, I cannot think it a natural construction, to repeat the verb from the first clause: The meditation of my heart shall speak of understanding.J. F.].
Psa 49:5. The iniquity of my heels (or my sup- planters, or of those who have trodden on me). This explanation of the phrase (Syriac and most others) suggests the meaning of evil daysdays of adversity, i. e. not adverse times simply, but those in which bad men abuse their power and wealth (Geier and others). This explanation agrees best with the fear mentioned in Psa 49:5; Psa 49:16. The rendering (Sept., Chald., Symm., Jer., Rabb., and others), guilt or sin of my heels, is not only obscure (for what sin is meant), but ambiguous, for we would naturally think of his own sin, which does not accord with the meaning of the passage. At any rate heels cannot be taken for steps =missteps. If the heels be regarded as the object of the persecution and the waylaying (Calv., Hup., Ortenherg), the image used is unnatural, and many transpositions are necessary to bring out the sense,when the iniquity upon my heels, i. e. on all sides, compass me about.
[Alexander: The iniquity of my oppressors (or supplanters). The word translated oppressors commonly means heels; but as this yields no good sense here, it may be taken as a verbal noun, meaning either traders, tramplers, oppressors or supplanters, traitors, in a sense akin to which the verbal root is used Gen 27:36; Hos 12:4. In either case, it is clearly a description of his enemies as practising fraud, or violence against him.Perowne: When iniquity compasseth etc. Perhaps iniquity is supposed to be lying, like a serpent in his path, ready to fasten on the heel, as the most exposed and vulnerable part.Barnes: The true idea is, when I am exposed to the crafts, the tricks of those who lie in wait for me; I am liable to be attacked suddenly, or to be taken at unawares; but what have Ito fear?J. F.].
Psa 49:710. His brother. Instead of (his brother) which is generally used when related to Isch, we have simply as an accusative before the emphatic negative, which also precedes the infinitive absolute. The stress laid upon the impossibility of redeeming a brother (i. e. a fellow-man) from death, instead of himself, becomes the more remarkable, because we might expect his own redemption to be mentioned. This, however can hardly be deduced from the suffix at the close of the following line=his redemption (Hengsten.); or redemption for himself (Hitzig), although in the following verse we have the comprehensive plural their souls. It is not necessary to adopt the reading in some editions , (Ewald, Olsh., Bttcher,) and by changing the points in the verb that follows, to make it reflective, =surely no one can redeem himself. Nor can be taken as a nominative, and subject of the sentence. (Luther and others). The true idea here is, not simply the solidarity of all men Godward (Hupfeld), but rather the impossibility of redemption of any one by the mutual assistance, or the united efforts of men; and thus we are prepared for the subsequent declaration that God is the Redeemer.Most critics take Psa 49:8 as a parenthesis, but as this construction is harsh, it is better, not to strike it from the text, as a gloss, (Ortenberg), but to make Psa 49:9 dependent on it (Kimchi, Flamin., Hengsten., Hupfeld), though the connection between them is somewhat loose. (Baur). The translation because so precious is the ransom price of the soul, that it is wanting forevermore (Ewald, Kster, Maurer), is admissible, (but needless), since the perfect has this sense Psa 36:4, he has desisted, ceased, removed himself.The idea that Psa 49:9, is a premise though he still continue to live forever (Luther, Geier, Hitz.), and Psa 49:10, a conclusion from it he shall see, cannot be reconciled with the strong expression of living forever.Most interpreters take (Psa 49:10), in a causative sense, as explaining why he ceaseth, i.e. because he sees that wise men die, (Isaki, Luther, J. H. Michaelis). Others take this verse as an antecedent (although he sees, etc.) to Psa 49:11, (it is still their delusion to dream of an eternal home). But in direct discourse this particle renders the contrast more emphatic. (Flamin. De Wette, and most critics). It would be both violent and unnecessary to strike out the words for he seeth (Olshausen). There is nothing to indicate that they are the remains of a mutilated verse. They only stand in the way of the transposition of Psa 49:9, before Psa 49:8, and to the exposition and he (man) ceases (to be) forever.
[Alexander: Psa 49:8. And costly is the ransom of their soul, etc. This obscure verse admits of several constructions. Their soul refers most probably to the rich man and his brother. The soul or life of both requires so much to ransom it, that neither can redeem the other. The verb in the last clause may mean ceases to live, perishes, and agrees with either or with each of the subjects previously mentioned. The ransom of their life is so costly, that neither can be saved. Or the verb may agree with ransom, as in the Eng. Bible; it is too costly to be paid, and therefore ceases, or remains unpaid, forever. The same sense substantially may be obtained by making cease mean cease (or fail) to pay, and construing it with one of the preceding nouns. The ransom is so costly that he fails to pay it, or ceases to attempt it forever. Upon any of these various suppositions, the essential idea is that the ransom of their life is too expensive to be paid.Perowne: Soul, i.e. as is evident from the whole scope of the context here, life. It is much to be regretted that superficial readers of the Psalm so often give a totally false meaning to this and the preceding verse. The passage has been alleged to prove that our Lord, as the Redeemer of man, must be God as well as man. The doctrine is most true, but it is not in the Psalm, nor is there the remotest allusion to it. All that is here taught is, that no wealth can save a man from death, because the life of men is not in their own hands, or in that of their fellows, but only in the hand of God, who cannot be bribed. There is a kind of solemn irony in the idea of the richest man offering all his riches to God, to escape death.J. F.]
Psa 49:11-12. Their inward thought, etc. The expression is obscure if the idea be that their hearts are deluded by the belief that their houses and descendants shall continue forever (Jerome, Isaki, Luth., Calv., and others). Still less can the meaning be that the houses themselves totally absorb their thoughts, as if the expression was parallel to that in Psa 45:9, all her garments are myrrh (Hupfeld), for this could not be reconciled with the word forever. But as the heart is within us, and as the two phrases the heart and the inward thoughtare synonymous (Psa 64:7; 1Ki 3:28 : Exo 36:2), and as the word rendered inward thought, denotes both the organ and the seat of thought (Psa 5:10; Psa 62:5), it may here express not the product of mental activity, i.e. the delusion, but the essential activity of the organ as such by which their inward thought is filled. This activity here may be, not the thought, but the wish, (Hengsten., Del., Hitzig),Nearly all the older versions give an entirely different sense, for they read instead of .The meaning their graves are their houses forever, or ironically, and better still their graves are their perpetual houses (Ewald, Ols., Riehm), may be commended, since the grave is proverbially called the perpetual house Pro 12:5. [This is an error. There is no such expression in the place named. The reference must be to Ecc 12:5, the long home (or house).J. F.]. But the conjectural reading on which this exposition is based, is not sustained by a single MSS. Nor does the closing sentence read they who were highly praised everywhere (Ewald); nor their names are celebrated in their lands, (Rosen., De Wette, Hitzig), but they proclaim their names throughout the lands i.e. they call them after their names. (The Old Trans., Rabbins, Sachs, Bttcher, Hupfeld, Kurtz, Del.). For signifies the cultivated earth, arable land, and the subject must not be needlessly changed, while the formula to proclaim or call the name may be employed in various relations.In Psa 49:12, should not be changed to as in Psa 49:20, (Sept., Syr., Cappel, Ewald), nor should it be substituted for the latter word in Psa 49:20, (Ols.). Parallel verses are not always perfectly assonant; and here the change in a single consonant causes an ingenious play of words, (ohne Bestand, ohne Verstand),without continuance, without intelligence. The special meaning to continue for a night (Aben Ezra, Stier, Hengsten.), may be proper in Psa 30:6, but not here, where is equivalent to abide as in Pro 21:23.
[Alexander: Their inward thought, etc. The plural form at the end of the sentence occurs nowhere else, but corresponds to our word grounds, when applied to cultivated lands.A possible though not a probable construction makes the last two mean upon earth, the form of the Hebrew noun being assimilated to that of this particle before it.J. F.]
Psa 49:13. This their way, etc. There is no reason for transposing Psa 49:13; Psa 49:12 as Hupfeld suggests. We must not translate it this their sentiment is their hope (De Wette). Way here does not signify moral conduct, but the way of faring in the world, and this not in the sense of faring well, but of faring ill. Hence we must not render the verse this their doing is their folly (Aquil. Symm., Luth., Calv., and others; nor becomes to them a folly, i.e. a foolish security (Chald., Stier). The sense of folly has been derived from that of assurance (Ecc 7:25); but here the original meaning must be adhered to, which is a stubborn disposition (Bttcher), manifesting itself by boasting (Hitzig), and turning out to be folly.There is no contrast in the following verse, and, notwithstanding they follow them (Hengsten.); it is better to take it as simply a continuation of the attributive sentence (Del.)In the more precise statement, it is not said what will happen to them after death (Ewald); nor to their descendants (Older Comment.); but what may happen to those who imitate them.
[Perowne: This their way. Both the meaning and construction of this clause are doubtful. It may mean (1) This their way (i.e. manner of life, course of conduct) is their folly: or (2) This their prosperous condition is (or becomes) their infatuation (blind confidence); for kesel may mean a stupid security, or presumptuous confidence, as well as folly. As regards the construction, it may be as above, or the clause may consist of two independent sentences. This is their way; they have confidence; or finally, the latter part of it may be a relative sentence: This is the way of those who are foolish.J. F.].
Psa 49:14-17. Like sheep, etc. This comparison indicates, on the one hand their want of will and incapacity to resist, and on the other hand, it suggests the idea that those who during their life-time have fed in rich pastures, are now driven into Sheol, like sheep into their fold at night, and have Death, the king of terrors (Job 18:14), as their Shepherd, i.e. their keeper and master. (Geier, Isaki). The meaning is not that death gnaws them (Vulg., Luther and others), nor that he devours them as food. Job 18:13, (J. H. Michaelis, Geier).In the promise that the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, it is easy to discover a reference to the morning of the resurrection, and the universal reign of the saints in union with Messiah, (Isaki, Kimchi, Geier, Mendelsohn); but this is not presented as a positive dogma, nor as an express prediction (Older Expos.), but as the result of that indefinite presentiment of the future that marked Old Testament times (Stier);as a parable (Psa 49:4), exhibiting not the last great day (Delitzsch), but the certain triumph of the righteous over the ungodly. This is, however, expressed in terms not only which are applicable to the last judgment so clearly revealed in the New Testament, but the whole passage has a typical significance. It is, as Ewald says, a glimpse of the Messianic hope.By morning, (the word in the original occurs in a sentence connected by a vav consec.), we are to understand not the morning of the resurrection, which shall come to all men after the night of death, but the morning that dawns upon the upright after the destruction of the ungodly. It is the morning of the future illuminated by the light of Gods gracious countenance (Kurtz) and not limited in duration, during which they shall live by the power of God, while the wicked are put beneath their feet, and given over to death. The rendering to tread (instead of have dominion) i.e. upon their proud graves or corpses, needlessly weakens the statement, which, though figurative, conveys more than the simple contrast between the night of adversity and the morning of deliverance, especially if morning be taken to mean that which will very soon occur, and the expression be connected with the following verse (Ewald, Hitzig), which would give a better sense, though not in eonformity with the accents. According to the present textual structure of the verse, only a tolerable meaning can be got out of it, by a forced and artificial exposition. Literally it would be, for their form (beauty) is to be devoured by Sheol, out of the dwelling which is theirs, i e., they shall have no more a dwelling. If this obscure passage be understood to mean that the form of the deceased is devoured by Sheol, thus making an end of its bodily beauty and earthly glory with their former dwelling, (the Older Trans. and Commen., and more recently Claus, Stier, Del.), not only may it be asked why so simple an idea should be expressed in a way so odd and obscure, but the doubt might arise from this single text of Scripture, whether the decomposition of the human body that takes place in the grave, is not transferred to Sheol. This doubt becomes the stronger, since the explanation that there is here a confusion of ideas about the grave, decomposition, and the shadow life in Sheol (De Wette, Hup.) cannot be admitted on the standpoint of these expositors. Strictly speaking the idea would better accord with the sense of the first half of the sentence, that the form of the dead, elsewhere represented as shadowy, will at last be delivered over in Sheol to complete consumption, i. e. annihilation (Hupfeld). But with this, the seeond part of the sentence does not agree, and the admission would hardly be satisfactory, if a strange and illogical construction (Kurz),the assurance that in Sheol the well known receptacle of the dead, the form of the deceased is consumedis followed by another statement that in consequence of this consumption the form had no longer a dwelling, while, on the contrary, Sheol holds no longer any occupants. But if we hold that there is here a contrast between the time when they fancied they were building houses to last forever, and that future period when they shall exist without property, without bodies, and therefore in empty space, the first half of the sentence must be understood to refer not to a consumption by, but of Sheol, i.e. its destruction. (Isaki, Hofmann). This passage however, is too weak a ground for such an idea, which is nowhere else found in the Old Testament. Equally pointless are the attempts to explain the passage, by giving to (Keri), the sense of help (Sept., Vulg.); defiance (Luther), or rock. By referring the word in its last named sense to Christ as the rock of the righteous, who will destroy the reign of Death by depriving him of his place of abode (De Dieu and others), they endeavor to get out of it a comforting eschatologic idea. If we make a slight change in the points and accents (and on the whole this seems to be the best solution) we get a simple and natural meaning, viz. that their form is wasting away, and that Sheol is their abode. (Ewald, Hitzig). For Isa 45:16, or =Eze 43:11, means that which is made, the structure, and denotes the gradual but sure wasting of the body, Job 13:23. Instead of , some Codices omit the Dagesch, and therefore lean to the explanation by the preposition . There is no allusion in Psa 49:15, to Gods protection against an early death (De Wette, Kurtz); nor to his delivery from some great danger that imperilled life. (Hengs., Hitzig), although it is proper to regard the statement as contrasting the condition of the godly and the ungodly, and as affirming that redemption by man is impossible (Psa 49:7). The certainty of redemption by God, from the hand or the power of Sheol means deliverance from that dominion of Sheol to which all men are liable. (Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich., Clauss, Stier, Hoffman). But it is not presented here as a truth of which they were then conscious, but rather as a glimpse and hope obtained by a bold flight of faith. Nor is there any definite indication of the ransom price, nor of the way and manner of this deliverance. Still there is an allusion to the taking up of Enoch, Gen 5:24, and of Elijah, 2Ki 2:3, in the use of the word which, generally denotes, not to take under ones protection, but to take, i.e. take away (Aben Ezra, Kimchi), take along, Psa 49:18, take to oneself (Isaki) Ps. 73:24; 79:49; Hos 13:14. As this word in the imperf. follows a fut. imperf. it cannot be regarded as a Preterite=for he has taken me. (Luther). It must be taken in an absolute sense in a line which is all the more comprehensive because of its brevity (Bttcher). For these reasons we cannot approve the otherwise possible rendering if (Hitzig) or better still when (Ewald) it (viz. the hand of Sheol) takes hold on me.
[Perowne: Psa 49:14-15. We have in this passage the strong hope of eternal life with God, if not the hope of a resurrection. In the very midst of the gloomy picture which he draws of the end of the ungodly, there breaks forth one morning ray of light, the bright anticipation of the final triumph of the good over the evil. This is the inextinguishable hope which animates the Church of the Old Testament, as well as that of the New. Righteousness shall eventually, must in its very nature, reign on earth. The wicked shall find their end in Sheol (Psa 9:17-18), and the righteous shall trample on their graves. This, and not more than this, seems to have been the meaning originally of the Psalmist, in the words, And the righteous shall have dominion over them in the morning. But now that he comes to speak of himself, and his own personal relation to God, he rises into a higher strain. He who knows and loves God has the life of God, and can never perish. That life must survive the shock of death. God, says the Psalmist, shall redeem my soul from the hand of Hades, for He shall take me, as He took Enoch, and as He took Elijah to Himself. We are not, of course, to suppose that the Sacred Poet himself expected to be taken up alive to heaven; but those great facts of former ages were Gods witnesses to man of his immortality, and of the reality of a life with Him beyond this world. It is a hope based on facts like these which here shines forth. It is a hope, not a revealed certainty. It rests on no distinct promise; it has not assumed the definite form of a doctrine. But it was enough to raise, to cheer, to encourage those who saw ungodliness prospering in the world. The end of the wicked was, after all, a thick darkness which had never been penetrated; the end of the righteous, life with God.J. F.].
Psa 49:18-20. Though (or, it may be that) he blessed his soul,etc. Many interpreters take in the sense of because (Syr., Flamin.,Calv., Heng., Hup.) as indicating the reason why such a termination must take place, still though the sense of yea when or even though Isa 1:15, (Del. and others), as granting something (Ewald, Gram. 362), yet we prefer to understand it in a hypothetic sense (as in Psa 49:16), as presenting a possible case=it may be that, 2Sa 16:10. (Hitzig)To bless his soul is hardly=to bless himself in his heart Deu 31:19 to take his ease, (Syr., Flamin., and most others), with the positive enjoyments, of eating and drinking, (Hitzig).In Psa 49:19, must be understood, not as in the Arabic, in the rare sense of habitations, i.e. Sheol, Isa 38:12, (De Wette), but in the usual one of generations, because it is more natural to make the soul the subject of this sentence (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, J. H. Mich., Sachs, Olshaus., Hoffman, Kurtz, Ewald, Del.,) than to suppose a direct address to the rich, (Geier, Rosen., De Wette, Hengsten., Hitzig); or to change into (Old Trans., Hupfeld).To see the light is a common expression for to live Psa 58:9; Job 3:16; Ecc 6:5, but the light is not necessarily that of the sun, (Hupfeld), unless it be the sun of eternal life.The common saying that men must perish like the beasts, is changed into the more elevated one, that only those who have not a right understanding of life shall perish like the beasts. (Hofmann). There is no reason for giving the conditional clause if he understand not, a positive sense as in Psa 94:7, and he regards it not. (Hitzig).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is one of the mysteries of the Divine government, that worldly men, often and for a long time, enjoy so great prosperity that they never think of the end, and are intent only to increase their wealth, careless of God and His will. This mystery may disturb even a gracious soul, may fill it with fear and doubt, and lead it astray, especially when it sees the godly suffer in days of adversity, from the malice of the worldly-minded, to such an extent that they hardly know what to do. In such cases we want an explanation that will satisfy all men; and it is a thought full of comfort that God has furnished such a solution of the mystery, by the mouth of those who have formerly inclined to Him their ear.
2. To the godlyand to them alonethe contents of this revelation are more comforting than the form of it. For death puts an end to the worldly man himself, and to all the things of which he boasts,an end from which all the wealth of earth cannot ransom him;an end full of shame, because he has made himself like the irrational brutes, and he has no other prospect before him than that of going down to Sheol. The godly man shares, indeed, the universal lot of mortals, but in his personal life, he is intimately united to God, and has a treasure far more precious than perishable and deceitful riches. If redemption from the power of Sheol be possible, God only can effect it. And well may the pious man rejoice that it is not merely death that lays hands upon him, but God Himself, who will guide him in such a way that through the night he shall come to the light, and the morning of triumph.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
If we are led by Gods word and held by His hand, we need fear neither the world, nor sin, nor death.God conducts His own people into the light, through the night of suffering, doubt, and death.Riches without God are not only an uncertain but a deceitful good.The worlds folly, and the wisdom from God.The false security of the children of this world, and the needless fear of the godly.The vanity of wealth acquired and enjoyed without God.Poverty cannot disgrace, and misfortune cannot harm, if we find and hold fast to God.The vanity of the worldly-minded man in his purposes and life.He will not listen to God, will learn nothing salutary either in the world or from the world.
Starke: Many wise sayings have been uttered; Oh, that the many would diligently hear and act according to them !A Christian needs heavenly wisdom to guide him in seeking his salvation; he needs an illuminated understanding in order that he may flee from all that can injure his soul.The proper use of music is to further devotion and the honor of God.How great must be the Lord, who can gather all nations before Him! in whose presence the meanest beggar is of as much account as the richest man on earth !The fear of man is the first step towards apostacy from the known truth of God; for this reason, a Christian, especially a teacher, should not allow himself to be seduced by it, but should contend against it with faith and prayer.Ungodly men are called oppressors, because they act in an oppressive way, but hereafter they shall be so dealt with themselves.The ungodly rich men are foolish in supposing that they are the sole owners of their possessions: no, they are Gods, and He can take them away at any moment, even if they are many kingdoms.Great wealth easily begets pride and forgetfulness of God; hence, those to whom God gives riches should keep their hearts with all diligence.The longest life on earth is nothing, compared with eternity, yet our future state depends upon our conduct in this life. If we would be eternally happy, we must walk in constant readiness for eternity.A sinner cannot redeem himself from death, much less from hell, by his earthly possessions, nor by his own power.How different the judgments of God from those of men! How many bow down before the rich and mighty, praise and pronounce them happy, though their doings are in Gods eyes, simply folly and end only in misery!Those who in the day of grace are accepted by grace, shall never be cast off.Riches, sensual pleasure, and worldly glory are the devils dangerous baits. Ah ! beware of this poisonous sugar !The treasures which we cannot take with us when we die are not the true ones; blessed, therefore, is he who gathers spiritual treasures, and aims to become rich in God.Far better is it to be poor and pious, and retain Gods grace forever, than to be rich and ungodly, and bring down upon ourselves Gods eternal wrath.In the day of grace labor diligently to become a child of light, and to walk as such, then you shall, hereafter, see the light of Gods countenance forever.Mans greatest dignity and honor, is to have the Divine image renewed in his soul by the Holy Ghost. But if forgetting his Creator, he gives himself to vain things and his own sensual appetites, he will sink almost below the level of the brute. Saladin ordered a long spear with a white flag attached to it to be carried through his camp, having on it this inscription: The mighty King Saladin, the conqueror of all Asia and of Egypt, takes with him when he dies none of his possessions but this linen flag for a shroud. The emperor Severus exclaimed upon his death-bed: Omnia fui, et nihil mihi prodest.Osiander: It is the duty of all men to listen attentively to the word of God, and to follow its precepts; those who despise that word shall perish.Selnekker: All the riches of the world are nothing compared with that genuine treasure which believers possess in their knowledge of a gracious God.Menzel: The preacher should ever see one Lord, and two souls. The Lord is in heaven, and has called him to his office. Him he must keep before his eyes, regardless of men who trust in riches which they cannot retain forever. The two souls are described in Ezekiel 33 : one is the sinners, the other is the preachers. He is responsible for the first, and must suffer for it, if through his fault it be given over to condemnation.Franke: The proclamation of the word of life should also produce life.Renschel: The service of mammon yields but a poor reward. Be not deceived.Frisch: Whatever a child of the world most highly esteems, is nothing but folly.A man possessed of earthly honors and happiness, if he be not wise in Divine thingsas few are in the hour of prosperitywill find his happiness quickly at an end, and his future state very miserable.Tholuck: Blessed is he who, when he departs, has no treasures which he is forced to leave to others.A rich man who wishes to deceive himself, will find many to help him.The kingdom of God, though for a time not victorious, will conquer forever.Umbreit: We can be delivered from the bondage of fear, only by humble, quiet submission to Gods will.The pious man who though scorned by the world, never fears nor trembles, is Gods hero.The more a mans heart cleaves to the perishing things of this life, the less he enjoys them.You may bargain for and prize all earthly things, but the soul has a priceless value, for it belongs to God.Stier: Prosperous as the ungodly may be, there is comfort in the certainty that death makes a sure decision, when the proud children of the world shall perish, while the pious shall be redeemed and accepted by God.Guenther: The worst kind of folly and self-deception is that of men who will not deem themselves to be higher than the brutes, nor truly learn to know themselves, nor work out their salvation with fear and trembling.Diedrich: To live rightly is the highest wisdom, art, and courage.If God be our daily aim, we need fear nothing from the world.Taube: An appeal to every one concerning the folly of the worldly-minded, who can neither be feared nor called happy by the children of God.The awful nothing out of which the All in this life is made.
[Henry: The children of God, though ever so poor, are truly happy in this, above the most prosperous of the children of this world, that they are well guarded against the terrors of death, and the judgment to come.The way of worldliness is a very foolish way; they that lay up their treasures on earth, and set their affections on things below, act contrary both to right reason, and their own interest.The love of the world is a disease that runs in the blood; men have it by kind, till the grace of God cures it.The believing hopes of the souls redemption from the grave and reception to glory, are the great support and joy of the children of God in a dying hour.They that are rich in the graces and comforts of the Spirit, have something which, when they die, they shall carry away with them, something which death cannot strip them of. Bishop Horne: At the call of Folly, what multitudes are always ready to assemble ! But Wisdom, eternal and essential Wisdom crieth without, she lifteth up her voice in the streets, and who is at leisure to attend her heavenly lectures?Scott: What good will it do any man to have his name perpetuated on earth, when he has no name in the registers of heaven?J. F.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS
This Psalm is much in the style of exhortation. It is full of persuasion to show the folly and deceitfulness of all worldly dependence. Towards the close, there is a sweet allusion to Jesus, as the brother of his people.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Psalmist demands to be heard in what he had to deliver, on account of its importance; but to conciliate affection, he proposes not to make his subject personal; but, according to the eastern method, he would veil it under the covering of a parable.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Listening to God
Psa 49:4

In this Psalm the subject is the great and dark problem of Divine providence. The Psalmist tells us in his introduction that he will open the dark saying, the riddle on the harp. He pierces through the surface of things to declare the utter vanity of life without God. He tells us frankly that it is not by argument he arrives at this certitude but by inspiration. He has listened to the wisdom that is from above, and so has truth to declare. This is the attitude of a true Teacher, that he is a Learner: opens his ear morning by morning to receive the right impressions. A great preacher used to say that in preaching the thing of least importance was the sermon. I suppose what he meant was that it is not what he says but himself that counts most the spiritual atmosphere he creates, the indefinable impression of earnestness and seriousness and conviction. In all prophetic speech there is a subtle spirit which communicates itself to disciples, and which the teacher himself will lose if he forgets his true attitude. It is not what we say, but the spirit of our saying it, and this is true in the final judgment not only of speech but of all life.
I. In the higher reaches of all truth a moment of insight is of more worth than a year of laborious learning. Certainly in religion no door is opened except to those who bend, who wait, who incline their ear. That is why the child is the type of the kingdom of heaven, the mind that is open to the daily lesson, that morning by morning receives its portion, that sweetly accepts the teaching of the Master. The secret of wisdom and power and knowledge is humility. The secret of influence is simplicity. We learn to speak the high language of the soul as a child learns.
II. There is a moment which came to the prophets and to men called to exceptional work, a moment when the world has dissolved, when the earth has faded, and heaven has opened and reveals the eternal, a moment when in all the universe there seems nothing but God and the human soul. That moment altered the perspective of everything afterwards: they read everything in the light of that moment, and when in the future they were brought up against seemingly impassable difficulties and things that seemed irreconcilable with their faith they simply fell back on God. It is the old story, you say; a plea for faith. Yes, a plea for faith. But be sure you know what faith is before you dismiss it contemptuously. It is to have the ear of a learner, the heart of a child, to listen to the Father’s voice.
III. The highest truths are not reached by analysis. The deepest appeal is not made to logic but to imagination; not to intellect, but to heart. This is true not only in religion, but in everything. To know and love flowers is a simpler and higher thing than to understand the botany of flowers. And to know and love Christ is a simpler and higher thing than to understand Christology. Let us not kill the poet in us for the lack of listening and looking; the poet that dies so young in most of us. We do not find the deep truths of life, they find us. This is how the contemplative life breeds in men a richer wisdom, mellower, sweeter than all worldly activities however varied can achieve. Surrender is the first word and the last word in this process. That surrender is faith. Hugh Black.
References. XLIX. 4. E. Paxton Hood, Dark Sayings on a Harp, p. 1. XLIX. 7. T. K. Cheyne, Expositor (3rd Series), vol. ii. p. 400. XLIX. 8. Bishop Bickersteth, Sermons, p. 1. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 22. XLIX. 11, 12. Bishop Bethell, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 102. XLIX. 17. R. C. Trench, Sermons in Westminster Abbey, p. 364.
Success
Psa 49:18

‘Nothing succeeds like success’ is a proverb invented by a famous man of the world, and the truth of it from the world’s point of view there is no denying. It seems indeed to find something of sanction in some words of our Lord, applied not only to the secular but to the spiritual life, when He said, ‘To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath’. The truth of this saying our Lord vindicated, as we know, by His parable of the talents, in which we are reminded that one who makes use of his gifts, spiritually or mentally, develops in exact ratio to the merits of that use; whereas one who spurns them eventually forfeits them. This is the Divine law of failure and success, and it rests on a just sequence of cause and effect The world does not trouble about just sequences of cause and effect, it simply looks at results, and usually it does not trouble to inquire too closely into the honesty of those results. And so we see, as a matter of fact, how essentially different is Christ’s saying, ‘To him that hath shall be given’.
I. The Uncertainty of Success. In our text we have first the fact and secondly the motive of that success which is of the earth earthy. Its motive is selfishness, doing well to oneself, looking after one’s own interests, and making them the supreme consideration. Then again its nature is to be satisfied with present temporal conditions, not to trouble about any higher life than that of the time and sense. The most striking feature about this 49th Psalm is the author’s firm conviction that in a future state the scale of fortune will be readjusted. Nowhere else do we find the Jewish writer contentedly permitting the final issue of the adjustment of the things of this world to the life beyond the grave. What we find asserted here so strongly is the unreality of the success which is not achieved on the eternal principles of righteousness. How true to life and experience is that expression, ‘He counted himself a happy man’. How it brings out the situation of contented enjoyment, which is assumed in place of the genuine thing; the affectation of interest for the sake of mere appearance; the hypocritical sentiments mouthed out in order that the world may exclaim, ‘What a noble fellow is here!’ And yet there is always the haunting, ever-present consciousness of secret failure, the knowledge that nothing is quite what it seems.
II. The Intrinsic Worth of Success. We can only say, then, that failure and success in this world are too often but uncertain and capricious things. The all-important question for each is that which concerns the intrinsic worth of success in life. ‘For while he lived he counted himself a happy man.’ The inference is, I suppose, that when he died he found out his mistake. The answer that follows is full of irony: ‘So long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee’; of course they will. All the world cares about is that you should keep up appearances. Look at the ideal man on the Exchange! He just took care of himself and feathered his own nest. Or again the ideal of society! Is he a man of honour and moral worth? Is he a pure and chivalrous gentleman? not a bit. He may be a toady who toadies openly but tactfully: his sole merit is that he knows how to make the most of himself, that he can persuade people to take him at his own valuation he can flatter people so successfully that they suspect nothing. It is his success that compels their homage. And the same vaunting world is not slow to extend its appreciation to success achieved by its own methods even in the very presence of Christ. There is the religious partisan who prays for every one but himself, and to whom no conscience is sacred but his own. The world rewards him with its votes.
III. The Right Side to Success. Nevertheless there is a right and wholesome side to the world’s worship of success, for surely we were not sent here to court failure. There is a depreciation of success that is nothing but unreasoning affectation. It boasts of the so-called failure of the Cross, forgetting that our Lord’s ministry on earth ended not with the Cross but with the resurrection and the ascension. Christ never speaks of failure, but looks forward to the restoration of all things. What the Christian should deprecate is not success, but sham, false success the success which does not last, that which is of the earth earthy. We know that the ancient Laodiceans had this in common with modern England, that they were given over to those temporal pleasures of which we have been speaking. Yet what does the Spirit say to the Church and to us: ‘Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.’
References. XLIX. International Critical Commentary, vol. i. p. 405. L. 3. T. J. Madden, Addresses to All Sorts and Conditions of Men, p. 58. L. 5. J. Keble, Village Sermons on the Baptismal Service, p. 135. L. 11. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Children’s Bread, p. 95. L. 12. D. G. Watt, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii. p. 292. L. 14, 15. J. L. Richardson, Sermons for Harvest, p. 62. L. 15. C. Bradley, The Christian Life, p. 113. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv. No. 1505 and vol. xxxi. No. 1876. L. 21. T. J. Madden, Addresses to All Sorts and Conditions of Men, p. 58. C. J. Vaughan, Harrow School Sermons (2nd Series), p. 321. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 137. J. C. Miller, Penny Pulpit, No. 771.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

PSALMS

XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XV
PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).
The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]
The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .
Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.
The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).
Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.
The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .
The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.
The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:
Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.
Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.
The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).
The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.
The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.
There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.
QUESTIONS

1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?
2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?
3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?
4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?
5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?
6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?
7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?
8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?
9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?
10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?
11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?
12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.
13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?
14. What is their application to Judah at this time?
15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?
16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?
17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?
18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?
19. Explain Psa 85:10 .
20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .
21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?
22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.
23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.
24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 49:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Hear this, all [ye] people; give ear, all [ye] inhabitants of the world:
Ver. 1. Hear this, all ye people ] This that is of so great consequence and universal concernment, viz. that the saints should not be frighted nor perplexed at the present prosperity of graceless persons; but consider that death at utmost shall render them extremely miserable, and at the day of judgment men shall return and discern a manifest difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not, Mal 3:18 .

Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world ] “Hear, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken it,” Jer 13:15 . The inhabitants of the world, Heb. of the transitory world, are like men in a mill, through hurry of business; or as one that is running a race, to whom, though never so good counsel be given, he cannot stay to hear it. Of such we use to say, that they hear with their harvest ears (harvest is a time of great pleasure, and great business), and hence it is that we have so ill a seedtime for the word. We had need to wish, as Harding once did, that we could cry out against sin as loud as the bells of Oseny; yea, as those catholic preachers, whose voice is heard in all speeches and languages, Psa 19:3 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

This too is “To the chief musician, for the sons of Korah, a psalm.” It is a grave word of exhortation founded on the moral truth of the crisis just surveyed. The Jews understood not God’s ways more than the Gentiles, and hence the abominable compact at the end of the age which is fast approaching. Both idolise present wealth and power, ease and honour: God will be in the thoughts of neither. But as a vapour all passes away that is not of God and in God and with God, for no good is apart from Christ. Only God can and does raise from the dust of death; and as we know this now for heaven, so the godly Jews at the close will learn and preach as here for the earth, the honoured ones to welcome Him when He comes to take Zion and all the earth.
A new series appropriately follows in this cluster of psalms, which opens with God’s summons of His people to judgment (Psa 50 ); and this calls forth the remnant’s confession of corruption and blood-guilt (Psa 51 ): in both acknowledging the insufficiency of legal sacrifice and offering without brokenness of spirit and confidence in divine grace. In Psa 52 we have an instruction which takes the shape of a plaint against their violent and deceitful oppressor with the assurance of his destruction on God’s part, Who will deliver and bless His godly ones in His loving-kindness for ever. Then In Psa 53 comes the moral exposure of the lawless one, but in terms which the apostle in Rom 3 applies to those under the law. For indeed the Jews as a mass will be first as their chief, the son of perdition; and the heart of a sinner, where not law only but Christ in grace is abandoned, is no better than in antichrist; and this is morally true since the cross and the rejection of the gospel. The sense of this in the remnant turns by the Spirit into desire for Israel’s salvation, when God has scattered the bones of the foes who beleaguered the object of His choice. In Psa 54 the Spirit of Christ identifies the godly with Himself in resting every expectation on the name of “God” when covenant mercies are gone; but the end is thanksgiving to “Jehovah” when He has delivered the godly Jew out of all trouble in the displayed judgment of his enemies.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 49:1-4
1Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
3My mouth will speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will express my riddle on the harp.
Psa 49:1 Psa 49:1 has two parallel imperatives (hear [Qal imperative] and give ear [Hiphil imperative]). It is significant that the author of this Psalm saw that it had universal implications far beyond the boundaries of the Promised Land (cf. Psa 45:16; Psa 46:10; Psa 47:1-2; Psa 47:7-9; Psa 48:2; Psa 48:10; Psa 49:1; Psa 50:1; Psa 50:4; Psa 50:12, i.e., all peoples, all inhabitants of the world, see Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan). It must be remembered that Wisdom Literature (see Special Topic: Wisdom Literature) was a literary genre well known and popular in the ANE.
The word world (BDB 317) is rare and can mean
1. life Job 11:17; Psa 39:5; Psa 89:47
2. world Psa 17:14
Remember meaning is determined by contexts not dictionaries/lexicons.
Psa 49:2 Both low and high This is a very common metaphor in Hebrew used to express two extremes, and thereby include everything in between (note parallel rich and poor). This phrase itself is very unusual because it literally is the sons of men and the sons of men, but may be a play on two different words for men. The first one is the word adam (BDB 9), which usually means mankind. The second one is the word ish (BDB 35), the general term for a male person. It is also possible the two phrases are synonymous (NEB, cf. Psa 62:9; Isa 2:9; and NET Bible).
Psa 49:3 wisdom. . .understanding Both of these terms are plural (a plural of majesty), which is a way of expressing a superlative idea. This is the highest wisdom and the deepest understanding. This inspired wisdom teacher speaks God’s truth.
NASB, NKJV,
NRSVmeditation
TEV, REBthoughts
NJBwhisper
JPSOAspeech
NAButterance
This is the only occurrence of this form of the root, (BDB 212). The basic meaning of the root is to groan, to sigh, to utter.
In this context it refers to the internal thoughts of the psalmist. He may be
1. a sage/philosopher
2. a Levite/singer
3. a priest/theologian
Psa 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb This is a striking metaphor of listening intently to a proverb so as to understand its meaning. The term proverb (BDB 605) is an ancient wisdom term, which seems to have the concept of a riddle, difficult saying, or mysterious truth. However, the second line of Psa 49:4 may possibly be a way of saying that he is going to state a riddle (BDB 295) and then give its meaning. The two halves of Psa 49:4 seem to show the basic wisdom form. The author will state this truth in a way that the people of his culture/world can understand it.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Title. A Psalm. The sixth of nine so ascribed. Hebrew. mizmor. See App-65.
Korah. See App-63.
people = peoples.
world = age = transitoriness. Hebrew. heled = the world as transitory, as in Psa 17:14. Compare Psa 39:5, “age”; Psa 89:47, “time”. Job 11:17. These are all the occurrences.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 49:1-20
Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and poor, together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open dark sayings upon the harp ( Psa 49:1-4 ).
So I am going to play my harp and accompany myself and I am going to give you some things to think about, some dark parables.
Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) ( Psa 49:5-8 )
Now he is gonna play on his harp and give you some things to meditate and think upon. And first, concerning the rich people, those that have so much wealth. There are some things that money cannot buy. “They that trust in their wealth boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, with all of their money they cannot redeem their souls.” You cannot buy salvation. “For the redemption of their soul is precious.” Now Peter probably was thinking of this psalm when he wrote, “For we are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold from the empty life we used to live, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ” ( 1Pe 1:18-19 ). “For the redemption of their soul is precious,” the precious blood of Jesus Christ who was slain as a lamb without spot or blemish. You can’t buy it. The redemption of a soul, man can’t buy it.
Now the thought of the rich man is that he should still live forever and not see corruption.
For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perishes, and they leave their wealth to others ( Psa 49:10 ).
Now, one thing about the money, and of course, he says here that,
Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; and so they call their lands after their own names ( Psa 49:11 ).
Now, beware when people start naming places after themselves. It is sort of an endeavor to say, “Hey, I am going to live on forever, the perpetuating of my name.” And so I have, you know, “Chuck Smith Center,” and “Chuck Smith Recreation Hall,” and “Chuck Smith Chapel,” and “Chuck Smith University.” Oh God, help us. I am glad He gave me such a dumb, common name as Smith so there will be no movement to name anything after Smith.
It is interesting how that people look up to certain people, and the values that the world has today. The value system. This past week I was over here in the parking lot near Sav-On drug store, and a little man was looking at me very carefully. And he came up to me and he said, “I know you.” He said, “I watch you on television.” And of course, I have a lot of people that come up and say that, you know, “I have been listening to your broadcast for years,” or whatever. And so I meet a lot of people like this that come up and say, “Oh, I have been watching your program, or whatever, and aren’t you Chuck Smith?” And you know, you get that. And so I said, “Oh, that’s fine. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” You know, what are you going to say? And so, as I turned to walk away, he says, “Goodbye, captain!” Boy, did the air go out of my balloon. The guy is watching Love Boat on Saturday nights instead of church on Sunday morning. We get funny ideas about ourselves.
“Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever. Their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.”
Nevertheless man being in honor abides not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings ( Psa 49:12-13 ).
“Oh, do you know what he said?” You know, and you have a little book of quotations, “Chuck Smith said…” Oh God, deliver us.
Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall revive me ( Psa 49:14-15 ).
Now the wealthy, you know, their bodies are going to be consumed. Their beauty is in the grave, but God is gonna revive me.
Be not afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away ( Psa 49:16-17 ):
So the rich with their riches cannot redeem their souls, nor can they take it with them.
his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul, (and men will praise thee, when thou do well to yourself,) He shall go to the generation of his fathers; and they shall never see light. Man that is in honor, and understands not, is like the beasts [brutish, foolish] that perish ( Psa 49:17-20 ).
Man is like the beast. That is, a man who is not born again. For a man who is not born again is living in a body-conscious state, just like the beast. For that is what animal life is, a body-conscious life. All the animal is thinking about is his next meal or the procreation, and just following the basic body instincts. And man without God, without the spirit being made alive, is just like a beast. And like a beast, he will perish. But those who have been born again by the Spirit of Christ, who live and believe in Jesus Christ, Jesus said, “He that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” ( Joh 11:26 ). God will revive my soul. I’ll be dwelling with Him. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

The chief musician here bids us not to fear the ungodly. However high they may be placed, they are but dying men, and when they die their hope shall perish with them. He gives a very graphic description of the deathbed and of the perdition of ungodly men.
Psa 49:1-2. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: both low and high, rich and poor, together.
Whenever God has a voice for men, it is meant for all sorts of men. No Scripture is of private interpretation. No warning is intended only for a few. Hear ye this, then, all ye people. Whether ye be low, ye are not too low to listen to his voice; or, whether ye be high, ye are not too high to be under his supremacy.
Psa 49:3-4. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
Mysteries are to be preached, but they are to be preached with an earnest endeavor on the preachers part to make them plain. If it be a dark saying, yet let it be open; and, if music will help, so let it be. Whatever there is to be taught, let it be plainly taught to the sons of men.
Psa 49:5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
We may read it: The iniquity of my supplanters shall compass me about. There may some dark days when the wicked seed, whose delight it is to bite at the heel of the seed of God, will gather around us; and we think, perhaps, that they will be too many for us. But why should we fear them?
Who are they? They are great and mighty, perhaps, but if they are but an iniquity; a corporated iniquity, we need not to be afraid of them. Our righteous God is our defender.
Psa 49:6-7. They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
They may be rich as Croesus, but they cannot save a comrade from the grave. They may fee the physician, but they cannot bribe death. How little is the power of wealth, after all! The rich man cannot save even his babe that he loves so well. He certainly cannot save his fellow-sinner.
Psa 49:8. (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
There is no redemption but one, and if a soul be unredeemed, the hope of it ceaseth for ever.
Psa 49:9. That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
For the bodies of the great are fed upon by the worm as readily as the bodies of the paupers. They may embalm the body, if they will, to cheat the worm, or put it into a coffin of lead, but little can they do with it. It is a costly business after all, and is the exception to the rule. Even the wisest cannot live for ever, so as not to see corruption.
Psa 49:10. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish and leave their wealth to others.
Whatever men may have gathered, the wisest cannot find an invention which will enable him to take his treasure with him. He must leave it behind. Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither.
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.
Man is so fond of immortality that, while he foolishly rejects the reality of it he clings to the name of it; and he builds a house which he ties down by entail to his heirs, and his heirs heirs, for ever, as he calls it. And then he calls the land by his own name, that it may never be forgotten that such a worm as he once crawled over that portion of the earth.
Psa 49:12. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not:
He passes away. His grace, his lordship, his reverence, must lie in the grave. How ridiculous grand titles seem when once it is said, Earth to earth; dust to dust; ashes to ashes. Vain pomp and glory of the earth, indeed we may say, in the presence of the shroud and the mattock, and the grave and the worm. Man being in honour abideth not.
Psa 49:12. He is like the beasts that perish.
Not like any one beast, but like any beast that perisheth. He doth but live, and, as far as this world is concerned, he is gone.
Psa 49:13. This their way is their folly: yet their prosperity approve their sayings. Selah.
When men have lived only for this world, and die and pass away, without any future worth the having without any hope of heaven yet still they report it in the papers that he died worth so much, as if it were wonderful to have so much to leave. And they speak of the shrewd things he used to say mostly very greedy things, and very grasping things; and though he was a fool, after all, for aiming at the main chance, as he called it, while he missed the real main chance, namely, the salvation of his soul yet his posterity inherit his folly with his blood, and they approve his sayings.
Psa 49:14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave;
They lead a worldly life, and die a worldly death-quiet, contented with this world, no thought of the world to come.
Psa 49:14. Death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
That everlasting daybreak shall shed a light on many things; and then the master and the lord, who– tyrannized over the poor and needy, shall find himself under the foot of those he trod upon. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.
Psa 49:14-15. And their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
What a happy confidence! Blessed are those who, by a living faith in a living God, know that their soul shall be received into its Makers hands. But woe unto those whose confidence lies in the treasure they have accumulated and the acres they have purchased.
Psa 49:16-17. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
They will not know him in the next world to be the squire, the peer, the prince. Death is a dreadful leveller. Envy not the great man of this world. His glory shall not descend after him.
Psa 49:18. Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
Not when thou doest good, mark; for often when you do good, men will criticize and censure; — and, the better the deaf, the more sure is it to provoke the contempt of many. But men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. A shrewd man, that! That is the kind of man, See how he prospers! A smart, pushing fellow! Oh, yes, he is the man for a friend. Whenever there is an aggravated selfishness that accumulates to itself like a rolling snow-ball, men are sure to praise. It is the irony of life.
Psa 49:19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
They are sleeping in the grave. So shall he, and beyond the grave there is nothing but darkness for him whose heart is set on this world.
Psa 49:20. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
Understanding, and the fear of the Lord which is the beginning thereof, and not earthly honour, is our only succor in the day of death.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 49:1-4
A BLESSED PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE
Here we have the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament instructions against the folly of trusting in material riches. Christ’s declaration that, “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of his possessions,” as well as his encounter with the Rich Young Ruler, and his parable of the Rich Fool, are doctrinally anticipated in this psalm.
Scholars refer to this psalm as `didactic,’ a psalm loaded with teaching or instructions. In some of the psalms, the psalmist is (1) praising God; in others he is (2) prophesying; and in some he is (3) praying; but, “In this one, he is (4) preaching.
In all discussions of the folly of trusting in riches, it should be pointed out that riches are a threatening temptation, not only to their possessors, but to the poor also. “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,” as an apostle noted; and people who are without riches may inordinately desire them, covet them, and commit all kinds of wickedness in order to procure them. Thus, the scriptural warning to all men: (1) let not those who have riches inordinately glory in them or trust them; and (2) let not those of us who are poor inordinately desire them or sinfully seek to possess them.
Yes, there are some wonderful instructions here regarding the folly of trusting in earthly riches; but there is one verse that outweighs all the others in the psalm put together. It is Psa 49:15.
“But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; for He will receive me” (Psa 49:15).
We have made this the title of the psalm. Everything else in it fades into the background, because the glory of this verse shines like the sun at perihelion.
We shall devote most of our attention to this verse, because it provides the answers, the eternal answers, to all of the great problems encountered in the lives of mortal men, including that of the perplexity arising from the inequalities between the wicked rich and the godly poor.
The date and occasion when the psalm was written are unknown, although the superscription that assigns it to the sons of Korah has caused some to suppose it was written in the times of David, or soon afterwards. Such questions are of little importance.
The organization of the psalm suggested by Addis is as follows.
I. The announcement that a great mystery is about to be revealed (Psa 49:1-4).
II. The haughty boastfulness of wicked men trusting in untrustworthy riches (Psa 49:5-8).
III. Those who trust in riches live as if they were immortal, but they all die (Psa 49:9-12).
IV. Why such conduct is foolish, and why the hope of the godly is preferable (Psa 49:13-15).
V. Fate of the wicked contrasted with that of the righteous (Psa 49:16-20).
Addis also identified Psa 49:12; Psa 49:20 as a refrain and suggested that it would be appropriate to insert it again after Psa 49:4; Psa 49:8, and Psa 49:15, just as it already appears after Psa 49:12 and Psa 49:20.
Psa 49:1-4
“Hear this, all ye peoples;
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world,
Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
My mouth shall speak wisdom;
And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
I will incline mine ear to a parable:
I will open my dark saying upon the harp.”
“All ye peoples … all ye inhabitants of the earth” (Psa 49:1). Only a world-shaking truth, significant for every soul who ever lived on earth, could be entitled to such an introduction as this. The revelation of this great truth is not for Jews only, but for all men and all classes of peoples in the whole world.
“Both low and high, rich and poor together” (Psa 49:2). Spurgeon suggested that all preaching should thus be directed to all ranks and divisions of mankind. “To suit our word for the rich alone is wicked sycophancy; and to aim at pleasing the poor alone is to act the part of a demagogue. Truth must be spoken so as to command the ear of all; and wise men seek to learn that acceptable style.
“A parable … I will open my dark saying” (Psa 49:4). The `parable’ and the `dark saying’ here are the same thing, the truth announced in Psa 49:15. “Both in Hebrew and in Greek, the words `parable,’ and `proverb’ are translated from the same word. The meaning here is, “That the psalmist is inspired to make the pronouncement which he is about to utter.
Thus we have three different words applicable to the earthshaking truth to be announced, namely, proverb, parable, and dark saying. We might even call it a riddle or a mystery.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 49:1. This is a call of admonishing for the world to respect the God of Israel.
Psa 49:2. No man is so low that the mercy of God will not come down to him. No one is so high as to be above needing the Lord. The rich in worldly goods are as nothing without God. The poor in material wealth may find true riches in the things that God provides for all his faithful servants.
Psa 49:3. The wisdom and understanding that David meant he would use would come from God. On such matters he proposed to meditate. (See ch. 1:2.)
Psa 49:4. This verse is quoted in Mat 13:35 and applied to the teaching of Jesus. It would be appropriate for David to connect his poetic and prophetic sayings with praises on musical instruments for they were his specialty. But the central idea was a prediction of the revealing through the teaching of Jesus of hitherto unknown truths.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

This is the song of a principle, and the psalmist commences by calling peoples of all castes and classes to give attention. It denies the power of material wealth, and a5rms that of uprightness. There are two things which wealth cannot do. It can neither help a man to escape death, nor can it ensure the life of the one possessing it. The passion of the heart for immortality is manifest in the building of houses and the naming of the land. It is all useless. Man is no more able to secure personal immortality thus than are the beasts which perish. Yet there is a mastery over Sheol and death. It is found in uprightness. The declaration, “The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning,” is very difficult to explain if it does not contain the light of hope beyond the grave. The morning is certainly something beyond Sheol and death, and the hope of the upright is in God’s deliverance from Sheol. The teaching of the song is simple, and sublime, present, and perpetual.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Folly of Trusting in Riches
Psa 49:1-20
Here is a proclamation worthy of the hearing of all the world. The psalmist is listening to voices unheard by ordinary ears. Be sure to listen to Gods voice, and then unfold His dark sayings in music. However dark they may seem in their mystery and awe, they may be uttered in song. See Rev 15:3-4.
The burden of the psalm is the impotence of wealth. The millionaire cannot prolong the life of his sick child. And even if, like Queen Elizabeth, he cries on his dying bed: A million of money for a moment of time! the sand passes unheeding through the hour-glass. He must leave stocks and shares, jewels and gold, at the summons of Death, described in Psa 49:14 as the shepherd who calls his flock to fold it in Sheol, R.V. How different the lot of the righteous! As eternity dawns, they are redeemed from the power of the grave and pass to the bosom of God. What are the riches and glory of this world compared with the sense of Gods presence in the humble and contrite heart! To have that is to have the essence of all! Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee, Psa 73:25.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 49:4
There are two voices always speaking in man, and attempting to govern all other influences in his soul-despondency and aspiration. The text points to two principles. (1) There is the bowing before, and hearkening to, the mystery of things, the universal, parabolic utterances; and (2) the turning the mystery and the parable into a cheerful song, the dark saying becoming, like the bird’s song in the covert of the night, a clear stream without sorrow and without care.
I. All Scripture itself is a dark saying on a harp. There is a Divine reticence in the Bible; there is an awful secretiveness. As the voices of music lift us to worlds beyond themselves, so, in an eminent sense, it is with Scripture. It is a manifold unity, like the universe in which we live; nor have we any difficulty in finding how what is suggested and what is revealed are alike a dark saying on the harp.
II. Man himself is a dark saying on a harp. He is himself a universe of being in which life, and nature, and grace seek to combine in music. Man’s soul is written all over with dark sayings. “It pleased God to reveal His Son in me,” said the Apostle. Then the handwriting flames round the chambers of the soul; until then the magnificent works of genius are aberrations and insanities; then the harp utters the word of light, and the dark saying on the soul flies before its tone.
III. Providence is a dark saying on a harp. The mysteries of Providence were as startling to David as they are to us, and this very Psalm recites and records them; it did not seem to be a world of highways to the Psalmist, and this is one of the great causes of grief and of the dark sayings-the world and its sorrows. For the people of God the hour shall come when all dark sayings shall melt on the harp, and life shall no longer represent the burden, but only the bliss, of being.
E. Paxton Hood, Dark Sayings on a Harp, p. 1.
Psa 49:7
These words ought to teach us: (1) that we cannot save other people, however much we may wish to do so, and (2) that other people cannot save us, no matter how great a desire they may feel of doing so. But though we cannot save or, as the text says, redeem our brother, by which we mean anybody, yet there is something we can do: we can try to bring him to One who can save him. Having come to Jesus yourself, the next thing is to try to bring all you can to Him.
I. What the text teaches is that religion must be personal. Every man and woman, every boy and girl, who wishes to be saved must be saved by his own or her own faith and love in the Lord Jesus. Each must himself love Christ; each must believe in Christ; each must serve Christ.
II. Religion must not be mere imitation. It is a thing to have in the heart. When you pray, you must pray with the heart, and not merely with the lips; when you read God’s word, it must be from a wish to learn God’s will, in order to please and obey Him.
III. No man can redeem himself; our redemption has been worked, and a ransom given for us. Christ laid down His precious life for us, and God has accepted the atonement on condition that we accept it also. Though you may sometimes feel downcast and fear you may fall, yet you will find that the blessed Redeemer will not allow those whom He has “purchased with His own blood” to be wrenched from Him. “Ye are Christ’s,” and Christ is the safety of the Christian.
G. Litting, Thirty Children’s Sermons, p. 182.
References: Psa 49:7.-T. K. Cheyne, Expositor, 3rd series, vol. ii., p. 400. Psa 49:8.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 22.
Psa 49:17
Sadly as this announcement may present itself to us at the first, writing vanity on so many of the toils, and hopes, and accumulations of men, yet, looked at a little closer, it is not so sad as it appears.
I. For, in the first place, that a man shall carry away nothing with him when he dieth is true only of his earthly goods, which are therefore not goods in the highest and truest sense of the word. Here then is a thought of encouragement, of strong consolation: that it is only the meaner things of earth which lie under the bondage of corruption, on which the sentence of vanity is written, which refuse to accompany their owners on that long last journey which, one day or other, every man must make.
II. Even in regard of earthly things, while it is quite true that a man can carry nothing of them away with him when he dies, he may send much of them before him while he lives. The Apostle Paul declares no less when, urging those who are rich that they be glad to distribute, he proposes this as a motive, that they will be thus “laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come.” God is not unrighteous, to forget the least of these things that are wrought for His name’s sake.
R. C. Trench, Sermons in Westminster Abbey, p. 364.
References: Psalm 49-Expositor, 1st series, vol. x., p. 466. 1. 1-6.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xix., p. 276. 1. 5, 6.-G. Calthrop, Temptation of Christ, p. 311. Psa 50:11.-H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Children’s Bread, p. 95. 1. 12.-D. G. Watt, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 292.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Psalm 49
Retrospects and Meditations
1. Hear this, all ye peoples! (Psa 49:1-4)
2. His message of retrospect and encouragement (Psa 49:5-20)
If such is the outcome and the goal of the purposes of God concerning His people, why should they fear in the days of evil, which precede the coming glory? The ungodly will pass away no matter how great their riches are, nor can they redeem themselves; their way is folly; like sheep they are laid in the grave and death feeds on them. But different is the lot of the righteous. They shall have dominion over them in the morning, when the night of suffering and trouble is ended. They will be redeemed from the power of the grave and He shall receive them, for He will swallow up death in victory.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

for: or, of, Psa 46:1, Psa 48:1, *titles
Hear: Psa 34:11, Psa 78:1, Pro 1:20-23, Mat 11:15, Mat 13:9, Rev 2:7, Rev 2:11, Rev 2:17, Rev 2:29
inhabitants: Psa 50:1, Isa 49:6, Mal 1:11, Mat 28:19, Mat 28:20, Rom 3:29, Rom 10:18
Reciprocal: Num 26:11 – General Deu 32:1 – General Jdg 5:3 – O ye kings 1Ch 6:37 – Korah 1Ch 9:19 – Korah 1Ch 26:1 – Korhites 2Ch 15:2 – Hear ye me 2Ch 20:19 – Korhites Job 26:3 – plentifully Job 33:1 – hear Psa 42:1 – the sons Pro 4:2 – good Pro 8:4 – General Pro 22:2 – rich Isa 18:3 – All ye Isa 32:9 – give ear Isa 34:1 – Come Isa 43:9 – all the Isa 46:12 – Hearken Jer 17:20 – General Jer 25:2 – General Dan 4:35 – the inhabitants Joe 1:2 – Hear Mic 1:2 – hearken Mar 7:14 – when Joh 12:19 – the world Act 13:16 – give Rev 6:15 – the kings
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Completed histories.
To the chief musician, a psalm of the sons of Korah.
{* Or “transitory world,” cheled; comp. Psa 17:14.
* “Sons of Adam, and sons of Ish.”
* Literally, “wisdoms,” “discernments.”
* Literally, “mouth.”
* Literally, “his soul.”}
The last psalm of this series is an inspired “psalm of life,” completed, as only revelation could complete it, by a glance at what is beyond this. Thus the folly is apparent which makes the incomplete story all, and in the face of incontrovertible facts, lives as if death were not, and time were eternity.
We must remember; however; that we are still in Israel; and that we have neither resurrection nor a heavenly portion presented, although one verse at first sight does seem to give the former. But it speaks rather of the delivered people as represented by the psalmist himself, their enemies being destroyed, and the “morning” of the millennial day brought in by the uprising of the “Sun of righteousness” (Mal 4:1-6) and dominion given to the “upright.” This is the completion of the story on that side, as death with its Sheol mystery is on the other. In neither case have we resurrection.
1. The first section calls all people to hear a truth which has, in the events depicted in previous psalms; received a striking commentary. The psalmist characterizes those he addresses according to what is his theme in it; as dwellers in time. Whatever their various conditions, this is a condition common to all; and bringing all to more equality than commonly apprehended. He premises that he has “wisdoms” -fullness of wisdom -to communicate; and that it is not a mere message; but what has been the meditation of his own heart, and is personal discernment (once more a plural). He uses “proverbial speech,” such as his own ear has been attentive to, and the accompaniment of the harp to propound his deep sayings -nature being in fact in harmonious accord with all he utters.
2. The rest of the psalm is, of course, the deep saying itself. It is divided into two equal parts, both ending in a similar refrain. The first gives the false confidence of man which leaves him ashamed at last, transparently the dupe of his own perversity. The last contrasts it with the reality for sinner and for saint.
He begins with a question, which is answered by what follows to the end of the psalm. If man with all his self-confidence is yet the poor creature which this represents, why then should he be afraid in days of evil, though encircled by the perversity of those that would trip him up? Thus it is a psalm of cheer and encouragement for a day that is not yet over when he utters it. The deliverance is not accomplished; but it is assured, and about to come. Faith predicts it and the destruction of the wicked, -inspired by the morality of nature itself, which proclaims throughout the judgment of sin and the triumph of righteousness. Folly is not wisdom, and cannot be followed by the effects of wisdom. He sees easily through these men of abundant resources, confident in what is so manifestly incompetent as against the might of that death which baffles them all. God in His holy government has ordained this for one only possible reason -sin. Let any one of these throw his shield about his brother, and give God a ransom for him, so that he may perpetuate his precious life. Plainly he cannot; it is too costly: he must let that alone forever. He sees and knows, himself, -every one does; -that as to wise and fools alike death knows no difference, makes no exception. It is the point of Ecclesiastes; there greatly enlarged on: a simple, obvious matter indeed, but which makes more astonishing the willful blindness which permits men to dwell securely in possessions held on such a tenure; and call the solid earth by the names of its passing generations. The wheel turns, and they are shaken from it. Man does not, as a rule, lodge for the little night that belongs to him; in honor. He passes; and goes down to silence like the beast.
3. Follow him now to the other side; -where is he? what of his senseless sayings, which yet those who follow him -before whose eyes he passes away -approve! They all like sheep with meek subjection are made to lie down in Sheol; death is the shepherd tending there; and in the morning (after the night of death) no deliverance is there for them: it is the day of dominion for the upright. For them; their very form wastes under the sway of Sheol, so as to find no habitation.
Sheol and the grave are not here confounded: the one is as distinctly the recipient of the soul, as the other is of the body. But Sheol having mastered and retaining the soul; this necessarily entails the wasting destruction of the form that is left behind, so that by and by it needs no habitation. Yet they had thought their dwelling-places should be forever! they -themselves soon to need none!
On the other hand the psalmist professes for himself his confidence: God shall redeem his soul from the power of Sheol: words which; no doubt, would apply to resurrection for those going down to death; but the connection seems rather to show the application to the deliverance of living men from that which might seem to have had them in its grip, -a hold marvelously and miraculously loosened. The further words “for He shall receive me” have been urged in behalf of resurrection; as being used of Enoch when “God
took* him.” But the word is of various use, and by itself could decide nothing: the occurrence in Psa 73:24; (“and afterwards receive me to glory,”) is perhaps really the most favorable to this view; but it needs to be examined in its connection there. The context in fact, in all cases, is that which will be found to have controlling influence upon interpretation. A largeness belongs to Scripture in such matters which will leave room (and was surely intended to leave room) for application to both Jewish and Christian verities, and these in more ways than one. Those who “are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord;” and of whom Enoch is a real type, will be caught up without seeing death, to meet the Lord in the air. They will surely be “redeemed from the power of Sheol” and received by God, as fully as any that go into it; and so with Jewish saints of similar classes.
{* Laqach, “receive” and “take.”}
After this outburst of glowing confidence; the moralizing of the psalm subsides to its lower and accustomed level. Riches give a transitory glory: death dispossesses the owner of it all. Alas, the effect may not be transient; life with this brilliancy about it tends to dazzle the eyes doubly -to what is beyond and what is around alike. Every way shut up within the narrowest limits; man is ignorant of these, blesses himself; and is praised by others. He passes to the generation of his fathers; his taper-light quenched with theirs, never to revive. Alas! “Man that is in honor, and understanding not; is like the beasts that perish.”
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 49:1-2. Hear this, all ye people Hebrew, all people, Jews or Gentiles: for this doctrine is not peculiar to those that are blessed with divine revelation; but even the light of nature bears witness to it, and all the inhabitants of the world are concerned in it. All men may know, and therefore let all men consider, that their riches will not profit them in the day of death. Both low and high, rich and poor together Whether you be men of obscure birth and meaner rank, or persons nobly descended, and in great authority; whether you abound in wealth, or are of the poorer class, you are all alike concerned to attend to my instruction.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psa 49:1. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world. The psalmist opens his song as a philosopher and a prophet, giving equal instruction to all mankind.
Psa 49:3. My mouth shall speak of wisdom. I will speak boldly of the schemes, the follies, and the best wisdom of mortal man; that a just portrait of his errors may direct his steps to the good way in which he ought to walk.
Psa 49:4. A parable; a succession of wise, moral, and divine maxims. It differs from allegory by the nigma it contains.
Psa 49:5. The iniquity of my heels. Critics multiply readings here. Some by heels understand ways or footsteps. Others by heels understand the remains of human life, and infer the text to mean a caution: why should I take steps in the acquisition of wealth, which will occasion me pain at a future day. Bishop Lowth, taking akabey, and very correctly, for the present participle of the verb, will have the sense to be, The wickedness of those that lie in wait for me.
Psa 49:8. The redemption of their soul is precious. If once lost, it is lost for ever: there is no redemption in the grave. It is highly probable that our Saviour had this text in view, when he spake of gaining the whole world and losing the soul. Elihu said to Job 36:18, Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with a stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. In both these passages more is meant than the loss of natural life. The Redeemer having paid this ransom by the price of his life for our lives, carries the redemption into effect by the power of truth and grace. And the day of grace is precious, for it is short: in the grave, it ceaseth for ever.
Psa 49:11. They call their lands after their own names, as illustrated in Genesis 10. They do the same with cities, as Nineveh from Ninus; Rome from Romulus; Antioch from Antiochus; Alexandria from Alexander; Constantinople, the city of Constantine the great. Yes, we see the city, we read the history, we inspect the monument; but where is the dust? We cannot now distinguish it; we are as water spilt on the ground. He only is wise who has a name written in heaven.
Psa 49:12. Man being in honour abideth not. The Hebrew, and our old bibles read, man being in honour lodgeth not all night. Hence some would infer that Adam fell on the day he was created; and they would prove it by our Saviours calling Satan a murderer from the beginning. This is all uncertain.
Psa 49:14. In the morning; that is early, or in the morning of the resurrection. Chrysostom prefers the former.
Psa 49:15. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. The prophet Hosea evidently alludes to this, in Hos 13:14, where he speaks of the resurrection, which in the preseding verse of this psalm is called, the morning.
REFLECTIONS.
The holy prophet running the race of life, and studying human nature, here professedly writes of wisdom. Confident of having found the truth, and of being able to instruct the ignorant, he is bold in his assertions. He invites high and low, rich and poor, to the grand theatre of instruction. His first maxim of wisdom was not to fear the snares, plots, and oppressions of the rich and the great. Or in whatever sense we take the text, the righteous man has nothing to fear. His past sins are forgiven, grace will preserve his conscience pure, and the snares of the wicked shall but entangle their own feet.
He would not fear the wealthy, because in the day of visitation they could neither redeem a brothers life, nor their own. The price was above the reach of their fortune; and so much so, as to cease for ever to be in their power. That price the Redeemer, the near kinsman of heavenly descent, alone could pay. Isa 53:10.
The good man was the less moved at the influx of opulence, pride and power, because of the infatuation which is too often attendant on wealth. The rich flatter themselves with immortality on the earth. They allow of death in word, but in sentiment dream that the whole of life is yet before them. Hence they call their villas and their lands after their own name; and the folly of their maxim is applauded by their children. But alas, man in honour abideth not. The family is presently extinct, the sons of strangers inherit their substance, their flesh is fattened as sheep for the slaughter, the worms riot on their pampered carcase, and beggars trample on their grave.
The good man was farther gratified by contrasting the luminous exit of the righteous, with the hopeless end of the wicked. Though wealth could not ransom the wicked, yet God will redeem his servants from the grave, having first received their souls to glory. Hence a hope founded on the promise, a hope full of immortality, cheers the good man at the hour of death, while a cloud of eternal darkness obscures the proud in oblivion and shame.
We should not grieve that the wicked first have their portion, for it is but a worldly portion; and God is about to strip the faithless stewards even of this. He will take away their honours and titles, and cover them with reproach. The panegyrists, a venal eloquence or false marble, may load their memory with fame; but true wisdom, lasting in its decisions, will class them with fools, who like the beasts that perish, choose a sensual paradise of meats and drinks. So like their foolish father, they shall never see the light of glory.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

XLIX. The Immortality of the Righteous.The poet takes a popular proverb for his theme. This proverb recurs as a refrain in Psa 49:12 and Psa 49:20, and it probably stood originally after Psa 49:8 and Psa 49:15 also. Adopting this supposition we find that the Ps. falls into five parts, Psa 49:1-4, Psa 49:5-8, Psa 49:9-12, Psa 49:13-15, Psa 49:16-20.
Psa 49:1-4. The question stated; if we supply the refrain here, the sense becomes clear. Why is it that man, however high in state, does not continue in that state but perishes like the beasts?
Psa 49:5-8. There is no escape from death. God will accept no bribe and give exemption from death in return. Psa 49:9 a belongs to Psa 49:6, He must give up for ever the thought of living always. Then insert the refrain as in Psa 49:12.
Psa 49:9-12. Continues the same thought.
Psa 49:9. Shall he fail to see the pit? Nay, he seeth that wise men die, etc.
Psa 49:11. Follow mg.
Psa 49:13-15. The wicked like the righteous die, but the righteous alone have the prospect of immortality.
Psa 49:13. Translate with slight emendation, This is the way of those who have confidence in themselves and the end of those who approve their sayings.
Psa 49:14. Death shall be their shepherd: Cheyne quotes an interesting parallel from the Hamasathe great collection of Arabic poetry. There a plague-stricken tribe is described as a herd of camels driven by death.And the upright, etc., read, They shall go down straight [i.e. to Sheol]: Soon their form shall waste away. Sheol shall be their abode for ever.Soon, literally, In the [next] morning (cf. Psa 90:14).
Psa 49:15. One of the most important verses in the OT. The Heb. word for take is technical. It is applied (Gen 5:24) to the translation of Enoch and in 2Ki 2:9 f. to that of Elijah. Where were the righteous to go after death? Some have interpreted the Ps. as the voice of the nation. The individual saints might perish, but not Israel, Gods son. The language, however, gives no hint of any such personification. Possibly the writer hoped that righteous souls would be translated, like Enoch or Elijah, to some unknown Paradise. Or he may have been looking forward to the sudden advent of a Messianic Age, in which men did not die, or at least lived to patriarchal ages. Nothing is said about the immortality of the wicked.
Psa 49:16-20. Again the poet thinks of the destruction of the wicked.
Psa 49:16. Read mg.
Psa 49:18. Read Though in his lifetime he congratulated his soul [i.e. himself] and praised it because it did well for itself.
Psa 49:20. Correct the refrain in agreement with Psa 49:12.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 49
In view of the judgments of God about to overwhelm the world, all the inhabitants are warned against the folly of trusting in riches to meet the days of evil. The psalm shows the vanity of riches, and the end of those who boast in their wealth. It encourages the godly in an evil day to trust in God, who not only redeems from death, but afterwards receives the soul.
(vv. 1-4) All the inhabitants of this passing fleeting world, whatever their social position, whether rich or poor, are called to hear the wisdom of one who speaks with understanding, or ‘discernment.’ The psalmist speaks as one who has listened to the voice of God, and is thus able to expound the riddle of life, with all the certainty of inspiration.
(v. 5) The psalmist opens his warning with a word of encouragement for the godly man who finds himself living in an evil day, surrounded by those who seek to trip him up. Why should such fear? The exposure that follows, of the utter vanity of those who confide in their riches, answers this question. For the one who trusts in God there is no fear.
(vv. 6-14) The psalmist proceeds to show the folly of trusting in wealth, and boasting in riches. Man cannot, with all his wealth, redeem his brother from death or secure blessing from God. The redemption of the soul is costly, beyond the wealth of the world; God alone can redeem from death. Man cannot but see one thing is common to all, whether wise, or fools, or brutes – all die, and dying will leave their wealth to others. They may seek to make provision for the continuance of their line, the maintenance of their dwelling places, and the perpetuation of their name. Nevertheless, though man may rise to honour in this life, he cannot abide. Death spoils the plans of man, and proves the folly of their ways, even though the living approve their sayings. In spite of their inward thoughts, expressed in their sayings, their wealth is left behind, and their magnificent dwellings shrink down to the narrow grave. Their beauty ends in corruption.
(v. 15) Here then is the answer to the question asked by the poor man who trusts in God. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil? In contrast to those who trust in riches, the one who trusts in God can say, God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. The soul redeemed by God will be received by God after death has closed the present life.
(vv. 16-20) Therefore, those who trust in God are not to be afraid when success and earthly prosperity come to the man of the world. Such need not fear that they have made a mistake in trusting God, or that they have missed a great deal that the worldly man enjoys. Let such remember that when the man of the world dies he carries nothing away. He has not been rich toward God. He leaves all behind, and has laid up no treasure for the world to come. Earthly riches and worldly glory cannot follow him to the grave. He may, indeed, have done well for himself, as men speak, in this life, and in consequence be praised by others as a successful man. In the end he dies, even as his fathers have done before him; he sees the light no more and, as far as this world is concerned, has perished like the beasts.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

49:1 [To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.] Hear {a} this, all [ye] people; give ear, all [ye] inhabitants of the world:
(a) He will intreat how God governs the world by his providence which cannot be perceived by the judgment of the flesh.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 49
The writer reflected on the problem that the prosperity of the wicked poses in this wisdom psalm (cf. Psalms 73). He observed that there are many ungodly people who enjoy many physical blessings. Still, he concluded that the righteous are better off because they have a sure hope for the future.
"The psalm is an encouragement to the godly who are haunted by the power and influence of the rich." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 366. See also Brueggemann, pp. 106-10.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Invitation to hear wisdom 49:1-4
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The psalmist urged all people to listen to what he had to say in this poem. All kinds of people need to be aware of the insight he revealed here: both the low (with small estates) and the high (with large estates), the rich and the poor. This applies to the wicked as well as the righteous.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 49:1-20
THIS psalm touches the high-water mark of Old Testament faith in a future life; and in that respect, as well as in its application of that faith to alleviate the mystery of present inequalities and non-correspondence of desert with condition, is closely related to the noble Psa 73:1-28, with Which it has also several verbal identities. Both have the same problem before them-to construct a theodicy, or “to vindicate the ways of God to man”-and both solve it in the same fashion. Both appear to refer to the story of Enoch in their remarkable expression for ultimate reception into the Divine presence. But whether the psalms are contemporaneous cannot be determined from these data. Cheyne regards the treatment of the theme in Psa 73:1-28, as “more skilful,” and therefore presumably later than Psa 49:1-20, which he would place “somewhat before the close of the Persian period.” This date rests on the assumption that the amount of certitude as to a future life expressed in the psalm was not realised in Israel till after the exile.
After a solemn summons to all the world to hear the psalmists utterance of what he has learned by Divine teaching (Psa 49:1-4), the psalm is divided into two parts, each closed with a refrain. The former of these (Psa 49:5-12) contrasts the arrogant security of the prosperous godless with the end that awaits them; while the second (Psa 49:13-20) contrasts the dreary lot of these victims of vain self-confidence with the blessed reception after death into Gods own presence which the psalmist grasped as a certainty for himself, and thereon bases an exhortation to possess souls in patience while the godless prosper, and to be sure that their lofty structures will topple into hideous ruin.
The psalmists consciousness that he speaks by Divine inspiration, and that his message imports all men, is grandly expressed in his introductory summons. The very name which he gives to the world suggests the latter thought; for it means-the world considered as fleeting. Since we dwell in so transitory an abode, it becomes us to listen to the deep truths of the psalm. These have a message for high and low, for rich and poor. They are like a keen lancet to let out too great fulness of blood from the former, and to teach moderation, lowliness, and care for the Unseen. They are a calming draught for the latter, soothing when perplexed or harmed by “the proud mans contumely.” But the psalmist calls for universal attention, not only because his lessons fit all classes, but because they are in themselves “wisdom,” and because he himself had first bent his ear to receive them before he strung his lyre to utter them. The brother-psalmist, in Psa 73:1-28, presents himself as struggling with doubt and painfully groping his way to his conclusion. This psalmist presents himself as a divinely inspired teacher, who has received into purged and attentive ears, in many a whisper from God, and as the result of many an hour of silent waiting, the word which he would now proclaim on the housetops. The discipline of the teacher of religious truth is the same at all times. There must be the bent ear before there is the message which men will recognise as important and true.
There is no parable in the ordinary sense in the psalm. The word seems to have acquired the wider meaning of a weighty didactic utterance, as in Psa 73:2. The expression “Open my riddle” is ambiguous, and is by some understood to mean the proposal and by others the solution of the puzzle; but the phrase is more naturally understood of solving than of setting a riddle, and if so, the disproportion between the characters and fortunes of good and bad is the mystery or riddle, and the psalm is its solution.
The main theme of the first part is the certainty of death, which makes infinitely ludicrous the rich mans arrogance. It is one version of
“There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings.”
Therefore how vain the boasting in wealth, when all its heaps cannot buy a day of life! This familiar thought is not all the psalmists contribution to the solution of the mystery of lifes unequal partition of worldly good; but it prepares the way for it, and it lays a foundation for his refusal to be afraid, however pressed by insolent enemies. Very significantly he sets the conclusion, to which observation of the transiency of human prosperity has led him, at the beginning of his “parable.” In the parallel psalm (Psa 73:1-28) the stager shows himself struggling from the depths of perplexity up to the sunny heights of faith. But here the poet begins with the clear utterance of trustful courage, and then vindicates it by the thought of the impotence of wealth to avert death. The hostility to himself of the self-confident rich boasters appears only for a moment at first. It is described by a gnarled, energetic phrase which has been diversely understood. But it seems clear that the “iniquity” (A.V. and R.V.) spoken of in Psa 49:5 b is not the psalmists sin, for a reference here to his guilt or to retribution would be quite irrelevant; and if it were the consequences of his own evil that dogged him at his heels, he had every reason to fear, and confidence would be insolent defiance. But the word rendered in the A.V. heels, which is retained in the R.V. with a change in construction, may be a participial noun, derived from a verb meaning to trip up or supplant; and this gives a natural coherence to the whole verse, and connects it with the following one. “Pursuers” is a weak equivalent for the literal “those who would supplant me,” but conveys the meaning, though in a somewhat enfeebled condition. Psa 49:6 is a continuance of the description of the supplanters.
They are “men of this world,” the same type of man as excites stern disapproval in many psalms: as, for instance, in Psa 17:14 -a psalm which is closely related to this, both in its portrait of the godless and its lofty hope for the future. It is to be noted that they are not described as vicious or God-denying or defying. They are simply absorbed in the material, and believe that land and money are the real, solid goods. They are the same men as Jesus meant when He said that it was hard for those who trusted in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It has been thought that the existence of such a class points to a late date for the psalm; but the reliance on riches does not require large riches to rely on, and may flourish in full perniciousness in very primitive social conditions. A small elevation suffices to lift a man high enough above his fellows to make a weak head giddy. Those to whom material possessions are the only good have a natural enmity towards those who find their wealth in truth and goodness. The poet, the thinker, and, most of all, the religious man, are targets for more or less active “malice,” or, at all events, are recognised as belonging to another class, and regarded as singular and “unpractical,” if nothing worse. But the psalmist looks far enough ahead to see the end of all the boasting, and points to the great instance of the impotence of material good-its powerlessness to prolong life. It would be more natural to find in Psa 49:7 the statement that the rich man cannot prolong his own days than that he cannot do so for a “brother.” A very slight change in the text would make the initial word of the verse (“brother”) the particle of asseveration, which occurs in Psa 49:15 (the direct antithesis of this verse), and is characteristic of the parallel Psa 73:1-28. With that reading (Ewald, Cheyne, Baethgen, etc.) other slight difficulties are smoothed; but the present text is attested by the LXX and other early versions, and is capable of defence. It may be necessary to observe that there is no reference here to any other “redemption” than that of the body from physical death. There is a distinct intention to contrast the mans limited power with Gods, for Psa 49:15 points back to this verse, and declares that God can do what man cannot. Psa 49:8 must be taken as a parenthesis, and the construction carried on from Psa 49:7 to Psa 49:9, which specifies the purpose of the ransom, if it were possible. No man can secure for another continuous life or an escape from the necessity of seeing the pit-i.e., going down to the depths of death. It would cost more than all the rich mans store; wherefore he-the would-be ransomer-must abandon the attempt forever.
The “see” in Psa 49:10 is taken by many to have the same object as the “see” in Psa 49:9. “Yea, he shall see it.” (So Hupfeld, Hitzig, Perowne, and others.) “The wise die” will then begin a new sentence. But the repetition is feeble, and breaks up the structure of Psa 49:10 undesirably. The fact stares the rich man in the face that no difference of position or of character affects the necessity of death. Down into that insatiable maw of Sheol (“the ever asking”?) beauty, wisdom, wealth, folly, and animalism go alike, and it still gapes wide for fresh food. But a strange hallucination in the teeth of all experience is cherished in the “inward thought” of “the men of this world” – namely, that their houses shall continue forever. Like the godless man in Psa 10:1-18, this rich man has reached a height of false security, which cannot be put into words without exposing its absurdity, but which yet haunts his inmost thoughts. The fond imagination of perpetuity is not driven out by the plain facts of life and death. He acts on the presumption of permanence; and he whose working hypothesis is that he is to abide always as his permanent home in his sumptuous palace, is rightly set down as believing in the incredible belief that the common lot will not be his. A mans real belief is that which moulds his life, though he has never formulated it in words. This “inward thought” either underlies the rich godless mans career, or that career is inexplicable. There is an emphatic contrast drawn between what he “sees” and what he, all the while, hugs in his secret heart. That contrast is lost if the emendation found in the LXX and adopted by many modern commentators is accepted, according to which, by the transposition of a letter, we get “their grave” instead of “their inward [thought].” A reference to the grave comes too early; and if the sense of Psa 49:11 a-is that “their grave (or, the graves) are their houses forever,” there is no parallelism between Psa 49:11 a-and c. The delusion of continuance is, on the other hand, naturally connected with the proud attempt to make their names immortal by impressing them on their estates. The language of Psa 49:11 c is somewhat ambiguous; but, on the whole, the rendering “they call their lands by their own names” accords best with the context.
Then comes with a crash the stern refrain which pulverises all this insanity of arrogance. The highest distinction among men gives no exemption from the grim law which holds all corporeal life in its gripe. The psalmist does not look, and probably did not see, beyond the external fact of death. He knows nothing of a future for the men whose portion is in this life. As we shall see in the second part of the psalm, the confidence in immortality is for him a deduction from the fact of communion with God here, and, apparently, his bent ear had received no whisper as to any distinction between the godless man and the beast in the regard to their deaths. They are alike “brought to silence.” The awful dumbness of the dead strikes on his heart and imagination as most pathetic. “That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once,” and now the pale lips are locked in eternal silence, and some ears hunger in vain “for the sound of a voice that is still.”
Hupfeld would transfer Psa 49:13, which begins the second part, so that it should stand before the refrain, which would then have the Selah, that now comes in peculiarly at the end of Psa 49:13. But there is nothing unnatural in the first verse of the second part summing up the contents of the first part; and such a summary is needed in order to bring out the contrast between the godless folly and end of the rich men on the one hand, and the hope of the psalmist on the other. The construction of Psa 49:13 is disputed. The “way” may either mean conduct or fate, and the word rendered in the A.V. and R.V. “folly” has also the meaning of stupid security or self-confidence. It seems best to regard the sentence as not pronouncing again that the conduct described in Psa 49:6-11 is foolish, but that the end foretold in Psa 49:12 surely falls on such as have that dogged insensibility to the facts of life which issues in such presumptuous assurance. Many commentators would carry on the sentence into Psa 49:13 b, and extend the “lot” to those who in after generations approve their sayings. But the paradoxical fact that notwithstanding each generations experience the delusion is obstinately maintained from father to son yields a fuller meaning. In either case the notes of the musical interlude fix attention on the thought, in order to make the force of the following contrast greater. That contrast first deals with the fate of godless men after death. The comparison with the “beasts” in the refrain may have suggested the sombre grandeur of the metaphor in Psa 49:14 a-and b: Sheol is as a great fold into which flocks are driven. There Death rules as the shepherd of that dim realm. What a contrast to the fold and the flock of the other Shepherd, who guides His unterrified sheep through the “valley of the shadow of death”! The waters of stillness beside which this sad shepherd makes his flock lie down are doleful and sluggish. There is no cheerful activity for these, nor any fair pastures, but they are penned in compelled inaction in that dreadful fold.
So far the picture is comparatively clear, but with the next clause difficulties begin. Does the “morning” mean only the end of the night of trouble; the beginning in this life of the uprights deliverance, or have we here an eschatological utterance? The whole of the rest of the verse has to do with the unseen world, and to confine this clause to the temporal triumph of the righteous over their dead oppressors drags in an idea belonging to another sphere altogether. We venture to regard the interpretation of these enigmatical words, which sees in them a dim adumbration of a great morning which will yet stream its light into the land of darkness, and in which not this or that upright man but the class as a whole shall triumph, as the only one which keeps the parts of the verse in unity. It is part of the “riddle” of the psalmist, probably not perfectly explicable to himself. We cannot say that there is here the clear teaching of a resurrection, but there is the germ of it, whether distinctly apprehended by the singer or not. The first glimpses of truth in all regions are vague, and the gazer does not know that the star he sees is a sun. Not otherwise did the great truths of the future life rise on inspired men of old. This psalmist divined, or, more truly, heard in his bent ear, that good and its lovers should triumph beyond the grave, and that somehow a morning would break for them. But he knew nothing of any such for the godless dead. And the remainder of the verse expresses in enigmatical brevity and obscurity the gloomy fate of those for whom there was no such awakening as he hoped for himself. Very different renderings have been given of the gnarled words. If we adhere to the accents, the literal translation is, “Their form is [destined] for the wasting of Sheol, from a dwelling place for it,” or “without its dwelling place”-an obscure saying, which is, however, intelligible when rendered as above. It describes the wasting away of the whole man, not merely his corporeal form, in Sheol, of which the corruption of the body in the grave may stand as a terrible symbol, so that only a thin shred of personality remains, which wanders homeless, unclothed with any house either “of this tabernacle” or any other, and so found drearily naked. Homeless desolation of bare being, from which all that is fair or good has been gnawed away, is awfully expressed in the words. Other renderings, neglecting the accents, and amending the text, bring out other meanings: such as “Their form is for corruption; Hades [will be] its dwelling place” (Jennings and Lowe); “Their form shall waste away. Sheol shall be their castle forever” (so Cheyne in “Book of Psalms”; in “Orig. of Psalt.” frame is substituted for form, and palace for castle. Baethgen gives up the attempt to render the text or to restore it, and takes to asterisks).
To this condition of dismal inactivity, as of sheep penned in a fold, of loss of beauty, of wasting and homelessness, the psalmist opposes the fate which he has risen to anticipate for himself. Psa 49:15 is plainly antithetical, not only to Psa 49:14, but to Psa 49:7. The “redemption” which was impossible with men is possible with God. The emphatic particle of asseveration and restriction at the beginning is, as we have remarked, characteristic of the parallel Psa 63:1-11. It here strengthens the expression of confidence, and points to God as alone able to deliver His servant from the “hand of Sheol.” That deliverance is clearly not escape from the universal lot, which the psalmist has just proclaimed so impressively as affecting wise and foolish alike. But while he expects that he, too, will have to submit to the strong hand that plucks all men from their dwelling places, he has won the assurance that sameness of outward lot covers absolute difference in the conditions of those who are subjected to it. The faith that he will be delivered from the power of Sheol does not necessarily imply the specific kind of deliverance involved in resurrection, and it may be a question whether that idea was definitely before the singers mind. But, without dogmatising on that doubtful point, plainly his expectation was of a life beyond death, the antithesis of the cheerless one just painted in such gloomy colours. The very brevity of the second clause of the verse makes it the more emphatic.
The same pregnant phrase occurs again with the same emphasis in Psa 73:24, “Thou shalt take me,” and in both passages the psalmist is obviously quoting from the narrative of Enochs translation. “God took him. {Gen 5:24} He has fed his faith on that signal instance of the end of a life of communion with God, and it has; confirmed the hopes which such a life cannot but kindle, so that he is ready to submit to the common lot, bearing in his heart the assurance that, in experiencing it, he will not be driven by that grim shepherd into his gloomy fold, but lifted by God into His own presence. As in Psa 16:1-11; Psa 17:1-15 we have here the certainty of immortality filling a devout soul as the result of present experience of communion with God. These great utterances as to the two contrasted conditions after death are, in one aspect, the psalmists “riddle,” in so far as they are stated in “dark and cloudy words,” but, in another view, are the solution of the painful enigma of the prosperity of the godless and the afflictions of the righteous. Fittingly the Selah follows this solemn, great hope.
As the first part began with the psalmists encouraging of himself to put away fear so the whole ends with the practical application of the truths declared, in the exhortation to others not to be terrified nor bewildered out of their faith by the insolent inflated prosperity of the godless. The lofty height of wholesome mysticism reached in the anticipation of personal immortality is not maintained in this closing part. The ground of the exhortation is simply the truth proclaimed in the first part, with additional emphasis on the thought of the necessary parting from all wealth and pomp. “Shrouds have no pockets.” All the external is left behind, and much of the inward too-such as habits, desires, ways of thinking, and acquirements which have been directed to and bounded by the seen and temporal. What is not left behind is character and desert. The man of this world is wrenched from his possessions by death; but he who has made God his portion here carries his portion with him, and does not enter on that other state
“in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory does he come
To God who is his home.”
Our Lords parable of the foolish rich man has echoes of this psalm. “Whose shall those things be?” reminds us of “He will not take away any of it”; and “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up take thine ease” is the best explanation of what the psalmist meant by “blessing his soul.” The godless rich man of the psalm is a selfish and godless one. His condemnation lies not in his wealth, but in his absorption in it and reliance upon it, and in his cherishing the dream of perpetual enjoyment of it, or at least shunning the thought of its loss. Therefore, “when he dies, he goes to the generation of his fathers,” who are conceived of as gathered in solemn assembly in that dark realm. “Generation” here implies, as it often does moral similarity. It includes all the mans predecessors of like temper with himself. A sad company sitting there in the dark! Going to them is not identical with death nor with burial, but implies at least some rudimentary notion of companionship according to character, in that land of darkness. The darkness is the privation of all which deserves the name of light, whether it be joy or purity. Psa 49:18 b is by some taken to be the psalmists address to the rich man, and by others to be spoken to the disciple who had been bidden not to fear. In either case it brings in the thought of the popular applause which flatters success, and plays chorus to the prosperous mans own self-congratulations. Like Psa 49:13 b, it gibbets the servile admiration of such men, as indicating what the praisers would fain themselves be, and as a disclosure of that base readiness to worship the rising sun, which has for its other side contempt for the unfortunate who should receive pity and help.
The refrain is slightly but significantly varied. Instead of “abides not,” it reads “and has not understanding.” The alteration in the Hebrew is very slight, the two verbs differing only by one letter, and the similarity in sound is no doubt, the reason for the selection of the word. But the change brings out the limitations under which the first form of the refrain is true, and guards the whole teaching of the psalm from being taken to be launched at rich men as such. The illuminative addition in this second form shows that it is the abuse of riches, when they steal away that recognition of God and of mans mortality which underlies the psalmists conception of understanding, that is doomed to destruction like the beasts that are put to silence. The two forms of the refrain, are, then, precisely parallel to our Lords two sayings, when He first declared that it was hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, and then, in answer to His disciples surprise, put His dictum in the more definite form, “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom!”
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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