Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 49:13
This their way [is] their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
13. A difficult verse. The best rendering appears to be:
This is the way of them that are self-confident,
And of their followers who [lit. those who after them ] approve their sayings.
The verse sums up the preceding verses, like Job 18:21; Job 20:29. So it fares with these self-confident fools and their deluded followers (Psa 73:10; Job 21:33). Then, after an interlude, the fate of the wicked is more fully described in Psa 49:14, in contrast with the hope of the godly, Psa 49:15.
The word kel denotes the stupid self-confidence which is characteristic of the ‘fool’ ( k’sl, Psa 49:10). Cp. Job 31:24. Aquila and Jerome render run instead of approve. The difference is simply one of vocalisation, and in their day the text had no written vowels. With this reading we might render: And of those who run after them at their beck.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
13 15. The fate of the godless rich man is further described, and contrasted with the Psalmist’s confidence.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This their way is their folly – This might be rendered, This is their way or course of life. It is their folly; or, such is their folly. On the word way, see the notes at Psa 1:6. The idea is, that it is folly for a man to cherish these hopes; to feel that wealth is of so much importance; to imagine that it can deliver from the grave; to suppose that he can perpetuate his own name, and secure his possessions in his own family upon the earth. And yet the world is still full of people as foolish as were those in the time of the psalmist; people who will not be admonished by the suggestions of reason, or by the experience of 6,000 years in the past. This is one thing in which the world makes no progress – in which it learns nothing from the experience of the past; and as the beaver under the influence of instinct builds his house and his home now in the same way that the first beaver did his, and as the brutes all act in the same manner from generation to generation, accumulating no knowledge, and making no advances from the experience of the past, so it is with people in their desire to grow rich. On other points the world accumulates knowledge, and profits from experience, garnering up the lessons taught by past experiment and observation, and thus becoming wiser in all other respects; but in regard to the desire of wealth, it makes no progress, gains no knowledge, derives no advantage, from the generations of fools that have lived and died in past ages. They now engage in the pursuit of gold with the same zeal, and the same expectation and hope which were evinced in the first ages of the world, and as if their own superior skill and wisdom could set at nought all the lessons taught by the past.
Yet their posterity – The coming generation is as confident and as foolish as the one that went before.
Approve their sayings – Margin, delight in their mouth. That is, they delight or take pleasure in what proceeds from their mouth; in what they say; in their views of things. 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 49:13
This their way is their folly.
The folly of sin
There can be no greater evidence of the degeneracy of mankind than their fond pursuits after the things which are light and momentary, and their wilful neglect of those which are of the greatest value and concern.
1. It is egregious folly to rely upon false principles, to build upon tottering and deceitful foundations; and yet so doth every vicious person. He discards all principles of right reason and understanding, and steers himself only by those which are apparently false, and have no other bottom than his own deluded fancy.
2. Then it is a high piece of folly to take up and content ourselves with small things, when we may be more welcome to greater, to strive for petty matters, and in the meantime to neglect those of moment, to aim only at base and unworthy ends, when we have high and noble ones to busy ourselves about; and yet this every sinner is apparently guilty of, and thereby betrays his folly. Children and fools pick straws, and tie knots on bulrushes, entertain themselves with trifles and inpertinences, and we may gravely smile at these their follies, and think we can do no less when we take notice of them. But, alas! their sport is our earnest, and their childish toys and rattles are but emblems of mens serious employments and businesses.
3. He in the accounts of all intelligent persons is no other than a fool, who being left to his liberty and choice, chooses sensual and earthly delights before those that are spiritual and intellectual; and this is the guise of all sinners. Thus the intemperate and luxurious person most vainly esteems the pleasures of the taste and the delights of the palate above the more noble relishes of Divine and heavenly joys, which are the repast of the blessed, and the food of angels. The lascivious person unreasonably values the transitory emotions of his lust and lewd desires before the greater and more cherishing flames of Divine love. The covetous hugs his gold and silver, and broods over his bags with a mighty pleasure, preferring this before that other more generous and noble one of doing good with his wealth, of relieving some poor and comfortless widow, of succouring some fatherless child, of cheering the heart of some good man who is fallen into poverty, and is ready to perish. I appeal to any wise man, whether this be not a greater and more substantial pleasure than the other, whether this will not create a more lasting comfort in a mans mind. And the same is to be said of all the pleasures which accompany the performance of good and holy actions: they are solid and durable, they are real and substantial, because indeed they are spiritual and Divine. But silly birds will fly to painted grapes; deluded sinners prosecute those delights which are false and counterfeit: they hunt after mere shadows, than which there cannot be a greater evidence of their folly.
4. Is it not folly to mind those things only which are present, and to have no eye at all to futurity? Do not sinners merit for this strange improvidence and stupidity to be reckoned among idiots? Nay, do they not deserve for this to be ranged among brute beasts, who mind only what is directly before them, but have no sense of that which is to come? Opposite unto which is the posture of the prudent man, who, Janus-like, is double-faced; he not only entertains his eyes with things that are past and present, but he looks forward to what is future, and dwells on the thoughts of those great things which are to be hereafter. By faith, which is founded on infallible revelation, he expects future treasures, riches, honours and delights; and on this persuasion and hope he despises this vain world, and is resolved never to dote on its gaudy and glittering follies. Not that he bids adieu to society, and turns religion into melancholy and solitude, but he lets not this world gain any great portion of his affections, or divert him from thinking of and preparing for that future state in the other life.
5. Can it be deemed any other than folly and madness to take great pains to purchase the eternal torments of hell, and to fit oneself for the devil? It was complained of at Rome in the days of Nero, and other bloody emperors, that death itself was grown costly, and criminals could not be executed without large fees; but hardened sinners buy their death and damnation at a very dear rate, and yet are never heard to complain of it, which argues their prodigious madness and stupidity.
6. What title but that of fool ought to be fastened upon him who, pretending to eternal happiness hereafter, never uses those means which are proportioned to that great end? If the intemperate man knew where a club of the debauched were met together to fill themselves with wine and empty themselves of their reasons and understandings, and knew withal that their reckoning at last must be every mans blood, and the shot must be paid with their lives, would he not, think you, refrain from that meeting, and be persuaded not to be their comrade for that time? And this very person knows right well that luxury and drunkenness are awarded with no less than everlasting burnings, if the writings of the holy apostles be authentic, as certainly they are. What greater frenzy, then, can men labour under than to be guilty of the commission of sin in such circumstances, when they are convinced that they do amiss, and know that they take the wrong way to happiness, and see beforehand the unavoidable penalty of their misdoings?
7. Is not he to be esteemed a fool or a madman who glories in his shame, and boasts of that which is a real disgrace and reproach to him? Boasting at best is a loud indication of folly, but this is the grossest sort of folly to brag of that which really debaseth us to be proud of that which renders us vile and abominable. He is a fool indeed that makes a mock of sin.
8. It is the utmost degree of folly and frenzy to be confident and secure in the midst of the greatest dangers, and to be wholly unconcerned in that condition which is like to prove most perilous and destructive. This is the case of refractory sinners, and is as great a testimony of folly as can be produced. (J. Edwards, D. D.)
Yet their posterity approve their sayings.—
Disregarded signals
The question is sometimes discussed as to whether it were better to have lived in the first ages of the world, or in these later times. For some reasons, perhaps, it would have been better to have lived in the earlier ages, but we who live in the ends of the world have opportunity to profit by the experience of those who have gone before us. They tried a variety of experiments, and we may be guided by the results which often cost them so much.
I. Let us note and illustrate the fact affirmed by our text. Mr. Romanes, who has specially studied the minds of animals, says that we may infer intelligence in an animal whenever we see it able to profit by its own experience. But is it not the sign of a higher intelligence, the sign of human intelligence, that we are able to profit by the experience of others? Just as when a ship is lost, if it be possible some signal is placed on the fatal spot to apprise other vessels of the danger and to direct them into safe channels, so the merchant, the general, the statesman, consult the signals held forth by history that they may not make shipwreck of fortune, fame, or greatness. And yet our text accusing men of disregarding the lessons of history is painfully true. Whilst as a general rule men are anxious to profit by the experience of their ancestors on questions touching social or material interests, they are not nearly so scrupulous to profit by the moral page of history. Baxter tells how he once saw a man driving a flock of lambs, and something meeting and hindering them, one of the lambs leaped on the wall of a bridge and fell over into the river; whereupon the rest of the flock one by one leaped after it and were nearly all drowned. Thus we men often act blindly, madly.
II. We inquire into the reasons of this strange conduct. How is it men allow themselves in courses which have manifestly proved fatal to their predecessors?
1. Men blind themselves to the lessons of history by persuading themselves that variations of time and circumstance will prevent in their case the disastrous consequences which happened to others. No error could be greater than this, none more disastrous. What are circumstances to us? Absolutely nothing in comparison to the principle involved in the act, and whatever may be the surface variations the underlying principle will not fail to assert itself; and lust, pride, greed, vanity, materialism, ambition, thoughtlessness, will produce the fruit of misery and shame and ruin in any body, in any age, and in any place.
2. Men blind themselves to the lessons of history by presuming on their cleverness. It is manifest that specific sinful courses have proved the ruin of myriads, but we to-day meditating the same courses expect to come safely through by virtue of our acuteness. We form the fatal fancy that men perish not because they are wicked, but because they are weak; not because they are sinners, but because they are simpletons. In some parts of the Tyrol where the shooting has been severe, the birds of passage are said to deflect from their usual line of flight so that they may avoid the dangerous districts; but we persist in crossing dangerous places although we know countless numbers have fallen victims to the fowler, and this we do from one generation to another. Darwin tells us that animals learn from experience, imitating each others caution, and no animal can be caught long in the same kind of trap. But man is far less cautious. The devil keeps on using a few old traps smelling of the blood of ruined generations, and he has little need either to hide his traps or to change them; the same old baits–thirty pieces of silver, a wedge of gold, a rag of purple, a pretty face, a bottle, are abundantly and sorrowfully successful one age after another. If there is any acuteness about us, let us show it by letting evil things alone.
3. Men blind themselves to the lessons of history by presuming on their strength. I know where to draw the line, where to pull up, where to put my foot down; they will find no weakness in me. Men forget that once committed to a downward course they soon acquire a momentum not to be broken, not to be controlled. Some time ago the papers told us about a Californian stage-driver who was dying, and who in his delirium kept on exclaiming, I am on the down-grade, and I cant reach the brake. Many a soul to-day is swinging down the dizzy steep and cannot stop. History teems with warnings. And you need not go to remote days for awakening, convincing examples. This their way is their folly, yet their posterity fellow in their steps. Oh I do not join them. Join the noble procession that moves upward, and with them shine as the stars for ever and ever. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Refusing to learn by experience
The power of learning by experience is the special prerogative of man.
1. Birds are endowed with that wondrous thing which we call instinct, about which we know as much when we have so labelled it as we did before; but with all their instinct they have but little power of learning from their own experience. There is no historian amongst them–Done to tell them of the past. So they travel round the same circle, and the last nest of a bird in the millennium shall be the same as the first in Paradise. The lark has never learnt to add one single bar to his carol. As the first did sing when he first broke the stillness of morning, so the last shall warble to the silent night. This power of taking other mens failures and making them the lamp to guide our feet is reserved for man.
2. It is only when men use this power that it is profitable. The inhabitants of this island began with mud hovels, and they ended with marble palaces! There is Stonehenge, and there is also Westminster Abbey, and what is the cause of the difference?–each generation learning from the other. The wonderful implements for conquering the earth which are now used by agriculturalists are the result of past experience; and the marvellous skill of the medical profession is owing to its members bringing into practice their own knowledge, enriched with that of past ages in respect to medical science. Look at the power which is now possessed of navigating the seas, by means of steam and the mariners compass, to that which the ancients possessed. From the rock where one ship is split to pieces is plucked the flower safety for others who have to pass that dangerous way.
3. Multitudes fail to use this power of learning from experience in regard to the best, or spiritual things. They ignore past history, and despise the teachings of experience. Though it be proved that a certain way was a foolish one, yet they pursue it. When a young man goes on the path of pleasure you may show him a massive volume filled with the names of young men who have ruined their health by pursuing this path; another volume containing the names of those who have blasted the hope of thousands; and yet another, of those whom this path brought to despondency and they went on the sea of life, no one knows where; but despite of this they will pursue the same road. When the silly moth comes about the flame, how you would like to tell it how many thousands of moths have been killed in the same way; and if it had ears and speech how you would be surprised if it replied to your warning by saying, Ah! but I am going to try an experiment as to whether I possess fire-proof wings. (C. Vince.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Their posterity approve their sayings.] Go the same way; adopt their maxims.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This their way, i.e. their counsel and contrivance to immortalize themselves.
Is their folly; though to themselves and some otters it seem to be wisdom, yet in truth it is apparent folly and madness. For they neither obtain that immortal name which they seek and hope for; nor, if they do, doth it yield them any comfort or benefit. Their sayings, Heb. their mouth, i.e. their counsels and suggestions, which they gave them concerning these matters. The mouth is oft put for the words which come out of it, as Num 35:30; Job 7:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. Though their way is folly,others follow the same course of life.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
This their way [is] their folly,…. This their last end becoming like the beasts that perish, which is the issue and event of all their confidence, ambition, and honour, shows the folly of their lives and conduct: or this their course of life, in trusting to their riches; boasting of their wealth; pleasing themselves with the thoughts of the continuance of their houses and dwelling places to all generations; and calling their lands after their own names; all proclaim their folly. Or, as some render the words, “this their way [is] their hope” or “confidence” b; they place all their hope and confidence in their riches and honour, which is but a vain hope and a foolish confidence;
yet their posterity approve their sayings; they are of the same sentiments with their fathers; they say the same things, and do the same actions; tread in their steps, and follow the same track; though there have been such innumerable instances of the vanity and inconstancy of all worldly riches and grandeur.
Selah; on this word, [See comments on Ps 3:2].
b “est fiducia ipsorum”, Cocceius, Gejerus; “stolida fiducia vel spes”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 49:14-21) Second part of the discourse, of equal compass with the first. Those who are thought to be immortal are laid low in Hades; whilst, on the other hand, those who cleave to God can hope to be redeemed by Him out of Hades. Olshausen complains on this passage that the expression is abrupt, rugged, and in part altogether obscure. The fault, however, lies not, as he thinks, in a serious corruption of the text, but in the style, designedly adopted, of Psalms like this of a gloomy turn. refers back to Psa 49:13, which is the proper mashal of the Psalm: this is their way or walk ( as in Psa 37:5, cf. Hag 1:5). Close upon this follows (their way), of those (cf. Psa 69:4) who possess self-confidence; signifies confidence both in a good and bad sense, self-confidence, impudence, and even (Ecc 7:25) in general, folly. The attributive clause is continued in Psa 49:14: and of those who after them (i.e., when they have spoken, as Hitzig takes it), or in a more universal sense: after or behind them (i.e., treading in their footsteps), have pleasure in their mouth, i.e., their haughty, insolent, rash words (cf. Jdg 9:38). If the meaning were “and after them go those who,” etc., then one would expect to find a verb in connection with (cf. Job 21:33). As a collateral definition, “after them = after their death,” it would, however, without any reason, exclude the idea of the assent given by their contemporaries. It is therefore to be explained according to Job 29:22, or more universally according to Deu 12:30. It may seem remarkable that the music here strikes in forte; but music can on its part, in mournfully shrill tones, also bewail the folly of the world.
Psa 49:14, so full of eschatological meaning, now describes what becomes of the departed. The subject of (as in Psa 73:9, where it is Milra , for ) is not, as perhaps in the case of , Luk 12:20, higher powers that are not named; but (here ), as in Psa 3:7, Hos 6:11; Isa 22:7, is used in a semi-passive sense: like a herd of sheep they lay themselves down or they are made to lie down (thus it is pointed by Ben-Asher; whereas Ben-Naphtali points , with a silent Sheb), to Hades = down into Hades (cf. Psa 88:7), so that they are shut up in it like sheep in their fold. And who is the shepherd there who rules these sheep with his rod? . Not the good Shepherd (Psa 23:1), whose pasture is the land of the living, but Death, into whose power they have fallen irrecoverably, shall pasture them. Death is personified, as in Job 18:14, as the king of terrors. The modus consecutivus , , now expresses the fact that will be realized in the future, which is the reverse side of that other fact. After the night of affliction has swiftly passed away, there breaks forth, for the upright, a morning; and in this morning they find themselves to be lords over these their oppressors, like conquerors, who put their feet upon the necks of the vanquished (the lxx well renders it by ). Thus shall it be with the upright, whilst the rich at their feet beneath, in the ground, are utterly destroyed. has Rebia magnum , has Asla-Legarme; accordingly the former word does not belong to what follows (in the morning, then vanishes…), but to what precedes. or (as in Isa 45:16) signifies a form or image, just as (Arab. tsurat ) is generally used; properly, that which is pressed in or pressed out, i.e., primarily something moulded or fashioned by the pressure of the hand (as in the case of the potter, ) or by means of some instrument that impresses and cuts the material. Here the word is used to denote materiality or corporeity, including the whole outward appearance ( , Act 25:23). The which refers to this, shows that is not a contraction of (vid., on Psa 27:5). Their materiality, their whole outward form belonging to this present state of being, becomes (falls away) . The Lamed is used in the same way as in , Isa 6:13; and is subject, like, e.g., the noun that follows the infinitive in Psa 68:19; Job 34:22. The same idea is obtained if it is rendered: and their form Hades is ready to consume ( consumturus est ); but the order of the words, though not making this rendering impossible (cf. Psa 32:9, so far as there means “its cheek”), is, however, less favourable to it (cf. Pro 19:8; Est 3:11). was the most appropriate word for the slow, but sure and entire, consuming away (Job 13:28) of the dead body which is gnawed or destroyed in the grave, this gate of the lower world. To this is added as a negative definition of the effect: so that there no longer remains to it, i.e., to the pompous external nature of the ungodly, any dwelling-place, and in general any place whatever; for whatever they had in and about themselves is destroyed, so that they wander to and fro as bare shadows in the dreary waste of Hades. To them, who thought to have built houses for eternity and called great districts of country after their own names, there remains no longer any of this corporeal nature, inasmuch as Hades gradually and surely destroys it; it is for ever freed from its solid and dazzling shell, it wastes away lonesome in the grave, it perishes leaving no trace behind. Hupfeld’s interpretation is substantially the same, and that of Jerome even is similar: et figura eorum conteretur in infero post habitaculum suum ; and Symmachus: .
Other expositors, it is true, solve the riddle of the half-verse in a totally different way. Mendelssohn refers to the upright: whose being lasts longer than the grave (survives it), hence it cannot be a habitation (eternal dwelling) to it; and adds, “the poet could not speak more clearly of the resurrection (immortality).”
(Note: In the fragments of a commentary to his translation of Psalms, contributed by David Friedlnder.)
A modern Jewish Christian, Isr. Pick, looked upon in Jerusalem as dead, sees here a prediction of the breaking through of the realm of the dead by the risen One: “Their Rock is there, to break through the realm of the dead, that it may no longer serve Him as an abode.”
(Note: In a fugitive paper of the so-called Amen Congregation, which noo unhappily exists no longer, in Mnchen-Gladbach.)
Von Hofmann’s interpretation (last of all in his Schriftbeweis ii. 2, 499, 2nd edition) lays claim to a more detailed consideration, because it has been sought to maintain it against all objections. By the morning he understands the end of the state or condition of death both of the righteous and of the ungodly. “In the state of death have they both alike found themselves: but now the dominion of death is at an end, and the dominion of the righteous beings.” But those who have, according to Psa 49:15, died are only the ungodly, not the righteous as well. Hofmann then goes on to explain: their bodily form succumbs to the destruction of the lower world, so that it no longer has any abode; which is said to convey the thought, that the ungodly, “by means of the destruction of the lower world, to which their corporeal nature in common with themselves becomes subject, lose its last gloomy abode, but thereby lose their corporeal nature itself, which has now no longer any continuance:” “their existence becomes henceforth one absolutely devoid of possessions and of space, [“the exact opposite of the time when they possessed houses built for eternity, and broad tracts of country bore their name.”] But even according to the teaching of the Old Testament concerning the last things, in the period after the Exile, the resurrection includes the righteous and the unrighteous (Dan 12:2); and according to the teaching of the New Testament, the damned, after Death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, receive another , viz., Gehenna, which stands in just the same relation to Hades as the transformed world does to the old heavens and the old earth. The thought discovered in Psa 49:15, therefore, will not bear being put to the proof. There is, however, this further consideration, that nothing whatever is known in any other part of the Old Testament of such a destruction of Shel; and found in the Psalm before us would be a most inappropriate word to express it, instead of which it ought to have been ; for the figurative language in Psa 102:27; Isa 51:6, is worthless as a justification of this word, which signifies a gradual wearing out and using up or consuming, and must not, in opposition to the usage of the language, be explained according to and . For this reason we refrain from making this passage a locus classicus in favour of an eschatological conception which cannot be supported by any other passage in the Old Testament. On the other side, however, the meaning of is limited if it be understood only of the morning which dawns upon the righteous one after the night of affliction, as Kurtz does. What is, in fact, meant is a morning which not merely for individuals, but for all the upright, will be the end of oppression and the dawn of dominion: the ungodly are totally destroyed, and they (the upright) now triumph above their graves. In these words is expressed, in the manner of the Old Testament, the end of all time. Even according to Old Testament conception human history closes with the victory of good over evil. So far Psa 49:15 is really a “riddle” of the last great day; expressed in New Testament language, of the resurrection morn, in which (1Co 6:2).
With , in Psa 49:16 (used here adversatively, as e.g., in Job 13:15, and as is more frequently used), the poet contrasts the totally different lot that awaits him with the lot of the rich who are satisfied in themselves and unmindful of God. belongs logically to , but (as is moreover frequently the case with , , and ) is, notwithstanding this relation to the following member of the sentence, placed at the head of the sentence: yet Elohim will redeem my soul out of the hand of Shel (Psa 89:49; Hos 13:14). In what sense the poet means this redemption to be understood is shown by the allusion to the history of Enoch (Gen 5:24) contained in . Bttcher shrewdly remarks, that this line of the verse is all the more expressive by reason of its relative shortness. Its meaning cannot be: He will take me under His protection; for does not mean this. The true parallels are Psa 73:24, Gen 5:24. The removals of Enoch and Elijah were, as it were, fingerposts which pointed forward beyond the cheerless idea they possessed of the way of all men, into the depth of Hades. Glancing at these, the poet, who here speaks in the name of all upright sufferers, gives expression to the hope, that God will wrest him out of the power of Shel and take him to Himself. It is a hope that possesses not direct word of God upon which it could rest; it is not until later on that it receives the support of divine promise, and is for the present only a “bold flight” of faith. Now can we, for this very reason, attempt to define in what way the poet conceived of this redemption and this taking to Himself. In this matter he himself has no fully developed knowledge; the substance of his hope is only a dim inkling of what may be. This dimness that is only gradually lighted up, which lies over the last things in the Old Testament, is the result of a divine plan of education, in accordance with which the hope of eternal life was gradually to mature, and to be born as it were out of this wrestling faith itself. This faith is expressed in Psa 49:16; and the music accompanies his confidence in cheerful and rejoicing strains.
After this, in Psa 49:17, there is a return from the lyric strain to the gnomic and didactic. It must not, with Mendelssohn, be rendered: let it (my soul) not be afraid; but, since the psalmist begins after the manner of a discourse: fear thou not. The increasing , i.e., might, abundance, and outward show (all these combined, from , grave esse ), of the prosperous oppressor is not to make the saint afraid: he must after all die, and cannot take hence with him , the all = anything whatever (cf. , for anything whatever, Jer 13:7). , Psa 49:17, like , puts a supposable case; , Psa 49:18, is confirmatory; and , Psa 49:19, is concessive, in the sense of , according to Ew. 362, b: even though he blessed his soul during his life, i.e., called it fortunate, and flattered it by cherished voluptuousness (cf. Deu 29:18, , and the soliloquy of the rich man in Luk 12:19), and though they praise thee, O rich man, because thou dost enjoy thyself (Luk 16:25), wishing themselves equally fortunate, still it (the soul of such an one) will be obliged to come or pass . There is no necessity for taking the noun here in the rare signification dwelling (Arabic dar , synonym of Menzl ), and it appears the most natural way to supply as the subject to (Hofmann, Kurtz, and others), seeing that one would expect to find in the case of being a form of address. And there is then no need, in order to support the synallage, which is at any rate inelegant, to suppose that the suffix – takes its rise from the formula ( ) , and is, in spite of the unsuitable grammatical connection, retained, just as and , without regard to the suffixes, signify “together” and “all together” (Bttcher). Certainly the poet delights in difficulties of style, of which quite sufficient remain to him without adding this to the list. It is also not clear whether Psa 49:20 is intended to be taken as a relative clause intimately attached to , or as an independent clause. The latter is admissible, and therefore to be preferred: there are the proud rich men together with their fathers buried in darkness for ever, without ever again seeing the light of a life which is not a mere shadowy life.
The didactic discourse now closes with the same proverb as the first part, Psa 49:13. But instead of the expression here used is , which is co-ordinate with as a second attributive definition of the subject (Ew. 351, b): a man in glory and who has no understanding, viz., does not distinguish between that which is perishable and that which is imperishable, between time and eternity. The proverb is here more precisely expressed. The gloomy prospect of the future does not belong to the rich man as such, but to the worldly and carnally minded rich man.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
13 This their way is foolishness As this verse has been variously rendered, I shall briefly, before giving my own sense of it, state the views which have been taken by others. As the Hebrew word כסל , kesel, which I have translated foolishness, occasionally means the kidneys, some refine upon the term, and consider it to be here taken for fat; as if this imagination of theirs were, so to speak, fat which stupified and rendered their senses obtuse. But this reading is too forced to bear examination. Others read, This their way is their folly; (226) that is, the reason why they pursue such a line of conduct is, that they are destitute of sound judgment; for, were they not utterly devoid of it, and did they possess one spark of intelligence, would they not reflect upon the end for which they were created, and direct their minds to higher objects? I rather conceive the Psalmist simply to mean, that the event proves them to be wholly destitute of wisdom, in placing their happiness upon earthly objects, and brands them, notwithstanding all the pretensions they make to foresight and shrewdness, with ridicule and contempt. And this he states, to show in a more aggravated light the madness of their posterity, who will not be instructed by the fate of their predecessors. The last clause of the verse has also been variously rendered, and I may state the views which have been taken of it by others. The Hebrew verb רצה, ratsah, which I have translated to acquiesce, they render, to walk, and the noun פי, phi, translated mouth or sayings, they take to mean a measure, thus understanding the Psalmist to say, that the children walked by the same rule with their fathers; and they change the letter ב, beth, into כ , caph, the mark of similitude which is sufficiently common in the Hebrew language. This view of the passage comes near to the proper meaning of it. Some conceive that there is an allusion to the beasts of the field; but this is improbable. It seems best to understand with others that the word mouth denotes principles or sayings; and the verb רצה, ratsah, may be taken in its more ordinary and most generally received sense, which implies consent or complacency. I have therefore translated it to acquiesce. The boasted confidence of the ungodly proving vain in the issue, and exposing them justly to ridicule, it argues a monstrous infatuation in their posterity, with this example before their eyes, to set their affections upon the same trifles, and to feel and express themselves exactly in the same manner as those who went before them. If men reflect at all upon the judgments which God executes in the world, we might expect that they would particularly consider his dealings with their immediate predecessors, and when, wholly insensible to the lessons which should be learned from their fate, they precipitate themselves into the same courses, this convincingly demonstrates their brutish folly.
(226) “ כסל למו is literally, folly to them; i e. , though this their way (the worldling’s trust in his wealth), seem to them a piece of special wisdom, yet in the event it proves otherwise; it becomes perfect folly to them when they come to discern their frustrations.” — Hammond
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) This their wayi.e., the folly mentioned in the (amended) preceding verse, and described in Psa. 49:11.
Is their follyi.e., is a way of folly.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Learning no higher wisdom by observation, their posterity eulogize the example of their fathers and perpetuate their folly.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 582
THE FOLLY OF WORLDLY MEN
Psa 49:13. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings.
IT is generally supposed that wisdom pertains chiefly, if not exclusively, to those who are proficients in arts and science: but learning and wisdom are by no means necessarily connected with each other: they may exist separately, each in a high degree: and, in fact, there is nothing more common than to behold persons of the most extensive erudition acting the part of fools in Gods sight, whilst persons destitute of all human acquirements are walking wisely before him in a perfect way. Wisdom, properly viewed, is a conformity of the mind and will to the mind and will of God; and it exists precisely in proportion as this conformity exists: the resemblance is wisdom, the deviation folly. Hence we see why David, at the commencement of this psalm, calls, in so solemn a manner, persons of every age and quality to attend to his instructions; and professes to teach them lessons of the profoundest wisdom, when there is not any thing recondite, or any thing uncommon, in the whole psalm. The truths contained in this divine ode are level with every capacity, and therefore might seem to be improperly ushered in with so pompous an introduction: but they are at the root of all practical religion; and they draw a broad line of distinction between those who are wise, and those who are unwise, in the estimation of their God.
The whole subject of the psalm will come properly before us, whilst we consider,
I.
The way of worldly men
It may naturally be expected, that they who are of the world, should speak of the world, and seek it as their most desired portion: and they are described as doing so in the psalm before us.
They are altogether engrossed with earthly things
[Worldly distinction is the one object of their ambition. For this end chiefly both wealth and honour are pursued [Note: ver. 18.]. Having attained these things in a considerable degree, they bless themselves, as possessing somewhat wherein they may trust [Note: ver. 6.], somewhat that will make them happy for a long time to come, and somewhat that shall transmit their names to posterity as worthy of admiration [Note: ver. 11.] ]
But this their way is their folly
[Wealth and honour are far from affording the satisfaction that is expected from them: they will not ward off sickness and death, either from ourselves or others [Note: ver. 710.]: nor can they follow us into the eternal world [Note: ver. 17.]. The moment we die, as very speedily we all must [Note: ver. 12, 14.], nothing of them remains to us but the fearful responsibility attached to the possession of them. Instead of profiting us in the day of wrath, they will rather augment our final condemnation, if they have not been improved for God as talents committed to us. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus we behold the bitter consequences of living only to the flesh: the man who has his good things in this life, will want in the eternal world a drop of water to cool his tongue: he will never see light, but be consigned over to the everlasting regions of darkness and despair [Note: ver. 19.]. We wonder not therefore, that the man, who, because he had gotten much, thought of nothing but his temporal enjoyments, Soul, take thine ease, is by God himself derided as a fool: Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.]
Yet, such is the influence of example, that, notwithstanding the folly of such conduct is visible to all, the same is pursued by every succeeding generation
[No one who considers for a moment the issue of such conduct to those who have gone before them, can doubt the folly of it: for, whatever rank or station men held in this life, or whatever may be said of them now they are gone, what remains to them of their wealth or honour, or what enjoyment have they of their posthumous fame? If we extol them ever so high, they feel no satisfaction; and if we condemn them ever so harsly, they are unconscious of either shame or pain: they are interested in nothing but in the quality of their actions as approved or condemned by their Judge. This we all know; yet no sooner have we a prospect of wealth and honour ourselves, than our desires are as ardent, our expectations as sanguine, and our dependence as unqualified, as that of any who have gone before us. The conviction of their folly only floats in our imagination, but never descends as a, principle into our hearts. We see and blame their folly; yet approve in practice what in theory we condemn.]
As contrasted with this, let us consider,
II.
The way which true wisdom prescribes
In verse 15, the Psalmist gives us that precise view of the subject which he had before characterized as replete with wisdom: God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for he shall receive me; that is, Whilst worldly men have no prospects beyond the grave, I look forward to a happy eternity, which shall be the portion of all who truly serve God. Hence then we see what way true wisdom prescribes: it teaches us,
1.
To regard this world in its connexion with eternity
[View this world as the whole state of mans existence; and they speak well, who say, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. But this world is a mere passage to a better; it is an inn, at which we sojourn for a night, in our way to a better country. A person tarrying only for a few hours is not greatly elated, if his accommodations be good; nor greatly depressed, if they be bad. He considers, in either case, that it is not his home; that his comfort or discomfort is very transient; and that it will be time enough to look for unmixed enjoyments, when he shall have reached his Fathers house. Moreover, this world must be considered as a state of preparation for a better; every thing that is done here being an occasion of increased happiness or augmented misery to all eternity. In this view of the world, every pain and every pleasure acquires a new aspect. The things that are so highly prized by ungodly men lose their value; and every thing is esteemed good or bad, according as it quickens or retards us in our Christian course. Hence true wisdom says, Love not the world [Note: Joh 2:15-16.], neither be of it [Note: Joh 17:14; Joh 17:16.]; but be crucified to it, and let it be as one crucified to you [Note: Gal 6:14.].]
2.
To follow the footsteps of the saints of old
[There are those who have gone before us, whose ways were not folly, though they might be esteemed foolish by those who were themselves blinded by Satan. Abraham went out from his kindred and his country, not knowing whither he went [Note: Heb 11:8.]: Moses refused all the wealth and honour that Egypt could afford, that he might participate in the lot of Gods persecuted and despised people [Note: Heb 11:24-26.]: many saints took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance [Note: Heb 10:34.]: Matthew left his lucrative employment to follow Christ [Note: Mat 9:9.]: Paul suffered the loss of all things for Christ [Note: Php 3:8.]; and after having engaged in the Christian course, attended to nothing but his progress in it, straining every nerve to win and secure the prize [Note: Php 3:13-14.]. All of these would be thought by the world to carry religion to a very culpable excess: but they acted with consummate wisdom, each in the part he took: they all chose the good part, which could not be taken away from them. Let any one who reflects on the present state of these eminent saints, say, whether their way was folly? If it was not; if, on the contrary, it accorded with the dictates of true wisdom, then let all not only approve their sayings, but imitate their doings also, and be followers of them, as they were of Christ.]
Advice
1.
Guard against the influence of bad example
[There is nothing urged with greater confidence to deter young persons from a religious course, or to draw them back again to the world, than example. They are told from time to time what such and such persons do; and can this be wrong? But whoever they are who are proposed to us for examples, we have only one question to ask; Did they regulate their conduct according to the revealed will of God? and was it the one labour of their lives to walk as Christ walked? If this was not the case, it signifies not who they were, or what they did: their way was their folly; and instead of taking them as examples to follow, we should rather regard them as monuments to warn us against impending ruin. If the number and respectability of the persons be urged, let us remember that to walk according to the course of this world, is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world: we must therefore leave the broad road that leadeth to destruction, and walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life. True it is, that if we do well unto ourselves (in advancing our own temporal interests), men will speak good of us [Note: ver. 18.]: but it is of little consequence what men speak or think: nothing will be of any lasting benefit to us, but the approbation of our God [Note: 1Co 4:3-4.].]
2.
Cleave to Him who alone is able to redeem our souls
[If man cannot redeem his brother from temporal death, much less can he the soul from spiritual and eternal death: the price required for that is more than all the creatures in earth or heaven are able to pay [Note: ver. 79.]. But Christ has paid the mighty ransom: with his own precious blood, he has redeemed us from sin and Satan, from death and hell. Seek him then, and you are richer than ten thousand worlds could make you. In him you have durable riches, and righteousness. Go to him, and he will give you gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich. After him your desires cannot be too ardent; your expectations from him cannot be too enlarged; your dependence on him cannot be too entire and confident. On that side you need not fear excess. And if the world deride your way as folly, regard it not: they will soon alter their sentiments: the moment they enter into the eternal world, they will know infallibly who were wise and who were fools: and when they meet you at the judgment-seat of Christ, they will say, We fools counted their life madness: their reproaches then will be turned upon themselves, and their one subject of lamentation will be, that they approved the sayings of a blind ungodly world, instead of the infallible sayings of their God. This is the way to walk not as fools, but as wise: and, so walking, you shall surely ere long have the plaudit of your Judge, Well done, good and faithful servants! enter ye into the joy of your Lord.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 49:13 This their way [is] their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
Ver. 13. This their way is their folly ] This their fond conceit of an immortality is an egregious folly, fully confuted by every day’s experience; for the longest lived person dies at last, as did (beside the antediluvian patriarchs) Joannes de Ternporibus, armour bearer to Charles the Great, who died A.D. 1139, aged three hundred sixty-one years (Asted’s Chronol. 475). So the old man of Bengala, in the East Indies, who was three hundred and thirty-five years old when he came to the Portugals, from whom, for his miraculous age, he received a yearly stipend till he died (Naucler. Purehas. Pilg., p. 481). He that lived in our days till one hundred and fifty years, or thereabouts, yielded at length to nature; and yet men dote and dream still of an immortality. The first doom that ever was denouneed was death, “Thou shalt surely die”; and the first doubt that ever was made was concerning death, “Ye shall not surely die”; ever since which time there is something of the spawn of that old serpent left in our natures, prompting us to doubt of that whereof there is the greatest certainty; and although every man granteth that he shall die, yet there is scarce any man that futureth not his death, and thinketh that he may live yet, and yet, and so long: this is folly in a high degree, and we should be sensible of it, labouring to become neither fond of life nor afraid of death. &&&Longevity-Long lived men
Yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 49:13-15
13This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of those after them who approve their words. Selah.
14As sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
And their form shall be for Sheol to consume
So that they have no habitation.
15But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
For He will receive me. Selah.
Psa 49:13 This is the way of those who are foolish The foolish refers to either (1) the man who claims to know God but lives as if there is no God or (2) the overtly evil person. There is really no such thing as an atheist in the OT (cf. Isa 53:1).
Way is an OT idiom for lifestyle. See notes at Psa 1:1.
And of those after them who approve their words This refers to those whom the arrogant wealthy influence with their philosophy of life. It may refer to their children, their students, other people who are seeking to be wealthy, or their friends. This is the end result of a false worldview (cf. Mat 15:14; Luk 6:23).
Selah This is a word about which there is much discussion but little unanimity. Some say it refers to
1. a pause
2. a rising crescendo
3. a musical interlude
4. forever, according to the rabbis
The very fact that there are so many interpretations means that no one really knows. See notes at Psa 3:2 and Introduction to Psalms, VII.
Psa 49:14 As sheep they are appointed for Sheol The term Sheol refers to the realm of the dead in the OT. It was seen as a place of consciousness but there was no joy, no fellowship, and a gloomy prospect of many dark, quiet days. See SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead?
Death shall be their shepherd Literally this is death feeds them. What a terrible parallel to the beauty of Psa 23:1. Death lures those with the pleasures of this world but in the end, it is poison (cf. Proverbs 1-8).
And the upright shall rule over them This truth is taught throughout the Bible (cf. Dan 7:18; Mal 4:3; 1Co 6:2; Rev 2:26).
in the morning This could refer to
1. the light of God’s truth
2. the light of life
3. the concept of the eschatological morning or the break of a new day
The NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 327, has a good list of things represented by light.
1. salvation Psa 27:1; Isa 49:6
2. prosperity and peace Isa 45:7
3. YHWH’s covenant Isa 42:6
4. justice and righteousness Isa 51:4; Isa 59:9
5. blessing Psa 89:15
6. God, Himself Psa 27:1; Isa 60:1-3; Isa 60:19-20
7. the Suffering Servant Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6
8. Messiah Isa 9:2
It is possible to divide the Hebrew consonants differently to they shall go straight to the grave (NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 713). This fits the central truth of the strophe better (NRSV, REB).
The verb consume (BDB 115, KB 132, Piel infinitive construct) is literally wear out. So the thought of the line is
1. Sheol will eat them (metaphor for Sheol as an animal with a voracious appetite or an allusion to the Canaanite god of death, Mot; see NASB Study Bible, p. 785, footnote and AB, p. 300).
2. The body will disintegrate to dust, as all bodies do after death (NRSV, TEV, JPSOA).
Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
For He will receive me What a tremendous truth! Notice the personal element me! Here we have the beginning of the affirmation of an afterlife (or an intimate fellowship with God here and now throughout life and the confidence it will continue!), based, not on the works of man, but on the love of God. Here, personal faith, as well as a life of obedience and trust, are rewarded with eternality with our God (see notes at Psa 23:6).
The term receive (BDB 542, KB 534) was used in Gen 5:24 of Enoch. He was translated into YHWH’s presence!
For Sheol see notes at Psa 6:5; Psa 9:13.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Selah. Connecting the fact of Psa 49:14 with their thought of verses: Psa 49:11, Psa 49:12, and explaining the folly of Psa 49:13. See App-66.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 49:13-15
Psa 49:13-15
THE MIGHTY TRUTH REVEALED
“This their way is their folly;
Yet, after them, men approve their sayings (Selah)
They are appointed as a flock for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume,
That there be no habitation for it.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol;
For he will receive me.”
“Their way is folly … yet men approve their sayings” (Psa 49:13). Men do not merely approve their sayings, they also approve their ways, their life-style, their attitudes, etc., and eagerly follow in the very patterns rich men have established, futile and foolish though they are.
“For Sheol … Death shall be their shepherd.” Dahood stated that there are no less than five designations for the realm of the dead in this one psalm. He followed the marginal alternative in Psa 49:9, reading `Pit’ instead of `corruption,’ commenting that, “This is one of the five poetic names for Sheol in this Psalm. He even translated the words `in honor’ as `Mansion,’ a sarcastic word for the realm of the dead in Psa 49:12; Psa 49:20. Our version does not corroborate this.
The figure here is that the wicked shall descend like a great flock of sheep into the nether world, where Death shall be their shepherd!
Addis’ summary of these three verses is, “The wicked like the righteous die, but the righteous alone have the prospect of immortality.
“The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning” (Psa 49:14). We might ask, `What morning’? and Rawlinson gives this answer:
“When the resurrection morning comes – and no other explanation seems possible (see even Cheyne) – it will bring them no release; the righteous will then `have dominion over them,’ and certainly shall not set them free (Rev 21:8).
In this quotation, Rawlinson could not have meant that in the future life the righteous shall rule over the wicked or that they shall in some way control the wicked, but rather that their right of dominion in whatever the purpose of God may be shall be preferred `over’ and above that of the wicked whose destiny is the lake of fire.
“But God shall redeem my soul; from the power of Sheol; For He (God) will receive me” (Psa 49:15).
Both liberal and conservative scholars alike have tried to surpass each other in extolling the glory and importance of these words:
“Here is the solution to the `parable’ and the `dark saying’ (Psa 49:4). The souls of the righteous will be redeemed, not by themselves, but by God. They will be delivered from the power of the grave (or Hades); while the ungodly shall be held under by Death and the grave (Psa 49:14). The righteous shall be released from Death and will enter upon a higher life.
“Here is the hope of faith that reaches beyond death, and in doing so overcomes death spiritually.
“This is one of the rare references in the Old Testament to a belief in an afterlife.
“Clearly, the writer expected a resurrection from the dead. The notion that God’s children in the Old Testament had no hope in the resurrection is simply not the truth.
“Here the psalmist makes one of the few Old Testament confessions of faith in a meaningful afterlife. Others are Psa 16:10; Psa 73:24; Job 19:25-27; Dan 12:2-3; and Isa 26:19).
“This is one of the mountain-tops of Old Testament hope.
“The psalmist here says, `I shall have a resurrection from the dead and an entrance into God’s glory; and death shall have no dominion over me.’
“The text here rendered, `He will receive me,’ is just as accurately translated, `He will take me.’
“This is one of the most important verses in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for `take’ (or `receive’) here is technical. It is applied in Gen 5:24 to the translation of Enoch, and in 2 Kings 29f to the translation of Elijah.
Such a glorious witness of the Resurrection is, of course, challenged by unbelievers, some of whom have claimed that, “This verse refers only to premature death”; but as Leupold stated, “Such a view scarcely does justice to this text.
Also, Addis cited another device employed to get around what is plainly said here. “They interpret the Psalm as the voice of Israel (the nation); individuals might perish, but not Israel, God’s Son. The language here, however, gives no hint of any such personification.
We cite another comment, unfortunately made by a man whom we consider to be a believer; but his comment seems to us to detract from the luster of this marvelous text. Yates wrote: “Psa 49:15 is one of the clearest evidences of a hint of immortality in the Old Testament.
Indeed, indeed! “A hint of immortality?” This reminds us of an incident that happened in Boston during the gang wars, an event widely publicized in the AP and the UP. A man opened up a bar; and one night several members of a rival `Mob’ raided the place, lined up six of the employees in the basement and executed all six with gun fire. In his interview with the police next day, the owner said, “I detect a hint of opposition in this”! In our view that hint resembles the one Kyle Yates mentioned!
A few other die-hards, unwilling to admit what the text here dogmatically declares, speak knowingly of damaged MSS, and defective text. However, Leupold put that type of objection to rest with his declaration, “That type of criticism is greatly exaggerated; true, difficulties exist; but the current translations are reasonably constructed.
Our own personal view is that there was a much more widespread conviction in ancient Israel of the certainty of a resurrection than is usually admitted. The very brief, off-hand manner in which this glorious promise of the resurrection is treated in this psalm can be logically explained as being fully sufficient, no arguments in favor of it being necessary, due to the fact of such a conviction being general among all the people. “It must be that the hope of life with God was more real in Old Testament days than many commentators would allow.” That this was the general expectation of all Israel is indeed indicated by Heb 11:35. This does not deny that the New Testament light on this subject is far more adequate.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 49:13. The generations that follow the above foolish men do not profit by their experience. Instead, they approve their sayings; that is, they act and speak just as their forefathers did.
Psa 49:14. Mortal man is as frail as the sheep of the pasture in the presence of death. The upright means those whose faith in God causes them to fashion their lives in view of a better existence to come. Such shall have dominion or have the advantage over the ones who live for this world only.
Psa 49:15. This is one of the Old Testament passages that teach belief in another life after this fleshly one. The soul of man does not go to the grave as we use that word. In the Old Testament the word SHEOL is used to signify both the place for the body after death, and the unseen state of the soul. It corresponds to HADES in the Greek New Testament. The present verse, therefore, means that God will bring the soul out of the unseen state at the general resurrection. Selah is explained at Psa 3:2.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
folly: Luk 12:20, 1Co 3:19
approve their sayings: Heb. delight in their mouth, Jer 44:17, Luk 11:47, Luk 11:48, Luk 16:27, Luk 16:28
Reciprocal: Luk 16:15 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
49:13 This their way [is] their folly: yet their posterity {i} approve their sayings. Selah.
(i) They speak and do the same thing that their fathers did.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. Encouragement to trust in God 49:13-20
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The writer marveled at the folly of the proud wicked. How silly it is to live only for the present! Death will bring to an end all the good things the wicked live for. The wicked may dominate the upright in this life, but a new day is coming in which God will turn the tables.
"The Bible is not against riches per se but the attitude of self-sufficiency and self-confidence so often associated with riches. The rich come under condemnation for their insensitivity, scheming, deception, and attitude that they rule the world (Psa 49:5; cf. Jas 5:1-6)." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 370.]
The Bible does not condemn the godly rich who received their wealth as a blessing from God (e.g., Job, Abraham, David, et al.).