Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 49:7
None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
7. The first answer to the question, ‘Wherefore should I fear’? These men make a god of their wealth. They trust in it and glory in it, as the godly man trusts in Jehovah and glories in Him (Psa 32:10; Psa 34:2). But how powerless it is! It cannot deliver anyone from death. If the rich man’s friends have so little to hope, his victims have little to fear.
The language of this verse and the next is borrowed from the ancient law in Exo 21:30, where the words ransom and redemption of life (or soul) occur together, the latter phrase being found nowhere else. If a man’s neglect to keep a dangerous ox under proper control had been the cause of another man’s death, his life was forfeit. But he might redeem his life by paying a ransom to the relatives of the deceased person. Probably he would always be allowed to do so, and the penalty of death would never be exacted. Another law prohibited the pardon of a murderer upon the mere payment of a fine (Num 35:31), lest rich men should regard the taking of life as a matter of indifference. Thus the idea of the payment of money as the equivalent of a life was familiar. There were cases in which wealth could deliver from death, when man was dealing with man. But when God claims the life, riches are of no avail.
his brother ] Lit. a brother: his most intimate relative or friend. Possibly there may be an allusion to the use of the word in dirges. See Jer 22:18. But the position of the word at the beginning of the sentence is peculiar, and an adversative particle seems to be needed. It has therefore been plausibly conjectured that we should read k, ‘surely’ or ‘but’ (as in Psa 49:15), in place of ch, ‘brother,’ and, with a slight alteration of the vowels, render thus:
But no one can by any means redeem himself,
Nor give to God the ransom He requires.
The reading of the Massoretic Text however is attested by the LXX and other Ancient Versions.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
None of them can bid any means redeem his brother – None of those who are rich. This verse might be literally rendered, a brother cannot by redeeming redeem; a man cannot give to God his own ransom. The passage, therefore, may mean either, as in our version, that no one, however rich, can redeem a brother – his own brother – by his wealth; or, that a brother – one who sustains the relation of a brother – cannot rescue another from death. On the word redeem, see Psa 25:22, note; Isa 43:3, note. It means here that he could not rescue him, or save him from the grave; he could not by his wealth preserve him in life. The whole expression is emphatic: redeeming he cannot redeem; that is – according to Hebrew usage – he cannot possibly do it; it cannot be done. There is here no particular reference to the means to be employed, but only an emphatic statement of the fact that it cannot by any possibility be done. The object is to show how powerless and valueless is wealth in regard to the things that most pertain to a mans welfare. It can do literally nothing in that which most deeply affects man, and in which he most needs help. There is no allusion here to the redemption of the soul, or to the great work of redemption, as that term is commonly understood; but it is true, in the highest sense, that if wealth cannot redeem life, or keep our best and nearest friend from the grave, much less can it avail in that which is so much more important, and so much more difficult, the redemption of the soul from eternal ruin. Here, also, as in the matter of saving from the grave, it is absolutely true that wealth can do nothing – literally, nothing – in saving the soul of its possessor, or in enabling its possessor to save his best friend. Nothing but the blood of the cross can avail then; and the wealth of the richest can do no more here than the poverty of the poorest.
Nor give to God a ransom for him – This would be more literally rendered, a man cannot give to God his ransom; that is, he cannot, though in the possession of the most ample wealth, give to God that which would purchase his own release from the grave. On the word ransom, see as above, the notes at Isa 43:3. Compare Mat 16:26.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother] Wealth cannot save from death; brother, however rich, cannot save his brother; nor will God accept riches as a ransom for the life or soul of any transgressor. To procure health of body, peace of mind, redemption from death, and eternal glory, riches are sought for and applied in vain.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Redeem, to wit, from death, as appears from Psa 49:9,10 &c.; neither from the first death, nor from the second, which he points at Psa 49:14,19.
His brother; whom he would do his utmost to preserve in life; and consequently not himself. But he seems to mention his brother rather than himself, because when his brother is sick, he being in health hath the full command and free use of all his wealth, and strength, and wit, and all other means of redeeming his brother; which he hath not, when he himself is dangerously or desperately sick.
Nor give to God; the only Lord of life. and the Judge who hath passed upon him the sentence of death.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7-9. yet unable to savethemselves or others.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother,…. That is, “with their substance”, or “riches”, as the Targum and Jarchi supply. Some, according to the order of the words in the original, render them, “a brother redeeming cannot redeem a man”, or “anyone” q: but, as Aben Ezra observes, , “a brother”, is the effect, and
, “a man”, is the cause. The Targum is, “his brother that is a captive, a man redeeming cannot redeem with his substance”; or by any means redeem. Indeed a rich man may redeem his brother from debt, or from a prison, into which he is cast for it, by paying his debts for him; or from thraldom and bondage, being taken captive and becoming a prisoner of war, by giving a ransom for him. This he may do with respect to man; but, with respect to God, he cannot, with all his riches, pay the debts he owes to the law and justice of God; nor free him from his bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, by whom he is held a captive. The sense here is, that he cannot redeem him from death; he cannot, with all his money, secure him from dying; nor, when dead, bring him back from the grave; and much less deliver him from eternal death, or wrath to come; this only God can do, see Ps 49:15;
nor give to God a ransom for him; a ransom to redeem from sin, and so from the curse of the law and eternal death, must be given to God, against whom sin is committed, the lawgiver that is able to save and destroy; whose law is transgressed by it, and must be fulfilled; and whose justice is affronted and injured, and must be satisfied; and who is the creditor to whom men are debtors, and therefore the payment must be made to him. Hence our Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of his people, paid the ransom price to God, and offered himself a sacrifice to him; see Eph 5:2. But this ransom is not of man’s giving, but of God’s; it is of his finding out in his infinite wisdom: he set forth and sent forth Christ to be the ransom or “propitiation” r, as the word here used signifies; and Christ came to give his life and himself a ransom for many, and is the propitiation for their sins: and this is a sufficient one, a plenteous redemption, and there needs no other, not is there any other; there were typical atonements under the law, but there is no real atonement, propitiation, or ransom, but by the precious blood of Christ; not by corruptible things, as silver and gold; with these a man cannot give to God a ransom for himself, or for his brother.
q So Cocceius; and some in Michaelis. r “propitiationem suam”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) None of them can.Brother is here used in the wide sense of Lev. 19:17, Gen. 13:11 (where rendered the one). The sense is the same whether we make it nominative or accusative. Death is the debt which all owe, and which each must pay for himself. No wealth can buy a man off. God, in whose hand are the issues of life and death, is not to be bribed; nor, as the next verse says, even if the arrangement were possible, would any wealth be sufficient.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” Psa 49:7
The subject is limitations of influence or power, even under the most favourable conditions. Here we have a brother dying; he is surrounded by rich relations; they would gladly redeem him or give a ransom for him, and yet all their generous thought and all their hoarded wealth go for nothing. There is a point at which even love stops, and sacrifice can go no further, and the soul must bow down itself in conscious helplessness and momentary despair. The word “brother” is not merely a family word as used in this connection. It will bear a large human interpretation. Thus we have a universal law, namely, that all men must succumb to the tyranny of the last enemy. Here is the ground upon which our common humanity is realised. Wealth can create great distinctions of a social kind. Wealth can make a great difference in the tombs in which men lie; but, decorate them as we may, they are tombs still, memorials of our frailty and of our helplessness. In view of the certainties of life we ought to have great governing principles. If life were all uncertain together; if death might or might not occur; if we may possibly continue as households century after century; then we may adopt a different basis of calculation: but seeing that our breath is in our nostrils, and that our truest and tenderest relations may at any moment be broken up, seeing that death must come within a few years to the strongest of us all, certainly it is not unreasonable to pause awhile and to consider what we are and whither we are going. The presence of death amid all our living relations is the one fact which the preacher should lay hold of as supplying a fountain of exhortation. We can die in one of two ways: either as believers, or as unbelievers. Dying as unbelievers, we pass into the everlasting darkness without one solitary ray to mitigate the gloom; passing into the future as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can give one another a good hope of reunion amid imperishable conditions of blissful growth. This latter consolation is no ephemeral or insubstantial consideration; it continually turns itself into stimulus and energy, and day by day it lightens the burden and softens the hardness of life. The Christian hope of immortality is not a future blessing; it is an immediate inspiration.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Psa 49:7 None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Ver. 7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother ] And therefore all money that hath been given for masses, dirges, trentals, A set of thirty requiem masses, said on the same day or on different days, D &c., hath been cast away; seeing Christ is the only Redeemer, and in the other world money beareth no mastery. Neither can a man buy off death, though he would give never so much. Death will not regard any ransom, neither will he rest content though thou givest many gifts, as Solomon saith in another case, Pro 6:35 . Fie, quoth that great Cardinal Beaufort, will not death be hired? Will money do nothing? Why should I die, being so rich? If the whole realm would save my life, I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it (Acts and Mon. in H. 6). Lewis XI would not hear of death all the time of his last sickness, but when he saw there was no remedy, he sent for holy water from Rheims, together with Aaron’s rod, as they called it, and other holy relics, thinking therewith to stop death’s mouth, and to stave him off; but it would not be (Epit. Hist. Gall.). O Miser (saith one thereupon) hoc assidue times quod semel faciendum est? Hoc times quod in tua manu est ne timeas? Pietatem assume, superstitionem omitte; mors tua vita erit, et quidem beata atque aeterna (Val. Max. Christ., p. 391).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
None = no man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
by any means redeem. Hebrew Figure of speech Polyptoton (App-6) = “redeeming will redeem”.
redeem = deliver by power. Hebrew. padah. See notes on Exo 6:6 with Exo 13:13.
his brother. Some codices read “surely” instead of “a brother”. In this case the two lines read, “Surely no man (Hebrew. ‘ish) can redeem, nor give to God atonement for himself”.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
a ransom = atonement. Hebrew. kapher. See Gen 6:14 (“pitch”). Exo 29:33.
him = himself.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
redeem
(See Scofield “Isa 59:20”) See Scofield “Exo 14:30”
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
give: Mat 16:26, Mat 20:28, 1Ti 2:6, 1Pe 1:18
Reciprocal: Gen 5:5 – and he died Gen 47:29 – must die Exo 30:12 – a ransom Lev 25:31 – they may be redeemed 1Ki 20:39 – or else Job 5:20 – redeem Job 6:23 – Redeem Job 21:16 – Lo Job 31:24 – General Job 33:24 – I Job 34:19 – regardeth Job 36:18 – then Psa 26:11 – redeem Psa 89:48 – What Jer 48:7 – because Mat 19:23 – That Mat 25:9 – lest Mar 8:37 – General Mar 10:24 – trust Luk 6:24 – woe Luk 7:42 – when Joh 11:39 – Lord Phi 3:11 – by
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Material wealth cannot prevent death. No one has enough money to buy life back when God claims it in death. The point here is that we cannot buy our way, or anyone else’s way, out of dying. The psalmist was not speaking of purchasing eternal salvation here. That comes later in Psa 49:15 (cf. Mat 20:28).