Psalms 49:0 ¶ To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
I liked JFB’s summation of this psalm: “This Psalm instructs and consoles. It teaches that earthly advantages are not reliable for permanent happiness, and that, however prosperous worldly men may be for a time, their ultimate destiny is ruin, while the pious are safe in God’s care.”
Psalms 49:1 ¶ Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
Psalms 49:2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
The psalmist wants everyone in the whole world to hear what he has to say, no matter whether they are among the nobility or the common folk, whether they are rich or poor.
Frankly, that is the call that all the writers of scripture would make to all the people on earth today if they could, a call that we should take up on their behalf in our world today.
I liked Guzik’s comment: “There are four kinds of riches. There are riches in what you have, riches in what you do, riches in what you know, and riches in what you are – riches of character. The psalmist spoke of those who are only rich in the first way – the least important kind of wealth.”
Psalms 49:3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
The writer is confident that he is about to speak wisdom that comes from understanding from deep within his being.
That is the way we should feel when we are speaking the truth of God’s word.
Maybe the psalmist knew that he was writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I have certainly felt like the LORD was giving me inspiration in the writing of a few of my poems, some of the times I have felt the closest personal fellowship with my heavenly Father.
Spurgeon made a thought-provoking comment: “The help of the Holy Ghost was never meant to supersede the use of our own mental powers. The Holy Spirit does not make us speak as Balaam's ass, which merely uttered sounds, but never meditated; but he first leads us to consider and reflect, and then he gives us the tongue of fire to speak with power.”
Psalms 49:4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
I think the psalmist is saying that he is going to present his truth in the form of a parable or riddle (from the Hebrew) that is sung to the accompaniment of a harp.
Psalms 49:5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
The writer introduces his subject with a question. “Why should I fear when times are evil and I am surrounded by evil doers?”
Psalms 49:6 ¶ They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
Psalms 49:7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Psalms 49:8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
Psalms 49:9 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
“They” seems to make a connection between the evildoers and the wealthy being referenced in this group of verses. Those that trust in their riches (not in God) and like to brag about it cannot redeem his brother or pay a ransom that will keep him from dying. A soul is very valuable, beyond what any man could ever pay—no matter how wealthy. Everyone dies.
The CJB translation of verses 8-9 is a bit clearer: “…because the price for him is too high (leave the idea completely alone!) to have him live on eternally and never see the pit.”
The psalmist lived in a time in which one was dependent upon sacrifices and offerings to maintain a right relationship with the LORD. Thankfully, we can be confident of a relationship with God that is rooted in the sacrifice of Jesus and guaranteed with the seal of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:17–21 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Ephesians 1:10–13 “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
Good observation from Guzik: “One may know if they trust their wealth if they find too much peace and security by their accounts and holdings, and if they despair when such decline. They can ask the question, What loss in life would most trouble me – material or spiritual?”
Wiersbe: It isn’t a sin to be wealthy if we acknowledge God as the Giver and use what He gives to help others and glorify His name. But an increase in wealth often leads to an increase in evil. It’s good to have things that money can buy, if we don’t lose the things money can’t buy. It’s sad when people start to confuse prices with values.”
Psalms 49:10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Psalms 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.
The rich man knows that wise men die just as surely as do the silly and foolish. When they die, they leave their wealth to others. They name their estates after themselves, thinking that they will last for generations to come and they will be remembered.
Good example from Courson: “John Jacob Astor, who made his wealth in the 1800s, took a boat ride on a ship named the Titanic. When it was discovered that Astor was one of the multitude lost at sea, his cousin was asked how much the billionaire left. ‘He left everything,’ the man replied. How true that is—for no matter how wealthy a man might be, when he dies, he leaves it all.”
Psalms 49:12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
Psalms 49:13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
No matter how honored a man may be in this life, he will still die just as surely as a common animal. It is to their folly that they put their trust in their riches. Sadly, their progeny usually consider them wise and follow their foolish example.
Spurgeon’s vivid word picture: “He is not like the sheep which are preserved of the Great Shepherd, but like the hunted beast which is doomed to die. He lives a brutish life and dies a brutish death. Wallowing in riches, surfeited with pleasure, he is fatted for the slaughter….”
I like these comments from The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (EBC): “The Bible is not against riches as such 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.”
Selah = a time to stop and think
Psalms 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.
Just like the sheep, they will die and their bodies will decay. Their future is one of destruction in contrast to those that are upright—those that will be victorious over the grave.
Another good quote from the EBC: “Death is personified as a shepherd who leads the rich as sheep to the slaughter. Those who have cared for themselves in life will waste away in death. But the righteous will be victorious. When their night of darkness is over, there will be ‘morning,’ and their lot will be changed.”
And from Spurgeon: “The sweetest reflection to the upright is that "the morning" here intended begins an endless, changeless, day. What a vexation of spirit to the proud worldling, when the Judge of all the earth holds his morning session, to see the man whom he despised, exalted high in heaven, while he himself is cast away!”
Psalms 49:15 ¶ But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
The psalmist is confident that God will redeem his soul from the power of the grave. Like Job, he believed that he would see the LORD face to face.
Job 19:25–27 “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”
Selah = Another pause for thought and reflection
Psalms 49:16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
Psalms 49:17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
Psalms 49:18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
Psalms 49:19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
Psalms 49:20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
The psalmist closes with a summary. He reminds us not to be in awe (from the Hebrew) of the rich. Just like you, he will take nothing with him when he dies. He may have considered himself blessed during his life because men praised him and admired his success, but he will die just as surely as his fathers before him and never again experience the light of happiness. The man that does not realize this truth is no different from an animal that dies.
More Spurgeon word pictures: “Through the river of death man must pass naked. Not a rag of all his raiment, not a coin of all his treasure, not a joy of all his honour, can the dying worldling carry with him….. The banker rots as fast as the shoeblack, and the peer becomes as putrid as the pauper. Alas! poor wealth, thou art but the rainbow colouring of the bubble, the tint which yellows the morning mist, but adds not substance to it.”
Psalms 50:0 ¶ A Psalm of Asaph.
This is the first of twelve psalms that identify Asaph as the author; he was one of the men appointed to lead the musicians in service at the temple.
Psalms 50:1 ¶ The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Psalms 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
The psalmist declares that the LORD God has spoken to the whole earth (from east to west) from Zion, the city of Jerusalem. Zion is probably described as “the perfection of beauty” in reference to the temple, the designated place representing God’s presence among His people.
I liked this quote from Maclaren that Guzik used: “The psalm begins with a majestic heaping together of the Divine names, as if a herald were proclaiming the style and titles of a mighty king at the opening of a solemn assize…. Each name has its own force of meaning. El speaks of God as mighty; Elohim, as the object of religious fear; Jehovah, as the self-existent and covenant God.”
Psalms 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
Psalms 50:4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Psalms 50:5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
Psalms 50:6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
As a prophet, the psalmist speaks of a future time that God will come like a great fire and a powerful storm to judge His people. He notes that the LORD will separate out His covenant people, the people of Israel. Creation testifies to the righteousness of God as a just judge.
As I was going through this section again, I think the application reaches out to include all the saints or believers—not just the people of Israel. Jesus came as a man to establish a new covenant through His sacrifice on behalf of all those who place their faith in Him. When He comes to “gather His saints together" to Himself, it will be the whole family of faith.
Hebrews 10:8–10 “Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
The signs of the times as prophesied in scripture are so evident in the world around us today, that I know this time of judgment is coming soon.
Selah – A pause to think and reflect on these things.
Psalms 50:7 ¶ Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
The psalmist is functioning as a prophet as he tells how God calls out for His people to listen to Him as He testifies against them. This testimony is especially powerful because He is the God of Israel!
As I read through the psalm, it seemed to me that the words admonish and give warning would have been better choices than “testify against” when looking at the Hebrew. God’s purpose is to admonish and warn them about making sacrifices as part of a ritual and not from a sincere heart.
Psalms 50:8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
Psalms 50:9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
Psalms 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
Psalms 50:11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
Psalms 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
Psalms 50:13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
The LORD declared that he would not rebuke His people over the sacrifices or burnt offerings that were offered before Him continually; after all, He was the one that had established the sacrificial system. The purpose of these sacrifices, however, was not because He wanted to take their cattle or goats for Himself because all the animals in the forest and all over the world are His. If He were hungry, He would not need help from His people because the world and everything in it belongs to Him. He does not depend on animal sacrifices for sustenance.
New Bible Commentary: “Pagan religions around Israel thought that their gods were nourished by the sacrifices that were offered. The same error is committed whenever the mere round of religious life becomes important in its own right.”
Guzik: “Believers under the New Covenant no longer offer animal sacrifices, but are still tempted to practice their Christian duties in a spirit of ritualism. This must be actively avoided; God is not pleased by our ritualism.”
Psalms 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
Psalms 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
What God wants is for His people to show their sincere thanks to Him for all He has provided for them and to keep the promises they make to Him. When they do that, He will deliver them in their time of trouble, giving them even more reason to glorify Him.
That principle is still true today. God wants our sincere thanks and for us to keep our promises to Him. He is a faithful Father and will deal with us as a good Father accordingly, but our deliverance or salvation is totally rooted in the obedient sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
Psalms 50:16 ¶ 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?
Psalms 50:17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
Psalms 50:18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Psalms 50:19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
Psalms 50:20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
Psalms 50:21 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.
I think the CJB reads a bit more clearly: “But to the wicked God says: ‘What right do you have to proclaim my laws or take my covenant on your lips, when you so hate to receive instruction and fling my words behind you? When you see a thief, you join up with him, you throw in your lot with adulterers, you give your mouth free rein for evil and harness your tongue to deceit; you sit and speak against your kinsman, you slander your own mother’s son. When you do such things, should I stay silent? You may have thought I was just like you; but I will rebuke and indict you to your face.’”
The LORD directs His next words to the wicked, those that refuse to accept Him as their God. These are the people that falsely proclaim the LORD as their God yet refuse to follow Him in obedience. They ally themselves with thieves and adulterers. They speak words for evil and deceit, even gossiping and slandering those of their own family. Because the LORD had kept silent, they assumed that He was no different than they, but they were wrong. The time had come for Him to set the record straight.
Christians today make the same wrong assumptions. They assume that all is well between them and the LORD when He is silent, and everything seems to be going well in their lives. They also assume that God is angry with them when they experience times of trouble, especially if such time is extended. Both assumptions are wrong. The LORD always has a purpose for what He allows to happen in the lives of His children whether things are going well or times are hard. The important truth to know is that you have sincerely repented of your sin and accepted the LORD as your Savior. When you know that, you can trust in the fact that God is watching over your life—no matter what.
Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Psalms 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
The psalmist closes with a word of warning from God. He calls for the people to consider His words carefully. If they continue to reject Him, they can expect His judgment. Those, however, that choose to sincerely offer praise to the glory of God and determine to live their lives in obedience to God will experience His salvation.
This is an admonishment for those under the old testament covenant, not those under the new covenant of grace. Our salvation is solely dependent upon believing that the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross is sufficient to redeem us from sin. Works have no part in our salvation; we cannot earn it. Works of obedience, however, do testify to the sincerity of our belief.
Ephesians 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.”
James 2:14–17 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”