Psalms 49

Psalms 49:1

Psalm 49: The Wicked and Their WealthOne of the great riddles of life is how the wicked so often enjoy material prosperity while believers are often poor and dispossessed. But this is not the whole story. The wealth in which the ungodly trust so devoutly will fail them in their hour of greatest need. It cannot save them from dying. They cannot enjoy it forever, nor can it prevent corruption in the grave. They can neither take it with them nor come back to enjoy it. In the long run it is stupid to trust in money rather than in the Lord! That is the gist of the message in Psalms 49. 49:1-4 The message is for all peoples and individuals, for small and great, for rich and poor alike. It is a message of distilled wisdom that comes from a heart that is full of insight. Korahs sons turn their attention to probe into this common inequality of life; then, when they come up with the answer, they sing it to the accompaniment of the harp. 49:5-9 Really, there is no reason for God’s people to worry in those dark days when oppressors are dogging their heels, when persecutors are surrounding them with their iniquitous plots. Their enemies trust in their gold and in the power it gives; they boast about how affluent they are. Butand this is a very big BUTall their money cannot save their brother from death (KJV) or their own selves either. The redemption of a man’s life is tremendously costly; attempts to stave off the day of death through financial negotiations must be abandoned forever. No one has the means to purchase endless life on earth or to escape the grave. As the dashes before and after verse 8 indicate, it is parenthetical. Putting verses 7 and 9 together, they read: None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him . . . that he should continue to live eternally, and not see the Pit.49:10 Sooner or later even wise men die. Likewise the rich fool and the unthinking man of affluence die and leave their wealth to others. Notice that it does not say that the wise man leaves his wealth to other people. It is more probable that his last will and testament reads: Being of sound mind, I put my money to work for the Lord while I was still alive. 49:11, 12 It is a strange fact of life that men who are intelligent enough to build up a fortune in this world do not seem to realize that they are mortal. Their inward thoughts tell them that their houses will continue forever, that they are going to live on here indefinitely. They name estates and streets and towns after themselves. But the inescapable truth is that man with all his honor must perish. In that respect he is like the beasts. In other respects, of course, man is quite different from the animals. For example, though man’s body goes to the grave, his spirit and soul do not perish. And his body will be raised from the grave, either for eternal judgment or for eternal blessing. Man has endless being while the animals do not. 49:13, 14 This is the fate of those who unwisely trust in their wealth rather than in Godthey foolishly live as if they were never going to die. But die they must, and when they do their relatives and friends quote them for their profound wisdom. Destined inevitably to be disembodied, they are like sheep being led relentlessly by the shepherd of death to the grave. “The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning”; that is, the tables will be turned, as with the rich man and Lazarus. Remember that Abraham said to the rich man: “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented” (Luk_16:25). All the magnificence and beauty of the rich man wastes away, and he has no home but Sheola striking contrast to the home he enjoyed on earth! 49:15 Here we have one of the few flashes of light about the resurrection found in the OT. Generally speaking, the OT writers reveal very indistinct views of death and beyond. But here the psalmist voices the confidence that God will redeem his soul from the power of the grave, that is, that God will deliver his soul from the disembodied state and reunite it with his resurrected body. When he says “for He shall receive me,” he uses the same word that is used in connection with God’s receiving Enoch and Elijah. 49:16-19 So there is really no need for a believer to be disturbed when the ungodly man becomes rich and his house becomes more and more ornate and lavish. This earth is the only heaven he is ever going to enjoy! When he dies he shall carry none of his wealth with him. Empty-handed he will go to the grave, with none of his splendor to accompany him. As long as he lives he thinks he can never be robbed of his happiness, and people applaud him for feathering his own nest. But sooner or later he will die like his forefathers and share their long dark night with them. 49:20 There is simply no way that a man can hold on to earthly wealth and honor. Death is as inevitable for him as for the beasts that perish. Of course someone could object that the righteous die as well as the wicked. This is true. We will all die if the Lord does not come in the meantime. But the point of the Psalm is that the wicked leave all their wealth behind while the righteous go to their eternal reward of infinite wealth. One final observation. Very often in Scripture a rich man is synonymous with a wicked man. This ought to sober us. While the Bible doesn’t say that it is a sin to be rich, it does condemn trusting in riches rather than in the living God (and it is hard to have riches without trusting in them!). The Bible condemns the love of money. It condemns the accumulation of wealth through oppression and dishonesty. And it condemns the hoarding of riches in callous disregard of the needs of a lost and suffering world.