Wesley's Explanatory Notes
Psalms 49:20
Understandeth not — Hath not true wisdom. The beasts — Though he hath the outward shape of a man, yet in truth he is a beast, a stupid, and unreasonable creature.
Understandeth not — Hath not true wisdom. The beasts — Though he hath the outward shape of a man, yet in truth he is a beast, a stupid, and unreasonable creature.
Verse Psalms 49:20. _MAN_ THAT IS _IN HONOUR_] The rich and honourable man who has no spiritual understanding, is a _beast_ in the sight of God. The spirit of this maxim is, A man who is in a dignifi...
MAN THAT IS IN HONOR - Man that is in possession of wealth, or that occupies an exalted rank. See the notes at Psalms 49:12. AND UNDERSTANDETH NOT - That is, who has no proper appreciation of what it...
Psalms 49 Retrospects and Meditations _ 1. Hear this, all ye peoples! (Psalms 49:1)_ 2. His message of retrospect and encouragement (Psalms 49:5) If such is the outcome and the goal of the purpose...
XLIX. THE IMMORTALITY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. The poet takes a popular proverb for his theme. This proverb recurs as a refrain in Psalms 49:12 and Psalms 49:20, and it probably stood originally after Psalms...
The rich man cannot carry his wealth with him when he dies. The thought already expressed in Psalms 49:10 is resumed and further developed....
The refrain of Psalms 49:12, repeated with a significant variation, qualifying the previous statement. It is not the rich and honourable man, as such, who is no better than the cattle that perish; but...
DISCOURSE: 583 THE DEGRADED STATE OF MAN Psalms 49:20. _Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish._ MAN, when first he came out of the hands of his Creator, was per...
PSALMS 49 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE Death and Redemption: Oppressed Saints Comforted and Oppressors Rebuked. ANALYSIS Startta I, Psalms 49:1-6, An Introduction, consisting of the Proem and the Problem. Sta...
_MAN THAT IS IN HONOUR, AND UNDERSTANDETH NOT, IS LIKE THE BEASTS THAT PERISH._ Slightly varied from Psalms 49:12, as is usual in Hebrew poetry. MAN THAT IS IN HONOUR, AND UNDERSTANDETH NOT, IS LIKE...
There is little to fix the date of this Ps. The writer moralises, in the fashion of the book of Proverbs, on the vanity of wealth and honour apart from understanding. The rich man cannot deliver his f...
AND UNDERSTANDETH NOT] Those who perish like the beasts are not the rich as such, but the rich who do not know God....
PSALMS 42:72 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ Words in boxes are from the Bible. Words marked with a *star are described in the word list at the end. The translated Bible text has yet to go through Advanced Che...
_[Psalms 49:21]_ אָדָ֣ם בִּ֭ יקָר וְ לֹ֣א...
Psalms 49:1 THIS psalm touches the high-water mark of Old Testament faith in a future life; and in that respect, as well as in its application of that faith to alleviate the mystery of present inequal...
THE FOLLY OF TRUSTING IN RICHES Psalms 49:1 Here is a proclamation worthy of the hearing of all the world. The psalmist is listening to voices unheard by ordinary ears. Be sure to listen to God's voi...
This is the song of a principle, and the psalmist commences by calling peoples of all castes and classes to give attention. It denies the power of material wealth, and a5rms that of uprightness. There...
Man [that is] in honour, and (q) understandeth not, is like the beasts [that] perish. (q) He condemns man's ingratitude, who having received excellent gifts from God, abuses them like a beast to his...
_Lay. Hebrew, "slanderest." (Protestants) But dophi occurs on where else. (Berthier) --- The sinner sits to detract, or with pleasure, (Menochius) habitually offends. (Haydock)_...
REFLECTIONS READER! while perusing this Psalm, and beholding the death of the rich voluptuary, do not forget that there are poor voluptuaries, as well as wealthy ones, to whom death, whenever it comes...
What a close is here made to the rich man's pomp! How terrible is death to all such characters! Wherein doth he differ from the brutes that perish? A mere animal life was all that belonged to both: an...
20_Man is in honor, and will not understand _(237) Here the prophet, that he may not be understood as having represented the present life, which in itself is a singular blessing of God, as wholly cont...
Psalms 49 is a moral conclusion for all, founded on these judgments of God. Wealth, elevation, all that is exalted in man, is nothing. Man expects to endure, gives his own name to his lands, blesses h...
MAN [THAT IS] IN HONOUR,.... A wicked man, as the Targum; Psalms 49:12; AND UNDERSTANDETH NOT; from whence his riches and honour, come, and what use he should make of them, and for what end he has t...
Man [that is] in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts [that] perish. Ver. 20. _Man that is in honour and understandeth not_] _Versus amoibaeus._ See Psalms 49:12, there is but little dif...
_Man that is in honour, and understandeth not_ That is, hath not true wisdom to know and consider what he is, and what is his true business and interest in this world, and what use he ought to make of...
Man that is in honor, enjoying wealth, good fortune, the esteem of men, AND UNDERSTANDETH NOT, continuing in fleshly security, IS LIKE THE BEASTS THAT PERISH, excluded from the hope of a higher and be...
OF THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GOODS. To the chief musician, for use in liturgical worship, a psalm for the sons of Korah, a hymn of instruction and consolation written by a member of the family of Korah,...
15-20 Believers should not fear death. The distinction of men's outward conditions, how great soever in life, makes none at death; but the difference of men's spiritual states, though in this life it...
UNDERSTANDETH NOT, i.e. hath not true wisdom, to know and consider what he is, and what his true business and interest in this world is, and what use he should make of his life, and of all his riches,...
Psalms 49:20 man H120 honor H3366 understand H995 (H8799) like H4911 (H8738) beasts H929 perish H1820 ...
THE UPRIGHT ARE NOT THEREFORE TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE WAY THAT THE RICH SEEM TO FLOURISH, FOR IN THE END THE RICH WHO DO NOT HAVE TRUE UNDERSTANDING WILL SIMPLY PERISH LIKE THE BEASTS (PSALMS 49:16)...
The chief musician here bids us not to fear the ungodly. However high they may be placed, they are but dying men, and when they die their hope shall perish with them. He gives a very graphic descripti...
CONTENTS: The despicable character of those who trust in their wealth. CHARACTERS: God, Psalmist. CONCLUSION: There is no security in the possession and enjoyment of wealth, for money cannot buy the...
Psalms 49:1. _Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world._ The psalmist opens his song as a philosopher and a prophet, giving equal instruction to all mankind. Psalms 49:3. _M...
_Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased._ EMPTY-HANDED WE DEPART I remember an Eastern legend which I have always thought furnished a remarkable commentary...
_Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: both low and high, rich and poor, together._ THE INEQUALITIES OF SOCIETY Impressive and instructive that scene in the wood of Sen...
PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 49:1. This is a wisdom psalm. In particular, it addresses the confusion that the faithful often feel when they encounter trouble even while unfaithful people seem to get alo...
PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 49:13 God treats these two groups differently when they die. The unfaithful are LIKE SHEEP... APPOINTED FOR SHEOL, while GOD WILL RANSOM the faithful person’s soul fro
INTRODUCTION _Superscription_.—“_To the Chief Musician, a psalm for the sons of Korah_.” See Introduction to Psalms 42. Both the author of the psalm, and the occasion on which it was composed, are unk...
EXPOSITION THIS is a didactic poem, and resembles in some respects Psalms 37:1, and Psalms 73:1. It deals with the same problem—the contrast between the lot of the righteous man, whom the wicked perse...
Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and poor, together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understandin...
Ecclesiastes 3:18; Ecclesiastes 3:19; Esther 5:11; Esther 7:10; J