XLIX. This psalm, though didactic, does not altogether belie the promise of lyric effort made in Psalms 49:4. Not only is it cast in a lyrical form, with an introduction and two strophes, ended each by a refrain (see Note, Psalms 49:12), but it rises into true poetry both of expression and feeling.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR THIS. — For the opening address, comp. Deuteronomy 32:1; Micah 1:2; Psalms 50:7; Isaiah 1:2. WORLD. — As in Psalms 17:14; properly, _duration._ (Comp. our expression, “the things of time.”)... [ Continue Reading ]
BOTH HIGH AND LOW. — The two Hebrew expressions here used, _benê-âdam_ and _benê-îsh,_ answer to one another much as _homo_ and _vir_ in Latin. The LXX. and Vulg., taking _âdam_ in its primary sense, render “sons of the soil and sons of men.” Symmachus makes the expressions stand for _men in general... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL INCLINE MINE EAR. — The psalmist first _listens,_ that he may himself catch the inspiration which is to reach others through his song. It was an obvious metaphor in a nation to whom God’s voice was audible, as it was to Wordsworth, for whom nature had an audible voice: “The stars of midnight... [ Continue Reading ]
SHOULD I FEAR? — Here the problem is stated not in a _speculative,_ but _personal_ form. The poet himself _feels_ the pressure of this riddle of life. WHEN THE INIQUITY OF MY HEELS. — The Authorised Version seems to take “heels” in the sense of footsteps, as Symmachus does, and “when the evil of my... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT — _i.e.,_ the rogues implied in the last verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
NONE OF THEM CAN. — Brother is here used in the wide sense of Leviticus 19:17; Genesis 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... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR. — This verse is rightly placed in a parenthesis. “Soul” is the animal life, as generally, and here necessarily from the context. There is no anticipation of the Christian scheme of redemption from sin. A ransom which could buy a man from death, as one redeems a debtor or prisoner, would be beyo... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT — _i.e.,_ in order that; introducing the purpose of the imagined ransom in Psalms 49:7. Others connect it consecutively with Psalms 49:8, “He must give up for ever the hope of living for ever.”... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SEETH. — The clauses are wrongly divided in the Authorised Version. Translate — “On the contrary he must see it (the grave), Wise men must die ... Likewise the fool and the stupid must perish.” The wealth of the prudent will not avail any more for indefinite prolongation of life, than that... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR INWARD THOUGHT IS, THAT THEIR HOUSES SHALL CONTINUE FOR EVER. — These eleven words represent three in the Hebrew, and, as the text stands, give its sense, which is intelligible and consistent: “They believe their houses will last for ever, Their dwelling places from generation to generation;... [ Continue Reading ]
ABIDETH NOT. — This verse gives the kernel and the thought of, as it also serves as a refrain to, the poem, thus vindicating the claim of a lyric tone for this didactic psalm. The reading of the LXX. and Vulg. (“without understanding” instead of “abideth not”), which brings Psalms 49:12 into exact c... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS THEIR WAY — _i.e._, the folly mentioned in the (amended) preceding verse, and described in Psalms 49:11. IS THEIR FOLLY — _i.e._, is a way of folly.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE SHEEP THEY ARE LAID IN THE GRAVE. — Rather, _like a flock for sheol they are arranged; death is their shepherd._ While planning for a long life, and mapping out their estates as if for a permanent possession, they are but a flock of sheep, entirely at the disposal and under the direction of ano... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GOD WILL. — Better, _But God shall redeem my life from the hand of sheol when it seizes me._ Taken by itself, this statement might only imply that when just at the point of death, the Divine favour would draw him back and rescue him. But taken with the rendering given above to the previous verse... [ Continue Reading ]
After expressing his own hopes of escaping from death, or being rescued from corruption, the psalmist recurs to the question of Psalms 49:5, and completes the answer to it. He need not fear, however prosperous and wealthy his adversaries become, for they will die, and, dying, can take none of their... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH, WHILE HE LIVED.... — This is abundantly illustrated by our Lord’s parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:19; comp. Deuteronomy 29:19). AND MEN WILL. — Rather, _and though men praise thee,_ &c. “Although prosperity produces self-gratulation, and procures the homage of the world as well, yet,” &c... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL NEVER. — Better, _who will never again look on the light, i.e._, “never live again,” implying, in contrast, a hope of a resurrection for the upright. (See Note Psalms 49:14.)... [ Continue Reading ]