Psalms 49 commentary

We seldom meet with a more solemn introduction: there is no truth of greater importance. Let all hear this with application to ourselves. The poor are in danger from undue desire toward the wealth of the world, as rich people from undue delight in it. The psalmist begins with applying it to himself, and that is the right method in which to treat of Divine things. Before he sets down the folly of carnal security, he lays down, from his own experience, the benefit and comfort of a holy, gracious security, which they enjoy who trust in God, and not in their worldly wealth. In the day of judgment, the iniquity of our heels, or of our steps, our past sins, will compass us. In those days, worldly, wicked people will be afraid; but wherefore should a man fear death who has God with him?

Here is a description of the spirit and way of worldly people. A man may have wealth, and may have his heart enlarged in love, thankfulness, and obedience, and may do good with it. Therefore it is not men's having riches that proves them to be worldly, but their setting their hearts upon them as the best things. Worldly men have only some floating thoughts of the things of God, while their fixed thoughts, their inward thoughts, are about the world; that lies nearest the heart. But with all their wealth they cannot save the life of the dearest friend they have. This looks further, to the eternal redemption to be wrought out by the Messiah. The redemption of the soul shall cost very dear; but, being once wrought, it shall never need to be repeated. And he, the Redeemer, shall rise again before he sees corruption, and then shall live for evermore, Re 1:18. This likewise shows the folly of worldly people, who sell their souls for that which will never buy them. With all their wealth they cannot secure themselves from the stroke of death. Yet one generation after another applaud their maxims; and the character of a fool, as drawn by heavenly Wisdom itself, Lu 12:16–21, continues to be followed even among professed Christians. Death will ask the proud sinner, Where is thy wealth, thy pomp? And in the morning of the resurrection, when all that sleep in the dust shall awake, the upright shall be advanced to the highest honour, when the wicked shall be filled with everlasting shame and contempt, Da 12:2. Let us now judge of things as they will appear in that day. The beauty of holiness is that alone which the grave cannot touch, or damage.

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 may seem of small account, yet at and after death is very great. The soul is often put for the life. The God of life, who was its Creator at first, can and will be its Redeemer at last. It includes the salvation of the soul from eternal ruin. Believers will be under strong temptation to envy the prosperity of sinners. Men will praise thee, and cry thee up, as having done well for thyself in raising an estate and family. But what will it avail to be approved of men, if God condemn us? Those that are rich in the graces and comforts of the Spirit, have something of which death cannot strip them, nay, which death will improve; but as for worldly possessions, as we brought nothing into the world, so it is certain that we shall carry nothing out; we must leave all to others. The sum of the whole matter is, that it can profit a man nothing to gain the whole world, to become possessed of all its wealth and all its power, if he lose his own soul, and is cast away for want of that holy and heavenly wisdom which distinguishes man from the brutes, in his life and at his death. And are there men who can prefer the lot of the rich sinner to that of poor Lazarus, in life and death, and to eternity? Assuredly there are. What need then we have of the teaching of the Holy Ghost; when, with all our boasted powers, we are prone to such folly in the most important of all concerns!

PSALM 49

The wicked and the votaries of worldly pleasure often enjoy prosperity, while such as fear the Lord are exposed to affliction, and disposed to faint under the pressure of it. To moderate that pride which the one class is apt to feel in the midst of their success, and administer a check to the despondency of the other, the Psalmist shows what little reason we have to envy the supposed happiness of the ungodly, which, even when at its height, is vain and evanescent; and he teaches us that good men, however great their trials may be, are objects of the divine regard, and will be eventually delivered from their enemies.

To the Chief musician, a psalm of the sons of Korah. Ten psalms bear the inscription, “Of or for the sons of Korah.” As the prefixed preposition ל may be translated either of or for, it has been doubted whether this and other psalms, with a similar inscription, were written by or for the sons of Korah. Some, as Calmet, think it most probable that they were composed by them, from certain peculiarities of style in which they agree with each other, and differ from the psalms which bear the name of David. Others ascribe these psalms to David, and suppose that they were committed by him to the chief musician, to be sung by the posterity of Korah.

Psalm 49:1-4

1. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: 2. Both ye sons of Adam, “C’est, ceux de bas estat.” — Fr. marg. “That is, those of low estate.” and ye sons of men, “C’est, les nobles.” — Fr. marg. “That is, the noble.” rich and poor, together. 3. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. 4. I will incline my ear to a parable: “A mon proverbe.” — Fr. “To my proverb.” “Ou, sentence grave.” — Fr. marg. “Or, grave sentence.” I will open my enigma “Ou, dire obscur.” — Fr. marg. “Or, obscure saying.” upon the harp.

1. Hear this, all ye people. Whoever may have been the penman of this psalm, it discusses one of the most important principles in divine philosophy, and there is a propriety in the elevated terms designed to awaken and secure attention, with which the Psalmist announces his purpose to discourse of things of a deep and momentous nature. To a superficial view, indeed, the subject might seem trite and common-place, treating, as he does, of the shortness of human life, and the vanity of those objects in which worldly men confide. But the real scope of the psalm is, to comfort the people of God under the sufferings to which they are exposed, by teaching them to expect a happy change in their condition, when God, in his own time, shall interpose to rectify the disorders of the present system. There is a higher lesson still inculcated by the Psalmist — that, as God’s providence of the world is not presently apparent, we must exercise patience, and rise superior to the suggestions of carnal sense in anticipating the favorable issue. That it is our duty to maintain a resolute struggle with our afflictions, however severe these may be, and that it were foolish to place happiness in the enjoyment of such fleeting possessions as the riches, honors, or pleasures of this world, may be precepts which even the heathen philosophers have enforced, but they have uniformly failed in setting before us the true source of consolation. However admirably they discourse of a happy life, they confine themselves entirely to commendations upon virtue, and do not bring prominently forward to our view that God, who governs the world, and to whom alone we can repair with confidence in the most desperate circumstances. But slender comfort can be derived upon this subject from the teaching of philosophy. If, therefore, the Holy Ghost in this psalm introduces to our notice truths which are sufficiently familiar to experience, it is that he may raise our minds from them to the higher truth of the divine government of the world, assuring us of the fact, that God sits supreme, even when the wicked are triumphing most in their success, or when the righteous are trampled under the foot of contumely, and that a day is coming when he will dash the cup of pleasure out of the hands of his enemies, and rejoice the hearts of his friends, by delivering them out of their severest distresses. This is the only consideration which can impart solid comfort under our afflictions. Formidable and terrible in themselves, they would overwhelm our souls, did not the Lord lift upon us the light of his countenance. Were we not assured that he watches over our safety, we could find no remedy from our evils, and no quarter to which we might resort under them.

The remarks which have been made may explain the manner in which the inspired writer introduces the psalm, soliciting our attention, as about to discourse on a theme unusually high and important. Two things are implied in this verse, that the subject upon which he proposes to enter is of universal application, and that we require to be admonished and aroused ere we are brought to a due measure of consideration. The words which I have translated, inhabitants of the world, are translated by others, inhabitants of time; but this is a harsh mode of expression, however much it may agree with the scope of the psalm. He calls upon all men indiscriminately, because all were equally concerned in the truths which he intended to announce. By sons of Adam, we may understand the meaner or lower class of mankind; and by sons of men, The original words for the first of these expressions are, בני אדם bene adam; and those for the second, בני איש bene ish אדם, adam, from אדמה, adamah, earth, means an earthly, frail, mortal, mean man. The term איש, ish, on the other hand, is often used to describe a man who is great and eminent, distinguished for his extraction, strength, valor, and dignity. Thus, in 1 Samuel 25:15, we read, “Art thou not איש, ish, a man?” which is explained by what follows, “And who is like thee in Israel?” denoting there the military valor and reputation of Abner. When the two expressions, בני אדם, bene adam, and בני איש, bene ish, are used together as in this place, in Psalm 62:9, Isaiah 2:9, and 5:15, the Jewish Rabbins and modern Christian interpreters have understood a difference of rank to be stated; the former expression, denoting persons of obscure birth, of low rank, the common people: and the latter, meaning men of illustrious descent, the great or nobler sorts of men. See Archbishop Secker’s Dissertation on the words אנוש איש אדם, in Appendix to Merrick’s Annotations on the Psalms, No. 5. The Septuagint translates the former phrase by “Οἵ γηγενεῖς,” the earth-born.” The Chaldee expresses the former by the sons of old Adam, and the latter by the sons of Jacob; thus intending to comprehend Jews and Gentiles, all men in the world. “But,” says Hammond, “it is more likely that the phrases denote only the several conditions of men, men of the lower and higher rank, for so the consequeents interpret it, rich and poor.” the high, the noble, or such as sustain any pre-eminence in life. Thus, in the outset, he states it to be his purpose to instruct high and low without exception; his subject being one in which the whole human family was interested, and in which every individual belonging to it required to be instructed.

PSALM 49

Psa 49:1-20. 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.

1-3. All are called to hear what interests all.

world--literally, "duration of life," the present time.

4. incline--to hear attentively (Psa 17:6; 31:2).

parable--In Hebrew and Greek "parable" and "proverb" are translations of the same word. It denotes a comparison, or form of speech, which under one image includes many, and is expressive of a general truth capable of various illustrations. Hence it may be used for the illustration itself. For the former sense, "proverb" (that is, one word for several) is the usual English term, and for the latter, in which comparison is prominent, "parable" (that is, one thing laid by another). The distinction is not always observed, since here, and in Psa 78:2; "proverb" would better express the style of the composition (compare also Pr 26:7, 9; Ha 2:6; Joh 16:25, 29). Such forms of speech are often very figurative and also obscure (compare Mt 13:12-15). Hence the use of the parallel word--

dark saying--or, "riddle" (compare Eze 17:2).

open--is to explain.

upon the harp--the accompaniment for a lyric.

5. iniquity--or, "calamity" (Psa 40:12).

of my heels--literally "my supplanters" (Ge 27:36), or oppressors: "I am surrounded by the evils they inflict."

6. They are vainglorious.

7-9. yet unable to save themselves or others.

10. For he seeth--that is, corruption; then follows the illustration.

wise ... fool--(Psa 14:1; Pr 1:32; 10:1).

likewise--alike altogether--(Psa 4:8)--die--all meet the same fate.

11. Still infatuated and flattered with hopes of perpetuity, they call their lands, or "celebrate their names on account of (their) lands."

12. Contrasted with this vanity is their frailty. However honored, man

abideth not--literally, "lodgeth not," remains not till morning, but suddenly perishes as (wild) beasts, whose lives are taken without warning.

13. Though their way is folly, others follow the same course of life.

14. Like sheep--(compare Psa 49:12) unwittingly, they

are laid--or, "put," &c.

death shall feed on--or, better, "shall rule"

them--as a shepherd (compare "feed," Psa 28:9, Margin).

have dominion over--or, "subdue"

them in the morning--suddenly, or in their turn.

their beauty--literally, "form" or shape.

shall consume--literally, "is for the consumption," that is, of the grave.

from their dwelling--literally, "from their home (they go) to it," that is, the grave.

15. The pious, delivered from "the power of the grave."

power--literally, "the hand," of death, are taken under God's care.

16-19. applies this instruction. Be not anxious (Psa 37:1, &c.), since death cuts off the prosperous wicked whom you dread.

20. (Compare Psa 49:12). The folly is more distinctly expressed by "understandeth not," substituted for "abideth not."

Hear this, all ye people - The four first verses contain the author's exordium or introduction, delivered in a very pompous style and promising the deepest lessons of wisdom and instruction. But what was rare then is common-place now.

I will incline mine ear to a parable - This was the general method of conveying instruction among the Asiatics. They used much figure and metaphor to induce the reader to study deeply in order to find out the meaning. This had its use; it obliged men to think and reflect deeply; and thus in some measure taught them the use, government, and management of their minds.

My dark saying upon the harp - Music was sometimes used to soothe the animal spirits, and thus prepare the mind for the prophetic influx.

The iniquity of my heels - Perhaps עקבי akebai, which we translate my heels, should be considered the contracted plural of עקבים akebim, supplanters. The verse would then read thus: "Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, though the iniquity of my supplanters should compass me about." The Syriac and Arabic have taken a similar view of the passage: "Why should I fear in the evil day, when the iniquity of my enemies compasses me about." And so Dr. Kennicott translates it.

Sone 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.

For the redemption of their soul is precious - It is of too high a price to be redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver or gold, and has required the sacrificial death of Christ.

And it ceaseth for ever - This is very obscure, and may apply to the ransom which riches could produce. That ransom must be for ever unavailable, because of the value of the soul. Or this clause should be added to the following verse, and read thus: "And though he cease to be, (וחדל vechadal), during the hidden time, (לעולם leolam); yet he shall live on through eternity, (ויחי עוד לנצח vichi od lanetsach), and not see corruption." This is probably the dark saying which it was the design of the author to utter in a parable, and leave it to the ingenuity of posterity to find it out. The verb חדל chadal signifies a cessation of being or action, and עולם olam often signifies hidden time, that which is not defined, and the end of which is not ascertained, though it is frequently used to express endless duration. This translation requires no alteration of the original text, and conveys a precise and consistent meaning.

For he seeth that wise men die - Though they may be rich, and their wisdom teach them the best method of managing their riches so as to derive all the good from them they can possibly produce, yet they die as well as the fool and the poor ignorant man; and their wealth is left to others who will be equally disappointed in their expectation from it.

Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever - Thus, by interpolation, we have endeavored to patch up a sense to this clause. Instead of קרבם kirbam, their inward part, the Septuagint appear to have used a copy in which the second and third letters have been transposed קברם kibram, their sepulchres; for they translate: Και οἱ ταφοι αυτων οικιαι αυτων εις τον αιωνα· "For their graves are their dwellings for ever." So six or seven feet long, and two or three wide, is sufficient to hold the greatest conqueror in the universe! What a small house for the quondam possessor of numerous palaces and potent kingdoms!

They call their lands after their own names - There would have been no evil in this if it had not been done on an infidel principle. They expected no state but the present; and if they could not continue themselves, yet they took as much pains as possible to perpetuate their memorial.

Man being in honor abideth not - However rich, wise, or honorable, they must die; and if they die not with a sure hope of eternal life, they die like beasts. See on Psa 49:20 (note).

Their posterity approve their sayinys - Go the same way; adopt their maxims.

Like sheep they are laid in the grave - לשאול lishol, into sheol, the place of separate spirits.

Death shall feed on them מות ירעם maveth yirem, "Death shall feed them!" What an astonishing change! All the good things of life were once their portion, and they lived only to eat and drink; and now they live in sheol, and Death himself feeds them? and with what? Damnation. Houbigant reads the verse thus: "Like sheep they shall be laid in the place of the dead; death shall feed on them; their morning shepherds rule over them; and their flesh is to be consumed. Destruction is to them in their folds."

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave - מיד שאול miyad sheol, "from the hand of sheol." That is, by the plainest construction, I shall have a resurrection from the dead, and an entrance into his glory; and death shall have no dominion over me.

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich - Do not be envious; do not grieve: it will do you no harm; it will do him no good. All he gets will be left behind; he can carry nothing with him. Even his glory must stay behind; he shall mingle with the common earth.

He blessed his soul - He did all he could to procure himself animal gratifications, and he was applauded for it; for it is the custom of the world to praise them who pay most attention to their secular interest; and he who attends most to the concerns of his soul is deemed weak and foolish, and is often persecuted by an ungodly world.

They shall never see light - Rise again they shall; but they shall never see the light of glory, for there is prepared for them the blackness of darkness for ever.

Man that is in honor - The rich and honorable 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 dignified official situation, but destitute of learning and sound sense, is like a beast. The important place which he occupies reflects no honor upon him, but is disgraced by him. Who has not read the fable of the beautifully carved head? It was every thing that it should be, but had no brains.

This verse has been often quoted as a proof of the fall of man; and from ילין yalin, (in Psa 49:12), which signifies to lodge for a night, it has been inferred that Adam fell on the same day on which he was created, and that he did not spend a single night in the terrestrial paradise. Adam, who was in a state of glory, did not remain in it one night, but became stupid and ignorant as the beasts which perish. But we may rest assured this is no meaning of the text.

I will - I will hearken what God by his Spirit speaks to me, and that will I now speak to you. A parable - Which properly is an allegorical speech, but is often taken for an important, and withal, dark doctrine or sentence. Open - I will not smother it in my own breast, but publish it to the world. Dark - So he calls the following discourse, because the thing in question ever hath been thought hard to be understood.

In the days - In times of great distress and calamity, when wicked men flourish, and good men are oppressed. Supplanters - This character fitly agrees to David's enemies, who were not only malicious, but deceitful and treacherous.

Trust - As that which will secure them from calamities. Having said that good men had no cause of fear, from their present sufferings from ungodly men, now he proceeds to shew, that the ungodly had no reason to be secure because of their riches.

Redeem - Neither from the first death, nor from the second. Brother - Whom he would do his utmost to preserve.

Soul - Of their life. Precious - Hard to be obtained. Ceaseth - It is never to be accomplished, by any mere man, for himself or for his brother.

He seeth - Every man sees that all men die, the wise and the foolish; the evil and the good. To others - He saith not to sons or kindred; but to others, because he is wholly uncertain to whom he shall leave them, to friends, or strangers, or enemies; which he mentions as a great vanity in riches. They neither can save them from death, nor will accompany him in and after death; and after his death will be disposed, he knows not how, nor to whom.

Thought - Tho' they are ashamed to express, yet it is their secret hope. Houses - Either their posterity, often called mens houses: or their mansion - houses, as it is explained in the next clause. For ever - To them and theirs in succeeding generations. Call - Fondly dreaming by this means to immortalize their memories.

Man - Living in all splendor and glory. Abideth not - All his dreams of perpetuating his name and estate, shall be confuted by experience.

Way - Their contrivance to immortalize themselves.

Sheep - Which for a season are in sweet pastures, but at the owner's pleasure are led away to the slaughter. Death - The first death shall consume their bodies, and the second death shall devour their souls. The upright - Good men whom they abused at their pleasure. Morning - In the day of the general judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. Beauty - All their glory and felicity. Dwelling - They shall be hurried from their large and stately mansions, into a close and dark grave.

God - Tho' no man can find out a ransom to redeem himself, yet God can and will redeem me. The grave - The grave shall not have power to retain me, but shall be forced to give me up into my father's hands. Receive - Into heaven.

Afraid - Discouraged.

Blessed - He applauded himself as an happy man. Men - And as he flatters himself, so parasites flatter him for their own advantage. When - When thou dost indulge thyself, and advance thy worldly interest.

He - Now he returns to the third person: such changes are frequent in this book. Go - To the grave and hell, where he shall meet with his wicked parents, who by their counsel and example, led him into his evil courses. See - Neither the light of this life, to which they shall never return: nor of the next life, to which they shall never be admitted.

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.

1. HEar this, all ye people , give [illegible: 1+ letters]ar all ye inhabitants of the World:

Heb. All People; Iews or Gentiles: For all are concerued in this Matter, as being apt to stumble and murmur at it.

3. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding ▪

It concerns you diligently to attend to me, for I am about to speak not of Vulgar and Trivial t[illegible: 1+ letters]ngs, or [illegible: 1 word] as come suddenly into my Mind, and rush as [illegible: 1 word] out of my Mouth, but of such things as are the r[illegible: 1+ letters]sult o[illegible: 1+ letters] my most [illegible: 1 word] and considerate thoughts, and such a[illegible: 1+ letters] i[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] ob[illegible: 1+ letters]rve them and l[illegible: 1+ letters]y them to Heart, will make you truly [illegible: 1 word], and keep you from those Errors and Follies and [illegible: 1 word], which the generality of Mankind for want of a right underst[illegible: 1+ letters]g do run into.

4. I will incline mine ear to a parable , I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

This is another Arg[illegible: 1+ letters]ment to perswade them to h[illegible: 1+ letters]rken to him: I will hearken what God by his Spirit speaks to me, and that and nothing else will I now speak to you: and therefore it is well worth your hearing. I also shall joyn with you in attending to it, that whilst I [illegible: 1+ letters]each you, I my self may learn the same Lesson. For as Ministers now teach themselves whilst they teach others, so the Holy Prophets did oft times search into, and study to find out the meaning of their own Prophecies, as appears plainly from 1 [illegible: 1 word]. 1▪ 10. 11. The Phrase is thought to be taken from the Musicians, who lay their Ear close to the Instrument when they Tune it, and by their Ear try how the Voyce and Instrument agree.

Which properly is a figurative and allegorical Speech, but is oft more largely taken for any excellent and important, and withal dark or Difficult, Doctrine or Sentence, See Numb. 23. 7. and 24. 3. 15. Psal. 78. 2. Comp. with Mat. 13. 35.

(i. e.) I will not smother it in my own Breast, but publish it to the World.

So he justly calls the following Discourse, because the thing in question, is and ever hath been thought Difficult, and hard to be understood.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]. 13. 3[illegible: 1+ letters].

5. Wherefor[illegible: 1+ letters] should I fear in the days of evil , wh[illegible: 1+ letters]n the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about.

He speaks in his own Person, because he had now said that he would incline his Ear, v. 4. (i. e.) Learn and Practise what he was teaching others, but his meaning is more general: That there is no sufficient Cause, why he or any good man should Fear. Which is to be understood of Excessive or immoderate and prevailing Fear, causing Dejection or Despondency, or distrust of God's Providence and Goodness, or Discontent with his Condition. In which Sence men [illegible: 1 word] bid not to Fear, Gen. 50. 19. Mat. 28. 5. Comp. with Mark 16. 6. Thus Gen. 45 5. Be not grieved, to wit, inordinately: for otherwise they ought, and he would have had them to grieve for their sin. Thus to lead a man into Temptation, Mat. 6. 13. is to suffer him to be overcome by it, by Comparing 1 Cor. 10. 13. And the Object, or cause of this forb[illegible: 1+ letters]dden Fear is double, the one, the Afflictions of good Men, here following; the other, the Prosperity of the ungodly, as it is declared v. 16. and of which he begins to Treat in the very next Verse, and continues the Discourse of it, to the end of the Psalm.

Either, 1. Of sin: when iniquity of all sorts abounds; which is many ways grievous and vexa[illegible: 1+ letters]ious to every good Man. Or, 2. Of Misery; in times of great Distress and Calamity, either publick or private, when wicked Men flourish, (of which he speaks in all the rest of the Psalm) and good men are oppressed and persecuted.

By which he understands either, 1. His afflictions: which he might justly call the Punishment of his sinful Actions: for iniquity is commonly put for the Punishment of it, and the Heels are put for a Mans Foot-steps, and Metaphorically, for ones ways or Actions, as Psal. 56. 6. and 89. 51. Or, 2. The iniquity, (i. e.) The violent and injurious Designs and Practises of his ungodly and malitious Enemies, who, as he here saith, did [illegible: 1 word] him about. Whereby he notes their prosperous Success against him, and his being indangered and vexed by them, as this Phrase implies, Iob. 16. 13. Psal. 17. 9. 11. and 22. 12 and 140. 9. Habak. 1. 4. and withal their intention and endeavour to vex and persecure and destroy him, as this Phrase is used, Psal. 17. 9. and 22. 12. 16. and in many other places. This S[illegible: 1+ letters]nce is favoured both by the Syriack and Arabick Interpreters: whereof the former renders the Words thus, the iniquity of mine Enemies hath Compassed me, and the latter thus, when mine Enemies shall Compass me about: and by the main Scope of the Psalm, which is to Comfort himself and other good Men, against that great Scandal of the Prosperity of the Wicked, and the Oppressions and Miseries of the Righteous. But all the Difficulty is, why or how he calls this, the iniquity of his Heels. For the clearing whereof, it is humbly proposed to Consideration, that this Genitive Case, of my H[illegible: 1+ letters]els, seems to note not the Efficient or Meritorious cause of this iniquity, or Punishment of it, but the Object about which this iniquity is Exercised; as Nouns in the Genitive Case are frequently [illegible: 1+ letters]aken. Thus the spoil of the Poor, Isa. 3. 14. is not that spoil which was made by them, but upon them: and the Vi[illegible: 1+ letters] lence of the Children of Iudah, as it is in the Hebrew [illegible: 1 word], Io[illegible: 1+ letters]l. 3. 19. is that which was done ag[illegible: 1+ letters]inst them, as we truly Translate it. See also Dan. 4 27. Mat. 10. 1. Act. 4. 9. In like manner here, the iniquity of my Heels, is the iniquity wherewith they Compass and seek to trip up my Heels: for we shall find David oft speaking of the malitious Practices of his Enemies, with respect to his Heels or Feet, or Steps. So he tells us they pierced his Hands and Feet, Psal. 22. 16. they Compassed and marked, and prepared a Net for his Steps, Psal. 17. 11. and 56. 6. and 57. 6. as [illegible: 1 word] also complains of his Enemies, that they hid Snares for his Feet, Ch. 18. 22. And therefore it is not strange that the iniquity of his Enemies is here noted to be exercised about his Heels, or Footstepts, as this word signifies, either because they did malignantly observe all his steps or ways, that they might find occasion to load him with Reproaches in order to his Ruin; or because they purposed to trip up his Heels, or to overthrow his goings, as he Complains, Psal. 140. 4. Besides the Words may be rendred, the iniquity of my Supplanters; for the Hebrew word rendred Heels, may be and is by some learned Interpreters, taken for a Participle of that Verb, which signifies to Supplant or trip up the Heels or Circumvent, from whence Iacob had his Name. And this Character fitly agrees to David's Enemies, who were not onely most malitious, but also very deceitful and Treacherous, as he every where Complains.

Marginal references: Hos. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 2.

6. They that trust in their wealth , and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.

As that which can and will secure them, from Gods judgments and from the Calamities of humane Life, the Psalmist having said that he and other good Men, had no sufficient cause of Fear, from their present sufferings from ungodly Men; now he proceeds on the contrary to shew that his ungodly Enemies had no reason to be secure and Confident, because of their present Riches and prosperous Success.

Marginal references: Joh. 31. 24. Psal. 62. 10. Mark. 10. 24. 1 Tim. 6. 17.

7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother , nor give to God a ransom for him.

To wit, from Death, as appears from v. 9, 10. &c. neither from the first Death, nor from the second, which he points at, v. 14. 19.

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 Wi[illegible: 1+ letters], and all other means of redeeming his Brother; which he hath not, when he himself is dangerously or desperately sick.

The onely Lord of Life, and the Judge who hath passed upon him the Sentence of Death.

8. For the redemption of their soul is precious : and it ceaseth for ever .

(i. e.) Of their Life, as Soul is commonly used.

(i. e.) Rare, as the Word is used, 1 Sam. 3. 1. Dan. 2. 11. hard to be obtained. But he doth not call it simply impossible, because Christ hath purchased this Priviledge for his true Disciples, that in some Sence, they shall not see Death, Iob. 8. 51.

(i. e.) It is never to be accomplished, to wit, by any mee[illegible: 1+ letters] Man, for himself or for his Brother.

Marginal references: Job 36. 18, 19.

9. That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption .

Or, the Pit, or the Grave, (i. e.) Not die, as that Phrase is oft used, as hath been noted before.

Marginal references: Psal. 89. 48.

10. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish , and leave their wealth to others .

An impersonal Expression: Every man sees and knows it; it is visible and evident, both from Reason and from universal Experience.

All men die without any Difference between Wise and Fools, good and bad.

He saith not, to Sons, or Kindred; but indefinitely, to others, because he is wholly uncertain to whom he shall leave them to Friends, or Strangers, or Enemies; which he mentions as a great Vanity in Riches. They neither can save them from Death, nor will accompany him in, and after Death, and after his Death will be disposed, he knows not how nor to whom.

Marginal references: Eccle. 2. 16.

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 .

Though they are ashamed to express it, yet it is their secret Opinion and Hope, and Wish.

Either, 1. Their posterity, oft called mens Houses, as 2 Sam. 7. 11. &c. Psal. 113. 9. and 115. 12. Or, 2. Their Mansion-Houses, as it is explained in the next Clause, which also serve for this purpose, to preserve a Mans name for ever.

Not to them in their own Persons, but to them and theirs in succeeding Generations, as it follows.

Fondly dreaming by this means to immortalize their Names and Memories.

Marginal references: Heb. to Generation and Generation.

12. Nevertheless man being in honour , abideth not : he is like the beasts that perish .

Notwithstanding all these fine Fancies and Devices.

Living in all the Splendour and Glory above mentioned.

The Hebrew word Properly signifies, to lodge for a Night, as Gen. 32. 21. Iudg. 19. 10. and thence to abide for a long or Considerable time, as Psal. 25. 13. and 55. 7. Prov. 15. 31. All his Dreams of perpetuating his Name and Estate, shall vanish and be Confuted by Experience.

(i. e.) That are utterly lost and Exstinct. So he is in reference to all his Wealth and Honour, of which he here speaks.

Marginal references: Psal. 82. 7.

13. This their way is their folly ; yet their posterity approve their sayings , Selah.

(i. e.) Their Counsel and Contrivance to immortalize themselves.

Though to themselves and some others, it seem to be Wisdom, yet in Truth it is apparent folly and madness. For they neither obtain that immortal Name which they seek and hope for: Nor, if they do, doth it yield them any Comfort or Benefit.

Heb. their Mouth, (i. e.) Their Counsels and Suggestions which they gave them concerning these Matters. The Mouth is oft put for the Words, which come out of it, as Numb. 35. 30. Iob. 7. 11.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] in their [illegible: 1 word].

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 .

Which for a season are fed in large and sweet Pastures, but at the owners Pleasure are put together in close and Comfortless solds, and led away to the Slaughters, not knowing nor considering whither they are going.

Or, in Hell: For the Hebrew word signifie both.

The first Death shall Consume their Bodies in the Grave, and the second Death shall devour their Souls.

Good men whom here they oppressed and abused at their Pleasure.

Either, 1. Suddendly, or within a very little time, as this Phrase is oft used, as Psal. 30. 5. and 46. 5. and 101. 8. and 143. 8. &c. Or, 2. In the day of general Judgment, and the Resurrection of the Dead. For Death being called the night, Ioh. 9. 4. and sleep in many places, that day is fitly Compared to the Morning, when men awake out of sleep, and enter upon that everlasting day. But whether this or the former be the true meaning of the Phrase, it is sufficiently evident the thing here spoken of, is not done in this Life, but in the next: For, 1. This Proposition and Priviledge being general, and common to all upright Persons is not verified here, it being the lot of many good men to be oppressed and killed by the [illegible: 1+ letters]icked, as is manifest both from Scripture, as Psal. 44. 22. Eccles. 8. 14. and 9. 2. and from the Experience of all Ages of the Church. 2. This Dominion of the just over the wicked happens after the wicked are laid in their Grave, as is here expressed, and Consequently supposeth their future Life and Resurrection: for when one Person rules over another, both are supposed to exist or have a being. Nor is there any Argument against this Sence, but from a vain and absurd Conceit, which some men have entertained, that the Saints in the Old Testament had no firm belief nor Expectation of the Recompences of the Life to come. Which is against evident Reason; and against many clear places of the Old Testament, that cannot without force be wrested to any other Sence; and against the express Testimony of the New Testament concerning them, Heb. 11. and in many other places.

Or, their Form, or Figure, or Image▪ all which come to one, and seems to intimate that all their Glory and Felicity which they had in this Life, was rather imaginary than Real, and indeed but a shadow, as it is called, Eccles. 6. 12. and 8. 13.

Heb. is to Consume, or to be Consumed, (i. e.) Shall be consumed: the infinitive Verb being here put for the Future, as it is Psal. 32. 8. Zeth. 3. 4. and 12. 10.

(i. e.) They shall be hurried from their large, and stately and pleasant Mansions, into a close and dark Grave, But those Words are by divers Interpreters rendred otherwise, and that Peradventure more truly and fitly, to this purpose, Word for Word, the Grave (or rather, Hell, as before, and as this Word Sheol is Confessedly oft used, in the Old Testament, but no where more Conveniently than here) shall be a dwelling, or for a dwelling unto him, or them, or every one of them. Which in the Prophets Phrase is called dwelling with everlasting Burnings, Isa. 33. 14. and, in the Phrase of the New Testament, to be cast into and abide in the lake of Fire, and Brimstone, Revel. 20. 10.

Marginal references: Heb. Hell.; Dan. 7. 22. Mal. 4. 3. Luk. 22. 30. 1 Cor. 6. 2. Rev. 2. 26. & 20. 4.; Or, Strength.; Or, [illegible: 1 word] Grace being an habitation to every one of them.

15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave ; for he shall receive me , Selah.

Though no man can find out a Ransom to redeem himself or his Brother, yet God can and will Redeem me.

Either properly: Or, my self or Life: for all comes to one.

Or, of Hell▪ for he speaks of that Sheol in which the Wicked are left. The Grave shall not have Power to retain me, but shall be forced to give me up into my Fathers hands: and Hell shall have no Power to seize upon me.

Or, take me, out of this vain mortal and iniserable Life unto himself, or into Heaven, as this Phrase is used, Gen. 5. 24. Psal. 73. 24. Act. 7. 59.

Marginal references: Heb. from the hand of the Grave.; Or, Hell.

16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.

(i. e.) Discouraged or dejected. The prosperity of the Sinners, is oft matter of Fear and Dread to good men; Partly, because it enables them to do more Mischief; and Partly, because it shakes their Faith in God's Providence and Promises, and is apt to engender Suspicions in Mens minds, as if God did not Regard the Actions and Affairs of men, and made no difference between the good and the bad, and Consequently all Religion were vain and unprofitable. See Psal. 73. 12, 13.

17. For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away : his glory shall not descend after him.

For as he will shortly die, so all his Wealth and Power, and Glory will die with him, and thou wilst have no cause either to Envy or Fear him.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word] 19.

18. Though whiles he lived, he blessed his soul : and men will praise thee , when thou dost well to thy self .

(i. e.) He applauded himself as a Wise and happy Man; Comp. Lak. 12. 19.

And as he pleaseth and flattereth himself, so he meets with Parasites, that applaud and flatter him, for their own advantage. For he still speaks of the same Man, as is manifest from the foregoing and following Words, though there be a sudden Change of the third, into the second Person: which is most frequent in these Books.

When thou doest indulge and please thy self, and advance thy own Worldly interest. For the Name of good in Scripture is oft ascribed, unto the Pleasures and Profits of this Life, as Iob 21. 13. Psal. 4. 6. Eccles. 2. 24. and 4. 8. and 11. 9.

Marginal references: Heb. in his [illegible: 1 word].

19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers , they shall never see light .

Now he returns again to the third Person. Such sudden and repeated Changes, are frequent in this Book.

(i. e.) To the Grave and Hell, where he shall meet with his wicked Parents, who by their Counsel and Example, led him into his evil Courses; as the Godly also are said to be gathered to their Fathers, Gen. 15. 15. Deut. 32. 50. Iudg. 2. 10. (i. e.)

Never enjoy, as seeing is oft taken.

Neither the light of the Living, as it is called, Iob. 33. 30. Psal. 56. 13. or of this Life, to which they shall never return: Nor of the next Life, to which they shall never be admitted, but they shall be cast into utter Darkness, Mat. 8. 12.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] the Soul [illegible: 1 word].

20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not , is like the beasts that perish .

(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 and Honour, and Power, and whither he is going, and what Course to take for the Attainment of true and lasting Happiness.

Though he hath the outward shape of a Man, yet in truth he is a Beast, or a brutish stupid, and unreasonable Creature, and he shall perish like a brute Beast made to be destroyed, 2 Pet. 2. 12.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 12.; [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]ccle. 3. [illegible: 1 word]

Of the Vanity of Earthly Prosperity and Good: A Didactic Poem

To the pair of Psa 47:1-9 and Psa 48:1-14 is appended Psalms 49, which likewise begins with an appealing “all ye peoples;” in other respects, being a didactic song, it has nothing in common with the national and historical Psalms, Psa 46:1. The poet here steps forward as a preacher in the midst of men. His theme is the transitoriness of the prosperity of the ungodly, and, on the other hand, the hope of the upright which rests on God. Accordingly the Psalm falls into the following divisions: an introduction, Psa 49:2, which by its very promissory tone reminds one of the speeches of Elihu in the Book of Job, and the two parts of the sermon following thereupon, Psa 49:6, Psa 49:14, which are marked out by a refrain, in which there is only a slight variation of expression. In its dogmatic character it harmonizes with the Psalms of the time of David, and by its antique and bold form takes rank with such Psalms as Psa 17:1-15 by David and Ps 83 by Asaph. Since also in the didactic Psalms of David and Asaph we meet with a style differing from that of their other Psalms, and, where the doings of the ungodly are severely rebuked, we find a harsher and more concise mode of expression and a duller, heavier tone, there is nothing at variance with the assumption that Ps 49 was composed by the writer of Psa 42:1 and Psa 84:1; and more especially since David has composed Psalms of a kindred character (Psa 39:1-13 and Psa 62:1-12) in the time of the persecution by Absalom. Nothing, however, is involved in this unity of the author.

Psa 49:1-4 (Hebrew_Bible_49:2-5) Introduction. Very similarly do the elder (in the reign of Jehoshaphat) and the younger Micha (Micah) introduce their prophecies (1Ki 22:28; Mic 1:2); and Elihu in the Book of Job his didactic discourses (Psa 34:2, cf. Psa 33:2). It is an universal theme which the poet intends to take up, hence he calls upon all peoples and all the inhabitants of the חלד. Such is the word first of all for this temporal life, which glides by unnoticed, them for the present transitory world itself (vid., on Psa 17:14). It is his intention to declare to the rich the utter nothingness or vanity of their false ground of hope, and to the poor the superiority of their true ground of hope; hence he wishes to have as hearers both בני אדם, children of the common people, who are men and have otherwise nothing distinctive about them, and בּני־אישׁ, children of men, i.e., of rank and distinction (vid., on Psa 4:3) - rich and poor, as he adds to make his meaning more clear. For his mouth will, or shall, utter הכמות, not: all sorts of wise teachings, but: weighty wisdom. Just in like manner תּבוּנות signifies profound insight or understanding; cf. plurals like בּינות, Isa 27:11, ישּׁוּעת, Ps. 42:12 and frequently, שׁלוּת, Jer 22:21. The parallel word תּבוּנות in the passage before us, and the plural predicate in Pro 24:7, show that חכמות, here and in Pro 1:20; Pro 9:1, cf. Psa 14:1, is not to be regarded, with Hitzig, Olshausen, and others, as another form of the singular חכמוּת. Side by side with the speaking of the mouth stands חגוּת לב (with an unchangeable Kametz before the tone-syllable, Ew. §166, c): the meditation (lxx μελέτη) of the heart, and in accordance therewith the well-thought-out discourse. What he intends to discourse is, however, not the creation of his own brain, but what he has received. A משׁל, a saying embodying the wisdom of practical life, as God teaches men it, presents itself to his mind demanding to be heard; and to this he inclines his ear in order that, from being a diligent scholar of the wisdom from above, he may become a useful teacher of men, inasmuch as he opens up, i.e., unravels, the divine Mashal, which in the depth and fulness of its contents is a חידה, i.e., an involved riddle (from חוּד, cogn. אגד, עקד), and plays the cithern thereby (ב of the accompaniment). The opening of the riddle does not consist in the solving of it, but in the setting of it forth. פּתח, to open = to propound, deliver of a discourse, comes from the phrase את־ּפּיו-פּתח, Pro 31:26; cf. Psa 119:130, where פּתח, an opening, is equivalent to an unlocking, a revelation.

Psa 49:5-12 (Hebrew_Bible_49:6-13) First division of the sermon. Those who have to endure suffering from rich sinners have no need to fear, for the might and splendour of their oppressors is hastening towards destruction. ימי רע are days in which one experiences evil, as in Psa 94:13, cf. Amo 6:3. The genitive r` is continued in Amo 6:6 in a clause that is subordinate to the בימי of Psa 49:6 (cf. 1Sa 25:15; Job 29:2; Psa 90:15). The poet calls his crafty and malicious foes עקבי. There is no necessity for reading עקבי as Böttcher does, since without doubt a participial noun עקב, supplantator, can be formed from עקב, supplantare; and although in its branchings out it coincides with עקב, planta, its meaning is made secure by the connection. To render the passage: “when wickedness surrounds me about my heels,” whether with or without changing עון into עון (Hupfeld, von Ortenberg), is proved on all sides to be inadmissible: it ought to have been עול instead of עון; but even then it would still be an awkward expression, “to surround any one’s heels,”This might be avoided if it were possible for עון עקבי to mean “the sin that follows my heels, that follows me at the heels;” but apart from עון being unsuitable with this interpretation, an impossible meaning is thereby extorted from the genitive construction. This, however, is perhaps what is meant by the expression of the lxx, ἡ ἀνομία τῆς πτέρνης μου, so much spoken of in the Greek Church down to the present day. and the הבּטחים, which follows, would be unconnected with what precedes. This last word comes after עקבי, giving minuteness to the description, and is then continued quite regularly in Psa 49:7 by the finite verb. Up to this point all is clear enough; but now the difficulties accumulate. One naturally expects the thought, that the rich man is not able to redeem himself from death. Instead of this it is said, that no man is able to redeem another from death. Ewald, Böttcher, and others, therefore, take אח, as in Eze 18:10; Eze 21:20 (vid., Hitzig), to be a careless form of writing for אך, and change יפדּה into the reflexive יפּדה; but the thought that is sought thus to be brought to is only then arrived at with great difficulty: the words ought to be אך אישׁ לא יפדּה נפשׁו. The words as they stand assert: a brother (אח, as a prominently placed object, with Rebia magnum, = אהיו, cf. Eze 5:10; Eze 18:18; Mic 7:6; Mal 1:6) can a man by no means redeem, i.e., men cannot redeem one another. Hengstenberg and Hitzig find the thought that is to be expected in Psa 49:8: the rich ungodly man can with all his riches not even redeem another (אח), much less then can he redeem himself, offer a כּפר for himself. But if the poet meant to be so understood, he must have written ולא and כּפר נפשׁו. Psa 49:8 and Psa 49:8 bear no appearance of referring to different persons; the second clause is, on the contrary, the necessary supplement of the first: Among men certainly it is possible under some circumstances for one who is delivered over to death to be freed by money, but no כּפר (= פּדיון נפשׁ, Exo 21:30 and frequently) can be given to God (לאלהים).

All idea of the thought one would most naturally look for must therefore be given up, so far as it can be made clear why the poet has given no direct expression to it. And this can be done. The thought of a man’s redeeming himself is far from the poet’s mind; and the contrast which he has before his mind is this: no man can redeem another, Elohim only can redeem man. That one of his fellow-men cannot redeem a man, is expressed as strongly as possible by the words לא־פדה יפדּה; the negative in other instances stands after the intensive infinitive, but here, as in Gen 3:4; Amo 9:8; Isa 28:28, before it. By an easy flight of irony, Psa 49:9 says that the lu'tron which is required to be paid for the souls of men is too precious, i.e., exorbitant, or such as cannot be found, and that he (whoever might wish to lay it down) lets it alone (is obliged to let it alone) for ever  Thus much is clear enough, so far as the language is concerned (וחדל according to the consec. temp. = ויחדּל), and, although somewhat fully expressed, is perfectly in accordance with the connection. But how is Psa 49:10 attached to what precedes? Hengstenberg renders it, “he must for ever give it up, that he should live continually and not see the grave.” But according to the syntax, ויהי cannot be attached to וחדל, but only to the futures in Psa 49:8, ranking with which the voluntative ויחי, ut vivat (Ew. §347, a). Thus, therefore, nothing remains but to take Psa 49:9 (which von Ortenberg expunges as a gloss upon Psa 49:8) as a parenthesis; the principal clause affirms that no man can give to God a ransom that shall protect another against death, so that this other should still continue (עוד) to live, and that without end (לנצח), without seeing the grave, i.e., without being obliged to go down into the grave. The כּי in Psa 49:11 is now confirmatory of what is denied by its opposite; it is, therefore, according to the sense, imo (cf. 1Ki 21:15): ...that he may not see the grave - no indeed, without being able to interpose and alter it, he must see how all men, without distinction, succumb to death. Designedly the word used of the death of wise men is מוּת, and of the death of the fool and the stupid man, אבד. Kurtz renders: “together with the fool and the slow of understanding;”; but יחד as a proposition cannot be supported; moreover, ועזבוּ would then have “the wise” as its subject, which is surely not the intention of the poet. Everything without distinction, and in mingled confusion, falls a prey to death; the rich man must see it, and yet he is at the same time possessed by the foolish delusion that he, with his wealth, is immortal.

The reading קברם (lxx, Targ., Syr.), preferred by Ewald, and the conjecture קברם, adopted by Olshausen and Riehm, give a thought that is not altogether contrary to the connection, viz., the narrow grave is the eternal habitation of those who called broad lands their own; but this thought appears here, in view of Psa 49:12, too early. קרב denotes the inward part, or that which is within, described according to that which encircles or contains it: that which is within them is, “their houses (pronounce bāttēmo) are for ever” (Hengstenberg, Hitzig); i.e., the contents of their inward part is the self-delusion that their houses are everlasting, and their habitations so durable that one generation after another will pass over them; cf. the similar style of expression in Psa 10:4, Est 5:7. Hitzig further renders: men celebrate their names in the lands; קרא בשׁם, to call with a name = solemnly to proclaim it, to mention any one’s name with honour (Isa 44:5). But it is unlikely that the subject of קראוּ should now again be any other than the rich men themselves; and עלי אדמות for בּכל־הארץ or בּארצות is contrary to the usage of the language. אדמה is the earth as tillage, אדמות (only in this passage) in this connection, fields, estates, lands; the proclaiming of names is, according to 2Sa 12:28; 1Ki 8:43; Amo 9:12, equivalent to the calling of the lands or estates after their (the possessors') names (Böttcher, Hupfeld, Kurtz). The idea of the rich is, their houses and dwelling-places (and they themselves who have grown up together with them) are of eternal duration; accordingly they solemnly give their own names to their lands, as being the names of immortals. But, adds the poet, man בּיקר, in the pomp of his riches and outward show, abideth not (non pernoctat = non permanet). ביקר is the complement of the subject, although it logically (cf. Psa 45:13) also belongs to בּל־ילין. Böttcher has shown the impropriety of reading בּל־יבין here according to Psa 49:20. There are other instances also of refrains that are not exact repetitions; and this correction is moreover at once overthrown by the fact that בל will not suit יבין, it would stamp each man of rank, as such, as one deficient in intelligence. On the other hand, this emotional negative בל is admirably suitable to ילין: no indeed, he has no abiding. He is compared (נמשׁל like the New Testament ὡμοιώθη), of like kind and lot, to cattle (כּ as in Job 30:19). נדמוּ is an attributive clause to כּבּהמות: like heads of cattle which are cut off or destroyed. The verb is so chosen that it is appropriate at the same time to men who are likened to the beasts (Hos 10:7, Hos 10:15, Oba 1:5, Isa 6:5).

Psa 49:13-20 (Hebrew_Bible_49:14-21) Second part of the discourse, of equal compass with the first. Those who are thought to be immortal are laid low in Hades; whilst, on the other hand, those who cleave to God can hope to be redeemed by Him out of Hades. Olshausen complains on this passage that the expression is abrupt, rugged, and in part altogether obscure. The fault, however, lies not, as he thinks, in a serious corruption of the text, but in the style, designedly adopted, of Psalms like this of a gloomy turn. זה דרכּם refers back to Psa 49:13, which is the proper mashal of the Psalm: this is their way or walk (דּרך as in Psa 37:5, cf. Hag 1:5). Close upon this follows כּסל למו (their way), of those (cf. Psa 69:4) who possess self-confidence; כּסל signifies confidence both in a good and bad sense, self-confidence, impudence, and even (Ecc 7:25) in general, folly. The attributive clause is continued in Psa 49:14: and of those who after them (i.e., when they have spoken, as Hitzig takes it), or in a more universal sense: after or behind them (i.e., treading in their footsteps), have pleasure in their mouth, i.e., their haughty, insolent, rash words (cf. Jdg 9:38). If the meaning were “and after them go those who,” etc., then one would expect to find a verb in connection with אחריהם (cf. Job 21:33). As a collateral definition, “after them = after their death,” it would, however, without any reason, exclude the idea of the assent given by their contemporaries. It is therefore to be explained according to Job 29:22, or more universally according to Deu 12:30. It may seem remarkable that the music here strikes in forte; but music can on its part, in mournfully shrill tones, also bewail the folly of the world.

Psa 49:14, so full of eschatological meaning, now describes what becomes of the departed. The subject of שׁתּוּ (as in Psa 73:9, where it is Milra, for שׁתוּ) is not, as perhaps in the case of ἀπαιτοῦσιν, Luk 12:20, higher powers that are not named; but שׁוּת (here שׁתת), as in Psa 3:7, Hos 6:11; Isa 22:7, is used in a semi-passive sense: like a herd of sheep they lay themselves down or they are made to lie down לשׁאול (thus it is pointed by Ben-Asher; whereas Ben-Naphtali points לשׁאול, with a silent Shebâ), to Hades = down into Hades (cf. Psa 88:7), so that they are shut up in it like sheep in their fold. And who is the shepherd there who rules these sheep with his rod? מות ירעם. Not the good Shepherd (Psa 23:1), whose pasture is the land of the living, but Death, into whose power they have fallen irrecoverably, shall pasture them. Death is personified, as in Job 18:14, as the king of terrors. The modus consecutivus, ויּרדּוּ, now expresses the fact that will be realized in the future, which is the reverse side of that other fact. After the night of affliction has swiftly passed away, there breaks forth, for the upright, a morning; and in this morning they find themselves to be lords over these their oppressors, like conquerors, who put their feet upon the necks of the vanquished (the lxx well renders it by κατακυριεύσουσιν). Thus shall it be with the upright, whilst the rich at their feet beneath, in the ground, are utterly destroyed. לבּקר has Rebia magnum, ישׁרים has Asla-Legarme; accordingly the former word does not belong to what follows (in the morning, then vanishes...), but to what precedes. צוּר or ציר (as in Isa 45:16) signifies a form or image, just as צוּרה (Arab. tsûrat) is generally used; properly, that which is pressed in or pressed out, i.e., primarily something moulded or fashioned by the pressure of the hand (as in the case of the potter, יצר) or by means of some instrument that impresses and cuts the material. Here the word is used to denote materiality or corporeity, including the whole outward appearance (φαντασία, Act 25:23). The לו which refers to this, shows that וצוּרם is not a contraction of וצוּרתם (vid., on Psa 27:5). Their materiality, their whole outward form belonging to this present state of being, becomes (falls away) לבלּות שׁאול. The Lamed is used in the same way as in היה לבער, Isa 6:13; and שׁאול is subject, like, e.g., the noun that follows the infinitive in Psa 68:19; Job 34:22. The same idea is obtained if it is rendered: and their form Hades is ready to consume (consumturus est); but the order of the words, though not making this rendering impossible (cf. Psa 32:9, so far as עדיו there means “its cheek”), is, however, less favourable to it (cf. Pro 19:8; Est 3:11). בּלּה was the most appropriate word for the slow, but sure and entire, consuming away (Job 13:28) of the dead body which is gnawed or destroyed in the grave, this gate of the lower world. To this is added מזּבל לו as a negative definition of the effect: so that there no longer remains to it, i.e., to the pompous external nature of the ungodly, any dwelling-place, and in general any place whatever; for whatever they had in and about themselves is destroyed, so that they wander to and fro as bare shadows in the dreary waste of Hades. To them, who thought to have built houses for eternity and called great districts of country after their own names, there remains no longer any זבל of this corporeal nature, inasmuch as Hades gradually and surely destroys it; it is for ever freed from its solid and dazzling shell, it wastes away lonesome in the grave, it perishes leaving no trace behind. Hupfeld’s interpretation is substantially the same, and that of Jerome even is similar: et figura eorum conteretur in infero post habitaculum suum; and Symmachus: τὸ δὲ κρατερὸν αὐτῶν παλαιώσει ᾴδης ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκήσεως τῆς ἐντίμου αὐτῶν.

Other expositors, it is true, solve the riddle of the half-verse in a totally different way. Mendelssohn refers צוּרם to the upright: whose being lasts longer than the grave (survives it), hence it cannot be a habitation (eternal dwelling) to it; and adds, “the poet could not speak more clearly of the resurrection (immortality).”In the fragments of a commentary to his translation of Psalms, contributed by David Friedländer.

A modern Jewish Christian, Isr. Pick, looked upon in Jerusalem as dead, sees here a prediction of the breaking through of the realm of the dead by the risen One: “Their Rock is there, to break through the realm of the dead, that it may no longer serve Him as an abode.”In a fugitive paper of the so-called Amen Congregation, which noo unhappily exists no longer, in München-Gladbach.

Von Hofmann’s interpretation (last of all in his Schriftbeweis ii. 2, 499, 2nd edition) lays claim to a more detailed consideration, because it has been sought to maintain it against all objections. By the morning he understands the end of the state or condition of death both of the righteous and of the ungodly. “In the state of death have they both alike found themselves: but now the dominion of death is at an end, and the dominion of the righteous beings.” But those who have, according to Psa 49:15, died are only the ungodly, not the righteous as well. Hofmann then goes on to explain: their bodily form succumbs to the destruction of the lower world, so that it no longer has any abode; which is said to convey the thought, that the ungodly, “by means of the destruction of the lower world, to which their corporeal nature in common with themselves becomes subject, lose its last gloomy abode, but thereby lose their corporeal nature itself, which has now no longer any continuance:” “their existence becomes henceforth one absolutely devoid of possessions and of space, [“the exact opposite of the time when they possessed houses built for eternity, and broad tracts of country bore their name.”] But even according to the teaching of the Old Testament concerning the last things, in the period after the Exile, the resurrection includes the righteous and the unrighteous (Dan 12:2); and according to the teaching of the New Testament, the damned, after Death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, receive another זבול, viz., Gehenna, which stands in just the same relation to Hades as the transformed world does to the old heavens and the old earth. The thought discovered in Psa 49:15, therefore, will not bear being put to the proof. There is, however, this further consideration, that nothing whatever is known in any other part of the Old Testament of such a destruction of Sheôl; and לבלּות found in the Psalm before us would be a most inappropriate word to express it, instead of which it ought to have been לכלּות; for the figurative language in Psa 102:27; Isa 51:6, is worthless as a justification of this word, which signifies a gradual wearing out and using up or consuming, and must not, in opposition to the usage of the language, be explained according to עב and בּלי. For this reason we refrain from making this passage a locus classicus in favour of an eschatological conception which cannot be supported by any other passage in the Old Testament. On the other side, however, the meaning of לבּקר is limited if it be understood only of the morning which dawns upon the righteous one after the night of affliction, as Kurtz does. What is, in fact, meant is a morning which not merely for individuals, but for all the upright, will be the end of oppression and the dawn of dominion: the ungodly are totally destroyed, and they (the upright) now triumph above their graves. In these words is expressed, in the manner of the Old Testament, the end of all time. Even according to Old Testament conception human history closes with the victory of good over evil. So far Psa 49:15 is really a “riddle” of the last great day; expressed in New Testament language, of the resurrection morn, in which οἱ ἅγιοι τὸν κόσμον κρινοῦσι (1Co 6:2).

With אך, in Psa 49:16 (used here adversatively, as e.g., in Job 13:15, and as אכן is more frequently used), the poet contrasts the totally different lot that awaits him with the lot of the rich who are satisfied in themselves and unmindful of God. אך belongs logically to נפשׁי, but (as is moreover frequently the case with רק, גּם, and אף) is, notwithstanding this relation to the following member of the sentence, placed at the head of the sentence: yet Elohim will redeem my soul out of the hand of Sheôl (Psa 89:49; Hos 13:14). In what sense the poet means this redemption to be understood is shown by the allusion to the history of Enoch (Gen 5:24) contained in כּי יקּחני. Böttcher shrewdly remarks, that this line of the verse is all the more expressive by reason of its relative shortness. Its meaning cannot be: He will take me under His protection; for לקח does not mean this. The true parallels are Psa 73:24, Gen 5:24. The removals of Enoch and Elijah were, as it were, fingerposts which pointed forward beyond the cheerless idea they possessed of the way of all men, into the depth of Hades. Glancing at these, the poet, who here speaks in the name of all upright sufferers, gives expression to the hope, that God will wrest him out of the power of Sheôl and take him to Himself. It is a hope that possesses not direct word of God upon which it could rest; it is not until later on that it receives the support of divine promise, and is for the present only a “bold flight” of faith. Now can we, for this very reason, attempt to define in what way the poet conceived of this redemption and this taking to Himself. In this matter he himself has no fully developed knowledge; the substance of his hope is only a dim inkling of what may be. This dimness that is only gradually lighted up, which lies over the last things in the Old Testament, is the result of a divine plan of education, in accordance with which the hope of eternal life was gradually to mature, and to be born as it were out of this wrestling faith itself. This faith is expressed in Psa 49:16; and the music accompanies his confidence in cheerful and rejoicing strains.

After this, in Psa 49:17, there is a return from the lyric strain to the gnomic and didactic. It must not, with Mendelssohn, be rendered: let it (my soul) not be afraid; but, since the psalmist begins after the manner of a discourse: fear thou not. The increasing כבוד, i.e., might, abundance, and outward show (all these combined, from כּבד, grave esse), of the prosperous oppressor is not to make the saint afraid: he must after all die, and cannot take hence with him הכּל, the all = anything whatever (cf. לכּל, for anything whatever, Jer 13:7). כּי, Psa 49:17, like ἐάν, puts a supposable case; כּי, Psa 49:18, is confirmatory; and כּי, Psa 49:19, is concessive, in the sense of גּם־כּי, according to Ew. §362, b: even though he blessed his soul during his life, i.e., called it fortunate, and flattered it by cherished voluptuousness (cf. Deu 29:18, התבּרך בּנפשׁו, and the soliloquy of the rich man in Luk 12:19), and though they praise thee, O rich man, because thou dost enjoy thyself (Luk 16:25), wishing themselves equally fortunate, still it (the soul of such an one) will be obliged to come or pass עד־דּור אבותיו. There is no necessity for taking the noun דּור here in the rare signification dwelling (Arabic dâr, synonym of Menzı̂l), and it appears the most natural way to supply נפשׁו as the subject to תּבוא (Hofmann, Kurtz, and others), seeing that one would expect to find אבותיך in the case of תבוא being a form of address. And there is then no need, in order to support the synallage, which is at any rate inelegant, to suppose that the suffix יו-takes its rise from the formula אל־אבתיו (נאסף) בּוא, and is, in spite of the unsuitable grammatical connection, retained, just as יחדּו and כּלּם, without regard to the suffixes, signify “together” and “all together” (Böttcher). Certainly the poet delights in difficulties of style, of which quite sufficient remain to him without adding this to the list. It is also not clear whether Psa 49:20 is intended to be taken as a relative clause intimately attached to אבותיו, or as an independent clause. The latter is admissible, and therefore to be preferred: there are the proud rich men together with their fathers buried in darkness for ever, without ever again seeing the light of a life which is not a mere shadowy life.

The didactic discourse now closes with the same proverb as the first part, Psa 49:13. But instead of בּל־ילין the expression here used is ולא יבין, which is co-ordinate with בּיקר as a second attributive definition of the subject (Ew. §351, b): a man in glory and who has no understanding, viz., does not distinguish between that which is perishable and that which is imperishable, between time and eternity. The proverb is here more precisely expressed. The gloomy prospect of the future does not belong to the rich man as such, but to the worldly and carnally minded rich man. (In the Hebrew, v.1 is the designation 'To the leader:...'; from then on v.1-8 in English translation corresponds to v.2-9 in the Hebrew)

A Call to Attention.

1 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: 2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together. 3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. 4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. 5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?

This is the psalmist's preface to his discourse concerning the vanity of the world and its insufficiency to make us happy; and we seldom meet with an introduction more solemn than this is; for there is no truth of more undoubted certainty, nor of greater weight and importance, and the consideration of which will be of more advantage to us.

I. He demands the attention of others to that which he was about to say (v. 1, 2): Hear this, all you people; hear it and heed it, hear it and consider it; what is spoken once, hear twice. Hear and give ear, Ps. lxii. 9, 11. Not only, "Hear, all you Israelites, and give ear all the inhabitants of Canaan," but, Hear, all you people, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the world; for this doctrine is not peculiar to those that are blessed with divine revelation, but even the light of nature witnesses to it. All men may know, and therefore let all men consider, that their riches will not profit them in the day of death. Both low and high, both rich and poor, must come together, to hear the word of God; let both therefore hear this with application. Let those that are high and rich in the world hear of the vanity of their worldly possessions and not be proud of them, nor secure in the enjoyment of them, but lay them out in doing good, that with them they may make to themselves friends; let those that are poor and low hear this and be content with their little, and not envy those that have abundance. Poor people are as much in danger from an inordinate desire towards the wealth of the world as rich people from an inordinate delight in it. He gives a good reason why his discourse should be regarded (v. 3): My mouth shall speak of wisdom; what he had to say, 1. Was true and good. It is wisdom and understanding; it will make those wise and intelligent that receive it and submit to it. It is not doubtful but certain, not trivial but weighty, not a matter of nice speculation but of admirable use to guide us in the right way to our great end. 2. It was what he had himself well digested. What his mouth spoke was the meditation of his heart (as Ps. xix. 14; xlv. 1); it was what God put into his mind, what he had himself seriously considered, and was fully apprized of the meaning of and convinced of the truth of. That which ministers speak from their own hearts is most likely to reach the hearts of their hearers.

II. He engages his own attention (v. 4): I will incline my ear to a parable. It is called a parable, not because it is figurative and obscure, but because it is a wise discourse and very instructive. It is the same word that is used concerning Solomon's proverbs. The psalmist will himself incline his ear to it. This intimates, 1. That he was taught it by the Spirit of God and did not speak of himself. Those that undertake to teach others must first learn themselves. 2. That he thought himself nearly concerned in it, and was resolved not to venture his own soul upon that bottom which he dissuaded others from venturing theirs upon. 3. That he would not expect others should attend to that which he himself did not attend to as a matter of the greatest importance. Where God gives the tongue of the learned he first wakens the ear to hear as the learned, Isa. l. 4.

III. He promises to make the matter as plain and as affecting as he could: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. What he learned for himself he would not conceal or confine to himself, but would communicate, for the benefit of others. 1. Some understood it not, it was a riddle to them; tell them of the vanity of the things that are seen, and of the reality and weight of invisible things, and they say, Ah Lord God! doth he not speak parables? For the sake of such, he would open this dark saying, and make it so plain that he that runs might read it. 2. Others understood it well enough, but they were not moved by it, it never affected them, and for their sake he would open it upon the harp, and try that expedient to work upon them, to win upon them. A verse may find him who a sermon flies. Herbert.

IV. He begins with the application of it to himself, and that is the right method in which to treat of divine things. We must first preach to ourselves before we undertake to admonish or instruct others. Before he comes to set down the folly of carnal security (v. 6), he here lays down, from his own experience, the benefit and comfort of a holy gracious security, which those enjoy who trust in God, and not in their worldly wealth: Wherefore should I fear? he means, Wherefore should I fear their fear (Isa. viii. 12), the fears of worldly people. 1. "Wherefore should I be afraid of them? Wherefore should I fear in the days of trouble and persecution, when the iniquity of my heels, or of my supplanters that endeavour to trip up my heels, shall compass me about, and they shall surround me with their mischievous attempts? Why should I be afraid of those all whose power lies in their wealth, which will not enable them to redeem their friends? I will not fear their power, for it cannot enable them to ruin me." The great men of the world will not appear at all formidable when we consider what little stead their wealth will stand them in. We need not fear their casting us down from our excellency who cannot support themselves in their own excellency. 2. "Wherefore should I be afraid like them?" The days of old age and death are the days of evil, Eccl. xii. 1. In the day of judgment the iniquity of our heels (or of our steps, our past sins) will compass us about, will be set in order before us. Every work will be brought into judgment, with every secret thing; and every one of us must give account of himself. In these days worldly wicked people will be afraid; nothing more dreadful to those that have set their hearts upon the world than to think of leaving it; death to them is the king of terrors, because, after death, comes the judgment, when their sins will surround them as so many furies; but wherefore should a good man fear death, who has God with him? Ps. 23.4. When his iniquities compass him about, he sees them all pardoned, his conscience is purified and pacified, and then even in the judgment-day, when the hearts of others fail them for fear, he can lift up his head with joy, Luke xxi. 26, 28. Note, The children of God, though ever so poor, are in this truly happy, above the most prosperous of the children of this world, that they are well guarded against the terrors of death and the judgment to come.

The Vanity of Worldly Riches; The End of the Wicked.

6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: 8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) 9 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. 10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. 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. 12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. 13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah. 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.

In these verses we have,

I. A description of the spirit and way of worldly people, whose portion is in this life, Ps. xvii. 14. It is taken for granted that they have wealth, and a multitude of riches (v. 6), houses and lands of inheritance, which they call their own, v. 11. God often gives abundance of the good things of this world to bad men who live in contempt of him and rebellion against him, by which it appears that they are not the best things in themselves (for then God would give most of them to his best friends), and that they are not the best things for us, for then those would not have so much of them who, being marked for ruin, are to be ripened for it by their prosperity, Prov. i. 32. A man may have abundance of the wealth of this world and be made better by it, may thereby have his heart enlarged in love, and thankfulness, and obedience, and may do that good with it which will be fruit abounding to his account; and therefore it is not men's having riches that denominates them worldly, but their setting their hearts upon them as the best things; and so these worldly people are here described. 1. They repose a confidence in their riches: They trust in their wealth (v. 6); they depend upon it as their portion and happiness, and expect that it will secure them from all evil and supply them with all good, and that they need nothing else, no, not God himself. Their gold is their hope (Job xxxi. 24), and so it becomes their God. Thus our Saviour explains the difficulty of the salvation of rich people (Mark x. 24): How hard is it for those that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! See 1 Tim. vi. 17. 2. They take a pride in their riches: They boast themselves in the multitude of them, as if they were sure tokens of God's favour and certain proofs of their own ingenuity and industry (my might, and the power of my hand, have gotten me this wealth), as if they made them truly great and happy, and more really excellent than their neighbours. They boast that they have all they would have (Ps. x. 3) and can set all the world at defiance (I sit as a queen, and shall be a lady for ever); therefore they call their lands after their own names, hoping thereby to perpetuate their memory; and, if their lands do retain the names by which they called them, it is but a poor honour; but they often change their names when they change their owners. 3. They flatter themselves with an expectation of the perpetuity of their worldly possessions (v. 11): Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever, and with this thought they please themselves. Are not all thoughts inward? Yes; but it intimates, (1.) That this thought is deeply rooted in their minds, is rolled and revolved there, and carefully lodged in the innermost recesses of their hearts. A godly man has thoughts of the world, but they are his outward thoughts; his inward thought is reserved for God and heavenly things: but a worldly man has only some floating foreign thoughts of the things of God, while his fixed thought, his inward thought, is about the world; that lies nearest his heart, and is upon the throne there. (2.) There it is industriously concealed. They cannot, for shame, say that they expect their houses to continue for ever, but inwardly they think so. If they cannot persuade themselves that they shall continue for ever, yet they are so foolish as to think their houses shall, and their dwelling-places; and suppose they should, what good will that do them when they shall be no longer theirs? But they will not; for the world passes away, and the fashion of it. All things are devoured by the teeth of time.

II. A demonstration of their folly herein. In general (v. 13), This their way is their folly. Note, The way of worldliness is a very foolish way: those that lay up their treasure on earth, and set their affections on things below, act contrary both to right reason and to their true interest. God himself pronounced him a fool who thought his goods were laid up for many years, and that they would be a portion for his soul, Luke xii. 19, 20. And yet their posterity approve their sayings, agree with them in the same sentiments, say as they say and do as they do, and tread in the steps of their worldliness. Note, The love of the world is a disease that runs in the blood; men have it by kind, till the grace of God cures it. To prove the folly of carnal worldlings he shows,

1. That with all their wealth they cannot save the life of the dearest friend they have in the world, nor purchase a reprieve for him when he is under the arrest of death (v. 7-9): None of them can by any means redeem his brother, his brother worldling, who would give counter-security out of his own estate, if he would but be bail for him: and gladly he would, in hopes that he might do the same kindness for him another time. But their words will not be taken one for another, nor will one man's estate be the ransom of another man's life. God does not value it; it is of no account with him; and the true value of things is as they stand in his books. His justice will not accept it by way of commutation or equivalent. The Lord of our brother's life is the Lord of our estate, and may take both if he please, without either difficulty to himself or wrong to us; and therefore one cannot be ransom for another. We cannot bribe death, that our brother should still live, much less that he should live for ever, in this world, nor bribe the grave, that he should not see corruption; for we must needs die, and return to the dust, and there is no discharge from that war. What folly is it to trust to that, and boast of that, which will not enable us so much as for one hour to respite the execution of the sentence of death upon a parent, a child, or friend that is to us as our own soul! It is certainly true that the redemption of the soul is precious and ceaseth for ever; that is, life, when it is going, cannot be arrested, and when it is gone it cannot be recalled, by any human art, or worldly price. But this looks further, to the eternal redemption which was to be wrought out by the Messiah, whom the Old-testament saints had an eye to as the Redeemer. Everlasting life is a jewel of too great a value to be purchased by the wealth of this world. We are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. The learned Dr. Hammond applies the 8th and 9th verses expressly to Christ: "The redemption of the soul shall be precious, shall be high-prized, it shall cost very dear; but, being once wrought, it shall cease for ever, it shall never need to be repeated, Heb. ix. 25, 26; x. 12. And he (that is, the Redeemer) shall yet live for ever, and shall not see corruption; he shall rise again before he sees corruption, and then shall live for evermore," Rev. i. 18. Christ did that for us which all the riches of the world could not do; well therefore may he be dearer to us than any worldly things. Christ did that for us which a brother, a friend, could not do for us, no, not one of the best estate or interest; and therefore those that love father or brother more than him are not worthy of him. This likewise shows the folly of worldly people, who sell their souls for that which would never buy them.

2. That with all their wealth they cannot secure themselves from the stroke of death. The worldling sees, and it vexes him to see it, that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, v. 10. Therefore he cannot but expect that it will, at length, come to his own turn; he cannot find any encouragement to hope that he himself shall continue for ever, and therefore foolishly comforts himself with this, that, though he shall not, his house shall. Some rich people are wise, they are politicians, but they cannot out-wit death, nor evade his stroke, with all their art and management; others are fools and brutish (Fortuna favet fatuis—Fools are Fortune's favourites); these, though they do no good, yet perhaps do no great hurt in the world: but that shall not excuse them; they shall perish, and be taken away by death, as well as the wise that did mischief with their craft. Or by the wise and the foolish we may understand the godly and the wicked; the godly die, and their death is their deliverance; the wicked perish, and their death is their destruction; but, however, they leave their wealth to others. (1.) They cannot continue with it, nor will it serve to procure them a reprieve. That is a frivolous plea, though once it served a turn (Jer. xli. 8), Slay us not, for we have treasures in the field. (2.) They cannot carry it away with them, but must leave it behind them. (3.) They cannot foresee who will enjoy it when they have left it; they must leave it to others, but to whom they know not, perhaps to a fool (Eccl. ii. 19), perhaps to an enemy.

3. That, as their wealth will stand them in no stead in a dying hour, so neither will their honour (v. 12): Man, being in honour, abides not. We will suppose a man advanced to the highest pinnacle of preferment, as great and happy as the world can make him, man in splendour, man at his best estate, surrounded and supported with all the advantages he can desire; yet then he abides not. His honour does not continue; that is a fleeting shadow. He himself does not, he tarries not all night; this world is an inn, in which his stay is so short that he can scarcely be said to get a night's lodging in it; so little rest is there in these things; he has but a baiting time. He is like the beasts that perish; that is, he must as certainly die as the beasts, and his death will be as final a period to his state in this world as theirs is; his dead body likewise will putrefy as theirs does; and (as Dr. Hammond observes) frequently the greatest honours and wealth, unjustly gotten by the parent, descend not to any one of his posterity (as the beasts, when they die, leave nothing behind them to their young ones, but the wide world to feed in), but fall into other hands immediately, for which he never designed to gather them.

4. That their condition on the other side of death will be very miserable. The world they dote upon will not only not save them from death, but will sink them so much the lower into hell (v. 14): Like sheep they are laid in the grave. Their prosperity did but feed them like sheep for the slaughter (Hos. iv. 16), and then death comes, and shuts them up in the grave like fat sheep in a fold, to be brought forth to the day of wrath, Job xxi. 30. Multitudes of them, like flocks of sheep dead of some disease, are thrown into the grave, and there death shall feed on them, the second death, the worm that dies not, Job xxiv. 20. Their own guilty consciences, like so many vultures, shall be continually preying upon them, with, Son, remember, Luke xvi. 25. Death insults and triumphs over them, as it is represented in the fall of the king of Babylon, at which hell from beneath is moved, Isa. xiv. 9, &c. While a saint can ask proud Death, Where is thy sting? Death will ask the proud sinner, Where is thy wealth, thy pomp? and the more he was fattened with prosperity the more sweetly will death feed on him. And in the morning of the resurrection, when all that sleep in the dust shall awake (Dan. xii. 2), the upright shall have dominion over them, shall not only be advanced to the highest dignity and honour when they are filled with everlasting shame and contempt, elevated to the highest heavens when they are sunk to the lowest hell, but they shall be assessors with Christ in passing judgment upon them, and shall applaud the justice of God in their ruin. When the rich man in hell begged that Lazarus might bring him a drop of water to cool his tongue he owned that that upright man had dominion over him, as the foolish virgins also owned the dominion of the wise, and that they lay much at their mercy, when they begged, Give us of your oil. Let this comfort us in reference to the oppressions which the upright are now often groaning under, and the dominion which the wicked have over them. The day is coming when the tables will be turned (Esther ix. 1) and the upright will have the dominion. Let us now judge of things as they will appear at that day. But what will become of all the beauty of the wicked? Alas! that shall all be consumed in the grave from their dwelling; all that upon which they valued themselves, and for which others caressed and admired them, was adventitious and borrowed; it was paint and varnish, and they will rise in their own native deformity. The beauty of holiness is that which the grave, that consumes all other beauty, cannot touch, or do any damage to. Their beauty shall consume, the grave (or hell) being a habitation to every one of them; and what beauty can be there where there is nothing but the blackness of darkness for ever?

Privilege of the Godly.

15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah. 16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; 17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. 18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. 19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. 20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

Good reason is here given to good people,

I. Why they should not be afraid of death. There is no cause for that fear if they have such a comfortable prospect as David here has of a happy state on the other side death, v. 15. He had shown (v. 14) how miserable the dead are that die in their sins, where he shows how blessed the dead are that die in the Lord. The distinction of men's outward condition, how great a difference soever it makes in life, makes none at death; rich and poor meet in the grave. But the distinction of men's spiritual state, though, in this life, it makes a small difference, where all things come alike to all, yet, at and after death, it makes a very great one. Now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. The righteous has hope in his death, so has David here hope in God concerning his soul. Note, The believing hopes of the soul's redemption from the grave, and reception to glory, are the great support and joy of the children of God in a dying hour. They hope,

I. That God will redeem their souls from the power of the grave, which includes, (1.) The preserving of the soul from going to the grave with the body. The grave has a power over the body, by virtue of the sentence (Gen. iii. 19), and it is cruel enough in executing that power (Cant. viii. 6); but is has no such power over the soul. It has power to silence, and imprison, and consume the body; but the soul then moves, and acts, and converses, more freely than ever (Rev. vi. 9, 10); it is immaterial and immortal. When death breaks the dark lantern, yet it does not extinguish the candle that was pent up in it. (2.) The reuniting of the soul and body at the resurrection. The soul is often put for the life; that indeed falls under the power of the grave for a time, but it shall, at length, be redeemed from it, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. The God of life, that was its Creator at first, can and will be its Redeemer at last. (3.) The salvation of the soul from eternal ruin: "God shall redeem my soul from the sheol of hell (v. 15), the wrath to come, that pit of destruction into which the wicked shall be cast," v. 14. It is a great comfort to dying saints that they shall not be hurt of the second death (Rev. ii. 11), and therefore the first death has no sting and the grave no victory.

2. That he will receive them to himself. He redeems their souls, that he may receive them. Ps. xxxi. 5, Into thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou has redeemed it. He will receive them into his favour, will admit them into his kingdom, into the mansions that he prepared for them (John xiv. 2, 3), those everlasting habitations, Luke xvi. 9.

II. Why they should not be afraid of the prosperity and power of wicked people in this world, which, as it is their pride and joy, has often been the envy, and grief, and terror of the righteous, which yet, all things considered, there is no reason for.

1. He supposes the temptation very strong to envy the prosperity of sinners, and to be afraid that they will carry all before them with a high hand, that with their wealth and interest they will run down religion and religious people, and that they will be found the truly happy people; for he supposes, (1.) That they are made rich, and so are enabled to give law to all about them and have every thing at command. Pecuniæ obediunt omnes et omnia—Every person and every thing obey the commanding influence of money. (2.) That the glory of their house, from very small beginnings, is increased greatly, which naturally makes men haughty, insolent, and imperious, Ps. v. 16. Thus they seem to be the favourites of heaven, and therefore formidable. (3.) That they are very easy and secure in themselves and in their own minds (v. 18): In his life-time he blessed his soul; that is, he thought himself a very happy man, such a one as he would be, and a very good man, such a one as he should be, because he prospered in the world. He blessed his soul, as that rich fool who said to his soul, "Soul, take thy ease, and be not disturbed either with cares and fears about the world or with the rebukes and admonitions of conscience. All is well, and will be well for ever." Note, [1.] It is of great consequence to consider what that is in which we bless our souls, upon the score of which we think well of ourselves. Believers bless themselves in the God of truth (Isa. lxv. 16) and think themselves happy if he be theirs; carnal people bless themselves in the wealth of the world, and think themselves happy if they have abundance of that. [2.] There are many whose precious souls lie under God's curse, and yet they do themselves bless them; they applaud that in themselves which God condemns, and speak peace to themselves when God denounces war against them. Yet this is not all. (4.) They are in good reputation among their neighbours: "Men will praise thee, and cry thee up, as having done well for thyself in raising such an estate and family." This is the sentiment of all the children of this world, that those do best for themselves that do most for their bodies, by heaping up riches, though, at the same time, nothing is done for the soul, nothing for eternity; and accordingly they bless the covetous, whom the Lord abhors, Ps. x. 3. If men were to be our judges, it were our wisdom thus to recommend ourselves to their good opinion: but what will it avail us to be approved of men if God condemn us? Dr. Hammond understands this of the good man here spoken to, for it is the second person, not of the wicked man spoken of: "He, in his life-time, blessed his soul, but thou shalt be praised for doing well unto thyself. The worldling magnified himself; but thou that dost not, like him, speak well of thyself, but do well for thyself, in securing thy eternal welfare, thou shalt be praised, if not of men, yet of God, which will be thy everlasting honour."

2. He suggests that which is sufficient to take off the strength of the temptation, by directing us to look forward to the end of prosperous sinners (Ps. lxxiii. 17): "Think what they will be in the other world, and you will see no cause to envy them what they are and have in this world."

(1.) In the other world they will be never the better for all the wealth and prosperity they are now so fond of. It is a miserable portion, which will not last so long as they must (v. 17): When he dies it is taken for granted that he goes into another world himself, but he shall carry nothing away with him of all that which he has been so long heaping up. The greatest and wealthiest cannot therefore be the happiest, because they are never the better for their living in this world; as they came naked into it, they shall go naked out of it. But those have something to show in the other world for their living in this world who can say, through grace, that though they came corrupt, and sinful, and spiritually naked, into it, they go renewed, and sanctified, and well clothed with the righteousness of Christ, out of it. Those that are rich in the graces and comforts of the Spirit have something which, when they die, they shall carry away with them, something which death cannot strip them of, nay, which death will be the improvement of; but, as for worldly possessions, as we brought nothing into the world (what we have we had from others), so it is certain that we shall carry nothing out, but leave it to others, 1 Tim. vi. 7. They shall descend, but their glory, that which they called and counted their glory, and gloried in, shall not descend after them to lessen the disgrace of death and the grave, to bring them off in the judgment, or abate the torments of hell. Grace is glory that will ascend with us, but no earthly glory will descend after us.

(2.) In the other world they will be infinitely the worse for all their abuses of the wealth and prosperity they enjoyed in this world (v. 19): The soul shall go to the generation of his fathers, his worldly wicked fathers, whose sayings he approved and whose steps he trod in, his fathers who would not hearken to the word of God, Zech. i. 4. He shall go to be there where they are that shall never see light, shall never have the least glimpse of comfort and joy, being condemned to utter darkness. Be not afraid then of the pomp and power of wicked people; for the end of the man that is in honour, if he be not wise and good, will be miserable; if he understand not, he is to be pitied rather than envied. A fool, a wicked man, in honour, is really as despicable an animal as any under the sun; he is like the beasts that perish (v. 20); nay, it is better to be a beast than to be a man that makes himself like a beast. Men in honour that understand, that know and do their duty and make conscience of it, are as gods, and children of the Most High. But men in honour that understand not, that are proud, and sensual, and oppressive, are as beasts, and they shall perish, like the beasts, ingloriously as to this world, though not, like the beasts, indemnified as to another world. Let prosperous sinners therefore be afraid for themselves, but let not even suffering saints be afraid of them.

PSAL. XLIX.

To the Master of the Musicke, to the sons of Korach a Psalme.

HEare ye this, all peoples; hearken ye[illegible: 1 letter] all inhabitants of the transitorie world. Both sons of base man, and sons of noble man, together rich and poore.

My mouth shall speake wisdomes; and the meditation of my heart, prudencies. I will incline min[illegible: 1 letter] eare to a parable, I wil open with harpe mine hidden matter. Why should I feare in the daies of evill, when the iniquitie of my foot-steps shall compasse me? They that trust in their wealthy power, and glory in the multitude of their riches. A man shall not redeeming redeeme his brother, shall not give to God his ransome. So precious shall be the redemption of their soule, and it shall cease for ever. That he may live yet to continuall aye, may not see the pit of corruption.

For he seeth the wise doe die, together the unconstant foole and brutish doe perish, and leave to others their wealthy power. Their inward thought is that their houses shall be for ever, their dwelling places to generation and generation; they proclaime their names on lands. But man in honour doth not lodge a night; he is likened to beasts that are silenced.

This their way is unconstant folly to them, and their posteritie like well of their mouth Selah. As sheepe they are put in hell, death shall feed them, and righteous men shall have rule over them at the morning, & their forme weare away in hell, from his dwelling place.

But God will redeeme my soule from the hand of hell, for he will receive me Selah. Feare thou not when a man shall grow rich, when the glory of his house shall be multiplied. For he shall not when he die take any thing, his glory shall not descend after him.

Though in his life he blesseth his soule, and they will confesse thee, when thou doest good to thy selfe. It shall come unto the generation of his fathers, unto continuall aye, they shall not see the light. Man in honour, and understandeth not, he is likened to beasts that are silenced.

Annotations. THe transitory world] see Psal. 17. 14. Vers. 3. base man] in Hebrew Adam, who was so called of Adamah the earth, whereupon this title is given to the baser sort of people. The Greek translateth it here earth-borne. So the Apostle saith, the first man of the earth, earthly, 1 Cor. 15. 47. noble man] in Hebrew Ish, which is the name of man in respect of heat, valour, noblenesse and dignitie, whereby man is, and excelleth; and in opposition to the former word Adam, it meaneth the great or nobler sort of people. The Chaldee paraphraseth thus, Both sons of Adam the first, and sons of Iakob, together righteous and sinner. Vers. 4. wisdomes] that is, excellent and manifold wisdome; so after, prudencies, for very excellent prudence, and of sundry sorts. So Solomon calleth the chiefe and most excellent wisdome, wisdomes, Prov. 1. 20. and 9. 1. Vers. 5. a parable] or a proverbe: in Hebrew Mashal, which denoteth rule, superiority or excellencie because such speeches prevaile much in the mindes of men, and are in esteeme. The new Testament in Greeke translateth it, a parable, Matth. 13. 35. from Psa. 78. 2. of the Latine, we name it a Proverb: in old English or Saxon, it was called a big-spel. Sometime it is used in the evill part, for a by-word, Psal. 44. 15. and 69. 12. mine hidden matter] my darke question, or grave doctrine, my riddle. The Hebrew Chidah, riddle, hath the name of sharpnesse, as proceeding from a sharpe wit, and needing the like to expound it. See Iudg. 14. 12, 18. Num. 12. 8. 1 King. 10. 1. Prov. 1. 6. The holy Ghost expresseth it in Greeke by hidden things, Matth. 13. 35. from Psal. 78. 2. Vers. 6. Why should I feare] This is the hidden doctrine or riddle which the Prophet propoundeth, as in his owne name, and therefore also called it a parable. By feare, he meaneth dismay or discouragement. See vers. 17. the iniquitie] that is, punishment or death, which is the wages of sinne; see Psal. 31. 11. and by foot-steps or foot-soles, he meaneth his waies or workes. Or, he may call death the punishment of his heeles or feet, because the Serpent bruiseth Christ and his people but in the heele, Gen. 3. 15. the sting of death being done away, and it made a passage into life and glory, 1 Cor. 15. 55. 57. Vers. 7. their wealthy power] their riches; which are thus called, because they are gotten by power given of God, Deut. 8. 18. with labour and industry; and to the rich, their goods are their strong citie, Prov. 10. 15. therefore here they are said to trust in them: contrary to 1 Tim. 6. 17. Iob 31. 24. Mark. 10. 24. glory] or praise themselves, vaunt, contrary to Ier. 9. 23. Vers. 8. not redeeming redeeme] that is, shall in no wise, or not at all redeeme. The Chaldee expoundeth it, a wicked man cannot redeeming redeeme his captived brother. Vers 9. So precious shall be] or, And deare (costly) is: and consequently rare and hard to obtaine, as Dan. 2. 11. 1 Sam. 3. 1. of their soule] that is, of their life. So Exod. 21. 30. cease for ever] that is, it shall never be accomplished. So ceasing is used for the not doing of a thing, Deut. 23. 22. Zach. 11. 12. Vers. 10. That he may live] this is referred to the end of the eight verse, not give his ransome, and so live. And, is here for That; see Psal. 43. 4. The Chaldee expoundeth live, to be the life eternall; & the pi[illegible: 1 letter], to be the judgement of Gehenna (or hell.) Vers. 11. the wise] The Chaldee saith, For hee shall see wicked wise men that die the second death, and are adjudged to Gehenna. unconstant foole and brutish] these two names are often joyned together, as Psal. 92. 7. and 94. 8. the one noting ficklenesse and mutabilitie, called Cesil, which is both the name of a foole and of a starre that causeth change of weather and tempests: (whereupon Solomon speaketh of the restlesnesse of this kind of folly, Eccles. 7. 27. and of the tumultuousnesse and light behaviour of such fooles, as having their eyes wandring unto the ends of the earth, Prov. 9. 13. and 17. 24.) the other, noting want of discretion, at brute beasts led with sensuality, and carried with ardent furious affections, 2 Pet. 2. 12. Iude 10. See Psal. 73. 22. Vers. 12. Their inward thought] or, their meaning purpose. This word signifieth the nearest and most secret thought or purpose, the heart. See Psal. 5. 10. and 55. 5. and 64. 7. their houses for ever] to wit, shall continue: by houses, meaning their children or posteritie, as Psal. 115. 12. which they that want, are said to be barren of house, Psal. 113. 9. they proclaime their names on lands] or, they call lands, (their lands, as the Greeke explaineth it) by their owne names. As the land of Canaan, of Mitsraim, (that is, Aegypt) of Asshur, &c. So Absalom called his pillar by his owne name, 2 Sam. 18. 18. Cain, his citie by his sonnes name, Gen. 4. 17 thus thinking to make their memorie everlasting. Or, they proclaime their names (seeking to be famous) thorowout the lands or countries. The Chaldee expoundeth it, they were proud, and got themselves an evill name on earth. Vers. 13. But man] or And Adam and this may be minded both for the first man Adam, who continued not in his dignity, & so for all his children: as the Chaldee saith, And the sonne of man a sinner, abideth not in honor. in honor] being in honour, dignitie, or estimation, not lodge a night] or, not continue. The word though it properly signifieth a nights lodging, or abiding, Gen. 28. 11. Exod. 23. 18. yet is used also for longer continuance, Psal. 25. 13. and 55. 8. Zach. 5. 4. The Greeke translateth, understandeth not, as the Hebrew also is in vers. 21. are silenced] that is, are cut off, die, or perish: the Greeke translateth, are like unto them. The Hebrew word signifieth silence or stilnesse, not onely in speech, but in motion: as, the Sunne was still, or silent, when it moved not, Ios. 10. 12, 13. and people destroyed, are said to bee silenced, Isa. 15. 1. and the grave or death is called silence, Psal. 115. 17. and things without life are in the Hebrew phrase, dumbe, or silent, Hab. 2. 19. Exod. 15. 16. Vers. 14. unconstant folly to them] that is, is their folly: or, a constant hope to them, that is, is their confidence. The originall word hath contrary significations: unconstant folly, Eccles. 7. 27. and constant hope, Psal. 78. 7. Iob. 31. 24. both wayes it may here be taken: confident hope, in their owne conceit, but indeed folly. The Greeke turneth it a seandall, (or stumbling blocke.) to them and their posteritie] or, yet those after them, their successors. their mouth] that is, their words, doctrine, counsell, precepts. The mouth is figuratively used for whatsoever commeth out of the same; as word, or commandement, 1 Sam. 12. 15. Iob 39. 30. Num. 9. 20. Deut. 1. 26. Mat. 18. 16. Luke 19. 22. The Chaldee here differeth much, saying, This their way occasioneth folly to them, and in their end with their mouth they shall manifest their sinnes to the world that is to come. Vers. 15. they are put] or laid: or, they put, that is, men put them. An Hebrew phrase, as Luke 12. 20. they shall fetch away thy soule, that is, it shall bee fetched away. The like is often used, Psal. 105. 28. and 141. 6. The Hebrew Text it selfe sometime explaineth this; as, they had anointed David, 2 Sam. 5. 17. that is, David was anointed, 1 Chron. 14. 8. Howbeit the Chaldee taketh it actively, saying, Like sheepe they put the just to death and kill them, and crush the Saints, &c. in hell] into a ditch: to the lowest grave or state of death, called Sheol. See the notes on Ps. 16. 10. death shall feed them] as a shepherd shall feed and rule them, as Psal. 78. 72. or death shall feed on them to devour them, as Ier. 50. 19. at the morning] the last day of judgement, for then all that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake and rise, and the new day of eternall life shall begin. their forme] their figure, shape, or image, with all their beauty and proportion: or their rocke, that is, their strength, or, (as the Greeke saith) their helpe, that wherein they trust: in Chaldee, their bodie. The Hebrew Tsur is usually a rocke; here it seemeth to be all one with Tsurah, a forme or figure: and this is confirmed by the writing, for though by the vowels and reading it is Tsur, yet by the letters it is Tsir, which is an image, Isa. 45. 16. And Tsurum, is for Tsuratham, as tebunam, is for tebunatham, in Hos. 13. 2. weare away in hell] or, wax old in the grave; understanding the word in, which is expressed in the Greeke: or without it thus, Hell (the grave) shall weare away (shall consume) their forme. The Hebrew leballoth, being indefinite, to weare out with age, is here of like signification as that which went before, shall have rule. The like Hebraisme is in Ier. 14. 5. Zach. 12. 10. and 3. 4. See also Psal. 65. 11. and 56. 14. and by this their affliction in hell is meant; as that which one Prophet calleth wearing out (or wasting) 1 Chron. 17. 9. another calleth afflicting, 2 Sam. 7. 10. from his dwelling place] that is, every of them, comming from, (or being thrust out of) his dwelling, or home: as the Greeke saith, they are thrust from their glorie. It may also be Englished, for his dwelling place; and so the Chaldee understood it, saying, Therefore their bodies shall wax old in Gehenna, because they stretched out their hand and destroyed the dwelling place of the house of his divine Majestie. Vers. 16. from the hand of hell] that is, from the power of the grave, death, and damnation. So of all the faithfull he saith, I will redeeme them from the hand of hell, Hos. 13. 14. but so can no man redeeme himselfe, Psal. 89. 49. Hand is put for power, as Ps. 22. 21. And this is meant of the resurrection and redemption of body and soule from damnation by Christ. for he will receive me] or, when he shall receive, or take me: meaning, up into heaven, where God himselfe is, 1 Thess. 4. 14. Ioh. 14. 3. This manner of speech is used in Gen. 5. 24. Henoch was no more, for God received him. The Chaldee explaineth this verse thus, But God will redeem my soule from Gehenna for be will teach me his Law, and will lead me to his portion in the world to come. Vers. 17. Feare thou not] that is, be not dismayed, or overcome with feare. The Hebrew phrase usually when it counselleth or prayeth against a thing, meaneth the height & full measure of it. So feare not, Gen. 50. 19. and grieve not, Gen. 45. 5. that is, be not overcome with griefe. So, lead us not into temptation, Mat. 6. 13. that is, let us not be overcome with temptation, 1 Cor. 10. 13. Therefore that which one Evangelist writeth, Feare not, Mat. 28. 5. another writeth, be not astonied, Mark. 16. 6. nothing the excesse of feare. Vers. 18. take any thing] Hebr. take of all; that is, ought of all that he hath. For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certaine that we can carry nothing out, 1 Tim. 6. 7. Iob 1. 21. Vers. 19. Though in his life] that is, whiles he liveth. So Psal. 63. 5. and 104. 33. and 146. 2. he blesseth his soule] that is, himselfe: as it is written, Soule, thou hast much goods laid up for many yeares, live at ease, eat, drinke, and take thy pastime, Luke 12. 19. will confesse thee] will commend, laud, and celebrate thee. doest good to thy selfe] that is, makest much of, cherishest, pamperest thy selfe. So good is used for worldly pleasure and emoluments, Psal. 4. 7. Vers. 20. It shall come] to wit, the soule forespoken of, or the person: or, Thou shalt come. to the generation of his fathers] that is, to his wicked predecessors that are dead and gone; as the godly also at their death are gathered to their fathers and people, Iudg. 2. 10. Deut. 32. 50. Or, to the habitation of his fathers, their house, or lodge: for so Dor is used for an habitation, Esa. 38. 12. The Chaldee applieth this first branch to the just, the latter to the wicked. The memorie of the just shall come to the generation of the fathers, but the wicked for ever and ever shall not see the light. to continuall aye they shall not see] or, which for ever shall not see the light, to wit, the light of the living here on earth, as Psal. 56. 14. Iob 33. 28, 30. nor the light of joy in the world to come, being cast out into the utter darkenesse, Matth. 8. 12. Vers. 21. understandeth not] or discerneth not, wanting prudence. A repetition of the 13. verse, with a little change of jalin, lodgeth, into jabin, understandeth; which the Chaldee openeth thus; A man, a sinner, when he is in honour and understandeth not; when his honour is taken away, he is like a beast and brought to nothing.

PSAL. XLIX.

VErſ. 1. Hear this all ye people] This that is of ſo great conſequence, and univerſall concernment, viz. that the Saints ſhould not be frighted nor perplexed at the preſent proſperity of graceleſſe perſons; but conſider that death at utmoſt ſhall render them extreamly miſerable, and at the day of Judgement men ſhall retutn and diſcern a manifeſt difference betwixt the Righteous and the Wicked, betwixt him that ſerveth God, and him that ſerveth him not, Mal. 3. ult.

Give ear all ye Inhabitants of the World] Hear and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord hath ſpoken it, Jer. 13.15. The Inhabitants of the World (Heb. of the tranſitory World) are like men in a Mill, through hurry of buſineſſe; or as one that is running a race, to whom though never ſo good counſell be given, he cannot ſtay to hear it. Of ſuch we uſe to ſay, that they hear with their harveſt-ears (harveſt it is a time of great pleaſure, and of great buſineſſe) and hence it is that we have ſo ill a feed-time for the Word. Wee had need to wiſh (as Harding once did) that wee could cry out againſt ſin as loud, as the bells of Oſeney; yea as thoſe Catholick Preachers, whoſe voice is heard in all ſpeeches, and languages, Pſal. 19.3.

Verſ. 2. Both low and high, rich and poor together] Heb. Both ſons of Adam, or earthy-man, and ſons of Iſh, or noble-man quorum Exmeliore lute finxit pracordia Titan.

Diogenes once made a like out-cry at Athens, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Hear Oyemen; and when a company came about him expecting what he would ſay to them, he looked upon them and ſaid, [non-Latin text not transcribed], I called for men, and not for Ʋarlets.

Verſ. 3. My mouth ſhall speak and wiſdome] Heb. Wiſdomes and underſtandings; and yet the matter of this Pſalm was nothing extraordinary for the main of it; ſo that a profane perſon would have come out with his Quid dignum tanto tulit hic promiſſor hiatu?

But good points are not therefore to be [illegible: 2 letters]ighted, becauſe commonly handled; but therefore the better to be heeded, and proof to be made by practice, what that good and holy and acceptable will of God is, that is ſo much preſſed upon, as Rom. 12.2.

Verſ. 4. I will incline mine ear to a parable] q. d. I deſire you to do no more than I will do my ſelf. I [illegible: 1 word], therefore have I ſpoken; I have wrought my Doctrin upon mine own affections firſt, and ſhalt digge it out of mine own boſome for your benefit. It is a Parable I muſt tell you, or a Maſter-ſentence, yea it is a Myſtery, a Riddle, as the other word here ſignifieth.

I will open my dark ſayings] The doctrine of Life Eternal, and the Judgement to come, here more clearly deliy ered than any where elſe almoſt in the Old Teſtament, is a myſtery.

Verſ. 5. Wherefore ſhould I fear in the days of evil?] All the days of the afflicted are evil, Prov. 15.15. But why ſhould either [illegible: 1 letter], or any other afflicted Servant of God be over-muchtroubled, as if ſome ſtrange thing had befaln us; or ſtaggered at the better condition of worſe men, all things conſidered?

When the iniquity of my heels] Or, of my Supplanters, mine enemies, thoſe naughty men (called here iniquity in the abſtract) who ſeek to trip up my heels, and do ſurround me with their ſnares for that purpoſe. See Pſal. 56.7. Or thus, When the iniquity of my heels, &c. That is, as ſome will have it, when my ſins come to my remembrance, or are chaſtened upon me. Every mans heel hath ſome iniquity. As we ſhall have ſome dirt cleaving to our heels whiles we walk in a dirty world: ſo there is ſome defilement upon all our actions, which wee may call the iniquity of ourheels. He that is waſhed, ſaith our Saviour to Peter, needeth not ſave to waſh his feet, but is clean every whit, Joh. 13.10. The compariſon ſeems to be taken from thoſe that waſh in Bathes; for although their whole bodies are thereby made clean, yet going forth they touch the earth with their feet, and ſo are fain to waſh again: ſemblably the Saints, though bathed in that bleſſed Fountain opened for ſin, and for uncleanneſs, Zech. 13.1. and thereby freed from the ſtain and reign of ſin; yet their feet or heels have ſome filth on them, ſome reliques of corruption do ſtill cleave to them, and cauſe them ſome ſorrow; yet ought they not to fear, or be diſmayed, but by the practice of mortification purge themſelves daily from all filthineſs of fleſh and ſpirit, perfecting holineſs in the fear of God, 2 Cor. 7.1.

Verſ. 6. They that truſt in their wealth] which was never yet true to thoſe that truſted in it: And yet it is wondrous hard to have wealth, and not in ſome meaſure to truſt in it, that is, to think our ſelves ſimply the better, and the ſafer for it, as our Saviour ſheweth, and this Diſciples after ſome wonderment, at length underſtood him; ſo Mark 10.23, 24. Hence that ſtrict charge, 1 Tim. 6.17.

And boaſt themſelves in the multitude of their riches] Contrary to Jer. 9.23. This Pſalm ſets forth the better gloriation of a Beleever in the grace of God, and in his bleſſed condition, wherein he is lifted up above the greateſt Worldings.

Verſ. 7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother] And therefore all Mony that hath been given for Maſſes, Diriges, Trentals, &c. hath been caſt away: ſeeing Chriſt is the only Redeemer, and in the other World Mony beareth no Maſtery, neither can a man buy off death, though hee would give never ſo much. Death will not regard any Ranſome, neither will he reſt content though thou giveſt many gifts, as Solomon ſaith in another caſe, Prov. 6.35. Fye quoth that great Cardinal Beanford, will not Death be hired?Act. & Mon. in H. 6. Will Mony do nothing? Wherefore ſhould I dye, 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, &c. Lewis the Eleventh would not hear of death all the time of his laſt Sickneſs, but when he ſaw there was no remedy, he ſent for the Holy Water from Rhemes, together with Aarons rod, as they called it, and other holy Reliques,Epit. Hiſt. Gall. Balth. Exner. Val. Max. Chriſt, p. 391. thinking therewith to ſtop Deaths mouth, and to ſtave him off; but it would not be. O Miſer (ſaith one thereupon) hoc aſſidue times quod ſemel faciendum eſt.? Hoc times quod in tua mann eſt ne timeas? Pietatem aſſume, ſuperſtitionem omitte; mors tua vita erit, & quidem beata at que eterna.

Verſ. 8. For the redemption of their ſoul is precious] i.e. the price of life is greater than that any man, how wealthy ſoever, can compaſs it. Mony is the Monarch of this World, but not of the next.

And it ceaſeth for ever] i.e. The purchaſe of a longer life ceaſeth, there is no ſuch thing, beleeve it, Job 36.18, 19. Deut. 23.22. Zech. 11.12. To blame then were the Agrigentines, who did eat, build, plant, &c. as though they ſhould live for ever.

Verſ. 9. That be ſhould ſtill live for ever]. As every wicked man would, if it might be had for mony; for he knoweth no happineſs but to Have, and to Hold; on the tother ſide the Grave, he looketh for no good; whereas a godly manholdeth mortality a Mercy, as Phil. 1.23. he hath, Mortem in deſiderio & vitam in patientin, as Fulgentius ſaith, he deſireth to dye, and yet is content to live: accepting of life, rather than affecting it, enduring it, rather than deſiring it.

And not ſee corruption] Heb. The pit of corruption. The Chaldee underſtandeth it of Hell: to the which the wicked mans death is as a trap-door.

Verſ. 10. For he ſeeth that wiſe men dye, likewiſe the fool] This to be a truth, etiam muta clamant cadavera, the dead Corpſes of both do preach and proclaim, by a dumb kinde of eloquence. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Death maketh no difference: Pallida mors equo, &c. It is appointed for all men once to dye. It lieth as a mans Lot, as the word ſignifieth, Heb. 9.27. and all men can ſay, We are all mortal; but alas, we ſay it for moſt part, Magis uſ[illegible: 1 letter] quam ſenſu, more of cuſtom than feeling; for we live as if our lives were rivetted upon Eternity, and we ſhould never come to a reckoning.

Heu vivunt homines tanquam mors nulla ſequatur, Ant velut infernus fabula vana foret.

And the bruitiſh perſon periſh] His life and his hopes ending together. But it would be conſidered, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. that wiſe men dye as well as fools, good men dye as well as bad, yea good men oft before the bad, Iſa. 57.1. Jeroboams beſt Son dyed before the reſt, becauſe there was ſome good found in him.

And leave their wealth to others] Nec aliis ſolùm, ſed & alienis, to meer ſtrangers; this Solomon ſets forth as a great vanity. It was therefore a good ſpeech of a holy man once to a great Lord, who had ſhewed him his ſtately Houſe, and pleaſant Gardens; You had need make ſure of Heaven, or elſe when you dye, you will be a very great loſer.

Verſ. 11. Their inward thought is, that their houſes, &c.] Some joyn this verſe to the former, and read the words thus; Where as each of them ſeeth that wiſe men dye, likewiſe the fool, &c. yet their inward thought is, &c. they have a ſecret fond conceit of their own immortality, they would fain beleeve that they ſhall dwell here for ever. The Hebrew runneth thus, Their inwards are their houſes for ever; as if their houſes were got within them, as the Phariſees goods were, Luke 11.14. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. So here, Internum vel interiora; not the thoughts only, but the very inmoſt of the thoughts of wicked Worldlings, the moſt retired thoughts and receſſes of their ſouls are about theſe earthly things: theſe lye neareſt to their hearts; as Queen Mary ſaid when ſhe dyed, Open me, and you ſhall find Calice at my heart. It was a pittiful caſe, that a rotten town lay where Chriſt ſhould, and yet it is ordinary.

They call their Lands after their own names] So to make them famous and to immortalize them at once. Thus Cain called his new-built City, Enoch, after the name of his Son, whom he would thereby have to be called Lord Enoch of Enoch. This is the ambition ſtill of many, that take little care to know that their names are written in Heaven; but ſtrive to propagate them, as they are able, upon Earth, Nimrod by his Tower, Abſolom by his Pillar, Alexander by his Alexandria, Adrian by his Adrianople, &c. But the name of the wicked ſhall rot, Prov. 10.7. and thoſe that depart from God ſhall be written in the earth, Jer. 17.13, &c.

Verſ. 12. Nevertheleſs man being in honour abideth not] Howſoever he think to eternalize himſelf, and be grown never ſo great, dye he muſt, whether Lord or Loſel; and dye like a beaſt, a carrion beaſt (unleſs he be the better man) but only for his pillow and bolſter. At one end of the Library at Dublin was a Globe, at the other a Skeliton; to ſhew, that though a man was Lord of all the World, yet hee muſt dye, his honour muſt be laid in the duſt. The mortal Sythe (ſaith one) is maſter of the royal Scepter, and it moweth down the Lillies of the Crown, as well as the Graſs of the field. Perperam accommodatur bic verſiculus, ſaith another: this verſe is not well interpreted of the firſt man Adam, to prove that he ſinned the ſame day wherein he was Created, and lodged not one night in Paradiſe.

He is like the beaſts that periſh] Fecoribus, morticiuis, ſaith Junius, the Beaſts that dye of the Murren, and ſo become Carrion, and are good for nothing.

Verſ. 13. This their way is their folly] This their fond conceit of an immortality is an egregious folly, fully confuted by every days experience; for the longeſt liver dieds at laſt, as did (beſide the Antediluvian Patriarches) Jounnes de Temporibus, Armour-bearer to Charls the Great, who dyed Anno Dom. Aſteds Chronol. 475. Naucler. Purchas, Pil[illegible: 2 letters] p. 481. 1139 aged three hundred ſixty one years. So the old man of Bengala in the Eaſt-Indies, who was three hundred thirty five years old when he came to the Portugals, from whom for his miraculous age, he received a yearly ſtipend till he dyed. He that lived in our days till one hundred and fifty years, or thereabouts, yeelded at length to Nature; and yet men doat and dream ſtill of an immortality. The firſt doom that ever was denounced was Death, Thou ſhalt ſurely dye; and the firſt doubt that ever was made was concerning Death, ye ſhall not ſurely dye; ever ſince which time there is ſomething of the ſpawn of that old Serpent left in our natures, prompting us to doubt of that whereof there is the greateſt certainty; and although every man granteth that he ſhall dye, yet there is ſcarſe any man that futureth not his death, and thinketh that he may live yet, and yet, and ſo long: this is folly in an high degree, and we ſhould be ſenſible of it, labouring to become neither fond of Life, nor afraid of Death.

Yet their poſterity approve their ſayings, Selah] Heb. Delight in their mouth, are as wiſe as their Anceſtors, tread in their tract, take up their inward thoughts, ver. 11. obſerve the ſame lying vanities, and ſo forſake their own Mercies, Jon. 2.8. Selah, q.d. O wonderful, for, ſee the iſſue of their folly.

Verſ. 14. Like ſheep they are laid in the Grave] Theſe fatlings of the World, theſe brainleſs yonkers, that will not be warned by other mens harms, but walk on in the ſame dark and dangerous ways, whatever cometh of it, theſe chop into the grave (as a man that walketh in the Snow may do ſuddenly into a Marl-pit, and there be ſmothered) or rather are there pent up, as Sheep are thruſt up in a ſtall, or ſtable, to be ſlaughtered there (and in Hell their ſouls) they lye as Grapes in a Wine-preſs, pickled Herring in a Barrel, Stones in a Lime-furnace, Tiles in a Brick-kiln, &c. Tanquam pecudes, like ſheep, ſaith the Pſalmiſt here; and Junius his Note is, Morticinas puta in cloacis, exquiliis vel puticulis project as 3 like ſheep, that dying of the Murrain, are thereupon caſt into Ditches, Jakes, Boggs.

Death ſhall feed on them] They ſhall be meat for Worms, yea they ſhall be killed with death, Rev. 2.23. which is worſe than all the reſt: ſin, as an heavy graveſtone, preſſeth them to death, &c.

And the upright ſhall have dominion over them in the morning] i.e. at the Reſurrection, when the Saints ſhall ſhare with Chriſt in his Kingdom (when the wicked ſhall be his foot-ſtool) and ſhall judge the World, yea the Angels. Others, by morning underſtand ſuddenly, or ſeaſonably, as Pſal. 46.5.

And their beauty ſhall conſume in the Grave] All their pomp and bravery wherein they came abroad whiles alive (as Agrippa, and Bernice came to the Tribunal with a great deal of phancy, Acts 25.23.) and with which they affect to be buried in ſtate; Sic tranſit gloria mundi, 1 Cor. 7.31.

From their dwelling] Whence they are carried to the Grave, that dark houſe of all living, Job 30.23. Some render the text thus, Infernus habitaculum ipſis, Hell ſhall be their habitation. Tremellius thus, Et formam corum conſumat infernus receptam exhabit aculo ejus, and Hell conſume their ſhape (that is, their bodies now re-united to their ſouls) received out of its Houſe, that is, out of the Grave.

Verſ. 15. But God will redeem my ſoul from the power of the grave] Heb. From the hand of Hell, q.d. I am, and ſhall be in far better condition both in life, at death,Spe bona Do[illegible: 1 letter] ab indoctis di[illegible: 1 letter] forunt, disis[illegible: 1 letter] Chilo. and after death, than any of the Worlds darlings: why then ſhould I fear, as verſ. 51. why ſhould I envie their ſeeming happineſs, which will have ſo ſad a Cataſtrophe, as verſ. 14? I ſhall have heaven, and that is more worth than all.

For he ſhall receive me; Selah] A notable Text indeed, and well worthy of a Selah: a clear teſtimony for the immortality of the ſoul, and for a better life after this, as is well obſerved. He ſunt parabola, & hac ſunt anigmasa, ſaith a good Interpreter. Theſe are thoſe Parables, and theſe are thoſe dark ſayings, mentioned verſ. 4. riddles to the wicked, but cordials to the faithful.

Verſ. 16. Be not thou afraid] David was comforted, and ſo he would have others to be: for as it was ſaid of a certain Biſhop of Lincoln, that he held nothing his own but what he had beſtowed upon others, Hoc babeo quodcun que dedi: ſo the Saints think their comforts nothing ſo comfortable, unleſs others may ſhare in them, and fare the better by them.

When the glory of his houſe is increaſed] viz. By a numerous Off-ſpring, ſtately building, gay furniture, great rents and revenues; for as they ſay of the metal they make glaſs of, it is neareſt melting when it ſhineth brighteſt; ſo are the wicked neareſt deſtruction when at greateſt luſtre.

Verſ. 17. For when he dyeth he ſhall carry nothing away] Nothing but a Shrowd, as that great Emperour cauſed to be proclamed at his Funeral. He was a fool that on his Death-bed clapt a peece of Gold into his mouth, and ſaid, Some wiſer than ſome; I will take this with me. See Job 1.21. 1 Tim. 6.7. with the Notes there.

His glory ſhall not deſcend after him] No, nor be able to breath one cold blaſt up-on him, when he is burning in Hell. O that wicked rich men would think of this, before the cold Grave hold their bodies, and hot Hell hold their ſouls.

Verſ. 18. Though whilſt be lived he bleſſed his ſoul] As that rich fool did, Luk. 12. and that King of France, who puffed up with the Marriage of his Siſter to the King of Spain, called himſelf by a new title, Treſ-bureuſe Roy, the thrice happy King; but was ſoon after accidentally ſlain by the Captain of his Guard running at Tilt with him, at the ſolemnizing of that ſame Marriage, in the very beginning of his ſuppoſed happineſs.

And men will praiſe thee when thou doeſt well to thy ſelf] Feathering thine own Neſt, and pampering thine own Carcaſs; thou ſhalt bee ſure of Paraſites, and Trencher-flies, who will highly commend thee, though againſt their own Conſciences, Rom. 1. ult. The world generally admireth the happineſs of ſuch as live at full, and ask what ſhould ſuch a one ayl? The Iriſh ask what they meant to dye?

Verſ. 19. He ſhall go to the generation of his fathers] i.e. To the grave, or albeit he come to the age of his Fathers, that is, live here very long,

They ſhall never ſee light] Either have any ſound comfort at death, or any part in Gods Kingdom.

Verſ. 20. Man that is in honour and underſtandeth not] Verſus amabeus. See ver. 12. there is but little difference: Stultitians patiuntur opes. The more a man hath of worldly wealth, and the leſs of Spiritual, and heavenly underſtanding therewith, the more beſtial he is, and ſhall be more miſerable. Caligula called his Father-in-law Marcus Silanus, [non-Latin text not transcribed], a golden brute, Quid cervo ingentia cornua, cum deſit animus?

Vel mihi da clavem, vel mihi telle ſeram.

Verses 1-4. In these four verses the poet prophet calls universal humanity to listen to his didactic hymn.

Hear this, all ye people. All men are concerned in the subject, it is of them, and therefore to them that the psalmist would speak. It is not a topic which men delight to consider, and therefore he who would instruct them must press them to give ear. Where, as in this case, the theme claims to be wisdom and understanding, attention is very properly demanded; and when the style combines the sententiousness of the proverb with the sweetness of poesy, interest is readily excited. Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world. "He that hath ears to hear let him hear." Men dwelling in all climes are equally concerned in the subject, for the laws of providence are the same in all lands. It is wise for each one to feel I am a man, and therefore everything which concerns mortals has a personal interest to me. We must all appear before the judgment seat, and therefore we all should give earnest heed to holy admonition which may help us to prepare for that dread event. He who refuses to receive instruction by the ear, will not be able to escape receiving destruction by it when the Judge shall say, "Depart, ye cursed."

Both low and high, rich and poor, together. Sons of great men, and children of mean men, men of large estate, and ye who pine in poverty, ye are all bidden to hear the inspired minstrel as he touches his harp to a mournful but instructive lay. The low will be encouraged, the high will be warned, the rich will be sobered, the poor consoled, there will be a useful lesson for each if they are willing to learn it. Our preaching ought to have a voice for all classes, and all should have an ear for it. To suit our word to the rich alone is wicked sycophancy, and to aim only at pleasing the poor is to act the part of a demagogue. Truth may be so spoken as to command the ear of all, and wise men seek to learn that acceptable style. Rich and poor must soon meet together in the grave, they may well be content to meet together now. In the congregation of the dead all differences of rank will be obliterated, they ought not now to be obstructions to united instructions.

My mouth shall speak of wisdom. Inspired and therefore lifted beyond himself, the prophet is not praising his own attainments, but extolling the divine Spirit which spoke in him. He knew that the Spirit of truth and wisdom spoke through him. He who is not sure that his matter is good has no right to ask a hearing. And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. The same Spirit who made the ancient seers eloquent, also made them thoughtful. 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.

I will incline mine ear to a parable. He who would have others hear, begins by hearing himself. As the minstrel leans his ear to his harp, so must the preacher give his whole soul to his ministry. The truth came to the psalmist as a parable, and he endeavoured to unriddle it for popular use; he would not leave the truth in obscurity, but he listened to its voice till he so well understood it as to be able to interpret and translate it into the common language of the multitude. Still of necessity it would remain a problem, and a dark saying to the unenlightened many, but this would not be the songster's fault, for, saith he, I will open my dark saying upon the harp. The writer was no mystic, delighting in deep and cloudy things, yet he was not afraid of the most profound topics; he tried to open the treasures of darkness, and to uplift pearls from the deep. To win attention he cast his proverbial philosophy into the form of song, and tuned his harp to the solemn tone of his subject. Let us gather round the minstrel of the King of kings, and hear the Psalm which first was led by the chief musician, as the chorus of the sons of Korah lifted up their voices in the temple.

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? The man of God looks calmly forward to dark times when those evils which have dogged his heels shall gain a temporary advantage over him. Iniquitous men, here called in the abstract iniquity, lie in wait for the righteous, as serpents that aim at the heels of travellers: the iniquity of our heels is that evil which aims to trip us up or impede us. It was an old prophecy that the serpent should wound the heel of the woman's seed, and the enemy of our souls is diligent to fulfil that premonition. In some dreary part of our road it may be that evil will wax stronger and bolder, and gaining upon us will openly assail us; those who followed at our heels like a pack of wolves, may perhaps overtake us, and compass us about. What then? Shall we yield to cowardice? Shall we be a prey to their teeth? God forbid. Nay, we will not even fear, for what are these foes? What indeed, but mortal men who shall perish and pass away? There can be no real ground of alarm to the faithful. Their enemies are too insignificant to be worthy of one thrill of fear. Doth not the Lord say to us, "I, even I, am he that comforteth thee; who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?" Scholars have given other renderings of this verse, but we prefer to keep to the authorised version when we can, and in this case we find in it precisely the same meaning which those would give to it who translate my heels, by the words "my supplanters."

What if the good man's foes be among the great ones of the earth! yet he need not fear them. They that trust in their wealth. Poor fools, to be content with such a rotten confidence. When we set our rock in contrast with theirs, it would be folly to be afraid of them. Even though they are loud in their brags, we can afford to smile. What if they glory and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches? yet while we glory in our God we are not dismayed by their proud threatenings. Great strength, position, and estate, make wicked men very lofty in their own esteem, and tyrannical towards others; but the heir of heaven is not overawed by their dignity, nor cowed by their haughtiness. He sees the small value of riches, and the helplessness of their owners in the hour of death, and therefore he is not so mean as to be afraid of an ephemera, a moth, a bubble.

None of them can by any means redeem his brother. With all their riches, the whole of them put together could not rescue a comrade from the chill grasp of death. They boast of what they will do with us, let them see to themselves. Let them weigh their gold in the scales of death, and see how much they can buy therewith from the worm and the grave. The poor are their equals in this respect; let them love their friend ever so dearly, they cannot give to God a ransom for him. A king's ransom would be of no avail, a Monte Rosa of rubies, an America of silver, a world of gold, a sun of diamonds, would all be utterly contemned. O ye boasters, think not to terrify us with your worthless wealth, go ye and intimidate death before ye threaten men in whom is immortality and life.

For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever. Too great is the price, the purchase is hopeless. For ever must the attempt to redeem a soul with money remain a failure. Death comes and wealth cannot bribe him; hell follows and no golden key can unlock its dungeon. Vain, then, are your threatenings, ye possessors of the yellow clay; your childish toys are despised by men who estimate the value of possessions by the shekel of the sanctuary.

No price could secure for any man that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. Mad are men now after gold, what would they be if it could buy the elixir of immortality? Gold is lavished out of the bag to cheat the worm of the poor body by embalming it, or enshrining it in a coffin of lead, but it is a miserable business, a very burlesque and comedy. As for the soul, it is too subtle a thing to be detained when it hears the divine command to soar through tracks unknown. Never, therefore, will we fear those base nibblers at our heels, whose boasted treasure proves to be so powerless to save.

For he seeth that wise men die. Every one sees this. The proud persecuting rich man cannot help seeing it. He cannot shut his eyes to the fact that wiser men than he are dying, and that he also, with all his craft, must die. Likewise the fool and the brutish person perish. Folly has no immunity from death. Off goes the jester's cap, as well as the student's gown. Jollity cannot laugh off the dying hour; death who visits the university, does not spare the tavern. Thoughtlessness and brutishness meet their end as surely as much care and wasting study. In fact, while the truly wise, so far as this world is concerned, die, the fool has a worse lot, for he perishes, is blotted out of remembrance, bewailed by none, remembered no more. And leave their wealth to others. Not a farthing can they carry with them. Whether heirs male of their own body, lawfully begotten, inherit their estates, or they remain unclaimed, it matters not, their hoardings are no longer theirs; friends may quarrel over their property, or strangers divide it as spoil, they cannot interfere. Ye boasters, hold ye your own, before ye dream of despoiling the sons of the living God. Keep shoes to your own feet in death's dark pilgrimage, ere ye seek to bite our heels.

Their inward thought is, their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations. He is very foolish who is more a fool in his inmost thought than he dare to be in his speech. Such rotten fruit, rotten at the core, are worldlings. Down deep in their hearts, though they dare not say so, they fancy that earthly goods are real and enduring. Foolish dreamers! The frequent dilapidation of their castles and manor houses should teach them better, but still they cherish the delusion. They cannot tell the mirage from the true streams of water; they fancy rainbows to be stable, and clouds to be the everlasting hills. They call their lands after their own names. Common enough is this practice. His grounds are made to bear the groundling's name, he might as well write it on the water. Men have even called countries by their own names, but what are they the better for the idle compliment, even if men perpetuate their nomenclature?

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not. He is but a lodger for the hour, and does not stay a night: even when he dwells in marble halls his notice to quit is written out. Eminence is evermore in imminence of peril. The hero of the hour lasts but for an hour. Sceptres fall from the paralysed hands which once grasped them, and coronets slip away from skulls when the life is departed. He is like the beasts that perish. 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, and dies like the ox in the shambles. Alas! that so noble a creature should use his life so unworthily, and end it so disgracefully. So far as this world is concerned, wherein does the death of many men differ from the death of a dog? They go down —

"To the vile dust from whence they sprung,

Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung."

What room is there, then, for fear to the godly when such natural brute beasts assail them? Should they not in patience possess their souls? We make a break here, because this stanza appears to be the refrain of the song, and as such is repeated in Ps 49:20.

Their vain confidences are not casual aberrations from the path of wisdom, but their way, their usual and regular course; their whole life is regulated by such principles. Their life path is essential folly. They are fools ingrain. From first to last brutishness is their characteristic, grovelling stupidity the leading trait of their conduct. Yet their posterity approve their sayings. Those who follow them in descent follow them in folly, quote their worldly maxims, and accept their mad career as the most prudent mode of life. Why do they not see by their father's failure their father's folly? No, the race transmits its weakness. Grace is not hereditary, but sordid worldliness goes from generation to generation. The race of fools never dies out. No need of missionaries to teach men to be earthworms, they crawl naturally to the dust. Selah. Well may the minstrel pause, and bid us muse upon the deep seated madness of the sons of Adam. Take occasion, reader, to reflect upon thine own.

Like sheep they are laid in the grave. As dumb driven cattle, they are hurried to their doom, and are penned in within the gates of destruction. As sheep that go whither they are driven, and follow their leader without thought, so these men who have chosen to make this world their all, are urged on by their passions, till they find themselves at their journey's end, that end the depths of Hades. Or if we keep to our own translation, we have the idea of their dying peaceably, and being buried in quiet, only that they may wake up to be ashamed at the last great day. Death shall feed on them. Death like a grim shepherd leads them on, and conducts them to the place of their eternal pasturage, where all is barrenness and misery. The righteous are led by the Good Shepherd, but the ungodly have death for their shepherd, and he drives them onward to hell. As the power of death rules them in this world, for they have not passed from death unto life, so the terrors of death shall devour them in the world to come. As grim giants, in old stories, are said to feed on men whom they entice to their caves, so death, the monster, feeds on the flesh and blood of the mighty. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. The poor saints were once the tail, but at the day break they shall be the head. Sinners rule till night fall; their honours wither in the evening, and in the morning they find their position utterly reversed. 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! And their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. Whatever of glory the ungodly had shall disappear in the tomb. Form and comeliness shall vanish from them, the worm shall make sad havoc of all their beauty. Even their last dwelling place, the grave, shall not be able to protect the relics committed to it; their bodies shall dissolve, no trace shall remain of all their strong limbs and lofty heads, no vestige of remaining beauty shall be discoverable. The beauty of the righteous is not yet revealed, it waits its manifestations; but all the beauty the wicked will ever have is in full bloom in this life; it will wither, fade, decay, rot, and utterly pass away. Who, then, would envy or fear the proud sinner?

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Forth from that temporary resting place we shall come in due time, quickened by divine energy. Like our risen Head we cannot be holden by the bands of the grave; redemption has emancipated us from the slavery of death. No redemption could man find in riches, but God has found it in the blood of his dear Son. Our Elder Brother has given to God a ransom, and we are the redeemed of the Lord: because of this redemption by price we shall assuredly be redeemed by power out of the hand of the last enemy. For he shall receive me. He shall take me out of the tomb, take me up to heaven. If it is not said of me as of Enoch, "He was not, for God took him, "yet shall I reach the same glorious state. My spirit God will receive, and my body shall sleep in Jesus till, being raised in his image, it shall also be received into glory. How infinitely superior is such a hope to anything which our oppressors can boast! Here is something which will bear meditation, and therefore again let us pause, at the bidding of the musician, who inserts a Selah.

In these last verses the psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud thy mind. Temporal prosperity is too small a matter to be worth fretting about; let the dogs have their bones, and the swine their draff. When the glory of his house is increased. Though the sinner and his family are in great esteem, and stand exceedingly high, never mind; all things will be righted in due time. Only those whose judgment is worthless will esteem men the more because their lands are broader; those who are highly estimated for such unreasonable reasons will find their level ere long, when truth and righteousness come to the fore.

For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away. He has but a leasehold of his acres, and death ends his tenure. 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. Why then fret ourselves about so fleeting a prosperity? His glory shall not descend after him. As he goes down, down, down for ever, none of his honours or possessions will follow him. Patents of nobility are invalid in the sepulchre. His worship, his honour, his lordship, and his grace, will alike find their titles ridiculous in the tomb. Hell knows no aristocracy. Your dainty and delicate sinners shall find that eternal burnings have no respect for their affectations and refinements.

Though while he lived he blessed his soul. He pronounced himself happy. He had his good things in this life. His chief end and aim were to bless himself. He was charmed with the adulation of flatterers. Men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. The generality of men worship success, however it may be gained. The colour of the winning horse is no matter; it is the winner, and that is enough. "Take care of Number One, "is the world's proverbial philosophy, and he who gives good heed to it is "a clever fellow, ""a fine man of business, ""a shrewd common sense tradesman, ""a man with his head put on the right way." Get money, and you will be "respectable, ""a substantial man, "and your house will be "an eminent firm in the city, "or "one of the best county families." To do good wins fame in heaven, but to do good to yourself is the prudent thing among men of the world. Yet not a whisper of worldly congratulation can follow the departing millionaire; they say he died worth a mint of money, but what charm has that fact to the dull cold ear of death? 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.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers. Where the former generations lie, the present shall also slumber. The sires beckon to their sons to come to the same land of forgetfulness. Mortal fathers beget not immortal children. As our ancestors have departed, so also must we. They shall never see light. To this upper region the dead worldling shall never return again to possess his estates, and enjoy his dignities. Among the dead he must lie in the thick darkness, where no joy or hope can come to him. Of all his treasures there remains not enough to furnish him one poor candle; the blaze of his glory is out for ever, and not a spark remains to cheer him. How then can we look with fear or envy upon a wretch doomed to such unhappiness?

The song ends with the refrain, Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. Understanding differences men from animals, but if they will not follow the highest wisdom, and like beasts find their all in this life, then their end shall be as mean and dishonourable as that of beasts slain in the chase, or killed in the shambles. From the loftiest elevation of worldly honour to the uttermost depths of death is but a step. Saddest of all is the reflection, that though men are like beasts in all the degradation of perishing, yet not in the rest which animal perishing secures, for, alas! it is written, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." So ends the minstrel's lay. Comforting as the theme is to the righteous, it is full of warning to the worldly. Hear ye it, O ye rich and poor. Give ear to it, ye nations of the earth.

Whole Psalm. Strange it is that two Psalms so near together, as this and the forty-fifth should, and should alone imitate, or be the forerunners of, two works of David's son; this —Ecclesiastes, the former —the Canticles. J. M. Neale.

In this Psalm David, as it were, summons and divides mankind. In the first verse he summons: "Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world." In the second verse he divides: Both low and high, rich and poor, together. The word in the Hebrew for high is (vya ynb), bene ish, sons of Ish, and the word for low is (Mda ynb) bene Adam, sons of Adam. If we should translate the text directly, according to the letter, the words must run, sons of men and sons of men; for, sons of Adam and sons of Ish are both translated sons of men. Yet when they are set together in a way of opposition, the one signifieth low and the other high; and so our translators render it according to the sense, not sons of men and sons of men, but low and high. Junius translates to this sense, though in more words, as well they who are born of mean men, as they who are born of the honourable. Joseph Caryl.

I will incline mine ear to a parable, i.e, I will diligently attend, that I may not sing anything ungracefully; a metaphor taken from musicians who bring their ear close to the harp, that they may ascertain the harmony of the sound. Victorinus Bythner.

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? Those that are full of years are approaching the nearer to their happiness. They have finished their voyage, and now are in sight of the haven. Nature's provision is spent, her stock is exhausted, and now the good man doth not so much descend as fall into the grave, and from thence he rises to heaven and eternal bliss. And shall he be disturbed at this? shall he be afraid to be made happy? If I mistake not, this is the meaning of the psalmist's words. They are generally interpreted concerning his ways in general, but they seem to me to refer particularly to the calamity which his old age was incident to: for the days of evil are old age, and are so called by the wise man Ec 12:1; and as the heel is the extreme part of the body, so it is here applied to the last part of man's life, his declining age; and iniquity (as the word is sometimes used among the Hebrews) signifies here penal evil, and denotes the infirmities and decays of the concluding part of a man's life. So that the true meaning of the psalmist's words is this —I will not now in my last days be dejected with fear and trouble of mind, for I am coming towards my happiness, my declining years shall deliver me up to death, and that shall consign me to everlasting life. This certainly is matter of joy rather than of fear. For this reason I account my last days to be the most eligible part of my whole life. John Edwards, D.D. (1637-1716), in "The Theologia Reformata."

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? That is, when my sins or failings in what I have done, come to my remembrance, or are chastened upon me. Every man's heels hath some iniquity: as we shall have some dirt cleaving to our heels while we walk in a dirty world, so there is some dirt, some defilement, upon all our actions, which we may call, the iniquity of our heel. Joseph Caryl.

When the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? With Bishop Lowth, the celebrated Michaelis, Bishop Hare, and a host of other critics, I decidedly incline to the idea, that (ybqe), rendered "my heels" is to be regarded as the present participle of the verb (bqe), to supplant, to act deceitfully, to deceive, to hold one by the heel, etc., etc. If this be correct, then the proper translation will be: —

Wherefore should I fear in the days of adversity,

The iniquity of my supplanters who surround me?

The Syriac and Arabic read, as does also Dr. Kennicott:

Why should I fear in the evil day,

When the iniquity of my enemies compasses me about? John Morison.

Verses 5-9.

Why should I fear the evil hour,

When ruthless foes in ambush lie,

Who revel in their pride of power,

And on their hoarded wealth rely?

A brother's ransom who can pay,

Or alter God's eternal doom?

What hand can wrest from death his prey,

Its banquet from the rotten tomb?

From "The Psalter, or Psalms of David, in English verse. By a member of the University of Cambridge." (Benjamin Hall Kennedy, D.D.) 1860.

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Here we have the rich man trusting and boasting; surely this is a very confident trusting which issues itself into boasting! That man is ascended to the highest step of faith in God, who makes his boast of God; such faith have they in fine gold who boast in it. Joseph Caryl.

They that trust in their wealth. "THE COVETOUS MAN'S SOLILOQUY." Believe me, the times are hard and dangerous; charity is grown cold, and friends uncomfortable; an empty purse is full of sorrow, and hollow bags make a heavy heart. Poverty is a civil pestilence, which frights away both friends and kindred, and leaves us to a "Lord, have mercy upon us." It is a sickness very catching and infectious, and more commonly abhorred than cured. The best antidote against it is Angelica and providence, and the best cordial is aurum potabile. Gold taking fasting is an approved sovereign. Debts are ill humours, and turn at last to dangerous obstructions. Lending is mere consumption of the radical humour, which, if consumed, brings a patient to nothing. Let others trust to courtiers' promises, to friends' performances, to princes' favours; give me a toy called gold, give me a thing called money. O blessed Mammon, how extremely sweet is thy all commanding presence to my thriving soul! In banishment thou art my dear companion; in captivity thou art my precious ransom; in trouble and vexation thou art my dainty rest; in sickness thou art my health; in grief my only joy; in all extremity my only trust. Virtue must veil to thee; nay, grace itself, not relished with thy sweetness, would even displease the righteous palates of the sons of men. Come, then, my soul, advise, contrive, project; go, compass sea and land; leave no exploit untried, no path untrod, no time unspent; afford thine eyes no sleep, thy head no rest; neglect thy ravenous belly, unclothe thy back; deceive, betray, swear, and forswear, to compass such a friend. If thou be base in birth, it will make thee honourable; if weak in power, it will make thee formidable. Are thy friends few? It will make them numerous. Is thy cause bad? It will gain thee advocates. True, wisdom is an excellent help, in case it bend this way; and learning is a genteel ornament, if not too chargeable; yet, by your leave, they are but estates for the term of life: but everlasting gold, if well advantaged, will not only bless thy days, but thy surviving children from generation to generation. Come, come, let others fill their brains with dear bought wit, turn their pence into expensive charity, and store their bosoms with unprofitable piety; let them lose all to save their imaginary consciences, and beggar themselves at home to be thought honest abroad: fill thou thy bags and barns, and lay up for many years, and take thy rest. Francis Quarles, in "The Covetous Man's Care."

The form of money agreeth well with the condition of it; for it is stamped round, because it is so apt to run from a man. Fire, thieves, waters, and infinite causes there are of consuming riches, and impoverishing their possessors, though they have even millions and mountains of gold; but suppose that contrary to their nature they stay by a man, yet cannot he stay by them, but must leave them in spite of his teeth, as the psalmist saith Ps 49:17, "The rich man shall take away nothing when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow after him." Thus death makes a violent divorce between the rich man and his goods, when it is said unto him, "Thou fool, this night shall they take away thy soul." The rich man sleeps (saith Job very elegantly), and when he openeth his eyes there is nothing. It fares with a rich man at his death, as it doth with a sleeping man when he wakes out of his dream. A man that dreams of the finding or fruition of some rich bounty is wonderful glad, yet when he awaketh he findeth nothing, but seeth it was only a dream, and he is sorry; so the rich man seemed in the time of his life, to have somewhat, but in the days of his death all vanisheth like the idea of a dream, and it vexes him. J. D., in "The Threefold Resolution," 1608.

Who knocks more boldly at heaven gate to be let in than they whom Christ will reject as workers of iniquity? Oh, what delusion is this! Caligula never made himself more ridiculous than when he would be honoured as a God, while he lived more like a devil. Before you would have others take you for Christians, for God's sake prove yourselves men and not beasts, as you do by your brutish lives. Talk not of your hopes of salvation so long as the marks of damnation are seen upon your flagitious lives. If the way to heaven were thus easy, I promise you the saints in all ages have been much overseen, to take so great pains in mortifying their lusts, in denying to satisfy their sensual appetite. To what purpose did they make so much waste of their sweat in their zealous serving God? and of their tears that they could serve him no better, if they might have gone to heaven as these men hope to do? That friar was far more sound in his judgment in this point, who, preaching at Rome one Lent, when some cardinals and many other great ones were present, began his sermon thus abruptly and ironically, Saint Peter was a fool, Saint Paul was a fool, and all the primitive Christians were fools; for they thought the way to heaven was by prayers and tears, watchings and fastings, severities of mortification, and denying the pomp and glory of this world; whereas you here in Rome spend your time in balls and masks, live in pomp and pride, lust and luxury, and yet count yourselves good Christians, and hope to be saved; but at last you will prove the fools, and they will be found to have been the wise men. William Gurnall's Funeral Sermon for Lady Mary Vere, 1671.

Verses 6-10. David speaks of some that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Rich men can do great things, but here is a thing that they cannot do: None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. From what cannot a rich man redeem his brother? It is true of spiritual redemption; yea, that is furthest out of the rich man's reach, money will not do it: "We are not redeemed with corrupt things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God." 1Pe 1:18-19. But the psalmist speaks of a lower redemption, to which all the riches of man cannot reach: None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: for the redemption of their soul (that is, of their person from the grave), is precious, and it ceaseth for ever. And that he speaks of their redemption from the grave, is more clearly expressed in Ps 49:9: That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. Jesus Christ did not redeem us that we should live for ever, and not see corruption. It was the privilege of Jesus Christ the Redeemer not to see corruption; but Jesus Christ hath not redeemed us that we should not see corruption. He hath redeemed us that we should live for ever in heaven, but he hath not redeemed us from corruption, that we should live for ever on earth, or not see corruption in the grave; for, as it is said in Ps 49:10 of the Psalm, we see that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others; as if he had said, Neither the one nor the other sort of men could make this use or improvement of their wealth, to deliver themselves from going to the grave, for if they could they would have laid all out on that purchase; but they could not do it, therefore, they leave their wealth to others. Joseph Caryl.

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, etc. Some animals devoted to God could be redeemed at a price, but no price could be assigned to the ransom of a soul. That such a ransom was to be provided, the faith of the church had always anticipated: "He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities." Ps 130:8. W. Wilson, D.D.

For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever. In this judgment tears will not prevail, prayers will not be heard, promises will not be admitted, repentance will be too late, and as for riches, honourable titles, sceptres, and diadems, these will profit much less, and the inquisition shall be so curious and diligent, that not one light thought, not one idle word (not repented of in thy life past) shall be forgotten, for truth itself hath said, not in jest, but in earnest, of every idle word which men have spoken, they shall give an account in the day of judgment. Oh, how many which now sin with great delight, yea, even with greediness (as if we served a god of wood or of stone which seeth nothing nor can do nothing) will be then astonished, ashamed, and silent. Then shall the days of thy mirth be ended, and thou shalt be overwhelmed with everlasting darkness, and instead of thy pleasures thou shalt have everlasting torments. Thomas Tymme.

For it cost more to redeem their souls: so that he must let that alone forever. Prayer book Version.

It ceaseth for ever. That is, wealth for ever comes short of the power necessary to accomplish this. It has always been insufficient; it always will be. There is no hope that it ever will be sufficient, that by any increase in the amount, or by any change in the conditions of the bargain, property or riches can avail for this. The whole matter is perfectly hopeless as to the power of wealth is saving one human being from the grave. It must always fail in saving a man from death. The word rendered ceaseth —(ldx), khadal, means to leave off, to desist, to fail. Ge 11:8 Ex 9:34 Isa 2:22. Albert Barnes.

Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever. This is the interpretation of our actions, when we do not make God our portion, but trust in the abundance of our riches; this is our inward thought, the saying of our heart, Ye are my god. We do in effect say, Thou art my confidence, my hope, and my joy, and will stand by me when all things cease and fail, and wilt not suffer me to want, or to be wrong, as long as you last: these are the secret speeches of our hearts. Christians! many may (orator like), declaim against the vanity of the creature, and speak as basely of money as others do, and say, We know it is but a little refined earth; but their hearts close with it, they are loathe to part with it for God's sake, or upon God's declared will. As he that speaketh good words of God, is not said to trust in God; so speaking bad words of worldly riches doth not exempt us from trusting them. There is a difference between declaiming as an orator, and acting like a Christian. Thomas Manton.

Their inward thought. If good thoughts be thy deep thoughts, if, as we say, the best be at the bottom, thy thoughts are then right, and thou art righteous; for as the deep thoughts of worldlings are worldly thoughts, and the deep thoughts of wicked men are wicked thoughts, so the deep thoughts of good men are good thoughts. It is a notable observation of the Holy Ghost's concerning worldly men, that their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever, etc. Why? is there any thought that is not an inward thought? No, but the meaning is, though they have some floating thoughts of their mortality, and the vanity and transitoriness of all worldly things, swimming, as it were, on the top; yet they do not suffer such thoughts to sink into their hearts, or to go to the bottom; but the thoughts that lodge there are such as his, who is said by our Saviour to have thought within himself, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Lu 12:19. Note the phrase, "he thought within himself." There are other kinds of thoughts that sometimes knock at the door of the worldling's heart, nay, sometimes look in at his windows, as Paul's sermon began to press in upon Felix his heart, and to set him trembling; but there are other thoughts within, which if they cannot keep good thoughts quite out, they will keep them off from making any due or deep impression upon the heart. Now, these thoughts that nestle themselves as it were at the very heart roots, to keep others out from reaching thither, these deep thoughts are they which the Scriptures call the inward thoughts, according to that of the psalmist Ps 64:6, "The inward thought of every one of them and the heart, is deep." Faithful Teat in "Right Thoughts the Righteous man's Evidence," 1666.

They call their lands after their own names. God makes fools of them, for how few have you that go beyond the third generation? How few houses have you that the child or the grandchild can say, "This was my grandfather's and my great grandfather's"? How few houses have you that those that are now in them can say, "My ancestor dwelt here, and these were his lands"? Go over a whole country, few can say so. Men when they build, together with building in the earth they build castles in the air; they have conceits. Now I build for my child, and for my child's child. God crosses them. Either they have no posterity, or by a thousand things that fall out in the world, it falls out otherwise. The time is short, and the fashion of this world passeth away; that is, the buildings pass away, the owning passeth away, all things here pass away; and, therefore, buy as if you possessed not, buy, so as we neglect not the best possession in heaven, and so possess these things, as being not possessed and commanded of them. Richard Sibbes.

Mr. A was a wealthy farmer in Massachusetts, about sixty years of age, and it had been his ruling, and almost only passion in life to acquire property. His neighbour B owned a small farm, which came too near the centre of A's extended domain, was quite a blot in his prospect, destroyed the regularity of his lands, and on the whole it was really necessary, in his opinion, that he should add it to his other property. B became embarrassed, and was sued; judgments were obtained, and executions issued. A now thought he should obtain the land, but one execution after another was arranged, and finally the debt was paid off without selling the land. When A heard of the payment of the last execution, which put an end to his hopes of obtaining the land, he exclaimed, "Well, B is an old man, and cannot live long, and when he dies I can buy the lot." B was fifty-eight, A was sixty! Reader, do you ever expect to die? K. Arvine's Cyclopaedia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes.

I have purchased, saith one, such lands, and I have got so good a title to them, that certainly they will remain mine and my heirs for ever; never considering how all things here below are subject to ebbings and flowings, to turns and vicissitudes every day. Joseph Caryl.

The fleeting nature of all earthly possessions is well illustrated in the life of William Beckford, and the unenduring character of gorgeous fabrics in the ruin of his famous Babel, Fonthill Abbey. Byron sang of Beckford's palace in Spain, in language most applicable to Fonthill:

"There, too, thou Vathek! England's wealthiest son —

Once formed thy Paradise, as not aware

When wanton wealth her mightiest deeds hath done,

Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever wont to shun.

Here didst thou dwell; here schemes of pleasure plan,

Beneath yon mountain's ever beauteous brow.

But now, as if a thing unblessed by man,

Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as thou!

Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow,

To halls deserted, portals gaping wide;

Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how

Vain are the pleasures on earth supplied,

Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide!" C. H. S.

Verses 11-12. "They call their GROUNDS after their names. But the GROUNDLING, in the midst of splendour, endureth not." In Ps 49:11, we have (twmra), "grounds." In Ps 49:12, it is (Mra), "groundling, "with a designed iteration and play upon the word; for want of an attention to which the passage has not been fully understood. John Mason Good.

Man being in honour abideth not. The Rabbins read it thus: "Adam being in honour, lodged not one night." The Hebrew word for abide signifies "to stay or lodge all night." Adam, then, it seems, did not take up one night's lodging in Paradise. Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity.

This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Master Baxter speaks very well of this in his "Saints Everlasting Rest, "which is a very choice book. The gentry teach their children to follow pleasure, and the commonalty their children to follow profit, and young ones are ready to follow old ones. This their way is their folly. The very heathens condemn this, and yet Christians mind it not. Crates the philosopher said, that if possible he might, he would willingly mount to the highest place of the city, and there cry aloud in this manner, "What mean you, my masters, and whither run you headlong? carking and caring all that ever you can, to gather goods and make riches as you do, whiles in the meantime you make little or no reckoning at all of your children, unto whom you are to leave all your riches? Do not most care more for the wealth of their children's outward man, than for the health of their inward man?" J. Votier's Survey of Effectual Calling, 1652.

This their way is their folly. The folly of man seldom appears more than in being very busy about nothing, in making a great cry where there is little wool; like that empty fellow that showed himself to Alexander —having spent much time, and taken much pains at it beforehand —and boasted that he could throw a pea through a little hole, expecting a great reward; but the king gave him only a bushel of peas, for a recompense suitable to his diligent negligence, or his busy idleness. Things that are vain and empty are unworthy of our care and industry. The man that by hard labour and hazard of his life did climb up to the top of the steeple to set an egg on end, was deservedly the object of pity and laughter. We shall think him little better than mad that should make as great a fire for the roasting of an egg as for the roasting of an ox. George Swinnock.

Their folly: yet their posterity approve. Dr. Leifchild, in his "Remarkable Facts, "records the following incident, of a person of property, who had been accustomed regularly to attend his ministry, but who had always manifested a covetous disposition: "I was sent for to offer to him the consolation of religion as he lay upon his dying bed. What was my surprise, after having conversed and prayed with him, to find that he was unwilling to take my hand, muttering that he knew that he had not done what was right in reference to the support and furtherance of religion, but intended to amend in that respect. He then requested me to say what I thought would become of him. How could I reply, but by exhorting him to repent, and relinquishing all further thoughts of a worldly nature, to betake himself to the sacrifice and mediation of the Son of God for pardon, safety, and salvation in that world which he was to all appearance soon about to enter. He gazed at me with a look of disappointment. Upon a hint being given me to inquire into his thought at that moment, I questioned him very pointedly, and to my astonishment and horror, he reluctantly disclosed to me the fact that while thus seemingly about to breathe his last, his hands were under the bed clothes grasping the keys of his cabinet and treasures, lest they should be taken from him! Soon after he departed this life, and there was, alas! reason to fear that, together with his property, he had transmitted somewhat of his fatal passion to those who survived him. It was distressing to me to reflect that a hearer of mine should quit this world with his fingers stiffened in death around the keys of his treasures. How strong, how terrible, was the ruling passion in the death of this man!"

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, or as we put in the margin, The grave being an habitation to every one of them, shall consume their beauty. Some may object, Is not this true of godly men too? are not they thus handled by death and the grave? doth not death feed on them? and doth not the grave consume their beauty? I answer, Though it doth, yet it hath not to feed upon, nor consume them, as it feeds upon and consumes wicked men. For the psalmist speaks here of death as it were triumphing over the wicked, whereas the godly triumph over death. For, first, he saith, The wicked are laid in the grave like sheep: they lived like wolves or lions, but they are laid in the grave like sheep. If it be asked, Why like sheep? I answer, not for the innocency of their lives, but for their impotency in death; as if it had been said, when once death took them in hand to lay them in the grave, they could make no more resistance than a sheep can against a lion or a wolf. And when death hath thus laid them in the grave, then secondly, saith the psalmist, Death shall feed on them, as a lion doth upon a sheep, or any wild beast upon his prey, which is a further degree of death's triumph over the wicked. And, thirdly, Their beauty shall consume in the grave, that is, all their bodily and natural beauty (and this is all the beauty which they have) shall consume in the grave, whereas the godly have a beauty (and they count it their only beauty) which the grave cannot consume, and that is the beauty of their graces, the beauty of holiness, the spiritual beauty of the inner man, yea, and the spiritual beauty of their outward holy actings shall not consume in the grave; for, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." Re 19:13. Joseph Caryl.

Death shall feed on them: rather, Death shall be their shepherd. (Sept.) At the end of the foregoing Psalm, the psalmist had said in the name of his people, that, "God is our God, for ever and ever; he will lead us as a shepherd over death, "and here he takes up the same pastoral figure, and contrasts with their case the case of the proud and prosperous worldly men, who trust in their earthly riches and power. They will not be led in safety, under the pastoral care of God, over death. No; death itself will be their Shepherd, and the grave will be their sheepfold; where they will be laid together like sheep in a pen. As Augustine says, "Death is the shepherd of the infidel. Life (i.e., Christ) is the Shepherd of the faithful." "In inferno sunt oves quibus pastor Mors est; in caelo sunt oves quibus pastor Vita est." And so Keble

Even as a flock arrayed are they

For the dark grave; Death guides their way,

Death is their Shepherd now.—Christopher Wordsworth.

In the morning, that is, saith Dathe, in the time of judgment. He thinks there is here an allusion to the usual time of holding courts of justice, which was in the morning. See Ps 73:14 101:8 Jer 21:12. Editorial note to Calvin in loc.

Their beauty shall consume in the grave, And now if we do but consider a little of the tombs and sepulchres of princes and noblemen, whose glory and majesty we have seen when they lived here on earth, and do behold the horrible forms and shapes which they now have, shall we not cry out as men amazed, Is this that glory? Is this that highness and excellency? Whither now are the degrees of their waiting servants gone? Where are their ornaments and jewels? Where is their pomp, their delicacy and niceness? All these things are vanished away like the smoke, and there is now nothing left but dust, horror, and stink. The soul being dissolved, there lieth upon the ground not a human body, but a dead carcase without life, without sense, without strength, and so fearful to look upon, that the sight thereof may hardly be endures. To be sure, it is a little better (as touching the substance) than the body of a horse, or a dog, which lieth dead in the fields, and all that pass by stop their noses and make haste away, that they be not annoyed with the sight and stink thereof. Such is man's body now become; yea, and though it were the body of a monarch, emperor, or a king. Where is that majesty, that excellency, that authority which he had aforetime when all men trembled to behold it, and might not come in presence thereof without all reverence and obeisance? what are all those things become? were they a dream or shadow? After those things the funeral is prepared, the which is all that men can carry with them, of all their riches and kingdom, and this also they should not have, if in their lifetime they did not appoint it for their dignity and honour. For the prophet David saith truly Ps 49:16, "Be not thou afraid though one be made rich, or, if the glory of his house be increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away with him, neither shall his pomp follow him." Thomas Tymme.

When we look to a charnel-house, and take a view of the grave, what amazing and dismal scenes present themselves! How many great and important images appear! Distracting horrors strike our imagination, and hideous sounds of diseases, destruction, and death, with all their woeful and black train, terrify us. Ah! the melancholy confused heap of the ruins of mankind, what a terrible carnage is made of the human race! and what a solemn and awful theatre of mortality, covered with the disordered remains of out fellow creatures, presents itself to our minds! There lie the bones of a proud monarch, who fancied himself a little god, mingled with the ashes of his poorest subjects! Death seized him in the height of his vanity, he was just returning from a conquest, and his haughty mind was swelled with his power and greatness, when one of these fatal arrows pierced his heart, and at once finished all his perishing thoughts and contrivances, then the dream of glory vanished, and all his empire was confined to the grave. Look how pale that victorious general appears, how dead, and cold, and lifeless these arms that were once accustomed to war; see if you can discern any difference betwixt his dust and that of the most despicable slave. Yonder, a numerous army, once fierce and resolute, whose conquests were rapid as lightning, and made all the nations to shake for fear of them, are now so weak that they lie a prey, exposed to the meanest animals, the loathsome worms, who crawl in triumph over them, and insult their decayed ruins. There is a body that was so much doted on, and solicitously cared for, and the beauty and shape whereof were so foolishly admired, now noisome and rotten, nothing but vermin are now fond of it, so affecting a change hath death made upon it. Look, next to this, upon the inglorious ashes of a rich, covetous wretch, whose soul was glued to this world, and hugged itself in its treasures; with what mighty throes and convulsions did death tear him from this earth! How did his hands cling to his gold! with what vehement desires did he fasten on his silver, all of them weak and fruitless! Look now if riches saved him in that day, if you can perceive any of his useless treasures lying beside him in the grave, or if the glory of his house have descended after him! Yonder, an ambitious statesman, his rotten bones are scarce to be discerned: how did he applaud his artful schemes! how securely did he think them laid, and flattered himself with the hopes of an established greatness! but death stepped in, blew them all up at once; this grave is the whole result of his counsels. And lo, there, what horrid and suffocating stink ascends from these many hellish sacrifices of lust and impurity, who wasted their strength in debauch, and carried down with them nothing but the shame of beastly pleasures to the grave. But there is no end to the corpses, nor can we survey this terrible field of death's conquests. William Dunlop.

(last clause). For he shall take me. This short half verse is, as Bottcher remarks, the more weighty, from its very shortness. The same expression occurs again, Ps 73:24, "Thou shalt take me, "the original of both being Ge 5:24, where it is used of the translation of Enoch, "He was not, for God took him." J. J. Stewart Perowne.

For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away. The form of money agrees well with the condition of it; it is stamped round, because it is so apt to run away. Could we be rich so long as we live, yet that were uncertain enough for life itself is but a dream, a shadow, but a dream of a shadow. (Augustine.) Rich men are but like hailstones; they make a noise in the world, as the other rattle on the tiles of a house; down they fall, lie still, and melt away. So that if riches could stay by a man, yet he cannot stay by them. Spite of his teeth, he shall carry away nothing when he dies. Life and goods are both is a vessel, both cast away at once; yea, of the two, life hath the more likelihood of continuance. Let it fly never so fast away, riches have eagles' wings, and will outfly it. There be thieves in the highways, that will take our moneys and spare our lives. In our penal laws, there be not so many ways to forfeit our lives as our goods. Rich Job lived to see himself poor to a proverb. How many in this city reputed rich, yet have broken for thousands! There are innumerable ways to be poor; a fire, a thief, a false servant, suretyship, trusting of bad customers, an unfaithful factor, a pirate, an unskilful pilot, hath brought rich men to poverty. One gale of wind is able to make merchants rich or beggars. Man's life is like the banks of a river, his temporal estate is the stream: time will moulder away the banks, but the stream stays not for that, it glides away continually. Life is the tree, riches are the fruit, or rather the leaves; the leaves will fall, the fruit is plucked, and yet the tree stands. Some write of the pine tree, that if the bark be pulled off, it lasts long; being on it rots. If the worldling's bark were stripped off, he might perhaps live the longer, there is great hope he would live the better. Thomas Adams.

He shall carry nothing away. It is with us in this world, as it was in the Jewish fields and vineyards: pluck and eat they might what they would while they were there; but they might not pocket or put up ought to carry with them. De 23:24. Thomas Gataker.

He shall carry nothing away. "He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly." Job 20:15.

Descend. Death takes the sinner by the throat, and "hauls him down stairs to the grave." The indulgence in any sinful propensity has this downward, deathly tendency. Every lust, whether for riches or honours, for gambling, wine or women, leads the deluded wretched votary step by step to the chambers of death. There is no hope in the dread prospect; trouble and anguish possess the spirit. Hast thou escaped, O my soul, from the net of the infernal fowler? Never forget that it is as a brand snatched from the burning. Oh, to grace how great a debtor! George Offor's note in "The Works of John Bunyan."

You will carry none of your riches, fool, to the waters of Acheron. You will be ferried over quite naked in the infernal boat. —Propertius.

How foolish is it to account thyself a better man than another, only because thy dunghill is a little bigger than his! These things are not at all to be reckoned into the value and worth of a man; they are all without thee, and concern thee no more than fine clothes do the health or strength of the body. It is wealth, indeed, that makes all the noise and bustle in the world, and challengeth all the respect and honour to itself; and the ignorant vulgar, whose eyes are dazzled with pomp and bravery, pay it with a stupid and astonished reverence. Yet know, that it is but thy silks and velvet, thy lands, or thy retinue and servants, they venerate, not thee: and if thou thinkest otherwise, thou art as justly ridiculous as that ass in the apologue, that grew very gravely proud, and took state, when the people fell prostrate before him, adoring, not him, but to the idol he carried. Ezekiel Hopkins.

Like the beasts that perish. My lords, it is no wonder at all, if men that affect beastly pleasures, and dote upon perishing honours, become like the beasts that perish. It is no miracle if he that lives like a beast dies like a beast. Take a man that hath lived like the fool in the gospel, and tell me, what hath this man done for his immortal soul more than a beast doth for its perishing soul? Soul, soul, cease from care, eat, drink, and take thine ease; this is the constant ditty of most men in honour: they have studied clothes and victuals, titles and offices, ways of gain and pleasure. Am I not yet at highest? They have, it may be, studied the black art of flattery and treachery; they understand the humour of the times, the compliances and dependences of this and other statesman, the projects of divers princes abroad, and the main design here at home. Is this all? Why, then be it known unto you, that the men of this strain have made no better provision for their precious souls, than if they had the soul, the vanishing soul of a beast within them; and certainly, if we were to judge of the substance of men's souls by their unworthy and sensual conversation, we might easily fall into that heresy, that dangerous dream of some who conceive that their souls are mortal. Francis Cheynell, in a Sermon entitled, "The Man of Honour, "... preached before the Lords of Parliament, 1645.

Like the beasts that perish. Sin is both formaliter and effective vile. As it is so in itself, so it has made man vile. No creature so debased as man, being in this respect become viler than any creature. There is no such depravation in the nature of any creature, except in the diabolical nature. No creature ever razed God's image out of its nature, but only man. There is no aversions to the will of God, no inclination to what offends him, in any creature on earth but man. Man, then, who was once the glory of the creation, is become the vilest of all creatures, for that is vilest which is most contrary to the infinite glory, but so is our nature, "Man being in honour, abideth not, "is now like the beast that perish; nay, worse than they, if the greatest evil can make him worse. Man was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory, advanced to be lord and governor of all the works of his hands; and all creatures in this world were put under his feet. Ps 8:5-6. But by this natural corruption he that was but a little lower than the angels is now something below the beasts. He was to have dominion, but is made baser than those over whom he rules. They were put under his feet, but now he is as low as they. This is the sad issue of natural corruption. David Clarkson.

Like the beasts. Man is so much a beast, that he cannot know himself to be one till God teach him. And we never learn to be men till we have learned that we were beasts...It is not said he is like this or that beast, but he is like the beasts that perish. Take any beast, or all beasts, the worst of beasts, he is the picture of them all, and he daily exemplifies the vilest of their qualities in his own. Joseph Caryl.

1. The common needs of rich and poor men.

2. The common privileges of rich and poor saints.

3. Their common service.

4. Their common heaven.

The deep things of God are intended,

1. To exercise our minds to understand them.

2. To try our faith by believing them —"incline" implies a submissive mind.

3. To excite our joy as we grasp them —"upon the harp."

4. To employ our faculties in explaining them to others.

1. The effects of our sin remain —(a) In ourselves, (b) In others.

2. In a time of conviction they compass us about: better to do so in this life, than to haunt us as ghosts for ever.

3. When they are pardoned we have nothing to fear. G.R.

1. Implied. The soul needs redeeming.

2. Denied. Wealth, power, learning, none can redeem.

3. Supplied —a ransom by Jesus.

4. Applied —by the Spirit to our actual deliverance.

(last clause). Wherein the ungodly are like beasts, and wherein different.

Here is a twofold thwarting or crossing of the purposes of the ungodly worldling.

1. The first is, he shall not be that which he ever wished to be: he shall not continue in honour.

2. The other is this, he shall be that which he never desired to be: he shall be like the beasts that die. He shall miss of that which he sought for, and he shall have that which he looked not for. —S. Hieron.

1. In secular things men imitate the wisdom of others.

2. In spiritual things they imitate their folly. G. R.

1. In proportion to the prosperity of the ungodly here, will be their misery hereafter: as sheep from the fat pasture led to the slaughterhouse.

2. In proportion to the luxury here, will be their corruption hereafter —Death shall feed on them: they have become well fed for death to feed on them.

3. In proportion to their dignity here, will be their degradation hereafter —The upright shall have, etc. Oh, what a contrast between the rich man and Lazarus then!

4. In proportion to their beauty here, will be their deformity hereafter. "Art thou become like one of us?" G. R.

Sheep, how far they image the wicked.

In the morning. See the various Biblical prophecies of what will happen "in the morning."

1. Return to the dust I shall.

2. Redeem from the dust he will.

3. Receive into heaven he will.

4. Rejoice for ever I shall.

The loaded and unloaded sinner.

1. Men of spiritual understanding without worldly honour are higher than the angels of God in heaven.

2. Men in worldly honour without the true wisdom are worse than the beasts that perish. G. R.