Destiny of the Pompous Rich Psalm 49:1-20biblestudyworkshop.com/download/old/psalms/Psalm49.pdfII....

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Commentary by Clyde M. Miller Questions by John C. Sewell

Destiny of the Pompous Rich

Psalm 49:1-20

Landmark Publications, Inc., 1045 Maynor Street, Nashville, TN 37216, U.S.A., John C. Sewell, Ph.D., Editor.

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Destiny of the Pompous Rich

by

Clyde M. Miller

Text: Psalm 49:1-20, 1. Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, 2. both low and high, rich and poor alike: 3. My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding. 4. I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: 5. Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me- 6. those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? 7. No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him- 8. the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough- 9. that he should live on forever and not see decay. 10. For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. 11. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after them-selves. 12. But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. 13. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah 14. Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.




15 But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah 16. Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splen-dor of his house increases; 17. for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. 18. Though while he lived he counted himself blessed— and men praise you when you prosper- 19. he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life. 20. A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (NIV) Introduction: I. For the phrase in the title, “Of the sons of Korah”, see the notes in the introduction to Psalm 42. II. Psalm 49 is a didactic psalm intending to teach a moral lesson.

A. That teaching is given in the form of a wisdom psalm to give the reader understanding.

B. The poet intends to do so in the form of “a proverb” (1-4). The psalm is addressed to man rather than to God.

1. Psalm 49:1-4, Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, both low and high, rich and poor alike: My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: (NIV)

III. Some passages are written in the form of sentence proverbs, with two lines of poetry.




A. Others are more extended.

B. The theme is the destiny of all people, and the foolishness of those who think to have permanent security in their riches.

IV. The refrains (12, 20) mark the two main divisions and identify the theme.

A. Psalm 49:12, 20, But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (NIV)

B. The first paragraph (1-4) introduces the reader to the role and intent of the author. The second (5-12) alleviates the fears of those oppressed by the rich, and the third (13-20) takes a more positive turn by contrasting the former emphasis on trust in riches (5-6) and the fate of such (10-11, 13) with the confi-dence and fate of one who trusts God (15).

1. Psalm 49:1-4, Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, both low and high, rich and poor alike: My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: (NIV)

2. Psalm 49, 5-12, Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me- those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough- that he should live on forever and not see decay. For all can see that wise




men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless gen-erations, though they had named lands after them-selves. But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. (NIV)

3. Psalm 49:13-20, This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions. But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. Though while he lived he counted himself blessed— and men praise you when you prosper- he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life. A man who has riches without under-standing is like the beasts that perish. (NIV)

4. Psalm 49:5, 6, Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me- those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? (NIV)

5. Psalm 49:10, 11, 13, For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless gen-erations, though they had named lands after them-selves. This is the fate of those who trust in them-




selves, and of their followers, who approve their say-ings. Selah (NIV)

6. Psalm 49:15, But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah (NIV)

Commentary:

Solving the Riddle Psalm 49:1-4, Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, both low and high, rich and poor alike: My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give un-derstanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: (NIV) I. Three elements characteristic of Old Testament wisdom literature are seen here: 1) universal application to all peoples of every class (1-2), 2) wisdom resulting from human meditation (3) and 3) employ-ment of particularized literary forms (4).

A. Psalm 49:1, 2, Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, both low and high, rich and poor alike: (NIV)

B. Psalm 49:3, My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding. (NIV)

C. Psalm 49:4, I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: (NIV)

II. Each verse in 1-4 employs a synonymous couplet of the similar kind.




Psalm 49:1-2, Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, both low and high, rich and poor alike: (NIV) I. Verses 1-2 form a single sentence.

A. “Hear” and “listen” are obvious synonyms, as are the ex-pressions, “all you peoples” and “all who live in this world”.

B. “Both low and high” is literally, “both the sons of Aadam and the sons of Aish, which mean man in general and man in particular, respectively.

C. The parallel, “rich and poor”, indicates that here the two terms in 2a refer to different social levels.

Psalm 49:3, My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding. (NIV) I. “Wisdom” and “understanding” are synonyms, as are “words” and “utterance”. II. “Mouth” and “heart” indicate the sincerity of that spoken. Psalm 49:4, I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: I. “Proverb” and “riddle” are synonyms. II. “Riddle” often refers to “dark sayings”, and may have that connota-tion here as the author discusses the mystery of life and death. III. “Proverb”, mashal, here refers to a comparison (cf. “is like”, nim-shal, 12b 20b).




A. Here the comparison is between the misconception and the reality concerning death.

No Human Ranson

Psalm 49:5-12, Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me- those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No man can redeem the life of an-other or give to God a ransom for him- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough- that he should live on forever and not see decay. For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after them-selves. But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. (NIV) Psalm 49:5-6, Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me- those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? (NIV) I. Verses 5-6 ask a rhetorical question that is intended to alleviate fear. II. Literally, the second line reads “iniquity at my heels”, which in an-other context could refer to the person’s own iniquity, but “wicked de-ceivers” shows that it refers to his persecutors who intend to supplant his own rights for their own gain (cf. Gen. 27:36).

A. Genesis 27:36, Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?" (NIV)

B. Money can buy evil actions, and these rich and arrogant boasters know it.




C. The poet, however, does not fear “when evil days come”, and he will tell us why in the following verses.

Psalm 49:7-9, No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough- that he should live on forever and not see decay. (NIV) I. Verses 7-9 involve extended parallelism in which each succeeding line adds something to the preceding.

A. Variant manuscript readings make it difficult to determine whether this passage refers to redeeming oneself or another.

1. The general thought is the same in either case; no hu-man ransom can suffice.

B. Verse 8 states the reason for the inadequacy of human ran-som and verse 9 states the purpose of the ransom.

1. No payment can buy longer life, so the wicked cannot continue their evil machinations forever.

Psalm 49:10, For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. (NIV) I. Verse 10 points out that death is an equalizer.

A. “Wise men” and “the foolish and the senseless” must die and “leave their wealth to others”.

1. Wise men understand this reality and live accordingly.




2. The Hebrew reads “the fool”, kesil, and “the stupid”, ba’al, the latter term referring to dumb animals, and so coloring the word “fool”.

3. Metaphorically, it refers to one who does not use the intelligence that God gave him as a human being.

B. In summary, verse 10 points out the futility of making the acquisition of wealth one’s life’s goal.

Psalm 49:11, Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. (NIV) I. One may name properties as his own, but he must relinquish them to others at death.

A. The Masoretic text of 11b reads, “their inmost thought” (qirbam, NASB, NKJV), but the LXX, Syriac and Jewish Tar-gum read “their graves” (qebharim, RSV, cf. NIV, “their tombs”).

1. Metathesis, the reversing of consonants, is a common scribal error.

2. The contrast is sharp; their graves rather than their earthly properties, will be their eternal dwelling places.

3. Remember that clear information about the after life had not yet been revealed.

Psalm 49:12, But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. (NIV) I. “Mortals” begins the verse in the NRSV.




A. This places emphasis on the fact of death, as do the preced-ing verses.

1. The word is, however, an interpolation.

II. “In his pomp”, b?qar (12a, RSV, NASB), is literally “in his riches” (NIV) or “honor” (NKJV). III. “Pomp” takes “riches” to be a metonym for the arrogant parading of riches, and verses 6-11 justify this interpretation.

God Ransoms From Sheol Psalm 49:13-20, This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. Though while he lived he counted himself blessed— and men praise you when you prosper- he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life. A man who has riches without un-derstanding is like the beasts that perish. (NIV) Psalm 49:13, This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah (NIV) I. Verse 13 seems to summarize verses 5-12.

A. The text of verse 13 is difficult, apparently due to scribal er-rors.




II. “Fate” (RSV, NIV, NRSV) is literally “way” (NASB, NKJV), but here, as often, the word looks to one’s destination. III. “The posterity of those”, Aacharehem, (NASB, NKJV) may again result from metathesis.

A. One manuscript readsAarechotham, “the end of those (cf. RSV).

IV. “With their portion” (RSV) is literally “with their mouth”, bephi-hem), which would be a metonym for “their sayings” (NASB, NIV, NKJV).

A. A warning is here given not only for these here described but also for those “who approve” their mind set.

B. The best solution is not to follow “those who trust in them-selves” but to trust in God (cf. v. 8).

Psalm 49:14, Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely man-sions. (NIV) I. The text of verse 14 is also extremely difficult.

A. Apparently, the text has suffered greatly through scribal er-rors.

B. The third and fifth lines make no sense in the context, and all the English versions conjecture what 14a intends to say.




C. The general sense can be obtained from the first two lines, which personify “death” as a shepherd who herds them to Sheol, which probably refers to “the grave”.

D. This is better than some versions, which interpret literally figurative language.

Psalm 49:15, But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah (NIV) I. Verse 15 may reveal a germinal belief in resurrection.

A. The ancients believed in immortality, that is, continued be-lief in life after death.

B. There are few instances, however, in which details of activi-ties and relationships appear.

1. David’s statement about his child that died may be an exception.

a. He said, “I will go to him, but he will not re-turn to me” (2 Sam 12:23).

C. This may suggest a knowledgeable relationship in Sheol, but it militates against resurrection.

Psalm 49:16-17, Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. (NIV) I. Verse 17 states the reason for what is said in verse 16.




A. The thought expressed here is a duplication of the sentiment of verses 5-8.

1. Psalm 49:5-8, Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me- those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough- (NIV)

Psalm 49:18-19, Though while he lived he counted himself blessed— and men praise you when you prosper- he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life. (NIV) I. Those who have taken pride in their riches will have the same fate as others.

A. This theme reiterates the sentiment of the opening in verses 1-3.

II. Verse 19 seems to militate against belief in resurrection. III. “The generation of his fathers” is an expression describing those who died previously.

A. They are portrayed as having the same lack of hope in resur-rection as the author of Psalm 49.

Psalm 49:20, A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (NIV) I. The refrain here repeats the thought of verse 12.

A. Psalm 49:12, But man, despite his riches, does not en-dure; he is like the beasts that perish. (NIV)




1. One small but important difference occurs.

a. Verse 12 reads, “cannot endure”, bal-yalin, but verse 20 reads, “without understanding”, lo-yabhin.

b. This involves word play based on similar sounding words.

2. “Without understanding” provides a summary conclu-sion to the whole psalm.

Application: I. This wisdom psalm provides a sobering thought for those who live only for this life and forget the inevitable reality of death.

A. A proper antidote to this dangerous life style is provided in these words in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter;

Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.”




Questions

Psalm 49:1-20

(Questions based on NIV text.) 1. Psalm 49 is a didactic psalm designed to teach a moral lesson. Ex-actly what lesson does this psalm teach? _______________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. The two main divisions of Psalm 49 are marked by refrains. What are these refrains and in which verses are they located? ___________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. See the Introduction of this lesson, IV, B, and outline the contents of Psalm 49. _____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. What three elements characteristic of Psalm 49 are found in verses 1-4? ____________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. List and define four word pairs found in verses 1-4. ____________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Define proverb as used in Psalm 49 and explain the use and impor-tance of proverbs in Psalm 49. _______________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. What can money buy? What can not be bought with money? An-swer in view of what is said in Psalm 49. _______________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. How do the wise and foolish react differently to the certainty of death? Identify foolish. ____________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Define: (a) metonym ____________________________________




________________________________________________________ (b) metathesis ____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ (c) interpolation __________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ (d) Masoretic text _________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ (e) Sheol ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 10. How do scribal errors affect the accuracy of Scripture and of our understanding of the text. ___________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11. The _________________ believed in _________________, that is _______________ continued _______________ ________________. 12. How did the ancient Hebrews view the possibility of life after death? __________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13. What is the theme of verses 16 and 17 and verses 5-8? _________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




14. This ____________ ______________ provides a _____________ _______________ for those who ______________ _______________ for this ______________ and _______________ the ______________ _________________ of _________________. 15. Write Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14 here and tell how it relates to Psalm 49:1-20. _________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16. How can a riddle be expounded with a harp? See verse 4. Ex-plain. ___________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 17. How can we overcome fear when evil days come and wicked de-ceivers surround us? _______________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 18. What is the fate of those who trust in themselves and their follow-ers? ____________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19. “_______________ will _______________ my _______________ from the _____________; he will surely take me to _____________.” 20. Of what should we not be overawed? _______________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 21. Do men always praise those who prosper? Explain your answer. _ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22. “A ___________________ who has _________________ without _______________ is like the ______________ that _____________.” 23. Do you fear death? What can be done to reduce the fear of death? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 24. What do you really believe in your heart of hearts will happen when you die? ____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 25. What can you do to prepare for the coming of death? . . . to post-pone death? ______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



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