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Psalm Forty-nine
Psalm 49
Chapter Contents
A call for attention. (1-5) Folly of worldlings. (6-14)
Against fear of death. (15-20)
Commentary on Psalm 49:1-5
(Read Psalm 49:1-5)
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?
Commentary on Psalm 49:6-14
(Read Psalm 49:6-14)
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, Revelation 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, Luke 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, Daniel 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.
Commentary on Psalm 49:15-20
(Read Psalm 49:15-20)
Believers should not fear death. The distinction of men's
outward conditions, how great soever in life, makes none at death; but the
difference of men's spiritual states, though in this life it 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!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 49
Verse 4
[4] I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my
dark saying upon the harp.
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.
Verse 5
[5] Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the
iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
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.
Verse 6
[6] They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in
the multitude of their riches;
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.
Verse 7
[7] None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor
give to God a ransom for him:
Redeem — Neither from the first death, nor from the second.
Brother — Whom he would do his utmost to preserve.
Verse 8
[8] (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth
for ever:)
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.
Verse 10
[10] For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and
the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
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.
Verse 11
[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.
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.
Verse 12
[12] Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like
the beasts that perish.
Man — Living in all splendor and glory.
Abideth not — All his dreams of perpetuating
his name and estate, shall be confuted by experience.
Verse 13
[13] This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve
their sayings. /*Selah*/.
Way — Their contrivance to immortalize themselves.
Verse 14
[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.
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.
Verse 15
[15] But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave:
for he shall receive me. /*Selah*/.
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.
Verse 16
[16] Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory
of his house is increased;
Afraid — Discouraged.
Verse 18
[18] Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will
praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
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.
Verse 19
[19] He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall
never see light.
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.
Verse 20
[20] Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like
the beasts that perish.
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.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
TITLE. To the Chief
Musician, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. This is precisely the same as on
former occasions, and no remark is needed.
DIVISION. The poet
musician sings, to the accompaniment of his harp, the despicable character of
those who trust in their wealth, and so he consoles the oppressed believer. The
first four verses are a preface; from Ps 49:5-12 all fear of great oppressors
is removed by the remembrance of their end and their folly; Ps 49:13 contains
an expression of wonder at the perpetuity of folly; Ps 49:14-15 contrast the
ungodly and the righteous in their future; and from Ps 49:16-20 the lesson from
the whole is given in an admonitory form. Note the chorus in Ps 49:2,20, and
also the two Selahs.
EXPOSITION
Verses
1-4. In these four verses the poet prophet calls universal humanity to
listen to his didactic hymn.
Verse
1. 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."
Verse
2. 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.
Verse
3. 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.
Verse
4. 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.
Verse
5. 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."
Verse
6. 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.
Verse
7. 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.
Verse
8. 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.
Verse
9. 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.
Verse
10. 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.
Verse
11. 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?
Verse
12. 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.
Verse
13. 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.
Verse
14. 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?
Verse
15. 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.
Verse
16. 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.
Verse
17. 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.
Verse
18. 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.
Verse
19. 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?
Verse
20. 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.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
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.
Verse
2. 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.
Verse
4. 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.
Verse
5. 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."
Verse
5. 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.
Verse
5. 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.
Verse
6. 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.
Verse
6. 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."
Verse
6. 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.
Verse
6. 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.
Verse
7. 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.
Verse
8. 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.
Verse
8. For it cost more to redeem their souls: so that he must let
that alone forever. Prayer book Version.
Verse
8. 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.
Verse
11. 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.
Verse
11. 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.
Verse
11. 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.
Verse
11. 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.
Verse
11. 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.
Verse
11. 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.
Verse
12. 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.
Verse
13. 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.
Verse
13. 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.
Verse
13. 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!"
Verse
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, 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.
Verse
14. 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.
Verse
14. 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.
Verse
14. 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.
Verse
14. 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.
Verse
15. (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.
Verse
17. 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.
Verse
17. 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.
Verse
17. 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.
Verse
17. 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."
Verse
17. 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.
Verse
18. 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.
Verse
20. 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.
Verse
20. 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.
Verse
20. 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.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
2.
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.
Verse
3. 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.
Verse
5.
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.
Verse
7.
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.
Verse
12. (last clause). Wherein the ungodly are like beasts, and
wherein different.
Verse
12. 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.
Verse
13.
1.
In secular things men imitate the wisdom of others.
2.
In spiritual things they imitate their folly. G. R.
Verse
14.
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.
Verse
14. Sheep, how far they image the wicked.
Verse
14. In the morning. See the various Biblical prophecies of
what will happen "in the morning."
Verse
15.
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.
Verse
17. The loaded and unloaded sinner.
Verse
20.
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.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》