Psalm 49:1-12 Commentary

There are a number of psalms in the Hebrew Psalter that stray a bit into the biblical genre of Wisdom Literature.  And a couple of those psalms in particular work the same Wisdom territory you can find in the Book of Ecclesiastes.  Psalm 39 most closely resembles Qoheleth right down to that most-oft used word in the book; namely, hevel, breath, vapor, vanity.  Or as I very loosely translate it, “Phhht!”  Psalm 49 also most definitely participates in the language and musings of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes.

Most particularly Psalm 49 reflects on the theme or leitmotif of Ecclesiastes on the common fate of all people: death.  Actually it is the fate of not just all people but of all beasts, of all living things.  Sooner or later they, we, all of us die.  Death is the great leveler.  And as in Ecclesiastes so in Psalm 49 the primary thing that gets leveled out by death is wealth, riches, possessions and the power that accompany those things in this life.  It is obvious that the psalmist (like Ecclesiastes’ author) has spent some time being vexed by how it is that some people amass so much by way of riches and others live in abject poverty.  This is clearly something that he had thought about a lot.

Ironically, however, the end result of all that quasi obsession with wealthy people is the advice he doles out to the rest of us: don’t be vexed about this!  Don’t worry about it.  As the old saying goes about money and possessions, “You can’t take it with you.”  Don’t fret that some live in mansions of gold and alabaster.  At the end of the day those places will become like a tomb for the dead rich guy inside of it.  It will be mansion turned mausoleum.

But then right in the midst of all that come verses 7-9 where the psalmist tumbles to asking a really important question and making a really important observation.  What’s more, what is broached in those three verses ends up having huge implications for the Gospel and for the salvation God ultimately will provide through the death of Jesus Christ the Lord.  The psalmist basically asks what could be given to redeem something as infinitely valuable as a human being, a life, a soul.  (And that surely reminds us of Jesus in Luke 9.)  In this immediate context he probably hits on this as a way further to assail the rich for their folly in thinking that somehow their money could save them or something.  But if you have any interest in living forever in any way, shape, or form, you will never get that on account of your having had enough money to buy it.  And anyway as Jesus says in Luke 9, those who have managed to gain the whole world have usually forfeited their soul in exchange for it as it is.

So what might it take to redeem a person?  Well, Psalm 49 does not answer that question.  Mostly the second half of the psalm that the RCL has us skip continues with the theme of not fretting about rich people.  But in preaching on this psalm it would be good to at least pick up on verse 15 where the psalmist states his firm belief that somehow, some way God would redeem his life.  The realm of the dead (Sheol perhaps) would not be his final destination but instead God would take the psalmist to himself.  Again, that is not spelled out in any detail here, and as we have noted in other psalm commentaries here on the CEP website, Ancient Israel had at best a fairly foggy idea of what happens after we die.

Still, what is significant about Psalm 49 is how it anticipates the true cost of human salvation.  What could be given to pull this off?  It’s definitely not money.  It is not human power as wielded by the rich and mighty or even by those who name whole countries after themselves.  Something perhaps beyond this world would be needed.  Something would be needed that no ordinary person could ever achieve.  The psalmist could not have known this, of course, but the Bible will answer the psalmist’s question eventually: the redemption of human life will require the Son of God to become fully human and to die a horrible sacrificial death.

As theologian Neal Plantinga noted in a Systematic Theology course I took with him years back, in the Bible Creation comes across as easier for God to pull off than does Redemption.  In Genesis 1 there is that string of “Let there be . . .” lines and no sooner are those words spoken and, POOF, the thing comes into existence.  Light.  Water.  Plants.  Dry land.  The seas.  Every fish, bird, and beast you could name and finally human beings.  It is as though the Creation came about through no more than the snapping of God’s fingers.

Redemption, however, took longer, got messier.  From the blood spurting from an animal’s neck in the Temple Courts to the blood flowing down the face of a man who had just been crowned with thorns, the idea that human salvation is costly comes through loud and clear.  And biblically you have to accept that this is what it costs to be saved.  You need to admit you need what only Jesus can provide because you are helpless and powerless to achieve any such thing on your own.  Or as Paul will write to the Ephesians, “You were dead.”  And the dead can’t do a blessed thing.

Perhaps this is where Psalm 49’s musings on the rich come back into focus.  One hallmark of wealthy and successful people is the deluded belief they are self-sufficient.  They don’t need any outside help and they certainly are in no need of anything resembling someone’s charity.  They don’t need to be saved by grace alone—they think they have that covered on their own.  Now, we all know some very wealthy people who somehow manage to not be like that.  One of the richest men I ever knew typically began his every public speech with the words “My name is ____, a sinner saved by the grace of God in Christ.”  And he meant it.

But that made him the exception when it comes to the uber-wealthy.  Mostly they fit the descriptions in Psalm 49 very well.  In the Wisdom tradition of the Bible a belief in self sufficiency is labeled folly.  But the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  And that Lord whom we so reverentially fear is the God of all grace who through the sacrifice of the Son did come up with what it truly takes to redeem a human life.

Illustration Idea

Some of us have perhaps read the Leo Tolstoy short story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”  In the story a peasant named Pahom is lured by his greed (and is led astray by the devil) to acquire as much land as possible to have as his prized possession.  Through various twists and turns Pahom continues to seek more and more, ever and only satisfied with what he has for only short periods of time.  And as many of us know as the story concludes, Pahom’s greed has caused him to work so relentlessly for more, more, more that the efforts in the end cost him his life and he drops dead and is buried by a servant.  And Tolstoy’s final line of the story is also the final answer to the story’s title question: How much land does a man need?  “Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed.”