Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 49

Hear this. — For the opening address, compare Deuteronomy 32:1; Micah 1:2; Psalms 50:7; Isaiah 1:2.

World. — As in Psalms 17:14; properly, duration. (Compare our expression, “the things of time.”)

Both high and low. —The two Hebrew expressions here used, benê-âdam and benê-îsh, answer to one another much as homo and vir in Latin. The Septuagint and Vulgate, taking âdam in its primary sense, render “sons of the soil and sons of men.” Symmachus makes the expressions stand for men in general and men as individuals.

Shall be of understanding. —The copula supplied by the Authorised Version is unnecessary. The word rendered meditation may mean, from its etymology, “muttered thoughts,” and it is quite consistent to say, my musings speak of understanding. So Septuagint and Vulgate.

I will incline my ear. —The psalmist first listens, that he may himself catch the inspiration which is to reach others through his song. It was an obvious metaphor in a nation to whom God’s voice was audible, as it was to Wordsworth, for whom nature had an audible voice:

“The stars of midnight shall be dear
To her; and she shall lend her ear
In many a secret place,
Where rivulets dance their wayward round,
And beauty, born of murmuring sound,
Shall pass into her face.”

Parable. —Hebrew mâshal, its root idea being similitude. It is the term used for Balaam’s prophecies and for the eloquent speeches of Job. Therefore, it is here a proverb-song (Ewald), since the psalmist intends his composition for musical accompaniment.

Dark saying. —This term is derived either from a root meaning to tie, and thus means “a knotty point”; or from a root meaning to sharpen, and thus means a sharp, incisive saying. The Septuagint and Vulgate use the terms “problem” and “proposition.”

To open the riddle is not to solve it, but to propound it, as we say, “to open a discourse.” (Compare Saint Paul’s phrase, “opening and alleging.”) The full phrase is probably found in Proverbs 31:26: “She openeth her mouth with wisdom.”

Should I fear? —Here the problem is stated not in a speculative, but personal form. The poet himself feels the pressure of this riddle of life.

When the iniquity of my heels. —The Authorized Version seems to interpret “heels” as footsteps, similar to Symmachus. Its rendering, “when the evil of my course entangles me,” makes good sense but does not align with the context.

Instead, translate it as when iniquity dogs me at the heels; that is, when wicked and prosperous men pursue him with malice. This interpretation is more natural than understanding the word heel in its derived sense as supplanter; the sense is also the same.

There is no direct reference to Genesis 3:15, though possibly the figure of the heel as a vulnerable part, and of wickedness lying like a snake in the path, may have occurred to the poet.

The Syriac, however, suggests a different reading: “malice of my oppressors.”

They that — i.e., the rogues implied in the last verse.