John Calvin Commentary Psalms 49

Hear this, all ye people. Whoever may have been the writer of this psalm, it discusses one of the most important principles in divine philosophy, and there is an appropriateness in the elevated terms designed to awaken and secure attention, with which the Psalmist announces his purpose to speak about things of a deep and momentous nature.

To a superficial view, indeed, the subject might seem trite and commonplace, as it deals with the shortness of human life and the vanity of those objects in which worldly people trust. But the real scope of the psalm is to comfort the people of God in the sufferings to which they are exposed, by teaching them to expect a happy change in their condition when God, in his own time, will intervene to correct the disorders of the present system.

There is a higher lesson still taught by the Psalmist. Since God’s providence over the world is not currently apparent, we must exercise patience and rise superior to the suggestions of carnal sense in anticipating the favorable outcome.

It is our duty to maintain a resolute struggle with our afflictions, however severe they may be. It would also be foolish to place happiness in the enjoyment of such fleeting possessions as the riches, honors, or pleasures of this world. These may be precepts that even heathen philosophers have enforced, but they have consistently failed to set before us the true source of consolation.

However admirably they speak about a happy life, they confine themselves entirely to commendations of virtue and do not prominently present to our view that God, who governs the world, and to whom alone we can turn with confidence in the most desperate circumstances. But little comfort on this subject can be derived from the teaching of philosophy.

If, therefore, the Holy Spirit in this psalm introduces to our notice truths that are sufficiently familiar from experience, it is so that he may raise our minds from them to the higher truth of the divine government of the world. He assures us that God reigns supreme, even when the wicked are triumphing most in their success, or when the righteous are contemptuously trampled underfoot. He also assures us that a day is coming when he will dash the cup of pleasure from the hands of his enemies and gladden the hearts of his friends by delivering them from their severest distresses.

This is the only consideration that can impart solid comfort in our afflictions. Formidable and terrible in themselves, these afflictions would overwhelm our souls if the Lord did not lift upon us the light of his countenance. Were we not assured that he watches over our safety, we could find no remedy for our evils, and no refuge to which we might turn in them.

The remarks that have been made may explain how the inspired writer introduces the psalm, soliciting our attention as he is about to speak on an unusually high and important theme. Two things are implied in this verse: first, that the subject he proposes to address is of universal application, and second, that we require to be admonished and aroused before we are brought to a due measure of consideration.

The words that I have translated as inhabitants of the world are translated by others as inhabitants of time. However, this is a harsh mode of expression, however much it may agree with the scope of the psalm. He calls upon all people indiscriminately, because all were equally concerned with the truths he intended to announce.

By sons of Adam, we may understand the humbler or lower class of humankind, and by sons of men, the high, the noble, or those who hold any preeminence in life. Thus, at the outset, he states his purpose to instruct high and low without exception, as his subject is one in which the whole human family has an interest, and in which every individual belonging to it needs to be instructed.

My mouth shall speak of wisdom. The prophet was warranted in applying these commendatory terms to the doctrine he was about to communicate. It is, no doubt, by plain appeals to observation that we find him reproving human folly.

However, the general principle upon which his instruction proceeds is by no means obvious to the common sense of mankind; indeed, his design in using such terms is less to assert the dignity of his subject than simply to awaken attention.

He does this all the more effectually by speaking as one who would apply his own mind to instruction rather than assume the office of exhortation. He presents himself as a humble scholar, one who, while acting as a teacher, simultaneously seeks his own improvement.

It would be desirable that all ministers of God should be actuated by a similar spirit, disposing them to regard God as both their own teacher and the teacher of the common people, and first to embrace for themselves that divine word which they preach to others. The Psalmist had another object in view.

He would secure greater weight and deference for his doctrine by announcing that he had no intention to peddle his own fanciful ideas, but to advance what he had learned in the school of God. This is the true method of instruction to be followed in the Church. The man who holds the office of teacher must apply himself to receiving truth before he attempts to communicate it, and in this way become the means of conveying to others what God has entrusted to him.

Wisdom is not the growth of human genius. It must be sought from above, and it is impossible that anyone should speak with the propriety and knowledge necessary for the edification of the Church who has not, in the first place, been taught at the feet of the Lord. Regarding the specific wording, some read in the third verse (Psalms 49:3), And the meditation of my heart shall speak of understanding. But as it would be a harsh and improper expression to say that the meditation of the heart speaks, I have adopted the simpler reading.

I will incline my ear to a parable. The Hebrew word משל, mashal, which I have translated parable, properly denotes a similitude; but it is often applied to any deep or weighty sayings, because these are generally embellished with figures and metaphors. The noun which follows, חידת, chidoth, and which I have rendered an enigma or riddle, is to be understood in nearly the same sense.

In Ezekiel 17:2, we have both the nouns with their corresponding verbs joined together, חור חידה ומשל משל, chud chedah umshol mashal, the literal translation being, “Enigmatize an enigma, and parabolize a parable.” Although I am aware that the reference here is to an allegorical discourse, I have already referred to the reason why, in Hebrew, any remarkable or important sayings are called enigmas or similitudes.

The Psalmist, when he adds that he will open his dark saying, shows that nothing was further from his intention than to wrap the subject of his discourse in perplexing and intricate obscurity. The truths of revelation are so high that they exceed our comprehension; but, at the same time, the Holy Spirit has so accommodated them to our capacity as to make all Scripture profitable for instruction. No one can plead ignorance: for the deepest and most difficult doctrines are made plain to the most simple and unlettered of mankind.

I see little force in the idea, suggested by several interpreters, that the Psalmist employed his harp to make a subject—in itself harsh and disagreeable—more engaging through the charms of music. He would merely have followed the usual practice of accompanying the psalm with the harp.

Why should I fear in the days of evil? The Psalmist now addresses the point he proposed to discuss: that God's people must not yield to despondency even in the most distressing circumstances, when their enemies may seem to have enclosed them on every side. Instead, they must rest assured that God, although He seems to overlook their situation for a time, is aware of their condition and is only watching for the best opportunity to execute His judgments.

This way of introducing the subject by using a question is much more emphatic than if he had simply asserted his resolution to keep his mind undisturbed in the midst of adversity. In the second clause of the verse, he specifies the heaviest and most bitter of all afflictions: those experienced by the righteous when their enemies triumph in the unrestrained indulgence of their wickedness.

The adverb of time, When, must therefore be understood in relation to the phrase: When the iniquity of my heel shall compass me about. Some interpreters have attached a different meaning to these words, namely: if I were to fear in the days of evil and be guilty of the excessive anxieties of the unbeliever, then, when the hour of my death came, my iniquity would compass me about.

They interpret the heel as the end of life. But this interpretation is to be dismissed at once as highly unnatural. Nor do I see any reason why others refer this word to the thoughts, for I believe that in no other part of Scripture can such a metaphor or likeness be found.

Others, with more plausibility, have translated the original word as liers in wait, because the Hebrew verb עקב, akab, means to deceive; and they consider the Psalmist as suggesting that he would not fear even if crafty and treacherous men laid snares for him. In my opinion, no figure of speech is intended; he means to say that he would have no fear when his enemies surrounded him and, in pursuing him, trod, so to speak, upon his heel.

The French have a similar expression: “Poursuyvre jusques aux talons.” I agree with them that he speaks of enemies, but specifically of their wicked persecution as they press upon him in the height of their power. With the intent to destroy him, they stay close to him and tread, so to speak, upon his very heel.

They trust in their wealth. We are now provided with the reason why the suffering children of God should dismiss their fears and keep themselves from despondency, even when reduced to extreme circumstances by the violence and treachery of their enemies. Any boasted power which they possess is fleeting and vanishing.

The Psalmist would convince us that the fear of man is unjustified; that it shows ignorance of what man is even at his best; and that it would be as reasonable to startle at a shadow or a ghost. They boast themselves, he adds, in the multitude of their riches, and this is an error into which we are inclined to fall, forgetting that the condition of man in this world is fluctuating and temporary.

It is not merely from the inherent inadequacy of wealth, honors, or pleasures to provide true happiness that the Psalmist proves the misery of worldly men, but from their obvious and complete inability to form a correct judgment of such possessions. Happiness is connected with the state of mind of the person who enjoys it, and none would call those happy who are sunk in foolishness and false security, and are lacking understanding.

The Psalmist satisfactorily proves the infatuation of the wicked from the confidence which they place in their power and wealth, and their inclination to boast of them. It is a convincing sign of folly when one cannot perceive what is before his eyes. Not a day passes without bringing the plain fact to their attention, that none can redeem the life of another; so that their conduct is nothing less than insanity.

Some read, A man shall not be able to redeem his brother; which has the same meaning, and the text allows for this translation. The Hebrew word אח, ach, which I have translated brother, is by others translated one; but I do not approve of this reading, although I would not absolutely reject it.

The Psalmist adds that none can give a price to God for the ransom of another, where he points to the truth that men’s lives are absolutely at the disposal of God, and that they never can be extended by any human arrangement one moment beyond the time God has appointed.

He enforces the same lesson in the verse which follows, where he states that the redemption of their soul is precious, an expression not to be understood as implying merely that it is a rare event, but that it never can take place, as in 1 Samuel 3:1, where the word of the Lord is said to have been precious under the priesthood of Eli, when it clearly means that it had completely ceased.

The Psalmist would assert that no man can hope to purchase an immortality either for himself or others in this world. I have translated the close of verse 8 as, And their continuance for ever; but others, who interpret the Hebrew word חדל, chadal, as a verb, meaning to cease, read, And ceaseth for ever, as if the Psalmist meant that no price was sufficiently great to achieve the purpose, and that it must therefore cease for ever, as what could never achieve the desired end.

I consider that which I have given to be the real meaning of the word, as I have already noted concerning Psalm 39:5, that it means the fixed term of human life. The words in verse 9, That he should still live for ever, more fully express the truth that it is not merely impossible to redeem the life of men when they are dead, but impossible while they are yet living, to extend their lifespan.

A definite limit has been assigned to every man’s life. This he cannot pass over. The Psalmist would impress upon us that this fact stamps folly upon the conduct of the wicked, who will cherish their unfounded confidence even at the moment they are on the brink of the grave.

In all this, it may strike the reader that he has not announced anything that deserves to be called a dark saying, and has rather been discussing a common subject in a very plain style of language. But if the reader considers that David here condemns—as by a voice issuing from the awesome judgment seat of God—the foolishness of those who forget that they are men, the reader will not be inclined to consider the expression inappropriate.

Again, we have seen that he has opened his dark saying, as it is the divine will that instruction should be delivered in a form suited to the simplest understanding.