John Calvin Commentary Psalms 49:13

"This their way is their folly: Yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah" — Psalms 49:13 (ASV)

This their way is foolishness. Since this verse has been variously translated, I will briefly, before giving my own understanding of it, state the views that have been taken by others. As the Hebrew word כסל , kesel, which I have translated foolishness, occasionally means the kidneys, some elaborate on the term and consider it to be used here for fat; as if this imagination of theirs were, so to speak, a fat that stupefied and made their senses dull.

But this reading is too forced to withstand examination. Others read, This their way is their folly; that is, the reason they pursue such a course of conduct is that they lack sound judgment. For, if they were not utterly devoid of it, and if they possessed even one spark of intelligence, would they not reflect on the purpose for which they were created and direct their minds to higher objects?

I rather believe the Psalmist simply means that the outcome proves them to be wholly destitute of wisdom in placing their happiness in earthly things, branding them with ridicule and contempt despite all their pretensions to foresight and shrewdness. He states this to show more starkly the madness of their posterity, who will not be instructed by the fate of their predecessors.

The last clause of the verse has also been variously translated, and I will state the views others have taken of it. The Hebrew verb רצה , ratsah, which I have translated to acquiesce, they interpret as to walk, and the noun פי , phi, translated mouth or sayings, they take to mean a measure, thus understanding the Psalmist to say that the children walked by the same rule as their fathers; and they change the letter ב , beth, into כ , caph, the mark of similarity, which is quite common in the Hebrew language.

This view of the passage comes close to its proper meaning. Some suggest that there is an allusion to the beasts of the field, but this is improbable. It seems best to understand, with others, that the word ‘mouth’ denotes principles or sayings; and the verb רצה , ratsah, may be taken in its more ordinary and most generally accepted sense, which implies consent or satisfaction.

Therefore, I have translated it to acquiesce. Since the boasted confidence of the ungodly ultimately proves futile and justly exposes them to ridicule, it reveals a monstrous infatuation in their posterity who, with this example before their eyes, set their affections on the same trifles and feel and express themselves in exactly the same manner as their predecessors.

If people reflect at all on the judgments God executes in the world, one might expect them to particularly consider His dealings with their immediate predecessors. When, entirely unmindful of the lessons that should be learned from their fate, they rush headlong into the same courses of action, this convincingly demonstrates their brutish folly.