John Calvin Commentary Psalms 49:5

"Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, When iniquity at my heels compasseth me about?" — Psalms 49:5 (ASV)

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.