John Calvin Commentary Psalms 49:6

"They that trust in their wealth, And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;" — Psalms 49:6 (ASV)

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.