Matthew Henry Commentary Psalms 49:15-20

"But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For he will receive me. Selah Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, When the glory of his house is increased. For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul (And men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself,) He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never see the light. Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, Is like the beasts that perish." — Psalms 49:15-20 (ASV)

Believers should not fear death. The distinction of people's outward conditions, however great in life, makes no difference at death; but the difference in people's spiritual states, though in this life it may seem of little importance, is very great at and after death. The soul is often understood to mean life. The God of life, who was its Creator at first, can and will be its Redeemer at last. This includes the salvation of the soul from eternal ruin.

Believers will be under strong temptation to envy the prosperity of sinners. People will praise you, and extol you, as having done well for yourself in building an estate and family. But what will it benefit us to be approved by people, if God condemns us? Those who are rich in the graces and comforts of the Spirit have something of which death cannot strip them; indeed, which death will improve. But as for worldly possessions, as we brought nothing into the world, so it is certain that we shall carry nothing out; we must leave all to others.

The sum of the whole matter is that it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world, to become possessed of all its wealth and all its power, if he loses his own soul and is cast away for lack of that holy and heavenly wisdom which distinguishes humans from the animals, in life and at death. And are there people who can prefer the lot of the rich sinner to that of poor Lazarus, in life and death, and for eternity? Certainly, there are.

What need we have, then, of the teaching of the Holy Ghost, when, with all our boasted powers, we are prone to such folly in the most important of all concerns!