This psalm deals with the question, why do the wicked prosper, while the righteous suffer in their poverty? Psalm 37 / Psalm 73. The psalmist also gives us the answer to this question, which is, that the wealth of the rich is only temporary.
Although the headings aren’t inspired by God, they are important because they give us some understanding of the Psalm and they help us to see why it was written. The headings usually tell us four things.
1. Who wrote them, probably wrote them, or possibly wrote them.
2. Information about the historical background to the Psalm. Why it was written.
3. They tell us of the tune the Psalm was written to.
4. How it was used.
The heading tells us that this is a psalm for the director of music. Some commentators believe that the ‘director of music’ is God Himself and others believe that it is a song leader who led choirs or musicians, 1 Chronicles 6:33 / 1 Chronicles 16:17 / 1 Chronicles 25:6.
The sons of Korah were Levites, from the family of Kohath, who by the time of David, served in the musical aspect of the temple worship, 1 Chronicles 9:19 / 1 Chronicles 26:1 / 1 Chronicles 26:19 / 2 Chronicles 20:19. It was David who originally organised the temple singers, 1 Chronicles 15:17 / 1 Chronicles 16:41-42 / 1 Chronicles 25:4-5.
Korah is probably most famous for his role in the rebellion against Moses during the wilderness days of the Exodus, Numbers 16 / Jude 11. God judged Korah and his leaders and they all died, but the sons of Korah remained, Numbers 26:9-11. It’s possible they were so grateful for this mercy that they became prominent in Israel for praising God.
The psalmist begins by addressing everyone on the earth, no matter what their position in life and no matter their wealth status, Psalm 49:1-2. He asks them all to listen, Isaiah 1:2, to wisdom and to try and understand things from an eternal point of view, Psalm 49:3.
This proverb, Psalm 49:4, or riddle was some profound thought they had to share, a thought which was difficult to understand and perceive, Psalm 78:2 / Proverbs 1:6 / Proverbs 2:2. They hoped by using a harp, it might help the message to be better remembered and understood, Psalm 49:4.
The psalmist now goes on to make a contrast between themselves and the wicked. While the wicked fear when days of evil come, the psalmist won’t fear, Psalm 49:5. The psalmist doesn’t trust in their wealth or riches to buy God’s favour, while the wicked do, Psalm 49:6.
No amount of riches can be given to God to redeem anyone from their dilemma of sin and no amount of money can be paid for the redemption of someone’s dead brother, Psalm 49:7-8. The foolishness of the rich and wealthy is seen in the fact that they are trying to buy God’s favour with their wealth.
Redemption is God’s work and is only accomplished by His atoning sacrifice, Genesis 3:21 / Genesis 22:13-14 / Leviticus 1-7. People are redeemed today only through the redeeming sacrifice of Christ on the cross, Isaiah 53:10-11 / Hebrews 10:12.
Our souls are costly, Psalm 49:8 / 1 Kings 10:2 / 1 Kings 10:10-11, and only the precious blood of Christ was able to pay the price of the redemption of our souls, 1 Peter 1:17-21.
Remember the psalmist’s proverb wasn’t to the wealthy, but to the poor who would be jealous of the state and status of the wealthy in this world. But their jealousy would be foolish if it was based upon the belief that wealth in any shape or form gave them some kind of spiritual advantage in reference to redemption, Isaiah 43:3 / Matthew 16:26.
The psalmist knows that no one can be saved from death, Psalm 49:9, it comes to everyone, whether they are wise or not, Psalm 49:10. They understood that we can’t take our material goods with us when we die, Psalm 49:10 / Ecclesiastes 6:1-2. Everything which a person worked hard for all their lives is left behind and is often squandered by those who didn’t work for it, Ecclesiastes 2:18-19.
The wealthy expect that their possessions will always remain in the family and be passed down from one generation to the next. It appears that the wealthy named lands after themselves, Psalm 49:11.
They did this because they hoped that when they died, their name could carry on from generation to generation, Psalm 49:11 / Proverbs 10:7. The psalmist reminds us that no matter what our status, no matter what wealth we have, no matter how secure we feel, no matter what our possessions we have, everyone will perish, Psalm 49:12.
The psalmist tells us that those who trust in themselves and those who follow them by acquiring and consuming the wealth of the world, Psalm 49:13, often lose their focus on that which permeates death, Psalm 49:14. In other words, having all the wealth in the world and trusting in yourself doesn’t prepare us for the world to come.
You may notice at the end of verse thirteen, some translations have the word, ‘selah’, although no one really knows what this word means, it’s likely it means to pause. It’s a time to stop and reflect upon what has just been said. We can almost imagine the psalmist pausing for a breath as they contemplate the fate of those who trust in themselves and their wealth.
Notice the fate of those who trust in themselves. They are like sheep and they will be buried like a sheep and their bodies will decay in the grave, Psalm 49:14, that is, the place of the dead, Job 10:21-22 / Psalm 6:5.
In contrast to their fate, the upright, Psalm 49:14, that is, those who didn’t trust in themselves or their wealth will prevail over them in the morning, Psalm 49:14. In other words, the upright will be justified, Matthew 25:46 / 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9.
They will have dominion over those who lived and died with a focus on the material and with no urgency to prepare for the world to come, Psalm 49:14 / Psalm 30:5. The psalmist clearly understands that it is God and God alone who had the power to redeem his soul from the power of the grave, Psalm 49:15 / Isaiah 14:9 / Hosea 13:14 / 1 Corinthians 15:55.
The realm of the dead, Psalm 49:15, is Sheol and there are, in fact, three Biblical words, the meanings of which are often confused because people tend to use them very loosely. Two of the words in the New Testament are Greek words. The Third word is an Old Testament Hebrew word.
For instance, in the New Testament, we have the following.
1. ‘Gehenna’, which occurs twelve times, and, in the Authorised Version, it’s always translated ‘hell’.
2. ‘Hades’, which occurs ten times, and which is also always translated, as ‘hell’.
3. The third word is the word ‘Sheol’, found in the Old Testament, and which sometimes is erroneously said to be the word that corresponds to ‘Gehenna’.
You clearly see the confusion that has been created about the meaning of this word when you understand that, in the Authorised Version, out of the sixty-five instances it occurs, thirty-one times it has been translated ‘hell’ and thirty-four times it has been translated ‘the grave’!
Now, although the word ‘Sheol’ literally means ‘The Place of the Dead’, you don’t need much intelligence to recognise that ‘Hell’ and the ‘Grave’ aren’t the same places! When a body is placed in the grave, it hasn’t been consigned to ‘Hell’!
But there is a history behind this inconsistent rendering of the word ‘Sheol’. Whilst the translators of the Authorised Version believed ‘Hell’ to be the place of punishment for the wicked, they withdrew from the idea of saying that good people also go to ‘Sheol’, and so in passages that related to the death of good people, they decided to translate ‘Sheol’ as ‘the grave’!
However, in Hebrew theology and, in Old Testament teaching, ‘Sheol’ is described as the place to which all the dead go, both good and bad. It’s defined as ‘the place of departed souls’. In the account of King Saul’s visit to the medium at Endor, the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel is recorded as saying to Saul, ‘Tomorrow, you and your sons shall be with me’. 1 Samuel 28:19.
Even the Oxford Dictionary is close to the truth as far as the meaning of the word is concerned. It says that ‘Sheol’ is, ‘The abode of the dead’. Furthermore, in the Old Testament, ‘Sheol’ is described as a gloomy place, in which an individual is farther away from God than he was during his lifetime.
We are told that ‘the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything,’ Ecclesiastes 9:5, and, according to Psalm 115:17, ‘The dead do not praise Yahweh, nor any who go down into silence.’
You may notice at the end of verse fifteen, that some translations have the word, ‘selah’, although no one really knows what this word means, it’s likely it means to pause. As mentioned above, it’s a time to stop and reflect upon what has just been said. We can almost imagine the psalmist pausing for a breath as they contemplate God’s power to redeem his soul.
The psalmist now tells those who are poor, not to be overawed when others grow rich, Psalm 49:16. In other words, don’t be afraid of the power which comes from wealth, don’t be afraid of anything someone can do because they are rich.
Rich people often show off their homes or the furniture within their homes, Psalm 49:16, as some kind of status symbol to those who live within the community. Nevertheless, they can’t take their riches with them when they die, Psalm 49:17 / Job 27:16-19 / 1 Timothy 6:7.
Notice the word ‘descend’, Psalm 49:17. This implies that when a person dies, they will go down to the grave and take nothing with them. The upright, however, will ‘ascend’, they will go up in glory, in God’s glory when they leave this world, 2 Thessalonians 2:14 / Hebrews 2:10.
While alive, the rich count themselves as blessed, Psalm 49:18, that is, they blessed themselves, and they congratulated themselves as long as he lived. It appears that they wanted others to praise or congratulate them too for being so blessed, Psalm 49:18.
The psalmist says that those who trusted in themselves and their wealth, like those gone before them will never see the light of life, Psalm 49:19, that is, the light of this world, Job 33:30 / Psalm 27:13 / Isaiah 38:11.
In other words, they too, like those who have gone before them, Genesis 25:8 / Genesis 25:17 / Numbers 31:2 / Deuteronomy 32:50 / Judges 2:10, will be united with them again in death. We must remember the thought of eternal life and eternal damnation wasn’t really taught in the Old Testament, the thoughts of going to heaven or hell and living forever only came into light when Christ came, 2 Timothy 1:10.
The psalmist ends by reminding us of an eternal truth. People can be rich but lack understanding and as a result, they too perish like the beasts of the earth, Psalm 49:20 / Mark 8:36 / Mark 10:21 / Luke 12:16-21.
The psalmist highlighted the foolishness of putting our trust in riches and wealth instead of God. In ‘the parable of the rich fool’, Luke 13:16-21, Jesus explains the rich man was foolish because he forgot five things.
1. He forgot other people, Luke 13:17 / James 1:27.
2. He forgot that man is more than what he owns, Mark 10:23 / 1 Timothy 6:9-10 / 1 Timothy 6:17-19.
3. He forgot the source of real happiness, Ecclesiastes 2:3-11.
4. He forgot God, James 4:13-15.
5. He forgot about death, Psalm 90:9-10 / Matthew 6:19-21 / Matthew 25:41-46 / Luke 12:19-20.
There’s nothing wrong with being rich and wealthy, but we must be careful not to make the same mistakes the rich fool did, Luke 12:33-34. The minute we forget about God, that’s when we forget our purpose.
When we forget about other people, that’s when we forget that a person is more than what they own. When we forget the source of real happiness, that’s when we forget God and that’s when we forget about death.