Today’s Passage: Psalm 49
This is a psalm that gathers everyone into one room to hear the same hard truth. It calls out to all peoples, rich and poor alike, and it looks straight at those who trust in their wealth. No man, it says, can possibly redeem his brother, for the price of a soul is far too costly, and no payment a person could gather will ever be enough. Yet in the middle of it comes a turn that changes everything: God will redeem my life from Sheol. That is the same gospel we know. Wealth cannot buy a soul, but God gives freely what no fortune could ever purchase. The sons of Korah wrote these words, and even the heading above the psalm is part of the inspired text.
As you read, hold this: No man can redeem his brother. God will redeem my life.
Context All peoples
This is a Psalm of the sons of Korah, and its address is deliberately wide. It calls out to all the inhabitants of the world, both low and high, and leaves no one standing outside. The claim it makes is not a private comfort meant only for the poor, and it is not a blessing spoken over the rich. It is a word for every person alike, because no one, whatever he owns, can pay this price.
Psalm 49:1-6 (BSB)
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
¹ Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all inhabitants of the world, ² both low and high, rich and poor alike. ³ My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding. ⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp: ⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble, when wicked usurpers surround me? ⁶ They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches.
The psalm opens by calling every kind of person to listen, rich and poor alike, all of them summoned to the same wisdom. Some of them trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches, and the psalmist answers with a steadying question: why should he fear such people, even when they surround him in times of trouble?
Psalm 49:7-12 (BSB)
⁷ No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God. ⁸ For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice, ⁹ that he should live on forever and not see decay. ¹⁰ For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others. ¹¹ Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes. ¹² But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.
Here is the heart of it, stated plainly. No man can pādāh, pronounced pah-DAH. Strong's H6299, to redeem, ransom, buy back. In verse 7 the psalm says plainly that no human being can pay this ransom for another. Then verse 15 reaches for the very same verb, but the subject has changed. What no man can do, God Himself does. his brother, and no payment will ever be enough to buy another soul out of death. The wise and the foolish both die in the end, and both leave their wealth behind for others to spend. Their graves become their only lasting homes, no matter how much land once carried their names. A man, for all his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish. We must not soften this into a gentler view of money than the psalm allows. The line here is closed and firm.
Psalm 49:13-15 (BSB)
¹³ This is the fate of the foolish and their followers who endorse their sayings. Selah ¹⁴ Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode. ¹⁵ But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself. Selah
Those who trusted in the pile they had gathered are led along like sheep, with death itself for their shepherd. Then comes the turn the whole psalm has been waiting for: God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself. This is the same gospel we rest in, and it is the only way. There is no second, easier road reserved for people wealthy enough to pay their own fare.
Psalm 49:16-20 (BSB)
¹⁶ Do not be afraid when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases. ¹⁷ For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down. ¹⁸ Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul—and men praise you when you prosper— ¹⁹ he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day. ²⁰ A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
So do not be afraid when you see a man grow rich and the splendor of his house increase. When he dies he will carry nothing away with him, and not a coin of his abundance will follow him down. Men may praise him while he prospers, but in the end he still joins the generation of his fathers, who will never again see the light of day.
Study notes Nothing carried out
Paul says the same simple fact.
"For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it." 1 Timothy 6:7 (BSB)
Nothing came in with us, and nothing will go out with us. That single fact undoes two mistakes at once. It shows that our fear of the rich is misplaced, and it shows that the hope of buying a soul with money is misplaced as well. No man can redeem his brother. But God will redeem my life.
No man can redeem his brother. God will redeem my life.