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Psalms 49:3

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

My mouth shall speak of wisdom,.... Or "wisdoms" (m); of Christ, who is so called, Proverbs 1:20. He being as a divine Person the wisdom of God, and the only wise God; and having all the treasures of wisdom in him, as man and Mediator: of him the prophet spake, and of him the apostles and all Gospel ministers speak; of the glories of his Person,...

Psalms 49:3-4

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. Mysteries are to be preached, but they are to be preached with an earnest endeavor on the preacher’s part to make them plain. If it be a dark saying, yet let it be open; and, if...

Psalms 49:4

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

I will incline mine ear to a parable,.... In which way of speaking the doctrines of the Gospel were delivered out by Christ, Matthew 13:3. Wherefore the prophet, representing his apostles and disciples, signifies that he would listen thereunto, that he might attain to the knowledge thereof, and communicate it to others; I will open my dark saying...

Psalms 49:5

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil,.... This is the principal thing that all are before called to hearken to. This is the wisdom and understanding the psalmist had been meditating upon, and was about to utter; this is the parable he inclined his ear to, and the dark saying he would open; namely, that a saint has nothing to fear in the...

Psalms 49:5

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? We may read it: “The iniquity of my supplanters shall compass me about.” There may some dark days when the wicked seed, whose delight it is to bite at the heel of the seed of God, will gather around us; and we think, perhaps, that they will be too...

Psalms 49:6

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

They that trust in their wealth,.... In their outward force, power, and strength; their horses, chariots, and armies; see Psalms 33:16; or in their worldly goods and substance; which seems to be the sense of the word here, as appears from Psalms 49:10. To "trust" in them is to set the eye and heart upon them; or to take up rest in them, to depend...

Psalms 49:6-7

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: They may be rich as Croesus, but they cannot save a comrade from the grave. They may fee the physician, but they cannot bribe death. How little is the power of wealth, after...

Psalms 49:7

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother,.... That is, "with their substance", or "riches", as the Targum and Jarchi supply. Some, according to the order of the words in the original, render them, "a brother redeeming cannot redeem a man", or "anyone" (q): but, as Aben Ezra observes, אח, "a brother", is the effect, and איש, "a man", is...

Psalms 49:8

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

For the redemption of their soul [is] precious,.... Or "heavy" (s); it is, as Jarchi observes, "heavier than their substance": it is too weighty a matter for the richest man in the world to engage in; he is not equal to it; his riches are not an equivalent to the redemption of a soul which has sinned, and which is of more worth than the whole...

Psalms 49:9

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

That he should still live for ever,.... Or "though he should live", c. (w). Though the rich man should live ever so long, a thousand years twice told, as in Ecclesiastes 6:6 yet he could not in all this time, with all his riches, redeem his brother; and at last must die himself, and so must his brother too, as his own experience and observation...

Psalms 49:9

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. For the bodies of the great are fed upon by the worm as readily as the bodies of the paupers. They may embalm the body, if they will, to cheat the worm, or put it into a coffin of lead, but little can they do with it. It is a costly business after all, and is the exception to the rule....

Psalms 49:10

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

For he seeth [that] wise men die,.... This is a reason convincing the rich man, that with all his riches he cannot redeem his brother from death; since he must see, by daily and constant experience, that none are exempted from dying, no, not even the wise man; and therefore, not the rich, since wisdom is better than riches, and is said to give...

Psalms 49:10

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish and leave their wealth to others. Whatever men may have gathered, the wisest cannot find an invention which will enable him to take his treasure with him. He must leave it behind. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither.”

Psalms 49:11

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Their inward thought [is, that] their houses [shall continue] for ever,.... This is the thought of their hearts, what they secretly imagine, and conclude within themselves; either that their families, which may be meant by their houses, see 2 Samuel 3:1; shall continue in succeeding ages, to the end of the world, to inherit their possessions, and...

Psalms 49:11

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Man is so fond of immortality that, while he foolishly rejects the reality of it he clings to the name of it; and he builds a house which he ties down by entail to his heirs, and his heirs’...

Psalms 49:12

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Nevertheless man [being] in honour abideth not,.... Or Adam: and some understand this of the first man Adam, who was created and crowned with glory and honour; but it did not abide with him, nor he in that: so some Jewish writers (y) interpret it. But whether the words will admit of this sense or not, the general view of the psalmist, which is to...

Psalms 49:12

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: He passes away. His grace, his lordship, his reverence, must lie in the grave. How ridiculous grand titles seem when once it is said, “Earth to earth; dust to dust; ashes to ashes.” “Vain pomp and glory of the earth,” indeed we may say, in the presence of the shroud and the mattock, and the grave and...

Psalms 49:13

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

This their way [is] their folly,.... This their last end becoming like the beasts that perish, which is the issue and event of all their confidence, ambition, and honour, shows the folly of their lives and conduct: or this their course of life, in trusting to their riches; boasting of their wealth; pleasing themselves with the thoughts of the...

Psalms 49:13

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

This their way is their folly: yet their prosperity approve their sayings. Selah. When men have lived only for this world, and die and pass away, without any future worth the having — without any hope of heaven — yet still they report it in the papers that he died “worth” — so much, as if it were wonderful to have so much to leave. And they speak...