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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comTreasury of David - Psalms 49:16 - 49:16
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
Psa 49:16
In these last verses the Psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich.” Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud thy mind. Temporal prosperity is too small a matter to be worth fretting about; let the dogs have their bones, and the swine their draft. “When the glory of his house is increased.” Though the sinner and his family are in great esteem, and stand exceedingly high, never mind; all things will be righted in due time. Only those whose judgment is worthless will esteem men the more because their lands are broader; those who are highly estimated for such unreasonable reasons will find their level ere long, when truth and righteousness come to the fore.
Psa 49:17
“For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away.” He has but a leasehold of his acres, and death ends his tenure. Through the river of death man must pass naked. Not a rag of all his raiment, not a coin of all his treasure, not a jot of all his honour, can the dying worldling carry with him. Why then fret ourselves about so fleeting a prosperity? “His glory shall not descend after him.” As he goes down, down, down for ever, none of his honours or possessions will follow him. Patents of nobility are invalid in the sepulchre. His worship, his honour, his lordship, and his grace, will alike find their titles ridiculous in the tomb. Hell knows no aristocracy. Your dainty and delicate sinners shall find that eternal burnings have no respect for their affectations and refinements.
Psa 49:18
“Though while he lived he blessed his soul.” He pronounced himself happy. He had his good things in this life. His chief end and aim were to bless himself. He was charmed with the adulations of flatterers. “Men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.” The generality of men worship success, however it may be gained. The colour of the winning horse is no matter; it is the winner, and that is enough. “Take care of Number One,” is the world's proverbial philosophy, and he who gives good heed to it is “a clever fellow,” “a fine man of business,” “a shrewd common-sense tradesman,” “a man with his head put on the right way,” Get money, and you will be “respectable,” “a substantial man,” and your house will be “an eminent firm in the city,” or “one of our best county families.” To do good wins fame in heaven, but to do good to yourself is the prudent thing among men of the world. Yet not a whisper of worldly congratulation can follow the departing millionaire; they say he died worth a mint of money, but what charm has that fact to the dull cold ear of death? The banker rots as fast as the shoe-black, and the peer becomes as putrid as the pauper. Alas! poor wealth, thou art but the rainbow colouring of the bubble, the tint which yellows the morning mist, but adds no substance to it.
Psa 49:19
“He shall go to the generation of his fathers.” Where the former generations lie, the present shall also slumber. The sires beckon to their sons to come to the land of forgetfulness. Mortal fathers beget not immortal children. As our ancestors have departed, so also must we. “They shall never see light.” To this upper region the dead worldling shall never return again to possess his estates, and enjoy his dignities. Among the dead he must lie in the thick darkness, where no joy or hope can come to him. Of all his treasures their remains not enough to furnish him one poor candle; the blaze of his glory is out forever, and not a spark remains to cheer him. How then can we look with fear or envy upon a wretch doomed to such unhappiness?
Psa 49:20
The song ends with the refrain, “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” Understanding differences men from animals, but if they will not follow the highest wisdom, and like beasts find their all in this life, then their end shall be as mean and dishonourable as that of beasts slain in the chase, or killed in the shambles. From the loftiest elevation of worldly honour to the uttermost depth of death is but a step. Saddest of all is the reflection, that though men are like beasts in all the degradation of perishing, yet not in the rest which animal perishing secures, for, alas! it is written, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.”
So ends the minstrel's lay. Comforting as the theme is to the righteous, it is full of warning to the worldly. Hear ye it, O ye rich and poor. Give ear to it, ye nations of the earth.