Salmi 49:12 Commento

This psalm is a sermon, and so is the next. In most of the psalms we have the penman praying or praising; in these we have him preaching; and it is our duty, in singing psalms, to teach and admonish ourselves and one another. The scope and design of this discourse is to convince the men of this world of their sin and folly in setting their hearts upon the things of this world, and so to persuade them to seek the things of a better world; as also to comfort the people of God, in reference to their own troubles and the grief that arises from the prosperity of the wicked. I. In the preface he proposes to awaken worldly people out of their security (Psa 49:1-3) and to comfort himself and other godly people in a day of distress (Psa 49:4, Psa 49:5). II. In the rest of the psalm, 1. He endeavours to convince sinners of their folly in doting upon the wealth of this world, by showing them (1.) That they cannot, with all their wealth, save their friends from death (Psa 49:6-9). (2.) They cannot save themselves from death (Psa 49:10). (3.) They cannot secure to themselves a happiness in this world (Psa 49:11, Psa 49:12). Much less, (4.) Can they secure to themselves a happiness in the other world (Psa 49:14). 2. He endeavours to comfort himself and other good people, (1.) Against the fear of death (Psa 49:15). (2.) Against the fear of the prospering power of wicked people (Psa 49:16-20). In singing this psalm let us receive these instructions, and be wise. To the chief musician. A psalm for the sons of Korah.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 49 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Aben Ezra says this psalm is a very excellent one, since in it is explained the Light of the world to come, and of the rational and immortal soul; and Kimchi is of opinion that it respects both this world and that which is to come: and indeed it treats of the vanity of trusting in riches: of the insufficiency of them for the redemption of the soul; of the short continuance of worldly honour and substance; of the certainty of death, and of the resurrection of the dead. And the design of it is to expose the folly of trusting in uncertain riches, and to comfort the people of God under the want of them.

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 show the inconstancy and instability of worldly honour, may be exemplified in the case of the first man; he was in honour he was created after the image and likeness of God, and so was the glory of God, being his image; he was in friendship with God, as many instances show, and had dominion over all the creatures below; he had much knowledge of God, and communion with him, and was a pure, holy, and upright creature; but he continued not long in this state of honour and glory; "he lodged not a night" (z), as the words may be rendered; see Gen 28:11; and as they are by some, who conclude from hence that Adam fell the same day in which he was created; and which is the sense of the above Jewish writers, who say, he was driven out of paradise the evening of that day; but though he might stand longer, and the word is sometimes used of a longer continuance; see Psa 25:13; yet by the account in Genesis it looks as if he continued in his state of honour but a short time; he is like the beasts that perish; becoming mortal in his body, and brutish and stupid in his understanding. Or, "he is like the beasts", "they perish", or "are cut off" (a); the word being in the plural number, which shows that not a single individual person is meant, but men in general; or, however, such of the sons of Adam that come to honour; these do not abide long in it, their honour is a very short lived one, sometimes it does not last their lives: they that are in high places are in slippery ones, and are often cast down from the pinnacle of honour in a moment; and if their glory does abide with them throughout the day of life, yet it shall not lodge with them in the night of the grave; thither their glory shall not descend after them, Psa 49:17; and when they die, they perish like the beasts; as they are like them in life, stupid, brutish, and ignorant, so in death; as the beast dies, so do they, Ecc 3:19; as the one dies without any thought of or preparation for death, so do the other; as the one carries nothing along with it, so neither do the other: as beasts that die of themselves, for such are here meant, as Junius well observes, are good for nothing but to be cast into the ditch; so are wicked men, notwithstanding all their riches and honours; yea, it is worse with them than with the beasts, since after death comes judgment, and after that the second death, the wrath of God. (y) Bereshit Rabba, s. 11. fol. 9. 1. 2. Pirke Eliezer, c. 19. (z) "non pernoctabit", Montanus, Amama; so Ainsworth. (a) "excisi sunt", Montanus.

David wept for Adam, at how he fell from that royal abode to the abode of wild animals. Because he went astray through a beast he became like the beasts. He ate, together with them as a result of the curse, grass and roots, and he died, becoming their peer. Blessed is he who set him apart from the wild animals again.

Humankind, then, having been advanced above other created things in honor, did not understand and neglected to follow God and to become like the Creator. Becoming a slave of the passions of the flesh, “he is compared with senseless beasts and is become like them”: now he is like an amorous horse that neighs after his neighbor’s wife, now like a ravenous wolf, lying in wait for strangers, but at another time, because of his deceit toward his brother, he makes himself like the villainous fox. Truly, there is excessive folly and beast-like lack of reason, that he, made according to the image of the Creator, neither perceives his own constitution from the beginning, nor even wishes to understand such great dispensations that were made for his sake, at least, to learn his own dignity from them, but that he is unmindful of the fact that, throwing aside the image of the heavenly, he has taken up the image of the earthly. In order that he might not remain in sin, for his sake “The Word was made flesh and dwelled among us,” and he humbled himself to such an extent as to become “obedient to death, even to death on a cross.”

"And man though he was in honour perceived not, he was compared to the beasts without sense, and was made like to them" [Psalm 49:12]....They ought, on the contrary, to have made ready for themselves an eternal house in good works, to have made ready for themselves everlasting life, to have sent before them expenditure, to have followed their works, to have ministered to a needy companion, to have given to him with whom they were walking, not to have despised Christ covered with sores before their gate, who has said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me." [Matthew 25:40] However, "man being in honour has not understood." What is, "being in honour"? Being made after the image and likeness of God, man is preferred to beasts. For God has not so made man as He made a beast: but God has made man for beasts to minister to: is it to his strength then, and not to his understanding? Nay. But he "understood not;" and he who was made after the image of God, "is compared to the beasts without sense, and is made like them." Whence it is said elsewhere, "Be not like to horse and mule, in which there is no understanding."

The true honor of humankind is to be the image and the likeness of God that is preserved only in relation to him by whom it is impressed. Thus, he clings to God so much the more, the less he loves what is his own. But through the desire of proving his own power, a person by his own will falls down into himself, as into a sort of center. Since he, therefore, wishes to be like God under no one, then as a punishment he is also driven from the center, which he himself is, into the depths, that is, into those things in which the beasts delight; and thus, since the likeness to God is his honor, the likeness to the beasts is his disgrace.

Read and understand these words, that you may rather with a humble spirit guard against the reproach yourself, than arrogantly throw it out against another person.

Despite having so much enjoyment in the present life, possessing many natural advantages by comparison with other living creatures and enjoying a great number of gifts, they did not understand the greatness of the honor conferred on them by God; instead, by their insensitivity to the possession of their attributes they are no different from cattle, which possess no intelligence.… While giving little heed to thanking the giver, they live a heedless life and grow old in their sins. Thus, they also are the objects of a rigorous verdict from God.

The honour belonging to rational nature is the discernment that tells good from evil, and those who have destroyed it are justly compared to “mindless cattle,” which have no rational and discerning faculty.

"And man." Above, the Psalmist set forth the evils that threaten the wicked with respect to the loss of exterior goods; here, however, he sets forth those that threaten them from the corruption of interior goods. And concerning this he does two things. First, he proposes the evil of interior corruption. Second, he shows what follows from this evil, at "This is their way." It should be known that man is composed of a rational and a sensitive nature. According to his rational nature, man has a likeness to God and the Angels. Gen. 1: "Let us make man in our image and likeness." Ps. 8: "You have made him a little less than the Angels." But according to his sensitive nature, he shares in common with beasts. First, therefore, he sets forth the honor of man with respect to the fact that he has a likeness to the Angels; hence he says, "Man, when he was in honor." According to the Philosopher, honor is something more excellent than praise, because praise is ordered to something else, whereas honor is in and of itself. And he says "he was," namely like God. And from the fact that he possesses these things, he sets forth three things: first, that he does not consider these things, namely that he is like God. Second, that he declines into bestial ignorance and baseness. Third, that he falls into bestial acts. With respect to the first he says, "He did not understand," namely that he was made in the image of God, and that he was fit to possess heavenly things. Wis. 2: "Nor did they hope for the reward of justice, nor did they judge the honor of holy souls." With respect to the second he says, "He is compared to senseless beasts." Brute animals act from passion; and this is evident, because a dog immediately when it is angry, barks; a horse, when it desires, neighs; but this is not imputed to them, because they lack reason. If, therefore, a man immediately when he desires follows his passion, and when angry strikes, he is compared in his action to senseless beasts. Ps. 31: "Do not become like the horse and mule," etc. With respect to the third he says, "And he is made like them." For when the nature of brutes is inclined toward something, it uses passion in that way, and custom turns into nature. When a man, therefore, becomes accustomed to living according to passion, it already turns into nature; and therefore "he is made like them" through a habit aggravated by evil works. Jer. 5: "They are become like horses mad for females and stallions." And therefore the Philosopher says that a wicked man is worse than a wicked beast, because together with his malice he has an intellect to devise various evils.

This Psalm instructs and consoles. It teaches that earthly advantages are not reliable for permanent happiness, and that, however prosperous worldly men may be for a time, their ultimate destiny is ruin, while the pious are safe in God's care. (Psa. 49:1-20) All are called to hear what interests all. world--literally, "duration of life," the present time.

Contrasted with this vanity is their frailty. However honored, man abideth not--literally, "lodgeth not," remains not till morning, but suddenly perishes as (wild) beasts, whose lives are taken without warning.