The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"redeem," Hebrew padoh yifdeh (פָּדֹה יִפְדֶּה), an emphatic doubling, "surely redeem". Here is the psalm's hard verdict on human wealth: "None of them can by any means redeem his brother." The Hebrew doubles the verb for emphasis, and the doubling is then flatly denied -- not by any means, not surely, not at all.

"ransom," kofer (כֹּפֶר), the price paid to cover a life. "Nor give to God a ransom for him." Not the richest man alive can pay the price to buy back a single soul from death.

"precious," yaqar (יָקָר), costly, of great price. The reason is given in a parenthesis: "the redemption of their soul is precious" -- too costly, beyond any price a man can raise.

"ceaseth for ever," chadal le'olam (חָדַל לְעוֹלָם), the attempt fails and stops for ever. "And it ceaseth for ever." The payment can never be met; the effort does not merely fall short this time but is abandoned permanently.

"see corruption," shachat (שַׁחַת), the pit, decay of the grave. No sum will purchase that "he should still live for ever, and not see corruption." The pit and its decay stand at the end of the richest life as surely as the poorest.

Explanation

Feel the force of the little phrase set off in the parenthesis, for it is the hinge of the whole psalm: "the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever." The word "precious" here does not mean lovely; it means expensive, priced beyond reach. The psalm has just watched rich men "boast themselves in the multitude of their riches" (v6), and now it names the one thing all that money cannot buy. You can purchase land, houses, honour, whole estates to "call after your own name" (v11), but you cannot make the down payment on a single soul's escape from the grave. And notice the finality in "ceaseth for ever": it is not that the ransom is merely hard to raise, so that a richer man might manage it; it is that the price is permanently, absolutely out of the reach of every man, and the attempt is closed off for ever. This is the great leveller the psalm announced at the start, "low and high, rich and poor, together" (v2): before death the billionaire and the beggar stand equally bankrupt, for the currency of earth is worthless at that gate. The verse shuts every human door, so that only a divine door can open.

Gospel Focus

"None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him", and this shut door is precisely where the gospel enters, for what no man could pay, God Himself has paid in Jesus Christ. The ransom, the kofer, too precious for any man to raise, was provided by God at infinite cost: "ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19). The Son of Man came "to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28), and "gave himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6). No brother could redeem a brother, but the Lord Jesus, our near kinsman by the incarnation, became the Redeemer man could not be, paying with His own life the price that all the wealth of the world could never meet. The psalm says the ransom would purchase that a man "should still live for ever, and not see corruption", and that is exactly what Christ secured, for He rose, and Peter proclaimed of Him, "neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Acts 2:27), "his flesh did" not "see corruption" (Acts 2:31). What Psalm 49 declared impossible for man, God made actual in Christ: souls redeemed, death defeated, corruption undone. Trust not in riches that cannot buy your soul, but in the Redeemer whose blood already has.

Word Study

"but," Hebrew akh (אַךְ), a strong adversative, "surely, only". After the long, dark meditation on death that claims rich and poor alike, one word turns everything: "But God." The whole hope of the psalm hangs on that single adversative.

"redeem," yifdeh (יִפְדֶּה), the same verb of v7, now with God as the subject. What no man could do (v7), God will do: "God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave." The very verb denied to man in verse 7 is now placed in God's hand.

"power of the grave," yad she'ol (יַד שְׁאוֹל), literally "the hand of Sheol," the grip of death. Death is pictured as a hand closed around its prey. That is what God's redeeming prises open.

"receive me," yiqqacheni (יִקָּחֵנִי), take me, the same verb used of God's "taking" Enoch (Genesis 5:24). And the ground of hope is intimate and personal: "for he shall receive me." The word echoes Enoch, whom "God took" -- not merely rescued from the grave, but taken to Himself.

Explanation

Everything in this psalm has been building to a single word, and that word is "But." Verse 7 slammed a door: no man can redeem a soul, the price ceases for ever. Verses 10-14 walked through a graveyard where wise and foolish, rich and poor, are alike "laid in the grave" and "death shall feed on them." And then, at verse 15, one syllable breaks the gloom like sunrise: "But God will redeem my soul." Watch exactly what has changed, for it is precise and deliberate. The verb "redeem" (padah) is the very same word that was flatly denied to man in verse 7, "none... can redeem his brother." What was impossible to man is now simply moved into God's hands, and there it becomes certain. Man cannot redeem a soul from Sheol's grip; God can, and will. And see how personal the hope becomes: not "God may deliver souls in general," but "God will redeem my soul... for he shall receive me." The word for "receive" is the word used of Enoch, whom "God took" (Genesis 5:24), and of Elijah, caught up alive; the psalmist expects to be taken to God Himself, not merely rescued from a threat but welcomed into a Presence. This is one of the clearest windows onto resurrection hope in the whole Old Testament, a confident "but God" flung in the very teeth of the grave.

Gospel Focus

"But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me", this hope, glimpsed from afar by the psalmist, is made sure and bright in Jesus Christ, who broke the power of the grave. The "hand of Sheol" that grips every man was pried open when Christ died and rose, for He came that "through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14), and now holds "the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18). Because He is risen, the believer's "but God" is guaranteed: "But God, who is rich in mercy... hath quickened us together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:4-5). Death still lays our bodies in the grave, but it cannot keep them, for "this corruptible must put on incorruption... then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). And the tender word "he shall receive me" is fulfilled in Christ's own promise, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). What Enoch tasted and the psalmist hoped, every believer shall have in full: redeemed from the grave, received unto God, taken to be for ever with the Lord. The grave is not the end for those whose Redeemer is the risen Christ.

Word Study

"be not afraid," Hebrew al-tira (אַל־תִּירָא), do not be overawed or intimidated. The psalm draws its practical lesson: "Be not thou afraid when one is made rich." Do not be intimidated or overawed by the wealthy, do not envy them or fear their power.

"made rich," ya'ashir (יַעֲשִׁר). The man in view is not merely comfortable but has become rich -- the very case in which envy and fear are most tempting.

"glory of his house," kevod beito (כְּבוֹד בֵּיתוֹ), his wealth and splendour. His splendour is real; the psalm does not deny it. It simply asks how far it reaches.

"carry nothing away," lo yiqqach hakkol (לֹא יִקַּח הַכֹּל), he shall take none of it. "For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away." The richest man leaves this world exactly as naked as the poorest.

"descend after him," lo yered acharav (לֹא יֵרֵד אַחֲרָיו), it will not go down after him. "His glory shall not descend after him." His glory stops at the grave's edge; not one coin follows him down.

Explanation

Notice that the psalm treats envy of the rich as a kind of fear: "Be not thou afraid when one is made rich." We might have expected "do not covet" or "do not envy," but the word is "be not afraid", do not be overawed, intimidated, made to feel small. That is a shrewd reading of the human heart. The wealth and splendour of others does more than tempt us to want it; it can cow us, make us feel that the rich are the truly significant people and we are nobodies, that their lives matter and ours do not. Against that intimidation the psalm sets one plain fact, and repeats it like a hammer: "he shall carry nothing away." The Hebrew is blunt, he takes none of it. The very same verb, laqach ("take"), that was the believer's glory in verse 15, "he shall receive (take) me", is here the rich man's poverty: God will take the believer to Himself, but the rich man can take nothing with him. One is received; the other is stripped. So the splendour that intimidates you is a splendour with a hard stop at the graveside; "his glory shall not descend after him." Do not be afraid of a greatness that death cancels. Fear rather to be a soul that God will not receive.

Gospel Focus

"For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away", the Lord Jesus taught this very truth and pointed it to its eternal conclusion. He told of the rich man whose ground brought forth plenty, who built bigger barns and said to his soul, "take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry," and to whom God said, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be...? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:19-21). Paul echoes the psalm exactly: "we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (1 Timothy 6:7). The gospel does not merely warn against trusting riches; it offers a better treasure that death cannot touch, for Christ bids us "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:20) and to be "rich toward God." The believer, redeemed by Christ and received unto God (v15), carries nothing material out of this world either, but he goes to an inheritance "incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven" (1 Peter 1:4). So be not afraid of the rich, and be not seduced by riches; set your heart on the treasure that follows you through the grave, Christ Himself, and the glory laid up with Him that death can never cancel.