1

folly yet their posterity prove their sayings. Selah. 14 Like sheep they are laid in 1 delight in their mouth.

their way or course of life. It is their folly;" or, such is their folly. On the word way, see Notes on Ps. i. 6. The idea is, that it is folly for a man to cherish these hopes; to feel that wealth is of so much importance; to imagine that it can deliver from the grave; to suppose that he can perpetuate his own name, and secure his possessions in his own family upon the earth. And yet the world

is still full of men as foolish as were those in the time of the psalmist; men who will not be admonished by the suggestions of reason, or by the experience of six thousand years in the past. This is one thing in which the world makes no progress-in which it learns nothing from the experience of the past; and as the beaver under the influence of instinct builds his house and his home now in the same way that the first beaver did his, and as the brutes all act in the same manner from generation to .generation, accumulating no knowledge, and making no advances from the experience of the past, so it is with men in their desire to grow rich. On other points the world accumulates knowledge, and profits from experience, garnering up the lessons taught by past experiment and obser vation, and thus becoming wiser in all other respects; but in regard to the desire of wealth, it makes no progress, gains no knowledge, derives no advantage, from the generations of fools that have lived and died in past ages. They now engage in the pursuit of gold with the same zeal, and the same expectation and hope which were evinced in the first ages of the world, and as if their own superior skill and wisdom could set at nought all the lessons taught by the past. ¶ Yet their posterity. The coming generation is as confident and as foolish as the one that went before.

14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave. The allusion here is to a flock as driven forward by the shepherd; and the meaning is that they are driven forward to the grave, as it were, in flocks, or as a flock of sheep is driven by a shepherd. The word rendered “are laid”—, shattu— is not probably derived from the verb, shuth, or, shith, as our translators seem to have supposed, but from , shathath, to set, or place; and the meaning is, Like sheep they put them in Sheol, or the grave;" that is, they thrust or drive them down thither. In other words, this is done, without intimating by whom it is done. They are urged forward; they are driven towards the tomb as a flock of sheep is driven forward to the slaughter. Some influence or power is pressing them in masses down to the grave. The word rendered grave is Sheol. It is sometimes used in the sense of the grave, and sometimes as referring to the abode of departed spirits. See Notes on Job x. 21, 22; Ps. vi. 5. It seems here to be used in the former sense. T Death shall feed on them. The word rendered feed here-, raah--means properly to feed a flock; to pasture; then, to perform the office of a shepherd. The idea here is not, as in our "death shall feed on translation, them;" but, death shall rule over them as the shepherd rules his flock. The

רָעָה-dered

:

morning and their shall consume 2 in the grave

1 Or, strength.

allusion to the flock suggested this. They are driven down to the grave, or to Sheol. The shepherd, the ruler, he who does this, is death; and the idea is not that death is a hungry monster, devouring them in the grave, but that the shepherd over that flock, instead of being a kind and gentle friend and protector (as the word " shepherd" naturally suggests), is death-a fearful and grim Ruler of the departed. The idea, therefore, is not that of feeding, specifically, but it is that of ruling, controlling, guiding. So the Septuagint, θάνατος ποιμανεῖ αὐτούς. The Vulgate, however, renders it, mors depascet eos; and Luther, der Tod naget sie; death gnaws or feeds on them. And the upright. The ¶ just; the righteous. The meaning of this part of the verse undoubtedly is, that the just or pious would have some kind of ascendancy or superiority over them at the period here referred to as the "morning." Shall have dominion over them. Or rather, as De Wette renders it, shall triumph over them. That is, will be exalted over them; or shall have a more favoured lot. Though depressed now, and though crushed by the rich, yet they will soon have a more exalted rank, and a higher honour than those who, though once rich, are laid in the grave under the dominion of death.

¶ In

the morning. That is, very soon; tomorrow; when the morning dawns after the darkness of the present. See Notes on Ps. xxx. 5. There is a time coming-a brighter time-when the relative condition of the two classes shall be changed, and when the upright-the pious-though poor and oppressed now, shall be exalted to higher honours than they will be. There is no certain evidence that this refers to the "morning " of the resurrection; but it is language which well expresses the idea when connected with that doctrine, and which can be best explained on the

2 Or, the grave being an habitation to every one of them.

supposition that that doctrine was referred to, and that the hope of such a resurrection was cherished by the writer. Indeed, when we remember that the psalmist expressly refers to the "grave” in regard to the rich, it is difficult to explain the language on any other supposition than that he refers here to the resurrection-certainly not as well as on this supposition-and especially when it is remembered that death makes no distinction in cutting down men, whether they are righteous or wicked. Both are laid in the grave alike, and any prospect of distinction or triumph in the case must be derived from scenes beyond the grave. This verse, therefore, may belong to that class of passages in the Old Testament which are founded on the belief of the resurrection of the dead without always expressly affirming it, and which are best explained on the supposition that the writers of the Old Testament were acquainted with that doctrine, and drew their hopes as well as their illustrations from it. Comp. Dan. xii. 2; Isa. xxvi. 19; Ps. xvi. 9, 10. ¶ And their beauty. Marg., strength. The Hebrew word means form, shape, image; and the idea here is, that their form or figure will be changed, or disappear, to wit, by consuming away. The idea of beauty, or strength, is not necessarily in the passage, but the meaning is, that the form or figure which was so familiar among men will be dissolved, and disappear in the grave. Shall consume in the grave. Heb., in Sheol. The word probably means here the grave. The original word rendered consume, means literally to make old; to wear out; to waste away. The entire form of the man will disappear. ¶ From their dwelling. Marg., the grave being a habitation to every one of them. LXX., "and their help shall grow old in the grave from their glory." So the Latin Vulgate. The whole expression

is obscure. The most probable meaning is, " they shall consume in the grave, from its being a dwelling to him;" that is, to each of them. Sheol, or the grave, becomes a dwelling to the rich man, and in that gloomy abode that which is now his dwelling-he consumes away. It appertains to that dwelling, or it is one of the conditions of residing there, that all consume away and disappear. Others render it, so that there is no dwelling or habitation for them." Others, and this is the more common inter

pretation, "their form passes away,

the underworld is their habitation." See De Wette in loc. This last rendering requires a slight change in the punctuation of the original. DeWette, Note, p. 339. The general idea in The general idea in the passage is plain, that the possessors of wealth are soon to find their home in the grave, and that their forms, with all on which they valued themselves, are soon to disappear.

15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Literally, from the hand of Sheol; that is, from the dominion of death. The hand is an emblem of power, and it here means that death or Sheol holds the dominion over all those who are in the grave. The control is absolute and unlimited. The grave or Sheol is here personified as if reigning there, or setting up an empire there. Comp. Notes on Isa. xiv. 9. On the word redeem, see the references in the Notes on ver. 7. ¶ For he shall receive me. Literally, he shall take me. That is, either, He will take me from the grave; or, He will take me to himself. The general idea is, that God would take hold of him, and save him from the dominion of the grave; from that power which death exercises over the dead. This would either mean that he would be preserved from going down to the grave

me. Selah.

16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

;

and returning to corruption there or, that he would hereafter be rescued from the power of the grave in a sense which would not apply in respect to the rich man. The former evidently cannot be the idea, since the psalmist could not hope to escape death; yet there might be a hope that the dominion of death would not be permanent and enduring, or that there would be a future life, a resurrection from the grave. It seems to me, therefore, that this passage, like the expression in ver. 14, ' in the morning," and the passages referred to in the Notes on that verse, is founded on the belief that death is not the end of a good man, but that he will rise again, and live in a higher and better state. It was this consideration which gave such comfort to the psalmist in contemplating the whole subject; and the idea, thus illustrated, is substantially the same as that stated by the Saviour in Matt. x. 28,"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul."

16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Do not dread the power derived from wealth; do not fear anything which a man can do merely because he is rich. The original is, "when a man becoines rich." The allusion is not necessarily to a bad man, though that is implied in the whole passage, since there is no reason for fearing a good man, whether he is rich or poor. The only thing that seems to have been apprehended in the mind of the psalmist was that power of doing injury to others, or of employing means to injure others, which wealth confers on a bad man. The psalmist here changes the form of the expression, no longer referring to himself, and to his own feelings, as in the former part of the psalm, but making an application of the whole

17 For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.

c Luke xii. 20. 1 in his life.

course of thought to others, showing them, as the result of his own reflection and observation, that no man had any real cause for dread and alarm when riches increased in the hands of the wicked. The reasons why this power should not be feared are stated in the following verses. T When the glory of his house is increased. Rich men often lavish much of their wealth on their dwellings ;-on the dwelling itself; on the furniture; the furniture; on the grounds and appendages of their habitation. This is evidently referred to here as "the glory of their house;" as that which would be adapted to make an impression of the power and rank of its possessor.

It

17. For when he dieth. He must die. His wealth cannot save him from the grave. It is always to be assumed of rich men, as of all other men, that they will have to die. The point is not one which is to be argued; not one about which there can be any doubt. Of all men, whatever else may be said of them, it may always be affirmed that they must die, and important inferences may be always drawn from that fact. THe shall carry nothing away. is not improbable that the apostle Paul had this passage in his eye in what he says in 1 Tim. vi. 7, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out." See Notes on that passage. Comp. Job xxvii. 16-19. ¶ His glory shall not descend after him. His wealth, and those things which have been procured by wealth, as indicating station and rank, cannot accompany him to the other world. This is said to show that he is not to be "feared" on account of his wealth. The argument is, that whatever there is in wealth that seems to give power, and to afford the means of doing injury, must soon be sepa

rated from him. In respect to wealth, and to all the power derived from wealth, he will be like the most poor and penniless of mortals. All that he possesses will pass into other hands, and whether for good or for evil, it will no longer be in his power to use it. As this must occur soon,—as it may occur in a moment,-there is no reason to "fear" such a man, or to suppose that he can do permanent injury by any power derived from wealth. Comp. Notes on Isa. xiv. 6, 7, 10, 11.

18. Though while he lived. Marg., as in Heb., in his life. More literally, in his lives. The idea is, as long as he lived. THe blessed his soul. That is, he blessed himself; he congratulated himself; he regarded his condition as desirable and enviable. He "took airs" upon himself; he felt that his was a happy lot; he expected and demanded respect and honour from others on account of his wealth. He commended himself as having evinced sagacity in the means by which he acquired wealth-thus imparting honour to himself; and he congratulated himself on the result, as placing him in. a condition above want, and in a condition that entitled him to honour. A striking illustration of this feeling is found in the parable of the rich fool, Luke xii. 19, "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." And men will praise thee. Others will praise thee. He not only blessed or commended himself, but he might expect that others would praise and congratulate him also. They would regard him as a happy man ;-happy, because he had been thus successful; happy, because he had accumulated that which was the object of so universal desire among men. Success,

19 1 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

1 The soul shall go.

though founded on that which is entitled to no praise, and which is even the result of unprincipled conduct, often secures the temporary praise of men, while a want of success, though connected with the strictest, sternest virtue, is often followed by neglect, or is even regarded as proof that he who fails has no claim to honour. ¶ When thou doest well to thyself. Well, in reference to success in life, or in the sense that thou art prospered. Your industry, your sagacity, your prosperity will be the theme of commendation. To a certain extent, where this does not lead to selfflattery and pride, it is proper and right. The virtues which ordinarily contribute to prosperity are worthy of commendation, and should be held up to the example of the young. But what is evil and wrong in the matter here referred to is that the man's commendation of himself, and the commendation by others, all tends to foster a spirit of pride and self-confidence; to make the soul easy and satisfied with the condition; to produce the feeling that all is gained which needs to be gained; to make the possessor of wealth arrogant and haughty; and to lead him to neglect the higher interests of the soul.

19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers. To be gathered to one's own people, or to his fathers, is a common expression in the Old Testament in speaking of death. See Gen. xxv. 8, 17; xxxv. 29; xlix. 29, 33; Numb. xx. 24, 26; xxvii. 13; xxxi. 2; Deut. xxxii. 50; Judges ii. 10. It means that they were united again with those who had gone before them, in the regions of the dead. Death had indeed separated them, but by death they were again united. ¶ They shall never see light. He and the "generation" to which he has gone to be united, would no more see

20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts & that perish.

d Eccles. iii. 18, 19.

the light of this world; no more walk among the living: Job xxxiii. 30. Comp. Notes on Isa. xxxviii. 11; Ps. xxvii. 13. The meaning is, that the rich sinner will die as others have done before him, leaving all his earthly possessions, and will no more be permitted to revisit the world where his forsaken possessions are, and will not even be permitted to look on what before had been to him such a source of self-confidence, selfgratulation, and pride.

T

20. Man that is in honour. Man that is in possession of wealth, or that occupies an exalted rank. See Notes on ver. 12. T And understandeth not. That is, who has no proper appreciation of what it is to be a man; of what is his true rank as a man; of his relations to God; of his condition as an immortal being,man that values himself only on the fact that he is rich; that lives for this world alone; that regards it as a sufficient distinction that he is rich ; that degrades his nobler nature in the mere enjoyment of the pleasures of sense,—is like the beasts,—is in no way elevated above them. ¶ Is like the beasts that perish. They live only for this life. They have no higher nature than that which pertains to the senses, and they live accordingly. The man who, though of exalted rank, lives for this life alone, herein resembles them. See Notes on ver. 12. Alas! what multitudes there are who thus live,-whose only aim is to secure the wealth and the honours of this life,-who have no more thought of a future state, and who form no more plans in regard to a future world, than do the brutes! For many there are in exalted stations, who are surrounded by all that wealth can give, yet who no more admit the thought of a future world into their hopes and plans than if