Psalm 51 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David When Nathan the Prophet Went to Him, After He Had Gone in to Bathsheba.

 ¹Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindness;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

³For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

⁴Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight—

That You may be found just when You speak,

And blameless when You judge.

⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

⁶Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,

And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸Make me hear joy and gladness,

That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

⁹Hide Your face from my sins,

And blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners shall be converted to You.

¹⁴Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

The God of my salvation,

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

¹⁶For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

¹⁸Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,

With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

Preamble

Psalm fifty one’s title gives us the backdrop to its origins (see 2 Samuel 11:1-12:15). And though this Psalm comes from one of David’s lowest points as king, we through it learn much about his heart, but more importantly the heart of God towards every repentant and broken sinner. Therefore, when a man is forced to face the truth about himself and consequences of his own sin, as David was when Nathan the prophet confronted him, he can either turn to God broken as David does here, or else he will turn to lies and denial, which always has a bad end for him and for all of those who have been affected by his sin. What then will you choose?

Commentary

Vs. 1 “Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindness;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.”

When someone is broken by their sin, they have no more explanations, no more reasons for it, no more “defense” of it. All they have is the unbearable weight of it pressing down upon them, and that is what is taking place here. For David being a man of God knows God’s righteous Judgment, he knows that what he has done is a complete violation of God’s law, and as king he knows that he is held to a higher standard. Therefore, his prayer comes from his seeing his own deep need for the mercies and the grace of God. Thus, he begins by asking for the mercies of God, twice in fact in this verse, that God according to His lovingkindness, and according to the multitude of His tender mercies; which He shows to every repentant sinner; would likewise show the same to him, that He would blot out his transgression. Literally remove all record of it. Now David’s appeal to God is based solely upon God’s Person as being lovingkindness and merciful, and not anything emanating from David himself.

Vs. 2 “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.”

In appealing to God for His mercies, David also asks God to wash him thoroughly from his iniquity, to cleanse him completely of it, all which indicates that David has no desire to ever return to it.

Vs. 3 “For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.”

When David faced was faced with his sin, he didn’t try to deny it, he didn’t seek to offer any excuses for it, instead he confessed it first to Nathan the prophet whom God chose to expose it to him; for only then did he himself bring it out from within; and thus now lay it before the Lord acknowledging all of it Him.

Vs. 4 “Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight—

That You may be found just when You speak,

And blameless when You judge.”

In confessing his sin to God, David now very contritely acknowledges that against Him only he has sinned; for ultimately all sins are against God whose very image we are all created in. Therefore, David confesses to God that his sin was evil in God’s sight, that David knew what he had done was wrong,

Vs. 5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.”

In contemplating his own actions David now rightly sees himself not as having been born “innocent” and without sin. No indeed, David here acknowledges that in iniquity he was brought forth, and in sin my mother conceived me. The reason he does this is is to heighten his own awareness of his guilt before God, and thus also heighten his awareness of God’s Righteous, for God alone is Righteous. Try then as hard as me might to see ourselves, or others as basically “good” people, the sinful nature of man is our inheritance from Adam to everyone in every generation. This then is the unescapable and undeniable truth about ourselves that David acknowledges here to God.

Vs. 6 “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,

And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”

Two thoughts then are connected then with this understanding, first then is that God desires truth in the inward parts, and that is one the biggest hurdles for people to overcome is acknowledging the truth about ourselves to God, especially when we fail and sin, He wants us to be honest with Him about it and not play the hypocrite before Him. For we all carry secrets, we all have our hidden fears, we all have those things which we have neatly tuck away so as to maintain ourselves and or our outward appearances. These then are the things that God wants us to be honest with Him about, for that is what a growing relationship with Him entails, trusting God with everything about us, for He already knows everything about us, and as seen here having the truth in our inner parts leads Him to teach us His wisdom as well. Therefore having truth in our inward parts is how wisdom grows up in us as well.

Vs. 7 “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

David then doesn't just want to be forgiven his sin, he wants to be cleansed completely of it. And He knows that only God can do this for him, for only God can wash us and make us whole again, make us whiter than snow, and this He now does through the sacrificial blood of Christ by which He cleanses us of all our sins and takes the guilt of our sin away, for that is the power of the Christ's Cross. For sin left unchecked always has a negative impact on ones spiritual, mental, and physical health. And by all accounts David’s conscience was not only riddled with guilt, but his whole person was suffering the ill effects of it. Therefore, having opened up to God about it he wishes no more to bury it, because the guilt of sin is always an unbearable burden to a righteous person. Thankfully then we have His promise that He will cleanse us from our sin when we confess it to Him (see 1 John 1:9).

Vs. 8 “Make me hear joy and gladness,

That the bones You have broken may rejoice.”

God’s chastisement on David had been heavy, but so had been his transgression, and so David the great psalmist now asks God to once again cause his heart to sing, to grant him restored fellowship with Him and His people, thus to have his joy in the Lord restored, to have then God’s healing hand upon him.

Vs. 9 “Hide Your face from my sins,

And blot out all my iniquities.”

Such then was David’s guilt through this whole experience that he now asks God to hide his face from his sins, to blot out his iniquities, because if God in His Holiness does not, He will not have any more fellowship with him. David then greatly feared the Lord's rejection of him (vs. 11).

Vs. 10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

David in seeking God's forgiveness and restoration now prays for a clean heart and a steadfast spirit within, for his desire, (our desire), is to be holy, to be what God intended him to be. For David now knows that his sin with Bathsheba began in his heart when he first lusted and then went after her. And sin always has a corrupting and degenerating influence on one’s heart and mind if you let it rule you. Therefore you can either confess and forsake it, as David does here, or else you will very likely only grow worse in it. Therefore having the desire to forsake ones sin is where all repentance takes hold.

Vs. 11 “Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”

David then is greatly humbled, not only by his sin and its consequences, but also by recalling how God dealt with king Saul who preceded him (1 Sam. 15:10-35; 16:14). Therefore, David knowing these things does not want to lose the Lord, he does not want to be removed from Him. For apart from Him we are helpless. That being said everyone who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ need not fear God taking His Holy Spirit from them (Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30), for though God's chastisement may even lead to ones own death (1 Cor. 5:5; 11:30), God's New Covenant Promise does not allow Him to forsake or abandon anyone who believes in Him (Heb. 13:5), "...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:20

Vs. 12-13 ¹²Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners shall be converted to You.

Once again David’s prayer moves to his asking the Lord to restore to him the joy of His salvation, that the Lord would do this for him, that He would by His generous Spirit uphold him, for this was David's heart and life delighting himself in the Lord; which is something king Saul never sought nor had. Indeed all Saul ever worried about was his losing his own seat and legacy as king in the kingdom (1 Samuel 18:1-9; 1 Samuel 20:31). I think if God would've even diminished David to that of being a shepherd of sheep once again he would've still delighted himself in the Lord. And so David having learned from his own transgression now promises that if God restores Him he will now become a very useful vessel for the Lord in teaching transgressors God’s ways, as well as bearing a living witness to the love and grace of God that forgave and restored him, thus through him many sinners would be converted to the Lord! And thus God's Name and Reputation be restored. 

Vs. 14 “Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

The God of my salvation,

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.”

Now David addresses the guilt of bloodshed that was upon him for his ordering the death of Uriah the Hittite through the Philistines sword. For David bore his blood guilt, and David knew this all to well. His plea here then is not based upon anything from himself, but only upon the God of his salvation, that He would remove this transgression from him, and he would sing aloud of God’s righteousness, of His alone. For truly when a person is broken by their sin they are going to worship the Lord in gratitude and thanksgiving when forgiven it, than someone who has never even realized their own sin (consider Luke 7:36-50).

Vs. 15 “O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.”

Again, it had been a long time since David could sing the Lord’s praises, for his own sin had removed this joy from him. And in David’s whole being his greatest delight and desire was in singings praises to the Lord. And for a worshipper not to be able to worship the one they love, our Lord and Savior, is tantamount to an artist not being able to paint, or a writer write, or an athlete perform etc.

Vs. 16-17 ¹⁶For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

Here we have one of the many great truths about the Lord that everyone who wants to know Him must discover for themselves, that sacrifice and offering is not what God desires from us when we sin. For these can be merely ritual and ceremonial, they can be done or given as a matter of course having little or no effect ones heart, and so ultimately all such things only end up as being dead works which do not grow anyone’s faith in, or love for the Lord (consider Isaiah 1:11-20). Therefore, the sacrifices that please God are a broken spirit (consider Matt. 5:3), that the person who sins comes to Him broken and repentant, and thus dependent upon Him for His mercies, and thus is not relying upon their having performed or done some sacrifices or rituals, or giving an offering etc.. For it is the broken and contrite heart that God will never despise (consider Luke 18:9-14). Therefore, when you sin, (for there is no one who does not sin), humble yourselves and come to the Lord broken and contrite and He will forgive and restore you!

Vs. 18-19 ¹⁸Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,

With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

David now closes his prayer by looking outward, asking that the Lord once again due good in His good pleasure to Zion, that He build the walls of Jerusalem, that His holy realm and city once again be a place where He wishes to reside. David then wants the Lord to return to reign not only over him, but his whole realm. For then and only then will the Lord be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness done there, and only then would He once again delight in their whole burnt offerings made there to Him. Therefore when the Lord does they will offer bulls (considered the greatest burnt offering) on His altar.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 50 A Psalm of Asaph.

¹The Mighty One, God the Lord,

Has spoken and called the earth

From the rising of the sun to its going down.

²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God will shine forth.

³Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent;

A fire shall devour before Him,

And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.

⁴He shall call to the heavens from above,

And to the earth, that He may judge His people:

⁵“Gather My saints together to Me,

Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

⁶Let the heavens declare His righteousness,

For God Himself is Judge. Selah

⁷“Hear, O My people, and I will speak,

O Israel, and I will testify against you;

I am God, your God!

⁸I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices

Or your burnt offerings,

Which are continually before Me.

⁹I will not take a bull from your house,

Nor goats out of your folds.

¹⁰For every beast of the forest is Mine,

And the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know all the birds of the mountains,

And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

¹²“If I were hungry, I would not tell you;

For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls,

Or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Offer to God thanksgiving,

And pay your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

¹⁶But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to declare My statutes,

Or take My covenant in your mouth,

¹⁷Seeing you hate instruction

And cast My words behind you?

¹⁸When you saw a thief, you consented with him,

And have been a partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹You give your mouth to evil,

And your tongue frames deceit.

²⁰You sit and speak against your brother;

You slander your own mother’s son.

²¹These things you have done,

and I kept silent;

You thought that I was altogether like you;

But I will rebuke you,

And set them in order before your eyes.

²²“Now consider this, you who forget God,

Lest I tear you in pieces,

And there be none to deliver:

²³Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;

And to him who orders his conduct aright

I will show the salvation of God.”

 

Commentary

Vs. 1 “The Mighty One, God the Lord,

Has spoken and called the earth

From the rising of the sun to its going down.”

This Psalm begins with a call from the Mighty One, God the Lord, The Supreme One, the All Sufficient One, who called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. This then is His call to all peoples to give ear to Him as the Supreme Sovereign, the One and only True and Living God. 

Vs. 2 “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God will shine forth.”

His call is now given as coming from Zion, the perfection of beauty, from the place where God will shine forth. This then must be within the New Jerusalem where He will reign over the new heavens and earth.

Vs. 3 ³Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent;

A fire shall devour before Him,

And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.

God’s Presence shall be very awesome on earth, and His voice shall not be silent. For a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. All men will tremble and fear at the presence and sound of Him. 

Vs. 4-5 ⁴He shall call to the heavens from above,

And to the earth, that He may judge His people:

⁵“Gather My saints together to Me,

Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

God Himself as Lord now calls out to heavens from above and the earth beneath to bring forth His people, all His saints who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice, so that He may now speak to us.

Vs. 6 “Let the heavens declare His righteousness,

For God Himself is Judge. Selah”

A cry is now heard from the heavens that declare He alone is Righteous, therefore because He alone is Righteous, He alone is Justified in Judging us all.

Vs. 7-13 ⁷“Hear, O My people, and I will speak,

O Israel, and I will testify against you;

I am God, your God!

⁸I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices

Or your burnt offerings,

Which are continually before Me.

⁹I will not take a bull from your house,

Nor goats out of your folds.

¹⁰For every beast of the forest is Mine,

And the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know all the birds of the mountains,

And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

¹²“If I were hungry, I would not tell you;

For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls,

Or drink the blood of goats?

God having assembled His people Israel, now addresses them collectively. He begins by telling them that He will testify against them, because He is God, their God, but His rebuke of them is not for their sacrifices nor for their burnt offerings which are continually before Him. No His cause with  Israel was not for their performing these, their observing His commanded ritual offerings to Him (vs. 8). Rather His cause with them was their putting these before Him, with their making observing sacrifice and ritual the means to their staying in a right relationship with Him. And as verses nine to thirteen reveal Israel’s’ obsession with these, came at the expense of their own love for Him, of their keeping His Word in their hearts, and thus making it the guide for their lives. For religious ritual, and one’s devotion to it, can never replace ones love and obedience towards God. For that is what God requires of us all, our faith in Him and love for Him above all else, because ritual and sacrifice and never replace relationship. Now to see how bad this got before the Lord Jesus Christ’s Arrival and His making the Finial and Atoning Sacrifice for us all on the Cross consider Malachi 1:6-14 and the priests’ indifferent attitudes there.

Vs. 14-15 ¹⁴Offer to God thanksgiving,

And pay your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

Therefore God calls the people back to Himself to delight themselves in Him again. To keep their word to Him. For it is not observing “the ritual”, or doing “a sacrifice”, that delights God, rather it is that our hearts our thankful towards Him. That when we worship Him, and give sacrificially to Him, we delight ourselves in Him (consider Judges 5:2, 9; 1 Chr. 29:6, 9, 14, 17; 2 Chr. 35:8; Ezra 1:5-6, 3:5 etc.). That when we speak a vow to Him, we keep it (Ecc. 5:4-7; Jonah 2:9). That we do not make false promises to Him. That in the day of our trouble we call upon the Lord first, before we call upon everyone and everything else. For He will deliver us, and we will glorify Him! This then is God’s call to us all who believe in Him.

Vs. 16-21 ¹⁶But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to declare My statutes,

Or take My covenant in your mouth,

¹⁷Seeing you hate instruction

And cast My words behind you?

¹⁷Seeing you hate instruction

And cast My words behind you?”

¹⁸When you saw a thief, you consented with him,

And have been a partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹You give your mouth to evil,

And your tongue frames deceit.

²⁰You sit and speak against your brother;

You slander your own mother’s son.

²¹These things you have done,

and I kept silent;

You thought that I was altogether like you;

But I will rebuke you,

And set them in order before your eyes.

Having addressed His saints, everyone who has entered into a Covenant with Him by sacrifice; which for us now is the New Covenant through the Blood of Christ, which by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we enter into God's Everlasting Covenant. God now turns to wicked and rebukes and rejects them. For God knowing their ways now lays His charges against them, telling them they have no right to declare His statutes, or take His covenant in their mouth, for when they saw thief, they did not rebuke them, instead they consented with them. Indeed, such was their moral and ethical depravity that they even went and partook with adulterers (vs. 18). For when they loosed “the bonds” of righteousness from themselves, they also gave their mouths over to speaking evil; thus all manner of wicked lies and deceit proceeded from their mouths (vs. 19). Even the people around them became victims of their malicious and slanderous speech (vs. 20). And yet somehow, they took God’s silence while doing such horrible things as His somehow being okay with their doing so. Nonetheless His patience has an end, and He now tells them that He will rebuke them, and set them in order before their eyes, which is a clear reference to His Judgment when He will set straight all which mankind has made crooked (vs. 20).

 Vs. 22-23 ²²“Now consider this, you who forget God,

Lest I tear you in pieces,

And there be none to deliver:

²³Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;

And to him who orders his conduct aright

I will show the salvation of God.”

Therefore God now gives us all a warning not to forget Him, not to forget that He is our God and Judge. For He alone kills and makes alive according to His own counsels (Deut. 32:39). Therefore, to brandish unbelief before Him is only to incur His wrath! God then having rebuked the wicked and all unbelief now offers us His Promise of showing His salvation to everyone who offers Him praise, who sets their conduct aright before Him, (consider Acts 10:34-35). The question then is, will you repent and believe and open your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? For it is by Him alone that God's salvation will come to you! Open then your heart to Him and invite Him in and He will come in and save you (Rev. 3:21)!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 49 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

 ¹Hear this, all peoples;

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²Both low and high,

Rich and poor together.

³My mouth shall speak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.

⁵Why should I fear in the days of evil,

When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?

⁶Those who trust in their wealth

And boast in the multitude of their riches,

⁷None of them can by any means redeem his brother,

Nor give to God a ransom for him—

⁸For the redemption of their souls is costly,

And it shall cease forever—

⁹That he should continue to live eternally,

And not see the Pit.

¹⁰For he sees wise men die;

Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,

And leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,

Their dwelling places to all generations;

They call their lands after their own names.

¹²Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain;

He is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the way of those who are foolish,

And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are laid in the grave;

Death shall feed on them;

The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;

And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling.

¹⁵But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,

For He shall receive me. Selah

¹⁶Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,

When the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;

His glory shall not descend after him.

¹⁸Though while he lives he blesses himself

(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),

¹⁹He shall go to the generation of his fathers;

They shall never see light.

²⁰A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,

Is like the beasts that perish.

 

Preamble: Psalm 49 is a psalm that is set forth to address the confusion and fears of everyone who lives righteously and yet sees the wicked, the greedy, and or the schemer of this world prospering in their evil ways. In many ways then this Psalm is also a rebuke of the prosperity “preachers” who make faith in Christ a means of attaining wealth which is to serve ones own greedy desires (consider 1 Tim. 6:5-10). Now without going into more detail here let’s just let the Word of God speak for itself concerning this.

Vs. 1-4 ¹Hear this, all peoples;

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²Both low and high,

Rich and poor together.

³My mouth shall speak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.

Because this is a universal issue that affects us all, the Scripture now calls all people, whether of low societal stature or high, whether rich or poor, to pay attention to the wisdom and understand that is about to be freely bestowed upon us. For the Godly sons of Korah as men of worship have taken their understanding and brought it forth on a musical harp so as to covey the Word of God’s truths through music, which itself is such an effective and powerful medium for doing so, and yet is so dearly lacking in today’s worship, which seems more about arousing peoples feelings, then bringing forth any sort of wisdom or understanding about God and our lives down here. Now feelings are good and emotions need to be expressed, but faith does not grow by these alone, and in perplexing or troubling times these will not sustain you, and very often they will betray you if you rely on them (Jer. 17:9). Therefore, give ear all peoples to the Word of God, for by it your wisdom and understanding will grow.

Vs. 5 “Why should I fear in the days of evil,

When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?”

Since our souls have been secured by Christ (see John 10:27-30), there really is no need for us to fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity at our heels surrounds us, when the ungodly and the unjust rise up, and they are seemingly rewarded in their evil ways, lies and lives. When opposition or persecution pursues us. For God’s haters will always rise up and prosper, they will always exploit and mistreat the just person and the poor, it’s what they do in every generation. And so, just as we stand juxtaposed to their Godless ways by refusing to participate in them, or legitimize their sins among them, so we will become hated by them, even be seen as a “threat” to them in their own eyes. This is every Godly Christians plight in every generation who stands juxtaposed to their moral degeneration, exploitation, oppression, censorship, and or violence by “law” brought down through them (2 Tim 2:12). Nonetheless as Isaiah 10:1-4, and many other passages, and this psalm is about to make clear, their end and the end of their ways is certain. Therefore do not fear! 

Vs. 6-9 ⁶Those who trust in their wealth

And boast in the multitude of their riches,

⁷None of them can by any means redeem his brother,

Nor give to God a ransom for him—

⁸For the redemption of their souls is costly,

And it shall cease forever—

⁹That he should continue to live eternally,

And not see the Pit.

Because they trust in the abundance of their riches and wealth they now boost in their self sufficiency and pride. But what they fail to consider is that none of them can purchase eternal redemption for themselves or anyone else. None of them then can by any means redeem their brother. Because the redemption of their souls is costly, and God cannot be bought, He is not swayed by mans opulence, wealth, nor power. Instead He requires repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, two things which wicked and unjust people fear most to do. 

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰For he sees wise men die;

Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,

And leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,

Their dwelling places to all generations;

They call their lands after their own names.

 It then is not hidden from them that “wise” men die, just like the fool and the senseless person do, for they all go to the grave, down to the eternal Pit, and so they will leave all their wealth and labor to others. And as king Solomon once noted who knows whether those who inherit their wealth will be wise in their use of it (Ecc. 2:19). And yet their inner thought while they live is that their houses, their dwelling places, their “legacies” will last forever. Therefore, they name their lands after their own names, they built and honor themselves with all manner of monuments, statues, and structures, all which are only destined to become ruins and rubble in the generations following. Now if they were truly wise, they would think about building everlasting legacies, just as Jesus tells us all to do.

Vs. 12 “Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain;

He is like the beasts that perish.”

Yes, the rich, the mighty, the powerful of this world all have their day, but their days all have an end, and their being honored as such is always just for a season. For soon enough their time comes and they perish just like the wild beasts of the earth. 

Vs. 13-14 “This is the way of those who are foolish,

And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are laid in the grave;

Death shall feed on them;

The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;

And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling.

Truly then their ways are the ways of the foolish, who only set their hope and seek their riches in this life, because they do not believe in the Lord, nor trust in His power, but only in their own wealth and power. Therefore, they also have their “followers”, all those who also approve of their sayings, who encourage them in their vain and temporal pursuits. Nonetheless like sheep they are laid in the grave, where death shall feed on them, and in the morning the upright shall have dominion over them. For in the Resurrection where they once held great wealth, power, and authority unjustly, there God will make certain that the once feared and mighty oppressors are now the ones who are repressed and reduced to nothing. And so, all their grandeur, opulence and beauty which they once so elegantly and arrogantly displayed before all will never be seen upon them again. Their persons will be greatly abhorred in the time to come when men then see them in their graves (consider Isaiah 51:6-8; 66:22-24).

Vs. 15 “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,

For He shall receive me. Selah”

In contrast then is everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. For we will either rise from the dead, or rise to meet the Lord in the air when He returns to be with Him in His Kingdom forever (1 Thess. 4:16-17). 

 Vs. 16-20 ¹⁶Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,

When the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;

His glory shall not descend after him.

¹⁸Though while he lives he blesses himself

(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),

¹⁹He shall go to the generation of his fathers;

They shall never see light.

²⁰A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,

Is like the beasts that perish.

Therefore because of that, of God redeeming us all who believe in His Son. Do not fear when you see the ungodly, the wicked, the unjust become rich, when the glory of their house is increased. For none of it will remain with them. Death will find them, and all of it will be striped from them in the Godly days to come. And so, though he blesses himself while he now lives (and those like-minded with him will praise him for all his abundance) he shall go to the grave just as his fathers did, to the land of darkness, where there is nothing but eternal sorrow and regret. Those then who are now in honor but do not understand this are like the beasts who perish! Better then to do justly in this life with the wealth and privilege and power that one now has then to face that, for there is a reckoning with God for what we have all done, and what we have believed or not believed down here (consider Luke 16:19-31).

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 48 A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

 ¹Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised

In the city of our God,

In His holy mountain.

²Beautiful in elevation,

The joy of the whole earth,

Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,

The city of the great King.

³God is in her palaces;

He is known as her refuge.

⁴For behold, the kings assembled,

They passed by together.

⁵They saw it, and so they marveled;

They were troubled, they hastened away.

⁶Fear took hold of them there,

And pain, as of a woman in birth pangs,

⁷As when You break the ships of Tarshish

With an east wind.

⁸As we have heard,

So we have seen

In the city of the Lord of hosts,

In the city of our God:

God will establish it forever. Selah

⁹We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness,

In the midst of Your temple.

¹⁰According to Your name, O God,

So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Let Mount Zion rejoice,

Let the daughters of Judah be glad,

Because of Your judgments.

¹²Walk about Zion,

And go all around her.

Count her towers;

¹³Mark well her bulwarks;

Consider her palaces;

That you may tell it to the generation following.

¹⁴For this is God, Our God forever and ever;

He will be our guide Even to death.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised

In the city of our God,

In His holy mountain.”

It is the Greatness of the Lord that captivates us. From His Wisdom, Power, Knowledge, Understanding and Might, to His Everlasting Lovingkindness and Mercies to all of His other attributes that one cannot list all here, nonetheless when we experience any of these in our lives we also want to greatly praise Him! And that is what takes place in the city of our God, (the New Jerusalem), In His holy mountain where all the peoples there will praise Him, for His deliverance and salvation of us all!

Vs. 2 “Beautiful in elevation,

The joy of the whole earth,

Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,

The city of the great King.

The scene is utterly majestic as Jerusalem is now exalted above all as it has now become the joy of the whole earth as all peoples flock to it seeking her King. Thus, it is also described as Mount Zion on the sides of the north, that is it is now the true north register of the whole earth, thus not only is it the destination for the whole earth, but it is now the default marker for all truth and righteousness and justice for it is there that the Lord Jesus Christ now reigns as the great King!

Vs. 3-7 ³God is in her palaces;

He is known as her refuge.

⁴For behold, the kings assembled,

They passed by together.

⁵They saw it, and so they marveled;

They were troubled, they hastened away.

⁶Fear took hold of them there,

And pain, as of a woman in birth pangs,

⁷As when You break the ships of Tarshish

With an east wind.

God then is the reigning King who now occupies her palaces, He is her refuge. Therefore, when the kings of the earth thought to overthrow it saw this they marvelled that He Himself was there to defend it, therefore they were troubled and they hastened away as fear took hold of them as a woman in birth pangs! Indeed, their fleeing and scrambling to get away was with such panic and fear that it is here described as when God Himself raises up an east wind which smashes the ships of Tarshish causing men to abandon ship and to flee for their lives!

Vs. 8 “As we have heard,

So we have seen

In the city of the Lord of hosts,

In the city of our God:

God will establish it forever. Selah”

Now when God’s people see this they begin to recall how often they heard of God’s deliverance in ancient times of His people, but now as they have seen it unfold with their own eyes they with great delight now declare:

“In the city of the Lord of hosts,

In the city of our God:

God will establish it forever. Selah”

Vs. 9-11 ⁹We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness,

In the midst of Your temple.

¹⁰According to Your name, O God,

So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Let Mount Zion rejoice,

Let the daughters of Judah be glad,

Because of Your judgments.

The reflection upon God's gracious and glorious works continues as God having saved His people once again now ushers in a time of reflection, worship and praise. In previous times God’s lovingkindness was meditated upon in the Temple, but now there is a declaration that according to His Name his praise is now heard even to the ends of the earth, as He has once again saved and delivered His people, for He indeed does righteousness and justice in the earth! Therefore, the call goes out to let all in Mount Zion rejoice and all the daughters of Judah be glad because of His judgments.

Vs. 12-14 ¹²Walk about Zion,

And go all around her.

Count her towers;

¹³Mark well her bulwarks;

Consider her palaces;

That you may tell it to the generation following.

¹⁴For this is God, Our God forever and ever;

He will be our guide Even to death.

Though I have taken some liberties in applying this Psalm to the Millennial reign it has a place there, just as it has to the time when it was first penned. Therefore, do not think it, or my seeing it as exclusive to one or the other. For it foresees both. Versus twelve to fourteen then are words of great confidence in our Lord and Saviors deliverance of her. Thus, because of Him alone all the people now confidently now securely within Zion saying to one another to count all of her towers, to mark well her bulwarks (all her defenses), to consider her palaces, to tell it to the generations following,

“For this is God, Our God forever and ever;

He will be our guide Even to death.”

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.