Psalms 146:4

146:1-4 If it is our delight to praise the Lord while we live, we shall certainly praise him to all eternity. With this glorious prospect before us, how low do worldly pursuits seem! There is a Son of man in whom there is help, even him who is also the Son of God, who will not fail those that trust in him. But all other sons of men are like the man from whom they sprung, who, being in honour, did not abide. God has given the earth to the children of men, but there is great striving about it. Yet, after a while, no part of the earth will be their own, except that in which their dead bodies are laid. And when man returns to his earth, in that very day all his plans and designs vanish and are gone: what then comes of expectations from him?

His breath goeth forth,.... That is, the breath of a son of man, of any and everyone of the princes; it goes forth continually, and is drawn in again as long as a man lives; but at death it goes forth, and returns no more till the resurrection: the breath which the Lord breathed into man, and which is in his nostrils while he lives, and is very precarious. And when it is taken away, he dies, and he returneth to his earth; from whence he was taken, and of which he was made; upon which he lived, where he dwelt, and in which he took delight and pleasure, minding earth and earthly things, and which is now all he has; who, though he may have had many large estates and possessions, nay, have ruled over many kingdoms and countries, yet his property of earth is now no more than the length and breadth of a grave; he returns to earth as soon as he dies, becoming a lump of clay; and particularly when he is interred in it, and when by corruption and worms he is turned into it; in that very day his thoughts perish; in the day, hour, and moment he dies: not that the soul ceases, or ceases to think at death; it is immortal, and dies not; and, as it exists in a separate state after death, it retains all its powers and faculties, and, among the rest, its power of thinking; which it is capable of exercising, and does, as appears from the case of the souls under the altar, Revelation 6:9.

But the meaning is, that at death all the purposes and designs of men are at an end; all their projects and schemes, which they had formed, and were pursuing, now come to nothing; whether to do good to others, or to aggrandize themselves and families; and therefore such mortal creatures are not to be depended upon, since all their promises may fail; nay, even their good designs may be frustrated; see Job 17:12.

(4) In that very day . . .—Comp. Antony’s words: “But yesterday the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.” SHAKSPEARE, Julius Cæsar. Thoughts.—The Hebrew word is peculiar to this passage. “Fabrications” would reproduce its etymological meaning.

Verse 4. - His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; or, "when his breath goes forth" - i.e. , when he breathes his last - "he returns to his earth," i . e . to the earth of which he was made ( Genesis 2:7, 19 ). In that very day his thoughts perish. All his schemes and projects (' eshtonoth , a word not occurring elsewhere) come to an end - are nipped in the bud - perish. So weak is he, and not to be depended on. Psalm 146:4

4 . Cp. Psalm 104:29 ; Isaiah 2:22 . to his earth ] The ‘ground’ ( ădâmâh ) from which he was taken and ‘of which his name ( âdâm = ‘man’) reminds him. his thoughts ] Or, purposes . The word is common in Aramaic, but occurs here only in the Heb. of the O.T. The author of 1 Macc, appears to have had both this passage and Psalm 104:29 in his mind when he wrote ( 1Ma 2:63 ), “To-day he will be exalted, and to-morrow he will not be found, because he is returned to his dust, and his thought is perished.”

His breath goeth forth - He dies like other people, no matter how exalted he is. See the notes at Isaiah 2:22 . He returneth to his earth - See the notes at Psalm 90:3. The earth - the dust - is "his" - (a) It is his, as that from which he was made: he turns back to what he was. Genesis 3:19 : "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (b) The earth - the dust - the grave is his, as it is his home - the place where he will abide. (c) It is his, as it is the only property which he has in reversion. All that a man - a prince, a nobleman, a monarch, a millionaire - will soon have will be his grave - his few feet of earth. That will be his by right of possession; by the fact that, for the time being, he will occupy it, and not another man. But that, too, may soon become another man's grave, so that even there he is a tenant only for a time; he has no permanent possession even of a grave. How poor is the richest man! In that very day - The very day - the moment - that he dies. His thoughts perish - His purposes; his schemes; his plans; his purposes of conquest and ambition; his schemes for becoming rich or great; his plans of building a house, and laying out his grounds, and enjoying life; his design of making a book, or taking a journey, or giving himself to ease and pleasure. Luke 12:19-20 : "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; but God said unto him, Thou fool!

Instead of "bless," as in Psalm 103:1 ; Psalm 104:1 , the poet of this Psalm says "praise." When he attunes his sole to the praise of God, he puts himself personally into this mood of mind, and therefore goes on to say "I will praise." He will, however, not only praise God in the song which he is beginning, but כּחיּי (vid., on Psalm 63:5 ), fillling up his life with it, or בּעודי (prop. "in my yet-being," with the suffix of the noun, whereas עודנּי with the verbal suffix is "I still am"), so that his continued life is also a constant continued praising, viz., (and this is in the mind of the poet here, even at the commencment of the Psalm) of the God and Kings who, as being the Almighty, Eternal, and unchangeably Faithful One, is the true ground of confidence. The warning against putting trust in princes calls to mind Psalm 118:8 . The clause: the son of man, who has no help that he could afford, is to be understood according to Psalm 60:13 . The following לאדמתו shows that the poet by expression בּן־אדם combines the thoughts of Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 3:19 .