Psalms 49:11

49:6-14 Here is a description of the spirit and way of worldly people. A man may have wealth, and may have his heart enlarged in love, thankfulness, and obedience, and may do good with it. Therefore it is not men's having riches that proves them to be worldly, but their setting their hearts upon them as the best things. Worldly men have only some floating thoughts of the things of God, while their fixed thoughts, their inward thoughts, are about the world; that lies nearest the heart. But with all their wealth they cannot save the life of the dearest friend they have. This looks further, to the eternal redemption to be wrought out by the Messiah. The redemption of the soul shall cost very dear; but, being once wrought, it shall never need to be repeated. And he, the Redeemer, shall rise again before he sees corruption, and then shall live for evermore, Re 1:18. This likewise shows the folly of worldly people, who sell their souls for that which will never buy them. With all their wealth they cannot secure themselves from the stroke of death. Yet one generation after another applaud their maxims; and the character of a fool, as drawn by heavenly Wisdom itself, Lu 12:16-21, continues to be followed even among professed Christians. Death will ask the proud sinner, Where is thy wealth, thy pomp?

And in the morning of the resurrection, when all that sleep in the dust shall awake, the upright shall be advanced to the highest honour, when the wicked shall be filled with everlasting shame and contempt, Da 12:2. Let us now judge of things as they will appear in that day. The beauty of holiness is that alone which the grave cannot touch, or damage.

Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever,.... This is the thought of their hearts, what they secretly imagine, and conclude within themselves; either that their families, which may be meant by their houses, see 2 Samuel 3:1 ; shall continue in succeeding ages, to the end of the world, to inherit their possessions, and perpetuate their name; though often so it is, that great families become extinct, and the seed of the wicked is cut off: or that their magnificent buildings, which they have erected to dwell in, and for their honour and glory, shall abide for ever; though in a little time, so it is by one means or another, like the buildings of the temple, not one stone is left upon another. Or the words may be rendered, "in the midst of them" (their heirs to whom they leave their wealth) "their houses shall remain for ever", so Aben Ezra; that is, so they fancy they will; but this is not always true, for fine houses and large estates belonging to them often pass into other hands and families.

Psalm 49:11 . Their inward thought — Which they are ashamed to express, but which is yet their secret hope; is, that their houses — Either their families, or rather their mansion-houses, as it is explained in the next clause; shall continue for ever — To them and theirs in succeeding generations; they imagine, and secretly please themselves in this fancy, that when they can stay no longer in the world, their goodly houses which they have built shall stand for ever, and the places of their abode continue in their family from age to age. They call their lands after their own name — Though they cannot be immortal themselves, yet they hope their names, which they put upon their lands, shall never die. “Various are the contrivances,” says Dr. Horne, “of vain men, to have their names written on earth, and to procure, after their deaths, an imaginary immortality, for themselves and their families, in the memory and conversation of posterity; which is not often obtained; and, if obtained, is of no value; when, with less trouble, they might have had their names written in heaven, and have secured to themselves a blessed immortality in the glorious kingdom of their Redeemer.”

(11) Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever. —These eleven words represent three in the Hebrew, and, as the text stands, give its sense, which is intelligible and consistent: “They believe their houses will last for ever, Their dwelling places from generation to generation; They call the lands by their own names.” The reading followed by the LXX., Chaldee, and Syriac, kibram for kirbam gives a different thought— “Their graves are their homes, Their dwelling places for ever.” (Comp. “his long home,” Ecclesiastes 12:5.) The last clause, which literally runs, they call in their names upon lands, is by some explained (see Isaiah 44:5) to mean, “they are celebrated in their lands,” which suits the text followed by the LXX.

Verse 11. - Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations . Still, though they know this, the rich and worldly have an idea - an "inward thought" - which they cherish, that they can m a certain sense escape death by founding families and leaving to their children substantial houses, which will keep up the family reputation, and accumulating landed estates, to which they may affix their name, so keeping their memories alive to future ages. They call their lands after their own names (see Genesis 10:2, 4, 6, 22, 23, 29 , etc.; and compare the Greek traditions with respect to Hellen, Ion, Achaeus, Pelops, Cadmus, etc.). To call cities after their own names, or the names of their sons, was a still commoner practice of great men in the olden times ( Genesis 4:17 ; Genesis 11:31 ; Exodus 1:11 ; 'Records of the Past,' vol. 1. p. 14; vol. 3. pp. 45, 92, 112; vol. 7. pp. 32, 39, etc.). Psalm 49:11

Their inward thought is; though they are ashamed to express it, yet it is their secret opinion, and hope, and wish. Their houses; either, 1. Their posterity, oft called men’s houses 2 Samuel 7:11 , &c.; Psalm 113:9 115:12 . Or, 2. Their mansion houses, as it is explained in the next clause, which also serve for this purpose, to preserve a man name for ever. Shall continue for ever; not to them in their own persons, but to them and theirs in succeeding generations, as it follows. They call their lands after their own names; fondly dreaming by this means to immortalize their names and memories.

11 . Their inward thought is &c.] If they do reflect that they must die, they comfort themselves with the delusion that their houses will last for ever, and their names be perpetuated in the names of their estates, which like builders of cities or conquerors ( 2 Samuel 12:28 ) they have named after themselves. But the rendering their inward thought is questionable; and the LXX, Vulg., Syr., and Targ., all point to a different reading, involving simply a transposition of letters (qbrm for qrbm), which gives the sense: Graves are their houses for ever; The dwelling-places for all generations Of those who called lands after their own names. This reading suits the context best. They must surrender their wealth, and a narrow grave will be the only possession left to the man who called a vast estate by his own name. The first line recalls the name ‘eternal house’ applied to the grave in Ecclesiastes 12:5 , and in inscriptions: cp. ‘eternal place,’ Tob 3:6 : and Isaiah calls Shebna’s pretentious sepulchre a ‘dwelling-place’ ( Isaiah 22:16 ). Is there an ironical allusion in the last line to the vast estates of Isaiah’s day ( Isaiah 5:8 )?

Their inward thought is - Their secret expectation and feeling is that they have secured permanency for their wealth in their own families, though they themselves may pass away. The essential thought in this verse is, that the rich people referred to in the foregoing verses imagine that their possessions will be perpetuated in their own families. The word rendered "inward thought" - קרב qereb - means properly "the midst, the middle, inner part;" and hence it comes to mean the heart, or the mind, as the seat of thought and affection: Psalm 5:9 ; Psalm 64:6 . It means here, their hope, their calculation, their secret expectation; and the whole verse is designed to show the value or importance which they attach to wealth as being, in their apprehension, suited to build up their families forever. That their houses shall continue "for ever - Either the dwellings which they rear, or - more probably - their families. And their dwelling-places to all generations - Margin, as in Hebrew, "to generation and generation." That is, forever. They expect that their possessions will always remain in the family, and be transmitted from one generation to another. They call their lands after their own names - They give their own names to the farms or grounds which they own, in the hope that, though they must themselves pass away, their "names" may be handed down to future times.

This practice, which is not uncommon in the world, shows how intense is the desire of people not to be forgotten; and at the same time illustrates the main thought in the psalm - the importance attached to wealth by its possessor, as if it could carry his "name" down to future times, when he shall have passed away. In this respect, too, wealth is commonly as powerless as it is in saving its possessor from the grave. It is not very far into future times that mere wealth can carry the name of a man after he is dead. lands and tenements pass into other hands, and the future owner soon ceases to have any concern about the "name" of the former occupier, and the world cares nothing about it. A man must have some other claim to be remembered than the mere fact of his having been rich, or he will be soon forgotten. Compare the notes at Isaiah 22:15-19.