Day 109

Psalm 49 part 4 

The one who trusted and boasted in riches had no power to ransom or redeem his own soul (Psalm 49:7-8). The psalmist understood that God and God alone had the power to ‘redeem my soul from the power of the grave.’ Hosea said the same thing in Hosea 13:14. Every cemetery tells of the power that death has over humanity. Yet God is greater than the power of the grave, and in Jesus Christ, we can even taunt the grave saying, O Death, where is your sting? O death where is your victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55 – quoting Hosea). 1 Corinthians15 is a powerful passage worth reading on Resurrection from soul sleep at the second coming. 

As a wisdom psalm, this one shares many characteristics with the Book of Ecclesiastes. (my favourite OT book.) Yet the words, ‘But God’ begins a significant difference. The abundant, ‘But God…’(v15) is one of the mountain-tops of OT hope…it brings out into the open the assurance of victory over death which Ecclesiastes leaves concealed. 

We must remember that redeem is a commercial term, meaning ‘to buy,’ ‘buy out,’ or ‘buy a slave so that he or she need never again return to the marketplace.’ Spiritually, it refers to God’s work in buying us out of sin’s marketplace and setting us free. Who can do this? No one ‘but God.’ Even the last words of Jesus on the cross – ‘it is finished’ – convey the same concept. Literally ‘tetelestai’ – it is finished – means paid in full! Referring to the payment of the insurmountable debt that we owe to God. Redeemed at infinite cost from ‘sheol’ (v15) – the grave. 

For those who trust and boast in worthless worldly wealth, this world is the best they will ever have – the grave knows no aristocracy. For the upright who look to God for their redemption, this world is the worst they will ever have! 

The psalm ends by repeating the warning first given in Psalm 49:12. It is the crucial warning to those who may have honour in this world but no understanding. Their honour in this world will not preserve them in the next. Selah!