Psalm 49: Wisdom's Music

"To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.
5 Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life,
there is no price one can give to God for it.
8 For the ransom of life is costly,
and can never suffice,
9 that one should live on for ever
and never see the grave.
10 When we look at the wise, they die;
fool and dolt perish together
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves are their homes for ever,
their dwelling-places to all generations,
though they named lands their own.
12 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish."

Psalm 49 in a Nutshell

Psalm 49 occupies a position midway between Ecclesiastes 1-2 and the "orthodox" wisdom tradition of Proverbs 3. The theory of the former, the OT reading for this week, is that all human activities are pointless and worthless because we ultimately come to the same final reality--death. One can seek out pleasure and wealth and even wisdom, but since you cannot control how the next generation handles any of it, it is vanity. That is the approach of the author of Ecclesiastes to life. In contrast is the orthodox wisdom tradition. Its emphasis is on the value of acquiring wisdom and trusting God. If you honor the Lord with your substance and the first fruit of all your harvest, then your vats will be bursting with wine (Prov. 3:11-12). If you trust in the Lord with all your heart, relying not on your own understanding; if you acknowledge God in all your ways, then God will make your paths straight (Prov. 3:5-6). Wisdom calls gently to us--we do best to heed its call. That is the philosophy of Proverbs.

As mentioned, the Psalm for the day fits midway between these approaches. On the one hand it recognizes that all of us, rich and poor, wise and foolish, die. Ps. 49:10, for example, sounds like it comes right from Eccles. 2:

"10 When we look at the wise, they die;
fool and dolt perish together
and leave their wealth to others."

But, on the other hand, there is another tone in the Psalm, one which says that even though wise and fool share the same fate, God knows how to and does redeem lives from the pit. This verse occurs outside of the reading for the week, but still should be mentioned. In 49:15 we have:

"But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me."

Thus, my first point is that Ps. 49 is a Psalm "in the middle" with respect to the wisdom tradition. A second point deals with the content of the Psalm itself. Here the enemies of the Psalmist are wealthy people, people who "trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches" (vv. 5-6). What these rich people don't realize is that they, too, will die. No "pay off" to God is big enough to ransom (i.e., save) their lives. In this regard the message of Ps. 49 dovetails neatly with that of our NT lesson for today, Luke 12:13-21. In that passage, Jesus took a question from a person in the crowd about dividing an inheritance and turned it into a warning against greed and the focus on worldy possessions.

Resentment or True Wisdom?

The Psalmist's words, however, evoke a question in my mind. Is his attack on the wealthy, those who not only boast of their abundance of their riches but also persecute the Psalmist, just a reflection of resentment or is it wisdom we adopt for today? That is, it is a common theme among students of fundamentalist religion that at fundamentalism's root is resentment. Why? Because the fundamentalists don't have, or traditionally have not had, the things of the world that the "liberals" have--money, education, a seeming "fit" with the world. By embracing the promise of a future hope and the reality of judgment for the wealthy, traditional fundamentalism could be interpreted as a religion that tries to "get back" at people in eternity whom they couldn't retaliate against in this life.*

[*I talk about traditional fundamentalism, because more modern expressions of it, at least in America, emphasize the compatibility between material acquisition and Christian faith.]

Then again, one can argue that the Psalmist's approach to wealthy people, and Jesus' approach to greed, are not simply expressions of resentment by those who don't have worldly goods but are expressions, in fact, of the mind of God. The Psalmist declares that his "mouth shall speak wisdom; the mediation of my heart shall be understanding" (v. 3). In language unique in the Bible, he says that he will solve his riddle to the music of the harp (v. 4). In other Biblical passages, especially in the David/Saul narrative, we know how music can be the source for ecstatic utterance, but here is the only occasion where music stimulates wisdom. An interesting thought...

Conclusion

Both the Psalmist and Jesus speak of wealth as creating extreme dangers for people. What is at work in these passages is not an expression of resentment at not having the resources of another, but a sober realization of what money does to people. Just as work, in my mind, often puts you in a "tube" where you don't realize the beauty all around you--of a leaf, a bird, a tree, a garden--so wealth is like insulation. It keeps you away from precisely the kind of lessons you need in order to deepen your soul. But wisdom doesn't cry out too loudly the streets. It whispers its message. Can you hear it?

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