The Confidence of the Foolish
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
• The opening verses suggest that this is a wisdom psalm written for the instruction of men rather than the praise of God (Z)
• We must all appear before the judgment seat, and therefore we all should give earnest heed to holy admonition which
may help us to prepare for that dread event (TOD)
• World – lit., “duration of Life”, the present time (JFB)
Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
• All men may know, and therefore let all men consider, that their riches will not profit them in the day of death (MH)
• Earthly advantages are not reliable for permanent happiness, and that, however prosperous worldly men may be
for a time, their ultimate destiny is ruin, while the pious are safe in God’s care (JFB)
My mouth shall speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.
I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.
• He who would have others hear, begins by hearing himself (TOD)
• Proverb – parable – a wise discourse and very instructive (MH)
• Dark saying – riddle (JFB)
• Dark sayings – perplexing moral problem; how do the righteous come to terms with oppressive rich people who
seem to have no thought for God? (NCBC)
• Upon the harp – the accompaniment for a lyric (JFB)
Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
• All fear of great oppressors is removed by the remembrance of their end and their folly (TOD)
• The iniquity of our heels is that evil which aims to trip us up or impede us (TOD)
• Why should I be afraid of those whose power lies in their wealth? (MH)
Those who trust in their wealth,
And Boast in the multitude of their riches,
• Those of little means or power need not be unsettled when surrounded by rich fools who threaten and strut; death
is their destiny (NIV)
None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for him –
• With all their riches, the whole of them put together could not rescue a comrade from the chill grasp of death (TOD)
• In the slave market of the ancient world, a slave had to be redeemed or ransomed (someone paid the price) in
order to go free (LB)
(For the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever –)
That he should continue to live eternally,
And not see the Pit.
For he sees wise men die;
Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
• Whether heirs lawfully begotten inherit their estates, or they remain unclaimed, it matters not, their hoardings are
no longer theirs; friends may quarrel over their property, or strangers divide it as spoil, they cannot interfere (TOD)
Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,
Their dwelling places to all generations;
They call their lands after their own names.
• Still infatuated and flattered with hopes of perpetuity, they call their lands, or “celebrate their names on account of
their lands”. (JFB)
Nevertheless man, tough in honor, does not remain;
He is like the beasts that perish.
• The hero of the hour lasts but for an hour (TOD)
• He is not like the sheep which are preserved of the Great Shepherd, but like the hunted beast which is doomed to
die. So far as this world is concerned, wherein does the death of many men differ from the death of a dog? (TOD)
This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah.
• An expression of wonder at the perpetuity of folly (TOD)
• The love of the world is a disease that runs in the blood; men have it by kind till the grace of God cures it (MH)
• Those who follow them in descent follow them in folly, quote their worldly maxims, and accept their mad career as
the most prudent mode of life. The race transmits its weakness. Grace is not hereditary, but sordid worldness goes from
generation to generation. (TOD)
• In themselves – their posterity – as those who have “succeeded” (NIV)
• Selah – well may the minstrel pause, and bid us muse upon the deep-seated madness of the sons of Adam. Take
occasion, reader, to reflect upon your own. (TOD)
Like 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.
• The righteous are led by the Good Shepherd, but the ungodly have death for their shepherd, and he drives them
onward to hell (TOD)
• Death is already their shepherd, “guiding” them to the grave (NIV)
• Morning – time of judgment – an allusion to the usual time of holding courts of justice (TOD)
• In death itself the difference between the man who serves God and the man who scorns Him is made apparent. (Z)
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,
For he shall receive me. Selah.
• Everlasting life is a jewel of too great a value to be purchased by the wealth of this world (MH)
Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
• Let it not give you any concern to see the godless prosper. Temporal prosperity is too small a matter to be
worth
fretting about; let the dogs have their bones, and the swine their draff. All things will be righted in due time. (TOD)
For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him.
• He has but a leasehold on his acres, and death ends his tenure (TOD)
• Rich men are but like hailstones; they make a noise in the world, as the other rattle on the tiles of a house; down
they fall, lie still, and melt away (TOD)
Though while he lives he blesses himself
(for men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
• He pronounced himself happy. His chief end and aim were to bless himself. He was charmed with adulations of
flatterers. Take care of Number One! (TOD)
He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see light.
• Where the former generations lie, the present shall also slumber (TOD)
A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,
Is like the beasts that perish.
• Understanding differences men from animals, but if they will not follow the highest wisdom, like beasts their end shall
be as mean and dishonorable as those slain in the cahse or killed in the shambles (TOD)
• They have studied clothes and victuals, titles and offices, ways of gain and pleasure; studied the black art of flattery
and treachery; they understand the humor of the times, the compliances and dependences of this and the other
statesman, the projects of divers princes abroad, and the main design here at home. Is this all? Why then do they have
no better provision for their precious souls? (TOD)