Psalms 49:14, commentary and pictures

Like sheep herded to slaughter, the wicked who trust in riches and honor are laid in the grave where death rules over them as their shepherd and their earthly beauty and glory are eaten away far from their dwellings. Wealth and honor give no advantage in death, for wise and foolish, rich and poor alike die and leave all behind and perish like the beasts. The soul that goes down is not deathless in itself but mortal and destructible, lying unconscious in darkness without feeling or action until the resurrection, when reward and punishment are given. That grave is sheol, the covered pit and common state of the dead where people and beasts alike are consumed, never a place of conscious torment. The morning is the resurrection morning at Christ's coming, when night and tribulation end and the upright rise to redemption from the grave to live and reign with Christ in judgment and dominion over the wicked.

Setting and Wording

Christ as Wisdom summons the whole world to hear the vanity of riches to redeem a soul and the madness and guilt of going on in wickedness, self-confidence and vain-glory from generation to generation, contrasting the end of the wicked with the end of the righteous. The psalm belongs with psalms expressing the sorrow and affliction of Hebrew captives, while offering encouragement and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from persecutors.

The verse uses the Hebrew word sheol, which the King James Version renders grave. It is rendered sometimes grave and sometimes hell, called hades in Greek, and the old English keeps hell where the common translation now puts grave.

Here sheol means the grave, pit, or state of the dead, a covered or unseen place synonymous with hades and never a place of conscious suffering or torment. It is presented as a place receiving the dead rather than an invisible world inhabited by living spirits or a place where they are alive.

The saying that death shall feed on them pictures death as the shepherd and master of mankind, watching over people and herding them as a shepherd does a flock. Death has passed upon all people and rules over them, and all are naturally subject to this death.

Riches Cannot Save

Wealth and honor cannot save from death or prevent it, for the honored and the wealthy perish like beasts and in mortal life have no advantage over others. Human honor cannot hold back death, but leaves people laid in the grave where death consumes them.

The wise and the foolish alike die, and the rich and the poor alike die, with their wealth passing to others and remaining behind. Increased riches and worldly glory cannot be carried beyond death, and accumulated land and wealth are left behind altogether. The rich accumulator, after a life spent gathering land and wealth, is buried without distinction from the poor and is soon scarcely remembered.

Riches are therefore no lasting security and no reason for fear or pride, since they cannot spare from death or secure lasting power, honor, or joy. A life devoted to possessions without God, love, or concern for others is empty and cannot secure lasting honor or joy. The contrast between those dead in the grave, whose earthly beauty and status perish, and the upright who have dominion in the morning underscores how little wealth can secure beyond the grave. In agreement with Solomon, people and beasts alike die, which raises whether human death is the same as the death of beasts. The lesson is the necessity of trust in God, with no promise of a time of peace in the last days, so that the saying that peace is coming is a false message.

Death and the Grave

The soul goes into the grave and is in danger of the grave, entering it with the body rather than being kept alive apart from the body. The soul there is nephesh laid in the grave like sheep, with death feeding on it, mortal and liable to death and destruction and killing. Joined to the promise that God will redeem the soul from the power of the grave, this proves the soul goes into the grave and needs redemption from it.

The soul is not inherently immortal and the word does not necessarily mean an immortal, conscious, deathless entity separate from the body. It proves nothing immortal until immortality is affirmed of it elsewhere, so the popular definition of the soul as an immortal spirit is inadmissible. Human life is mortal, the animating life-principle is not deathless in itself, and continued existence depends on the life God gives. The whole man, the soul, dies and goes into the grave and does not continue to live independent of the body. The wicked like beasts that perish are brought by death to the grave and do not continue in a separate state of life after death.

The dead, both rich and poor, lie in the grave like sheep in a land of darkness, unconscious and unable to feel or act, where death has power over them and their beauty is consumed. Death is a real end to earthly life and is not followed immediately by conscious reward or punishment; these come after the resurrection, and the dead await the morning when the upright prevail. The soul needs God's redemption from the power of the grave, and is redeemed from the grave at the resurrection. It comes from the grave at the resurrection, not from heaven at death.

Animals as well as people are in sheol, for sheep are laid in sheol where death feeds on them and their beauty is consumed. Beasts go down to sheol, the grave, at death, where death feeds on them and consumes them and their beauty perishes. This shows sheol to be a place of death and consumption, a place rather than an invisible world inhabited by living spirits of the dead.

End of the Wicked

The wicked are laid in the grave like sheep, buried out of sight, forgotten and unmourned, and perish like beasts. Death brings them to the grave, and they do not continue in a separate state of life after death. Death feeds on them, holds them and has power over them, and they lie in the grave like sheep awaiting the morning when the upright prevail. They remain under death's power in sheol, the common grave, until the resurrection when the dead are raised. Death there is a real end to earthly life, not followed immediately by conscious reward or punishment.

Their beauty is consumed in the grave away from their dwelling, and their earthly beauty, status and glory perish and are lost. Death consumes those who go down to the grave, while the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, pointing to a future reversal of their present condition. Like everyone else the rich and powerful end in the grave, death overtaking them regardless of wealth, with accumulated riches remaining behind. Their wealth cannot spare them from death or secure lasting power, honor or joy, and the contrast between the dead and the upright who have dominion in the morning underscores how little wealth can secure beyond the grave. Joined to the promise that God will redeem the soul from the power of the grave, this proves the soul goes into the grave and needs redemption from it.

All the wicked, like all mankind, go down to sheol, the common grave and place of the dead, and are counted among those who go down there. Sheol is the place where the dead go, called hades in Greek and rendered in English sometimes grave and sometimes hell. It is the common grave of the dead and the place receiving the dead, not an invisible world inhabited by living spirits or a place where they are alive. They remain there until the resurrection, when the righteous are delivered from sheol at Christ's coming and the upright have dominion over them in the morning.

Their state is the beginning of a long night for the wicked, when they cease from troubling and rest as prisoners together. Destined for the grave, the ungodly perish and are consumed in judgment, in final contrast to the righteous raised from death. That resurrection of the righteous is not yet the full end of the wicked. The psalm's statement that they will not see light refers to the temporal state of death and does not mean they will never be raised, for wealth and honor cannot save from death and the honored and wealthy perish like beasts with no advantage over others in mortal life.

Morning of Dominion

The morning is the resurrection morning, when the dead are called from their graves and gathered from their tombs, bringing redemption from the power of the grave and deliverance from sheol at Christ's coming. The upright are then delivered from sheol while the wicked remain under death until the resurrection, and their dominion over them in the morning is their share in that deliverance. That morning is the dawn of the glorious change brought by the Sun of righteousness, marking the change from the present reign of sin, darkness and death. The present is night and midnight and wilderness, a time of much tribulation when the righteous are downtrodden and worn out.

The coming morning is the kingdom, when tribulation ends in glory and judgment is brought to light and the righteous enter dominion. It is the time when their long darkness ends and their hope is fulfilled. In the morning of the great day the upright have dominion over the wicked and over the wicked dead, a future reversal of their present condition. That dominion is a share in the first resurrection, in which its partakers live and reign with Christ, when God's children rise from the tomb and triumph over evil. Then the saints sit in judgment with Christ and are exalted to share his kingly dignity and judgment work.

This dominion comes after oppressors and their kingdoms are destroyed, for the wicked will not rule forever. Then the curse is removed, and oppression and the power of the prince of darkness are broken, and creation is delivered, and Christ reigns with his redeemed and glorified church. It is the dawn of a new day for the earth and the bright day of eternity, when Christ's kingdom comes and God dwells among people and his will is done on earth as in heaven. It is a world without night or sin, bright with God's presence and the joy of immortal life, where people walk with God as in Eden. The resurrection of the righteous described here is not yet the full end of the wicked, but the beginning of a long night for the wicked when they cease from troubling and rest as prisoners together.

The dominion means that Christ's children who are beggars in this world will be rulers in heaven and princes in the kingdom of God. The faithful servant's work and labor of love will be met not with bare commendation but with full reward far greater than the work. For all service and suffering for God here is little beside the glory and joy set before the saints, a joy set before Jesus and set before his people.