Ps. 49.11 (death strips every form of glory)

“Graves / are their houses / forever – their dwelling place, / from generation to generation; - they / named lands / with their own names – but / left their wealth / for others.” These lines embody the theological geography (and literal) of the psalm. The first concerns the ‘grave’, the second, what remains ‘above ground’. As to the first, the lines are rather haunting. Up to this point the ‘forever’ sought by the wealthy has been shown an impossibility; if man could ransom his life “then he would be shown to live forever” (vs. 9). The goal was to live within the expanse of the earth. Here, the psalmist utterly contrasts that goal with the reality of death. From the expanse of the earth, they are reduced to the claustrophobic “grave”. It is in that “house” that they will reside “forever”, not in life.  Importantly: they will reside in death, not life. This contrast of expanse and constriction is important for what follows: the magnitude/glory of their wealth was displayed through their “lands” and homes that they “named after themselves”. These wealthy men attempted to sign the earth with their name through their displays of wealth and land. They thought that through such imprinting on the earth they could continue to live upon it “forever”. The psalmist, however, denies them this and says that their ‘expanse’ cannot follow them. Their ‘name’ (what would be passed “from generation to generation”) stays above ground; like Yhwh’s name (Ps. 6), it can’t “go into Sheol”. Death irrevocably robs man of his glory. The poverty of death is here dramatically emphasized. It is an utter stripping, leaving everything that man would like (and instinctively believes will go with him) to take to the grave up on the earth where it is “left for others”. It is only in the realm of the living where ‘magnitude’, ‘wealth’ and ‘worthiness’ reside. What we see here is that death is not merely bodily death but the stripping of every form of earthly wealth and glory. It is these illusions the psalmist is intent on destroying. And it does not come naturally to man; man cannot conceive of the irrevocable stripping of death. He is convinced that some form of his earthly glory must follow him. It cannot be that, when he dies, all forms of authority are, not destroyed, but left above. That, however, is the psalmist’s argument. It is important to note that in order to answer the question as to wicked person and their wealth the psalmist has to posit this as death’s outcome. If he did not afford death such astonishing power, there would be no resolution; the wicked man’s wealth would be able to either prolong his stay on earth or follow him into the grave. Neither of those are an option.