Ps. 49.15 (neither wealth, wisdom nor piety can save)

“Surely / God / will redeem me, - even from / Sheol’s grasp / for he will / take hold of me.” As with previous verse, this one has been variously interpreted. Some see in it the voice of the psalmist, as he acknowledges God’s power to ‘redeem from Sheol’. Others, however, see in it the voice of the opposite: the wealthy wicked man who, in his folly, does not grasp that nothing thwarts the maw of Sheol. I think both have support. The use of the word “Surely” would seem to indicate the voice being the psalmist. It has been used twice before, both times issuing from the psalmist’s mouth (vs. 7, 10). However, that fact, when they are understood in their context, also supports it being the voice of the wicked. In both vs. 7 and 10, the ‘Surely’ applies to the inability to avoid Sheol’s grasp. In a sense, the only thing ‘sure’ in this psalm is death’s power to strip all illusions of permanence. Which leads to the second point. This verse, standing alone, would fit well in many other psalms of deliverance, wherein the psalmist is praying out to God to bring him up (redeem him) from Sheol (whether due to sickness or the impinging of enemies). This could support the verse being the voice of the psalmist. However, this verse in its context, if read that way, is incredibly jarring and out of place. It is jarring because there is no other plea in the psalm; this psalm is almost entirely a wisdom psalm and lacks any petition whatsoever. It is out of place because the aim of the psalm has not been to highlight the power of redemption but the power of death to strip all earthly glory. When we take both of these observations I think we must conclude that this is the voice of the wicked and not the psalmist. And I think there may be a profound point in this: the psalmist has taken what was a very ‘faithful’ statement, and yet revealed it to be empty. Jeremiah did something similar in regards to statements about the Temple. Here, the psalmist casts a withering glance at all those who would appeal to pious statements about God’s deliverance and yet remain oblivious to the ultimate reality of death/Sheol. Just like wealth and wisdom, so too with piety—it does not protect or lengthen one’s life. Even prayer fails to thwart. The palmist then could be making a further point—as much as the prayer of deliverance from Sheol has become a stock image in prayer, the psalmist wanted to highlight that the ultimate finality of death could not be avoided. This is, in a sense, the flaming sword that guards the ‘tree of life’. In other words, this psalm is not about preservation from Sheol, but redemption from it (and as to redemption, there is none…).