Do not be afraid when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases.
The wicked enjoy prosperity while God's people suffer affliction, which tempts the faithful to despair. But the Psalmist means to check their envy and moderate the pride of the ungodly by showing that worldly happiness, however grand it appears, is vain and evanescent, whereas the godly, tried though they be, remain the objects of divine regard and shall be delivered from their enemies.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 49:1-20
In these last verses the psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud thy mind.
The believer's great comfort in death is this: God will redeem the soul from the grave's power and receive it into glory. Rich and poor meet in the grave alike, yet their spiritual states divide them forever at death. When death breaks the lantern, the candle inside does not go out; the soul lives on, freed from its prison, conversing more freely than ever, until body and soul reunite in resurrection.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 49:15-20