I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp:
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 four verses the poet prophet calls universal humanity to listen to his didactic hymn.
Commenting on Psalm 49:1
I will incline mine ear to a parable. He who would have others hear, begins by hearing himself. As the minstrel leans his ear to his harp, so must the preacher give his whole soul to his ministry. The truth came to the psalmist as a parable, and he endeavoured to unriddle it for popular use; he would not leave the truth in obscurity, but...