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The truck rolls into Psalm 49, a story of perceptions with 2 wisdom references. This is from the Sons of Korah. Who were they? Well, Korah was one of the men who rebelled against Moses in the desert, and for their trouble God turned them into an "Earth's crust" sandwich. We aren't directly told if any of his sons also died in the rebellion, but out of Assir ('prisoner'), Elkanah ('God has obtained'), and Abiasaph ('Father of a gathering'), I'm guessing that at least 2 of the 3 survived. They were Levites, and became part of the singing ministry at the Tabernacle and later on, the Temple. Anyway, they wrote this song in much the same way as the last one we looked at- to help discern between the fate of the faithful from the fate of the wicked:
Psa 49:3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
Psa 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.
Psa 49:5 Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
Psa 49:6 those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?
And the theme is this: If you have no faith in God, you only see what is physically before you. That changes your actions...
Psa 49:10 For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.
Psa 49:11 Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names.
Psa 49:12 Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.
Psa 49:13 This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah
Kind of like Paul condemning the unwise in his day:
Rom 1:32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
(Which of course lends itself well to the society of today...)
But they do more than point out the physical difference, they hit the spiritual difference as well:
Psa 49:7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,
Psa 49:8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
Psa 49:9 that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
Which is why we needed Jesus all along; HE could pay the ransom for all of us. But these who don't know God, they can see no further than the grave. The sons of Korah, however, could- and so can we:
Psa 49:14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
Psa 49:15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah
Those that think Jesus isn't shown in the Old Testament, explain how, right there, the sons of Korah perfectly explain the Gospel in 2 verses!
No I do want to point out here the big difference between these sons and their "father". Let me post up Korah's declaration of his rebellion:
Num 16:3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”
Mind you this is AFTER God called Moses to the mountain, and everyone else was DOUBLE warned to stay off the mountain when God spoke to Moses (Exodus 19:21-25). Clearly GOD had appointed Moses as special; but Korah, with no true belief in God, accused Moses as setting himself up as king. And even after Korah, Dathan, et al, were swallowed up, the people were still just as stupid:
Num 16:41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.”
And God killed another 14,700 of them with plague. Interesting to me here is the "iceberg effect": 250 leaders (with their families) were killed the first day, because they spoke out; 99% more who hadn't spoke out but remained unchaged died the next day for the SAME CRIME. You had to be supernaturally stubborn to not at least acknowledge God after the first day- which brings us back to Paul again:
Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Think on that. Knowing intellectually that there is a god does NOT equal saving faith; Only honoring Him ("Kiss the Son", from our first stop in Psalms) does.
