Psalm 49
Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and poor together” (Vees 1, 2).
What did the singers of this psalm want all the people to hear? They were to hear wisdom, and true wisdom comes only from God, so this was something He wanted all people to know:
“They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches: None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: For the redemption of their souls is precious, and it ceaseth forever.”
There is a soul within every person which does not die when the body dies, and belongs to God; and no person, no. matter how rich, can buy the soul of anyone else. The redemption of the soul is too precious to ever be bought with money or gifts of people.
Many people build great houses, or castles, and think they will last always and be for their children, and “call their lands after their own names,” yet in a few, years there is no one who remembers them.
But the people are told there is One who can redeem (buy again) the soul.
“But God will redeem my soul from the, power of the grave: for He shall receive me. Selah.”
The word “Selah” means “to pause” in the music, so each singer would pause at the wonder of this thought that God could redeem his soul! These singers believed God, that was why He would save their souls.
Words written after the Lord Jesus died, to those who believed Him, show most plainly why God can save souls:
There is also a call for all people, rich or poor, in the very last of God’s Word:
“Whosoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely.” Rev, 22:17.
We know we must all have water to live in this world, so God’s Son, the Lord Jesus, is spoken of as “The Water of Life,” whom we must “take,” or accept, for everlasting life.
Jesus was given for all,—rich and poor, —that whosoever will, may drink freely of the Water of Life for their salvation.
ML 10/06/1940