Psalms 49:15

Good reason is here given to good people,

I. Why they should not be afraid of death. There is no cause for that fear if they have such a comfortable prospect as David here has of a happy state on the other side death, Psa 49:15. He had shown (Psa 49:14) how miserable the dead are that die in their sins, where he shows how blessed the dead are that die in the Lord. The distinction of men's outward condition, how great a difference soever it makes in life, makes none at death; rich and poor meet in the grave. But the distinction of men's spiritual state, though, in this life, it makes a small difference, where all things come alike to all, yet, at and after death, it makes a very great one. Now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. The righteous has hope in his death, so has David here hope in God concerning his soul. Note, The believing hopes of the soul's redemption from the grave, and reception to glory, are the great support and joy of the children of God in a dying hour. They hope,

I. That God will redeem their souls from the power of the grave, which includes, (1.) The preserving of the soul from going to the grave with the body. The grave has a power over the body, by virtue of the sentence (Gen 3:19), and it is cruel enough in executing that power (Sol 8:6); but is has no such power over the soul. It has power to silence, and imprison, and consume the body; but the soul then moves, and acts, and converses, more freely than ever (Rev 6:9, Rev 6:10); it is immaterial and immortal. When death breaks the dark lantern, yet it does not extinguish the candle that was pent up in it. (2.) The reuniting of the soul and body at the resurrection. The soul is often put for the life; that indeed falls under the power of the grave for a time, but is hall, at length, be redeemed from it, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. The God of life, that was its Creator at first, can and will be its Redeemer at last. (3.) The salvation of the soul from eternal ruin: "God shall redeem my soul from the sheol of hell (Psa 49:15), the wrath to come, that pit of destruction into which the wicked shall be cast," Psa 49:14. It is a great comfort to dying saints that they shall not be hurt of the second death (Rev 2:11), and therefore the first death has no sting and the grave no victory.

2. That he will receive them to himself. He redeems their souls, that he may receive them. Psa 31:5, Into thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou has redeemed it. He will receive them into his favour, will admit them into his kingdom, into the mansions that he prepared for them (Joh 14:2, Joh 14:3), those everlasting habitations, Luk 16:9.

II. Why they should not be afraid of the prosperity and power of wicked people in this world, which, as it is their pride and joy, has often been the envy, and grief, and terror of the righteous, which yet, all things considered, there is no reason for.

1. He supposes the temptation very strong to envy the prosperity of sinners, and to be afraid that they will carry all before them with a high hand, that with their wealth and interest they will run down religion and religious people, and that they will be found the truly happy people; for he supposes, (1.) That they are made rich, and so are enabled to give law to all about them and have every thing at command. Pecuniae obediunt omnes et omnia - Every person and every thing obey the commanding influence of money. (2.) That the glory of their house, from very small beginnings, is increased greatly, which naturally makes men haughty, insolent, and imperious, Psa 5:1-12 :16. Thus they seem to be the favourites of heaven, and therefore formidable. (3.) That they are very easy and secure in themselves and in their own minds (Psa 49:18): In his life-time he blessed his soul; that is, he thought himself a very happy man, such a one as he would be, and a very good man, such a one as he should be, because he prospered in the world. He blessed his soul, as that rich fool who said to his soul, "Soul, take thy ease, and be not disturbed either with cares and fears about the world or with the rebukes and admonitions of conscience. All is well, and will be well for ever." Note, [1.] It is of great consequence to consider what that is in which we bless our souls, upon the score of which we think well of ourselves. Believers bless themselves in the God of truth (Isa 65:16) and think themselves happy if he be theirs; carnal people bless themselves in the wealth of the world, and think themselves happy if they have abundance of that. [2.] There are many whose precious souls lie under God's curse, and yet they do themselves bless them; they applaud that in themselves which God condemns, and speak peace to themselves when God denounces war against them. Yet this is not all. (4.) They are in good reputation among their neighbours: "Men will praise thee, and cry thee up, as having done well for thyself in raising such an estate and family." This is the sentiment of all the children of this world, that those do best for themselves that do most for their bodies, by heaping up riches, though, at the same time, nothing is done for the soul, nothing for eternity; and accordingly they bless the covetous, whom the Lord abhors, Psa 10:3. If men were to be our judges, it were our wisdom thus to recommend ourselves to their good opinion: but what will it avail us to be approved of men if God condemn us? Dr. Hammond understands this of the good man here spoken to, for it is the second person, not of the wicked man spoken of: "He, in his life-time, blessed his soul, but thou shalt be praised for doing well unto thyself. The worldling magnified himself; but thou that dost not, like him, speak well of thyself, but do well for thyself, in securing thy eternal welfare, thou shalt be praised, if not of men, yet of God, which will be thy everlasting honour."

2. He suggests that which is sufficient to take off the strength of the temptation, by directing us to look forward to the end of prosperous sinners (Psa 73:17): "Think what they will be in the other world, and you will see no cause to envy them what they are and have in this world."

(1.) In the other world they will be never the better for all the wealth and prosperity they are now so fond of. It is a miserable portion, which will not last so long as they must (Psa 49:17): When he dies it is taken for granted that he goes into another world himself, but he shall carry nothing away with him of all that which he has been so long heaping up. The greatest and wealthiest cannot therefore be the happiest, because they are never the better for their living in this world; as they came naked into it, they shall go naked out of it. But those have something to show in the other world for their living in this world who can say, through grace, that though they came corrupt, and sinful, and spiritually naked, into it, they go renewed, and sanctified, and well clothed with the righteousness of Christ, out of it. Those that are rich in the graces and comforts of the Spirit have something which, when they die, they shall carry away with them, something which death cannot strip them of, nay, which death will be the improvement of; but, as for worldly possessions, as we brought nothing into the world (what we have we had from others), so it is certain that we shall carry nothing out, but leave it to others, Ti1 6:7. They shall descend, but their glory, that which they called and counted their glory, and gloried in, shall not descend after them to lessen the disgrace of death and the grave, to bring them off in the judgment, or abate the torments of hell. Grace is glory that will ascend with us, but no earthly glory will descend after us.

(2.) In the other world they will be infinitely the worse for all their abuses of the wealth and prosperity they enjoyed in this world (Psa 49:19): The soul shall go to the generation of his fathers, his worldly wicked fathers, whose sayings he approved and whose steps he trod in, his fathers who would not hearken to the word of God, Zac 1:4. He shall go to be there where they are that shall never see light, shall never have the least glimpse of comfort and joy, being condemned to utter darkness. Be not afraid then of the pomp and power of wicked people; for the end of the man that is in honour, if he be not wise and good, will be miserable; if he understand not, he is to be pitied rather than envied. A fool, a wicked man, in honour, is really as despicable an animal as any under the sun; he is like the beasts that perish (Psa 49:20); nay, it is better to be a beast than to be a man that makes himself like a beast. Men in honour that understand, that know and do their duty and make conscience of it, are as gods, and children of the Most High. But men in honour that understand not, that are proud, and sensual, and oppressive, are as beasts, and they shall perish, like the beasts, ingloriously as to this world, though not, like the beasts, indemnified as to another world. Let prosperous sinners therefore be afraid for themselves, but let not even suffering saints be afraid of them.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.

Ver. 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave] Heb. from the hand of hell: q.d. I am, and shall be in far better condition both in life, at death, and after death, than any of the world’s darlings. Spe bona docti ab indoctis differunt, dixit Chilo; why then should I fear, as Psa 49:5; why should I envy their seeming happiness, which will have so sad a catastrophe, as Psa 49:14. I shall have heaven, and that is more worth than all.

For he shall receive me. Selah] A notable text indeed, and well worthy of a Selah; a clear testimony for the immortality of the soul, and for a better life after this, as is well observed. Hae sunt parabolae, et haec sunt aenigmata, saith a good interpreter. These are those parables, and these are those dark sayings, mentioned Psa 49:4, riddles to the wicked, but cordials to the faithful.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_49:15-20

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.

Empty-handed we depart

I remember an Eastern legend which I have always thought furnished a remarkable commentary on these words of the psalmist. Alexander the Great, we are told, being upon his death-bed, commanded that when he was carried forth to his grave his hands should not be wrapped, as was usual, in the cerecloth, but should be left outside, so that all might see them, and might see that they were empty; that he, the possessor while he lived of two worlds--of the East and the West,--and of the treasures of both, yet now, when he was dead, could retain no smallest portion of these treasures. (Archbishop Trench.)

A sand sorrow

A story is told of a child crying by the seashore, and when mamma asked nurse the reason, her reply was, Please, maam, its because he cant bring home the holes he has made in the sand.

How many weep because they cannot take

To their last home the many holes they make.

The deepest mines of wealth will have to be left behind. Wells of earthly joy cannot be taken with us. Hast thou buried thy talent? Thou wilt have to leave it.

Psa_50:1-23

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 49:15. But God will redeem my soul — Though no man can find out a ransom to redeem himself or his brother, yet God can and will redeem me; from the power of the grave — Or, shall preserve me from the power of hell. The grave shall not have power to retain me, but shall be forced to give me up into my Father’s hands; and hell shall have no power to seize upon me. For he shall receive me — Hebrew, יקחני, jikacheeni, shall take me, out of this vain, mortal, and miserable life, unto himself, or into heaven, as this phrase is used Gen 5:24; Psa 73:24; Act 7:59.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. (Psa 49:15). Only God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hell, for he will take me. Selah. The Hebrew particle at the beginning of the sentence always denotes a limitation or exception. See above, on Psa 37:8; Psa 39:12 (11). It may here mean either that his own case is excepted from the destruction which he has been describing, and which might seem to be described as universal; or that God alone can afford that safety which the rich fool hopes to derive from his secular advantages. Redeem, in allusion to Psa 49:8-9 (7, 8), above. The hand is a common emblem of power, but it may here belong to a personification of Sheol, the grave, or hell, like that of death in Psa 49:15 (14). For he will take me, i.e., as some suppose, will take me to himself, accept me. But as the verb is nowhere absolutely used in this sense, it is better to explain it as a parallel expression to redeem. "He will redeem me from the hand of Sheol, for he will take me (out of it)." Either of these constructions is more natural than that which makes Sheol the subject of the last verb. "He will redeem me from the hand of Sheol, when it seizes (or would seize) me." The hostile sense thus put upon the verb may be justified by the analogy of Isa 28:19; but the change of subject and the less usual meaning of the particle are not to be assumed without necessity.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, because he hath received me.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The pious, delivered from "the power of the grave."

power--literally, "the hand," of death, are taken under God's care.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave] מיד שאול miyad sheol, "from the hand of sheol." That is, by the plainest construction, I shall have a resurrection from the dead, and an entrance into his glory; and death shall have no dominion over me.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15 But God will redeem my soul The Hebrew particle, אך, ach, may be also translated, surely, or certainly. The psalmist had made a general assertion of the great truth, that the righteous shall have dominion in the morning, and now he applies it to himself for the confirmation of his own faith. This verse may, therefore, be regarded as a kind of appendix to the former; in it he makes a personal application of what had been said of all the righteous. By the word, the hand, is to be understood the dominion and power, and not the stroke, of the grave, as some have rendered it. The prophet does not deny his liability to death; but he looks to God as He who would defend and redeem him from it. We have here a convincing proof of that faith in which the saints under the Law lived and died. It is evident that their views were directed to another and a higher life, to which the present was only preparatory. Had the prophet merely intended to intimate that he expected deliverance from some ordinary emergency, this would have been no more than what is frequently done by the children of the world, whom God often delivers from great dangers. But here it is evident that he hoped for a life beyond the grave, that he extended his glance beyond this sublunary sphere, and anticipated the morning which will introduce eternity. From this we may conclude, that the promises of the Law were spiritual, and that our fathers who embraced them were willing to confess themselves pilgrims upon earth, and sought an inheritance in heaven. It evinced gross stupidity in the Sadducees, educated as they were under the Law, to conceive of the soul as mortal. The man must be blind indeed who can find no mention of a future life in this passage. To what other interpretation can we wrest the preceding verse, when it speaks of a morning altogether new and peculiar? We are sufficiently accustomed to see the return of morning, but it points us to a day of an extraordinary kind, when God himself shall rise upon us as the sun, and surprise us with the discovery of his glory. When the Psalmist adds, Assuredly God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, does he not contemplate a special privilege, such as could not be shared by all other men? If deliverance from death, then, be a privilege peculiar to the children of God, it is evident that they are expectants of a better life. We must not overlook, (what I have already noticed,) that the sure method of profiting by the divine promises is, to apply to ourselves what God has offered generally to all without exception. This is done by the prophet, for how could he have arrived at an assured promise of the redemption of his soul, except by the general fact known to him of the future glory awaiting the children of God, and by concluding himself to be amongst their number? The last clause of the verse runs in the Hebrew literally, for he will take me up Some, however, resolve the causal particle כי, ki, which we render for, into the adverb of time when, and the verb לקח, lakach, which we translate to receive or to take up, they translate to cut off, or take away from this world, giving to the passage this sense, When God shall have called my soul out of this world to himself, he will rescue it from the power of the grave. I am afraid that this is rather too strained an interpretation. Those seem to take a juster view of the words who consider that the future tense has been substituted for the perfect, and who retain the proper signification of the causal particle, reading, for he has taken me up The prophet did not consider that the ground of his hope for a better resurrection was to be found in himself, but in the gratuitous adoption of God who had taken him into his favor. There is no need, however, why we should suppose a change of tense, and not understand the Psalmist as meaning that God would redeem his soul from death, by undertaking the guardianship of it when he came to die. The despairing fears which so many entertain when descending to the grave spring from the fact of their not commending their spirit to the preserving care of God. They do not consider it in the light of a precious deposit which will be safe in his protecting hands. Let our faith be established in the great truth, that our soul, though it appears to evanish upon its separation from the body, is in reality only gathered to the bosom of God, there to be kept until the day of the resurrection.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) But God will.—Better, But God shall redeem my life from the hand of sheol when it seizes me. Taken by itself, this statement might only imply that when just at the point of death, the Divine favour would draw him back and rescue him. But taken with the rendering given above to the previous verse, we must see here the dim foreshadowing of a better hope, that death did not altogether break the covenant bond between Jehovah and His people, a hope to which, through the later psalms and the book of Job, we see the Hebrew mind feeling its way. (Comp. Psa_16:10; and see Note to Psa_6:5.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. While the wicked become the prey of Sheol, the Psalmist is delivered from its power. But in what sense? In this life, or after death? A careful study of the context and of similar phrases elsewhere seems to shew that the Psalmist looks with confidence for deliverance from the premature and penal death of the wicked, but does not anticipate escape from death or express his belief in a resurrection. The verse corresponds to Psa_49:7-8. While wealth is powerless to avert death, God can and will deliver His servant. Similar phrases are constantly used of deliverance from imminent peril of death. Cp. Psa_30:3; Psa_33:18 f.; Psa_86:13; Psa_103:4; Psa_138:7; and particularly Psa_89:48; Job_33:22 ff.; Hos_13:14; see also Psa_16:10, and note there. For he shall receive me is to be explained by the use of the same word in Psa_18:16 (A.V. he took me): He will take hold of me and deliver me. It is possible that the verse should be divided thus: But God will redeem my life [soul]: out of the grasp of Sheol will he surely take me.

Delitzsch indeed thinks that he shall receive me contains an allusion to the history of Enoch (Gen_5:24), where the same word is used, “He was not; for God took him.” He holds that in a moment of lofty aspiration the Psalmist expresses a bold hope that he may escape death, and be taken directly into the presence of God. But this interpretation is improbable: it does not appear that he, any more than the author of Psalms 89, anticipates that any mortal man can finally escape death.

Many commentators find in the passage “the strong hope of eternal life with God, if not the hope of a resurrection.” But the context and the parallel passages lead to a different conclusion. Certainly the doctrine of a future life was not to the Psalmist a revealed certainty to which he could appeal for a solution of the enigmas of life which were perplexing him. Probably, as has been said before on Psalms 16, the truth is that the antithesis in the Psalmist’s mind is not between life here and life hereafter (as we speak), but between life with and life without God; and for the moment, in the consciousness of the blessedness of fellowship with God, death fades from his view. The rich man’s wealth, which he is tempted to envy, cannot buy from God one moment’s prolongation of life; nay, the wicked are doomed to a premature and miserable death: while the Psalmist rejoices in the assured protection and fellowship of God.

But whatever may have been the extent or the limitation of the Psalmist’s view, his words contain the germ and principle of the doctrine of the Resurrection; and for ourselves, as we use them, they will bear the fuller meaning with which they have been illuminated by Christ’s Resurrection.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,.... The psalmist expresses his faith, that though he should die, and for a while be under the power of the grave, yet he should be redeemed from it in the resurrection; which to the saints will be "the day of redemption", Eph 4:30; their bodies then will be redeemed from mortality, weakness, corruption, and dishonour, which attend them now, and in the grave; and which will, be in consequence of the redemption both of their souls and bodies, through the blood of Christ; see Hos 13:14; or the words may be rendered, "but God will redeem my soul from the power of hell"; and so the Targum,

"David said by the spirit of prophecy, but God will redeem my soul from the judgment of hell;''

that is, will keep and preserve from the second death, from being hurt by it, or from its having any power over him; and Christ, who is the Redeemer of his people, and who, being God over, all, is an able and mighty one, has redeemed the souls of his from wrath to come, hell, or the second death, by destroying sin, the cause of it, by satisfying the law, the administration of it, and by abolishing death itself; all which he has done by giving himself a ransom price for them, whereby he has procured the redemption which rich men, with all their gold and silver, could never obtain for themselves or others. The reason why the psalmist believed Christ would do this for him, follows;

for he shall receive me. Or, "for he hath received me" (i); into his arms of love, into his grace and favour; which he does openly at conversion, and in the effectual calling; men being drawn to Christ by the cords of love, come to him, and are received by him, who casts none out; and the argument from hence is very strong, that such whom Christ receives by his grace, he will redeem from the grave, or raise at the last day to the resurrection of life: or, "for he will receive me"; as he does the souls of his people to glory at death, when, during their separate state, they will be happy with him, and takes their bodies into his care and custody; from whence it may be strongly concluded he will raise them up again at the resurrection morn, and then will receive them soul and body to himself, and present them to his Father, and introduce them into his kingdom and glory; wherefore, as in Psa 49:5, the good man has no reason to fear anything in the day of evil; for when it goes ever so ill with others, it is well with him. The Targum in the king's Bible is,

"he will lead me into his part or portion in the world to come.''

Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psa 3:2.

(i) "suscepit me", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Musculus, Gejerus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave - literally, “from the hand of Sheol;” that is, from the dominion of death. The hand is an emblem of power, and it here means that death or Sheol holds the dominion over all those who are in the grave. The control is absolute and unlimited. The grave or Sheol is here personified as if reigning there, or setting up an empire there. Compare the notes at Isa 14:9. On the word “redeem,” see the references in the notes at Psa 49:7.

For he shall receive me - literally, “he shall take me.” That is, either, He will take me from the grave; or, He will take me “to” himself. The general idea is, that God would take hold of him, and save him from the dominion of the grave; from that power which death exercises over the dead. This would either mean that he would be preserved from going down to the grave and returning to corruption there; or, that he would hereafter be rescued from the power of the grave in a sense which would not apply in respect to the rich man. The former evidently cannot be the idea, since the psalmist could not hope to escape death; yet there might be a hope that the dominion of death would not be permanent and enduring, or that there would be a future life, a resurrection from the grave. It seems to me, therefore, that this passage, like the expression in Psa 49:14, “in the morning,” and the passages referred to in the notes at that verse, is founded on the belief that death is not the end of a good man, but that he will rise again, and live in a higher and better state. It was this consideration which gave such comfort to the psalmist in contemplating the whole subject; and the idea, thus illustrated, is substantially the same as that stated by the Saviour in Mat 10:28, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Though no man can find out a ransom to redeem himself or his brother, yet God can and will redeem me.

My soul; either properly; or myself or life; for all comes to one.

Of the grave; or, of hell; for he speaks of that sheol in which the wicked are left. The grave shall not have power to retain me, but shall be forced to give me up into my Father’s hands; and hell shall have no power to seize upon me.

He shall receive me, or take me, out of this vain, mortal, and miserable life, unto himself, or into heaven, as this phrase is used, Gen 5:24; Psa 73:24; Act 7:59.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Forth from that temporary resting place we shall come in due time, quickened by divine energy. Like our risen Head we cannot be holden by the bands of the grave; redemption has emancipated us from the slavery of death. No redemption could man find in riches, but God has found it in the blood of his dear Son. Our Elder Brother has given to God a ransom, and we are the redeemed of the Lord: because of this redemption by price we shall assuredly be redeemed by power out of the hand of the last enemy. For he shall receive me. He shall take me out of the tomb, take me up to heaven. If it is not said of me as of Enoch, "He was not, for God took him, "yet shall I reach the same glorious state. My spirit God will receive, and my body shall sleep in Jesus till, being raised in his image, it shall also be received into glory. How infinitely superior is such a hope to anything which our oppressors can boast! Here is something which will bear meditation, and therefore again let us pause, at the bidding of the musician, who inserts a Selah.

Ver. 15. (last clause). For he shall take me. This short half verse is, as Bottcher remarks, the more weighty, from its very shortness. The same expression occurs again, Ps 73:24, "Thou shalt take me, "the original of both being Ge 5:24, where it is used of the translation of Enoch, "He was not, for God took him." J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Ver. 15.

1. Return to the dust I shall.

2. Redeem from the dust he will.

3. Receive into heaven he will.

4. Rejoice for ever I shall.

Psalms 49:16*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. But God will redeem my soul—Surely “God will redeem” me. The particle is one of asseveration springing from undoubting faith. The word “redeem” supposes him to be first under the power of death. Faith in the resurrection of the body here discovers itself. The author not only speaks in his own person, but for all of his class. It was the common faith.

From the power of the grave—Literally, From the hand of sheol. This does not teach that the righteous will not die, which would contradict not only the psalmist’s language here and at Psa_49:10, but all fact and all Scripture. The antithesis lies not between dying and not dying, but between continuing and not continuing under the power of death. In the matter of dying the good and the bad are equal, but in the matter of redemption from death they are infinitely different. The victory of the righteous over the wicked does, indeed, partially appear in this life, but comes infallibly and in its fulness only after all have succumbed to death. The clear eschatological bearing of this passage cannot be avoided, and is further sustained in the next hemistich.

For he shall receive me—The verb is the same as Gen_5:24 : “For God took him.” So here, “for he will take me.”

Keble: “He takes me home.” With the examples of Enoch and Elijah before him, and from the connexion of the argument, no other sense could apply. The verb is the same, and the form more full, in Psa_73:24, “and afterward receive me to glory.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Here is the solution of the "dark saying," the key to the" parable." The souls of the righteous will be redeemed, not by themselves, but by God they will be delivered "from the power of the grave," or rather of Hades; and, while the ungodly are held under by death and the grave (ver. 14), they will be released, and enter upon a higher life. For he shall receive me. As God "took Enoch," when he "was not" (Gen_4:24) took him to be with himself so he will "receive" every righteous soul, and take it home, and give it rest and peace in his own dwelling-place. As Professor Cheyne observes, "It is the weakest of explanations to say that the psalmist rejoices thus in the prospect of mere deliverance from the danger of death. A few years later, and the prospect will return in a heightened form." The fact is that "the poet has that religious intuition which forms the kernel of the hope of immortality." At the same time, we may admit, as Hupfeld argues, that the belief in immortality is "not here stated as a revealed doctrine, but as a presentiment, a deep inward conviction, inseparable from real living faith in a living God."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God - Tho' no man can find out a ransom to redeem himself, yet God can and will redeem me. The grave - The grave shall not have power to retain me, but shall be forced to give me up into my father's hands. Receive - Into heaven.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

redeem (See Scofield "Isa 59:20") See Scofield "Exo 14:30"

grave Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Like sheep, they are destined to the grave Like sheep that are gathered to the shed, so are they into the grave.

they are destined Heb. שתו. The “tav” is punctuated with a “dagesh,” in place of the second “tav.” שּׁוֹתתוּ into the midst of the foundations (שתותיה) of the nether world, to the lowest level. Likewise (above 73:9): “They have set their mouth against heaven,” is also an expression of foundations; they set their mouth in heaven; their slander.

death will devour them Heb. ירעם. The angel of death will devour them. Do not wonder about this expression of eating because we find elsewhere (Job 18:13): “the prince of death shall devour his branches.” Another explanation: [It is] an expression of breaking, as (Jer. 15:12): “Will iron break (הירע)?”

and the upright will rule over them in the morning On the day of the redemption, when the morning of Israel shines, they will rule over them, as it is stated (Malachi 3:21): “And You shall crush the wicked, etc.”

and their form will outlast the grave The form of the wicked will outlast the grave. Gehinnom will end, but they will not end.

as his dwelling place From being a dwelling place for them. And the Holy One, blessed be He, takes the sun out of its case, and it will burn them up, as it is stated (Mal. 3:19, Ned. 8b). Our Sages, however, explained מִזְבֻל לוֹ to mean that because they stretched out their hand on His dwelling place, they destroyed the Temple (Mid. Ps. 49:3).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.