Psalms 49:15

"The great But God . . . (15) is one of the mountain-tops of Old Testament hope." [Note: Kidner, p. 182.]

God will free the righteous from the power of the grave and will receive them on the other side of the grave. This is one of the Old Testament passages that reveal that believers living when the psalmist did had hope of life after death (cf. Job 19:25; Hebrews 11:10; et al.). [Note: See T. D. Alexander, "The Psalms and the Afterlife," Irish Biblical Studies 9 (1987):2-17.] Revelation of the bodily resurrection, however, was obscure until Jesus Christ’s resurrection and His apostles’ revelations on that subject (1 Thessalonians 4; 1 Corinthians 15).

"It is possible that the psalmist is looking at ultimate eschatological realities, anticipating his own resurrection and a time when the righteous, not the rich, will rule on earth. However, it is more likely that the ascendancy of the righteous refers to their vindication in this life, a well-attested theme in the Psalter, especially in the wisdom psalms (see, e.g., Psalms 1, 34, 37, , 112, as well as the discussion above). In this case Psalms 49:15 refers to God’s preserving the psalmist through ’evil days’ (cf. Psalms 49:5) by keeping him from premature, violent death at the hands of the oppressive rich and from the calamity that overtakes them. ’Morning’ (Psalms 49:14), which brings to mind the dawning of a new day after a night of darkness, aptly symbolizes the cessation of these ’evil days.’" [Note: Chisholm, "A Theology . . .," p. 285.]