Put not confidence in nobles, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
Psalm 146 opens with a burst of praise, and almost at once it turns to warn the singer about where he must not rest his weight. It names princes and ordinary men alike, and says salvation is in neither — so what disqualifies them?
Hard experience taught the people who sing this psalm. One writer hears them looking back over what human power promised and failed to deliver:
They find that every age and fashion of natural life carries the same stamp: it is empty, and it falls apart. Time forgets the thoughts of man, however high they reach. Rank and power were only a lie that deceives, as long as they belonged to man — and man's life was no more than the breath in his nostrils. He spent his changing days waiting for a death he could not escape.
That lesson is only half of it. The call to praise rests on two discoveries:
In Psalm 146 the call to praise goes out to those who have learned two things. First, that you cannot rely on man, not even on princes. Second, that it is a blessed thing to have God as your help, and to find your hope in Him.
It would be easy to read this as a complaint about corrupt rulers. One writer argues the problem lies deeper: the best of men fail us as surely as the worst.
Most of us find that it takes us a long time to pass the vote of no confidence in man. It is not very hard to distrust other people... The difficulty is to lose all confidence in the man who is nearer to us than any other — oneself. The point here does not seem to be the wickedness of man but his helplessness. The best of men may be in view, entertaining the kindest of thoughts. Yet suddenly he dies, and in that very day his thoughts perish. It is folly to put the weight of our trust on a man like that.
Why is there no salvation in him? Because of what he is:
He may mean well, and he may look powerful. But he is only breathing earth. His breath goes, and he returns to the earth. Every plan of his that you trusted goes into the grave with him.
The phrase can mislead a reader who knows the title from the Gospels. One writer rules that reading out:
"The son of man" does not refer to Christ. The reading is rather "a son of man, in whom there is no salvation."
The term covers any human being at all. And there the verse sets up a contrast:
However dignified or capable the princes (or rulers) in Israel may be, the warning to the nation stands: do not trust them, or any other person. Each one is only "a son of man," no better than his fathers were. He will come to an end on earth. His spirit departs, and all his plans perish (v. 4). How different is the one "Son of Man," who died and rose again — He who is Himself "the God of Jacob!"
The warning is not just about ancient thrones. One writer applies it to the well-meaning leaders of any age:
However well meaning and honest they may be, they cannot untangle the world's problems. God is not the start of their plans, and His glory is not the goal of their measures. The world is not ready for the answer to the prayer, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." So the Christian who prays that prayer with a sincere heart must stand apart from the world and its politics. If he does not, the confusion and uncertainty of the world will pull him in. But if he trusts in the Lord, He will keep him in peace.
The verse is a door, not a dead end. Having emptied our hands of human confidence, the psalm fills them:
But what help and hope we have in God! The rest of the Psalm presents Him to us in His character and actions. To begin with, He is the Creator: to end with, He will reign for ever... Who would not set his hope in a God who bears such a character as that?
- Learned, not assumed. The psalm's praise comes from people taught by experience that rank and power deceive while they belong to man.
- Helpless, not merely wicked. The point is not that leaders are bad but that they are mortal. Even the kindest thoughts die with the man who thinks them.
- Buried plans. Trust placed in a man is trust placed in purposes that go into the grave with him.
- The other Son of Man. "A son of man" here means any human being — set against the one Son of Man who died and rose, who is Himself the God of Jacob.
- Emptied to be filled. Losing confidence in man is the first half of the lesson. Finding help and hope in the Creator who reigns for ever is the second.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his purposes perish.
The psalm has just warned against trusting princes. This verse gives the reason: the great man dies, and every plan he had dies with him. So what is it that "perishes" at death? And where can a person place trust that will hold?
The verse is not an attack on bad rulers. One writer sees the best of men in view, meaning well — and still helpless.
Most of us find that it takes us a long time to pass the vote of no confidence in man. It is not too hard to distrust other people... The difficulty is to lose all confidence in the man who is nearer to us than any other — oneself. The point here does not seem to be the wickedness of man but his helplessness. The best of men may be in view, holding the kindest of thoughts. Yet suddenly he dies, and in that very day his thoughts perish. It is folly to put the weight of our trust on such a one as that.
Another writer draws out the picture inside the words themselves. The man who returns to the earth was never anything but earth with breath in it.
Now He is contrasted with men: how barren and vain is every hope in man, even man at his best. He may mean well, and he may look powerful. But he is only breathing earth. His breath goes, and he returns to it. All his purposes, the ones you trusted in, are buried with him.
The ESV reads "his plans perish." Older translations read "his thoughts perish." Some have used that older wording to argue that death ends a person's existence. Commentators answer that the context settles the meaning. The "thoughts" are the plans other people were counting on.
Is it not plain here that, so far as the context leads, his "thoughts" that perish are the plans and purposes the man who was to benefit by them had been led to hope for? The death of his patron might cut them off in a moment.
Another writer states the psalm's own subject: help from man set against help from God.
The psalmist is contrasting the help of man on the earth and the help of Jehovah. Men are not to trust in princes, for their help is vain. Once dead, all their plans and projects are over: happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help... Now what have the thoughts of man on earth perishing to do with the state of his soul after death?
The phrase "a son of man" in this psalm can be misread as a title of Christ. It is not.
In verse 4, "the son of man" does not refer to Christ. It is rather, "Put not confidence in nobles, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation."
Yet the same failure sets one Man in contrast.
However dignified or capable the princes (or rulers) in Israel may be, the nation must not trust them. Nor must it trust any individual, who is only "a son of man," no better than his fathers were. As such, he will come to an end on earth, his spirit departing, so that all his plans will perish (v. 4). How different from the one "Son of Man," who died and rose again — He who is Himself "the God of Jacob"!
If a man's thoughts perish with him, so do his opinions of you. One writer draws real freedom from that.
How little it matters to a truly devoted heart what men think of us! Human thoughts perish in an hour. One day we will stand before the judgement seat of Christ, in the full blaze of the glory. What will it matter to us then whether men considered us narrow or broad, bigoted or liberal? And what should it matter to us now?
The same verse also sets off what does not pass away.
This world is all passing away, and man's breath goes forth. "He returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." But we have the truth in the middle of it all. The word of our God abides for ever. Holding peacefully fast to that, we have, by grace, what we know is everlasting. Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life."
- Breath. The man you lean on is breathing earth; when the breath goes, he returns to the earth he came from.
- Plans. What perishes are his projects and promises — the very things your hope was resting on — buried with him.
- Not the soul. The psalm contrasts help on earth with help from God. It says nothing about the state of the soul after death.
- Not that Son. "A son of man" here is any mortal man, and the contrast is with the one Son of Man who died and rose.
- What holds. Man's thoughts perish in a day, including his verdict on you. God's word lasts for ever. Put your weight there.