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.
Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God,
The psalm has just warned against trusting rulers, who die and whose plans die with them. Now it names the help that holds, and calls God by a surprising name — "the God of Jacob."
This blessing stands against the failure of every human helper. One writer says the problem is not that people are wicked. It is that they cannot last.
Most of us find that it takes a long time to pass a vote of no confidence in man. It is not particularly hard to distrust other people. The difficulty is losing all confidence in the man nearer to us than any other — oneself. The point here does not seem to be man's wickedness but his helplessness. The best of men may be in view, with the kindest of intentions. Yet suddenly he dies, and on that very day his thoughts perish. It is folly to put the weight of our trust on someone like that.
The warning's phrase "a son of man" points to the mortality of every ruler. That sets one Man apart from the rest.
The princes (or rulers) in Israel may be dignified and capable. Even so, the warning to the nation stands: do not trust them, or any individual, who will only be "a son of man," no better than his fathers were. He will come to an end on earth. His spirit leaves him, and all his plans perish (v. 4). How different from the one "Son of Man," who died and rose again — He who is Himself "the God of Jacob"!
The title is not accidental. Jacob was the schemer, and God ties His name to him far more often than to Abraham.
Notice how much space the Spirit of God gives to Jacob's story in Genesis. Our spirits rejoice that it is so. Jacob is so much like us. Our hearts keep echoing, "This might be myself!" The failures, the wilfulness, the scheming, the lack of faith, the turning to the world — sad to say, some of us know these paths only too well. For that reason we rejoice that our God so constantly speaks of Himself as "The God of Jacob," and so very rarely as "The God of Abraham." In the Psalms we find "The God of Jacob" thirteen times, and "The God of Abraham" once. And remember that "Jacob" means "Cheater," "Deceiver," while "Abraham" means "The Father of Many Nations."
That name carries a practical argument for anyone who feels disqualified.
How happy to be sure that we have Jehovah, the LORD of hosts, with us — nothing less than almighty power on our side! And the God of Jacob is with us. If God could be patient with a crooked stick like Jacob, will He not be patient with us, who fall so far short of what we might be?
Behind the title lies a night at Bethel, where God promised Jacob what he had done nothing to earn. The writer quotes an older translation, which says "Happy" where the ESV says "Blessed."
What did Jacob do to deserve all this? Why should God meet him like this? Did he think of the Lord and call on Him for mercy before he slept on the stone? Nothing whatever. And the LORD kept His promise and did everything He had promised. "I will not leave you" is a repeated promise. See Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5; 1 Chronicles 28:20; Hebrews 13:5-6. "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God" (Ps. 146:5). And He is our God and our Lord, and in His grace He keeps and leads us and does all He has promised.
Hope here is not a mood. It rests on what the rest of the psalm says about God.
But what help and hope we have in God! The rest of the psalm presents Him to us in His character and actions. He is the Creator to begin with; He will reign for ever at the end. In between we learn that He keeps truth for ever. He executes righteous judgment. He shows mercy in many ways to the needy, while turning the way of the wicked upside down. Who would not set his hope in a God with a character like that?
Commentators read this psalm as the settled verdict of people who have been through something. The word "blessed" comes out of experience.
By past experience they have learned, first, the folly of trusting in men, whether great or small. In such there is neither help, nor permanence, nor the carrying out of their purposes. Second, Israel has learned the blessedness of having the God of Jacob for their help and hope.
Writers also place the psalm's full answer in the coming kingdom, where God's covenant faithfulness is on open display.
Jacob's God is here praised with special reference to His covenant faithfulness: "He keeps truth for ever" (verse 6). The face of Jacob is no longer pale, as in the day of trouble. It shines with the pure joy and gladness that rests for ever on the heads of all the LORD's ransomed people, when He brings them back with full acceptance to the city of solemn feasts (Isa. 35:10).
- Helpless — The best human helper fails, not because he is wicked, but because he dies. His thoughts perish that very day.
- Grace — God ties His name to Jacob, whose name means "Deceiver." He does it thirteen times in the Psalms. He is patient with people like us.
- Promise — Jacob earned nothing at Bethel. Still God said, "I will not leave you," and did all He promised. That is the help on offer.
- Character — Hope is safe because of who God is: Creator, keeper of truth, judge of the wicked, and King for ever.
- Home — In the coming kingdom Jacob's face is no longer pale but shining, as God brings His ransomed people back with full acceptance.