Everyman’s Song

Hear this, all peoples; Listen, all inhabitants of the world,  Psalm 49:1 (English) NASB

All inhabitants – The Bible might have been written for God’s chosen people, Israel, but, fortunately, it also contains crucial lessons for everyone else.  We don’t have to be Jewish to learn what God wants us to know.  We just have to remember that the context is Jewish (or Israelite, actually) so that we don’t make the mistake of thinking that the universal statements in the Bible don’t involve a Jewish perspective.  They do, even if they apply to everyone.  This psalm is a great example.  Its message communicates to all the inhabitants of the world, but its context is an Israelite perspective.

Here’s the text for this verse:

שִמְעוּ-זֹאת כׇּל-הָעַמִּים הַאֲזִינוּ כׇּל-יֹשְבֵי חָלֶד׃

Literally: shemu-zot kol ha-ammim ha-azinu kol yoshbai hach-led

“Hear this all the peoples, give ear all dwellers of the lifespan.”

You will notice that the verse uses two different words for the idea of all humanity.  The first is כׇּל-הָעַמִּים, “all peoples.”  This is the plural of ʿam (ʿammim).  It is sometimes translated “nations.”  Notice “the unique emphasis of ʿam lies in its reference to a group of ‘people as viewed by one of themselves,’ or to ‘people’ in general.”^[1]  “The term ʿam is often used in a general sense in the [Old Testament] to refer to a group of people, larger than a tribe or clan, but less numerous than a race lĕʾōm.”^[2]  The plural is exceptional since the singular already suggests a group of people, but the point is this: the verse views all the various groups of humanity, not as separate tribes or nations but as humanity in general.

The second word clarifies the meaning of the first.  The translation “inhabitants of the earth” captures this perspective, combining the root yāšab with the word ḥeled, literally, all those who have duration of life.  From an Israelite perspective, this doesn’t mean the earth as a place but rather the world as a collection of all living human beings.  Accordingly, everyone is connected, not because they have a common humanity but because they all need to listen to God.  We might all be the result of God’s creative activity, but that isn’t the point of the psalm.  The point of the psalm is the universal need for the recognition of God’s sovereignty and care.  According to this psalm, to be human is to be dependent.  To think otherwise is disaster.

And how appropriate that this song comes from the sons of Korah.  His rebellion wasn’t just against Moses.  As it turned out, it was a challenge to God.  It was the hubris of thinking that all men, any man, has the right to the role God assigns to any other man.  In this regard it was a direct offense to God’s sovereignty.

We can put it another way.  All men are created equal but not all men are created equally.  Each of us has a unique role to play in God’s human drama.  We are not equally assigned.  We are not expendable, replaceable, substitutes.  The glory of God is seen in the interwoven necessity of every person, and so, in order to fulfill the role that I have been given, I must acknowledge my dependency on Him.  No one else can take my place, nor can I take the place of any other person.

Today the world seems to endorse and believe the lie of the Korah-syndrome.  It has forgotten the lesson of Numbers 16 because it has forgotten its Creator.  As Heschel notes, “ . . . when immorality prevails, worship is detestable.”[3]  Heaven help us.  No one else will.

Topical Index:  Korah, peoples, inhabitants, ‘ammin, yāšab, Psalm 49:1

^[1] (1999). 1640 עמם. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 676). Chicago: Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.

[3] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), Vol 1, p. 195.