None of them can bid any means redeem his brother - None of those who are rich. This verse might be literally rendered, “a brother cannot by redeeming redeem; a man cannot give to God his own ransom.” The passage, therefore, may mean either, as in our version, that no one, however rich, can redeem a brother - his own brother - by his wealth; or, that a brother - one who sustains the relation of a brother - cannot rescue another from death. On the word “redeem,” see Psalms 25:22, note; Isaiah 43:3, note. It means here that he could not rescue him, or save him from the grave; he could not by his wealth preserve him in life. The whole expression is emphatic: “redeeming he cannot redeem;” that is - according to Hebrew usage - he cannot “possibly” do it; it “cannot” be done. There is here no particular reference to the “means” to be employed, but only an emphatic statement of the fact that “it cannot by any possibility be done.” The object is to show how powerless and valueless is wealth in regard to the things that most pertain to a man’s welfare. It can do literally “nothing” in that which most deeply affects man, and in which he most needs help. There is no allusion here to the redemption of the soul, or to the great work of redemption, as that term is commonly understood; but it “is” true, in the highest sense, that if wealth cannot “redeem” life, or keep our best and nearest friend from the grave, much less can it avail in that which is so much more important, and so much more difficult, the redemption of the soul from eternal ruin. Here, also, as in the matter of saving from the grave, it is absolutely true that wealth can do “nothing” - literally, “nothing” - in saving the soul of its possessor, or in enabling its possessor to save his best friend. Nothing but the blood of the cross can avail then; and the wealth of the richest can do no more here than the poverty of the poorest.
Nor give to God a ransom for him - This would be more literally rendered, “a man cannot give to God his ransom;” that is, he cannot, though in the possession of the most ample wealth, give to God that which would purchase his own release from the grave. On the word “ransom,” see as above, the notes at Isaiah 43:3. Compare Matthew 16:26.