Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. CHAPTER 14
Job 14:1-22. Job Passes from His Own to the Common Misery of Mankind. 1. woman—feeble, and in the East looked down upon (Ge 2:21). Man being born of one so frail must be frail himself (Mt 11:11). few days—(Ge 47:9; Ps 90:10). Literally, "short of days." Man is the reverse of full of days and short of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 2. (Ps 90:6; see on [503]Job 8:9).
And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? 3. open … eyes upon—Not in graciousness; but, "Dost Thou sharply fix Thine eyes upon?" (See on [504]Job 7:20; also see on [505]Job 1:7). Is one so frail as man worthy of such constant watching on the part of God? (Zec 12:4).
me—so frail. thee—so almighty. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. 4. A plea in mitigation. The doctrine of original sin was held from the first. "Man is unclean from his birth, how then can God expect perfect cleanness from such a one and deal so severely with me?"
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; 5. determined—(Job 7:1; Isa 10:23; Da 9:27; 11:36).
Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day. 6. Turn—namely, Thine eyes from watching him so jealously (Job 14:3).
hireling—(Job 7:1). accomplish—rather, "enjoy." That he may at least enjoy the measure of rest of the hireling who though hard worked reconciles himself to his lot by the hope of his rest and reward [Umbreit]. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 7. Man may the more claim a peaceful life, since, when separated from it by death, he never returns to it. This does not deny a future life, but a return to the present condition of life. Job plainly hopes for a future state (Job 14:13; Job 7:2). Still, it is but vague and trembling hope, not assurance; excepting the one bright glimpse in Job 19:25. The Gospel revelation was needed to change fears, hopes, and glimpses into clear and definite certainties.
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. 9. scent—exhalation, which, rather than the humidity of water, causes the tree to germinate. In the antithesis to man the tree is personified, and volition is poetically ascribed to it.
like a plant—"as if newly planted" [Umbreit]; not as if trees and plants were a different species. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 10. man … man—Two distinct Hebrew words are here used; Geber, a mighty man: though mighty, he dies. Adam, a man of earth: because earthly, he gives up the ghost.
wasteth—is reduced to nothing: he cannot revive in the present state, as the tree does. The cypress and pine, which when cut down do not revive, were the symbols of death among the Romans. As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: 11. sea—that is, a lake, or pool formed from the outspreading of a river. Job lived near the Euphrates: and "sea" is applied to it (Jer 51:36; Isa 27:1). So of the Nile (Isa 19:5).
fail—utterly disappeared by drying up. The rugged channel of the once flowing water answers to the outstretched corpse ("lieth down," Job 14:12) of the once living man. So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 12. heavens be no more—This only implies that Job had no hope of living again in the present order of the world, not that he had no hope of life again in a new order of things. Ps 102:26 proves that early under the Old Testament the dissolution of the present earth and heavens was expected (compare Ge 8:22). Enoch before Job had implied that the "saints shall live again" (Jude 14; Heb 11:13-16). Even if, by this phrase, Job meant "never" (Ps 89:29) in his gloomier state of feelings, yet the Holy Ghost has made him unconsciously (1Pe 1:11, 12) use language expressing the truth, that the resurrection is to be preceded by the dissolution of the heavens. In Job 14:13-15 he plainly passes to brighter hopes of a world to come.
O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! 13. Job wishes to be kept hidden in the grave until God's wrath against him shall have passed away. So while God's wrath is visiting the earth for the abounding apostasy which is to precede the second coming, God's people shall be hidden against the resurrection glory (Isa 26:19-21).
set time—a decreed time (Ac 1:7). If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. 14. shall he live?—The answer implied is, There is a hope that he shall, though not in the present order of life, as is shown by the words following. Job had denied (Job 14:10-12) that man shall live again in this present world. But hoping for a "set time," when God shall remember and raise him out of the hiding-place of the grave (Job 14:13), he declares himself willing to "wait all the days of his appointed time" of continuance in the grave, however long and hard that may be.
appointed time—literally, "warfare, hard service"; imlying the hardship of being shut out from the realms of life, light, and God for the time he shall be in the grave (Job 7:1). change—my release, as a soldier at his post released from duty by the relieving guard (see on [506]Job 10:17) [Umbreit and Gesenius], but elsewhere Gesenius explains it, "renovation," as of plants in spring (Job 14:7), but this does not accord so well with the metaphor in "appointed time" or "warfare." Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. 15. namely, at the resurrection (Joh 5:28; Ps 17:15).
have a desire to—literally, "become pale with anxious desire:" the same word is translated "sore longedst after" (Ge 31:30; Ps 84:2), implying the utter unlikelihood that God would leave in oblivion the "creature of His own hands so fearfully and wonderfully made." It is objected that if Job knew of a future retribution, he would make it the leading topic in solving the problem of the permitted afflictions of the righteous. But, (1) He did not intend to exceed the limits of what was clearly revealed; the doctrine was then in a vague form only; (2) The doctrine of God's moral government in this life, even independently of the future, needed vindication. For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? 16. Rather, "Yea, thou wilt number my steps, and wilt not (as now) jealously watch over my sin." Thenceforward, instead of severe watching for every sin of Job, God will guard him against every sin.
number … steps—that is, minutely attend to them, that they may not wander [Umbreit] (1Sa 2:9; Ps 37:23). My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. 17. sealed up—(Job 9:7). Is shut up in eternal oblivion, that is, God thenceforth will think no more of my former sins. To cover sins is to completely forgive them (Ps 32:1; 85:2). Purses of money in the East are usually sealed.
sewest up—rather, "coverest"; akin to an Arabic word, "to color over," to forget wholly. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. 18. cometh to naught—literally, "fadeth"; a poetical image from a leaf (Isa 34:4). Here Job falls back into his gloomy bodings as to the grave. Instead of "and surely," translate "yet"; marking the transition from his brighter hopes. Even the solid mountain falls and crumbles away; man therefore cannot "hope" to escape decay or to live again in the present world (Job 14:19).
out of his place—so man (Ps 103:16). The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. 19. The Hebrew order is more forcible: "Stones themselves are worn away by water."
things which grow out of—rather, "floods wash away the dust of the earth." There is a gradation from "mountains" to "rocks" (Job 14:18), then "stones," then last "dust of the earth"; thus the solid mountain at last disappears utterly. Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. 20. prevailest—dost overpower by superior strength.
passeth—dieth. changest countenance—the change in the visage at death. Differently (Da 5:9). His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. 21. One striking trait is selected from the sad picture of the severance of the dead from all that passes in the world (Ec 9:5), namely, the utter separation of parents and children.
But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn. 22. "Flesh" and "soul" describe the whole man. Scripture rests the hope of a future life, not on the inherent immortality of the soul, but on the restoration of the body with the soul. In the unseen world, Job in a gloomy frame anticipates, man shall be limited to the thought of his own misery. "Pain is by personification, from our feelings while alive, attributed to the flesh and soul, as if the man could feel in his body when dead. It is the dead in general, not the wicked, who are meant here." |
