Job 13:22 to Job 14:22. Job pleads his cause before God Having ordered his cause and challenged his friends to observe how he will plead, Job now enters, with the boldness and proud bearing of one assured of victory, upon his plea itself. There is strictly no break between the passage which follows... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 14:1. In the last verse of ch. 13. Job thought of himself as one of the race of men, and now he speaks of the characteristics of this race. _born of a woman_ The offspring of one herself weak and doomed to sorrow (Genesis 3:16) must also be weak and doomed to trouble, cf. ch. Job 15:14; Job 25:... [ Continue Reading ]
_and is cut down_ Rather, AND WITHERETH, cf. similar figures Isaiah 40:6 _seq_.; Psalms 37:2; Psalms 90:6; Psalms 103:15 _seq_.... [ Continue Reading ]
A question of astonishment at the severity of God's dealing with a creature of such weakness as man. "To open the eyes" is to look narrowly to, to watch in order to punish.... [ Continue Reading ]
The question of astonishment in Job 14:3 supported by reference to the universal sinfulness of man. The verse reads, Oh that a clean might come out of an unclean! There is not one. The phrase _who will give_(as margin) is a mere optative expression. Job throws his idea of the universal uncleannes... [ Continue Reading ]
Man being of few days and full of trouble Job pleads that God would not load him with uncommon afflictions, but leave him oppressed with no more than those natural to his short and evil life.... [ Continue Reading ]
_turn from him_ lit. _look away from him_, cf. ch. Job 7:19; Job 10:20. turn thy keen scrutiny away from him. _may rest_ i. e. _have peace_, from unwonted affliction. _till he shall accomplish_ Or, _so that he may enjoy_so that he may have such pleasure as is possible in his brief and evil life, w... [ Continue Reading ]
_For there is hope of a tree, if_ lit. _for a tree hath hope; if it be cut down it will sprout again_&c.... [ Continue Reading ]
The irreparable extinction of man's life in death. His destiny is sadder even than that of the tree. His sleep in death is eternal.... [ Continue Reading ]
_like a plant_ i. e. a fresh and new plant; it begins a new life again.... [ Continue Reading ]
_wasteth away]_lit. _is laid prostrate_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_fail from the sea_ i. e. the inland sea or pool, cf. Isaiah 19:5; so in Arabic _bahr_, sea, is any mass of water whether salt or fresh, and also a river. _the flood_ THE STREAM. A graphic figure for complete extinction.... [ Continue Reading ]
_till the heavens be no more_ i. e. never; cf. Psalms 72:7, Till there be no moon. The heavens are eternal, cf. Jeremiah 31:35-36; Psalms 89:29; Psalms 89:36-37.... [ Continue Reading ]
Having pursued the destiny of man through all its steps down to its lowest, its complete extinction in death, Job, with a revulsion created by the instinctive demands of the human spirit, rises to the thought that there might be another life after this one. This thought is expressed in the form of a... [ Continue Reading ]
Figures expressing the keen scrutiny with which God watches man's life in order to detect his false steps and observe his every sin, cf. ch. Job 13:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
This prayer for a second life is supported by a picture of the severity with which God deals with man in this life and the mournful consequences of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Figures expressing the carefulness with which God treasures up a man's sins lest any of them should be lost, in order to visit the full tale of them upon him.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And surely_ Rather, BUT; cf. ch. Job 13:3-4. The "mountain falling" is the mountain from which great forces detach pieces as man is subjected to the shattering strokes of God. The second clause shews this to be the meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]
Under this severe treatment man must perish. For even the greatest and the firmest things in nature, and those most capable of resistance, are worn down by the influence of constant forces, and how much more man's life under God's continued severity.... [ Continue Reading ]
The turbulent waters wear away the stones of the brook by their constant action. _thou washest away_, &c] Rather, THE FLOODS THEREOF (i. e. of the waters) DO WASH AWAY THE SOIL OF THE EARTH. _and thou destroyest_ i. e. _so_thou destroyest. The "hope" of man which God destroys is not the specific h... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou changest his countenance_ A graphic and pathetic description of death. The word "prevailest against," i. e. overpowerest him, refers to the last conflict and the final stroke, cf. ch. Job 15:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
"The dead know not anything … also their love … is now perished," Ecclesiastes 9:5-6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But his flesh_ Or, _only_. The prep. rendered here "upon him" is the same as that rendered "within him," it means _with_him or in connexion with him, and the verse differs little from this, _Only his flesh hath pain and his soul mourneth_. The dead knoweth nothing of the upper world, only this can... [ Continue Reading ]