_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job proceeds to plead with God for some mitigation of his miseries, from the consideration of the shortness of life, and the trouble that naturally belongs to it, Job 14:1. Especially considering, that when he was once dead, he could not revive as the plants, or come into th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Man that is born of a woman_ A weak creature; and, withal, corrupt and sinful, and of that sex by which sin and all other calamities were brought into the world. _Is of few days_ Few at the most, in comparison with the days of the first patriarchs, much more in comparison with the days of eternity.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He cometh forth like a flower_ Tender and delicate, fair and beautiful, his faculties and members opening and expanding themselves by degrees; _and is cut down_ By the scythe of some spreading malady; or cropped by the rude hand of some ruthless distemper; or nipped and withered by the frost of som... [ Continue Reading ]
_And dost thou open thine eyes on such a one?_ Dost thou, the infinite Jehovah, the self-existent, independent, and supreme Lord of all, the Almighty, open thine eyes on such an insignificant and helpless creature? Dost thou, the immutable, the eternal God, behold and take account of such a frail, c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?_ I confess I am an unclean creature, and therefore liable to be abhorred by thy holiness, and condemned by thy justice, if thou wilt deal rigorously with me. But, remember, this is not my peculiar case, but the common lot of every man, who descended fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seeing his days are determined_ Limited to a certain period. _The number of his months is with thee_ Exactly known to thee, and in thy power and disposal. _Thou hast appointed his bounds_, &c. Thou hast appointed a certain end of his days, beyond which he cannot prolong his life. _Turn from him, th... [ Continue Reading ]
_For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down_ If the body of a tree be cut down, and only the stem or stump be left in the ground, yet there is hope; _that it will sprout again_ Hebrew, יחלי Š, _jachalip, will yet renew itself_, will revive and flourish as the spring comes on. _Though the root wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the waters fail from the sea_ This may mean, either, 1st, _As the waters go_, or _flow out from the sea_, and return not thither again, Ecclesiastes 1:7: or, 2d, _As waters_, that is, some portion of the waters, are exhaled from the sea by the sun, or are received and sunk into the dry and thirs... [ Continue Reading ]
_So man lieth down_ In his bed the grave, sleeping the sleep of death. _And riseth not till the heavens be no more_ That is, until the time of the general resurrection and restitution of all things, when these visible heavens shall pass away, and be no more, at least in the same form in which they a... [ Continue Reading ]
_O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave_ The grave is not only a _resting-place_, but a _hiding-place_ to the children of God: Christ has the key of the grave to open and let in now, and to let out at the resurrection. God hides his people in the grave as we hide our treasure in a place of secrec... [ Continue Reading ]
_If a man die, shall he live again?_ He shall not in this world, but he shall in another and better; and, therefore, _all the days of my appointed time will I wait_ Hebrew, צבאי, _tsebai_, of my _warfare_, namely, with my spiritual enemies, or of _my service_ and _suffering_, or of the _station_ and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt call and I will answer thee_ 1st, At death, thou shalt call my body to the grave and my soul to thyself, and I will cheerfully answer, _Here I am._ Gracious souls readily answer death's summons, and appear to his writ. Their spirits are not forcibly _required of them_, as was that of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_For now_ Or rather, _But now_, for this seems to be added by way of opposition, as if he had said, I believe thou wilt pity, help, and deliver me, and even wonderfully change my person, state, and place; but, for the present, it is far otherwise with me. Thus Job returns to his complaints; and, tho... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the mountain falling cometh to naught_, &c. As when a great _mountain falls_, by an earthquake or inundation, it _moulders away like a fading leaf_, (as the Hebrew ward signifies,) _and_ as _the rock_, when, by the violence of winds or earthquakes, it _is removed out of its place_, and thrown do... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou prevailest for ever against him_ When once thou takest away this life, it is gone for ever; for he speaks not here of man's future and eternal life in another world. _And he passeth_ That is, he dieth: man's death is often called a _passage_ or a _going_, to intimate that it is not an annihila... [ Continue Reading ]
_His sons come to honour_ Hebrews יכבדו, _jicbedu:_ increase either in number or in greatness. The LXX. render it, πολλων δε γενομενων, _become many;_ and the word ויצערו, _vejitzgnaru, and they are brought low_, they interpret in the opposite sense, εαν δε ολιγοι γενωνται, _if they be diminished_,... [ Continue Reading ]
_But his flesh upon him shall have pain_ Or, _while his flesh is upon him; and his soul within him_ While the soul is clothed with, or united to, the body, he feels sharp pains in his body, and bitter grief in his soul. Dying work is generally hard work; dying pangs sore pangs. It is folly, therefor... [ Continue Reading ]