INTRODUCTION TO JOB 14 Job, having turned himself from his friends to God, continues his address to him in this chapter; wherein he discourses of the frailty of man, the shortness of his life, the troubles that are in it, the sinfulness of it, and its limited duration, beyond which it cannot contin... [ Continue Reading ]
MAN [THAT IS] BORN OF A WOMAN,.... Man, Adam; not the first man, so called, for he was made and created out of the dust of the earth, and not born of a woman; the woman was made out of him, and not he of her; "earthly man", as Mr. Broughton translates it, as every descendant of Adam is; as is the ea... [ Continue Reading ]
HE COMETH FORTH LIKE A FLOWER, AND IS CUT DOWN,.... As the flower comes from the earth, so does man; as it comes out of the stalk, so man out of his mother's womb; as the flower flourishes for a while, and looks gay and beautiful, so man while in youth, in health and prosperity. Job, doubtless, has... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DOST THOU OPEN THINE EYES ON SUCH AN ONE,.... So frail and feeble, so short lived and sorrowful, so soon and easily cut down and destroyed: and by opening of his eyes is not meant his providential care of men; whose eyes indeed are everywhere, run to and fro throughout the earth, and are careful... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO CAN BRING A CLEAN [THING] OUT OF AN CLEAN?.... Either produce a clean person from an unclean one: it is not to be expected that one, perfectly free from sin, should be generated by, or brought out of, one that is defiled with it; which is the case of all men; the first man, though made upright,... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEING HIS DAYS [ARE] DETERMINED,.... Or "cut out" i, exactly and precisely, how many he shall live, and what shall befall him every day of his life; whose life, because of the shortness of it, is rather measured by days than vents: THE NUMBER OF HIS MONTHS [ARE] WITH THEE; before him, in his sight... [ Continue Reading ]
TURN FROM HIM, THAT HE MAY REST,.... From this short lived afflicted man, whose days are limited, and will soon be at an end, meaning himself; not that he desires he would withdraw his gracious presence, nothing is more agreeable than this to a good man, and there is nothing he more deprecates than... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THERE IS HOPE OF A TREE, IF IT BE CUT DOWN, THAT IT WILL SPROUT AGAIN,.... That is, if it be cut down to the root, and only the stump of the root is left in the ground, as the tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel 4:15, yet the owner of it may entertain a hope that it is not utterly destroyed,... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH THE ROOT THEREOF WAX OLD IN THE EARTH,.... Lies long there, and is become dry, and seems to be consumed, on which account there may be the less hope of its flourishing: AND THE STOCK THEREOF DIE IN THE GROUND; which may make it still more improbable; for this is not to be understood with som... [ Continue Reading ]
[YET] THROUGH THE SCENT OF WATER IT WILL BUD,.... As soon as it smells it, or perceives it, is sensible of it, or partakes of its efficacy; denoting both how speedily, and how easily, at once as it were, it buds forth through the virtue either of rain water that descends upon it, or river water by w... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT MAN DIETH, AND WASTETH AWAY,.... All men, every man, "Geber", the mighty man, the strong man; some die in their full strength; the wise man, notwithstanding all his wisdom and knowledge, and even skill in the art of medicine; the rich man, with all his riches, with which he cannot bribe death, n... [ Continue Reading ]
[AS] THE WATERS FAIL FROM THE SEA,.... the words may be rendered either without the as, and denote dissimilitude, and the sense be, that the waters go from the sea and return again, as with the tide: AND THE FLOOD DECAYS AND DRIES UP; and yet is supplied again with water: "but man lieth down, and r... [ Continue Reading ]
SO MAN LIETH DOWN,.... Or "and", or "but man lieth down" b; in the grave when he dies, as on a bed, and takes his rest from all his labours, toil and troubles, and lies asleep, and continues so till the resurrection morn: AND RISETH NOT; from off his bed, or comes not out of his grave into this wor... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT THOU WOULDEST HIDE ME IN THE GRAVE,.... The house appointed for all living, which some understand by the "chambers" in Isaiah 26:20; The cemeteries or dormitories of the saints, where they lie and sleep until the indignation of God against a wicked world is over and past; or in Hades, the... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN DIE,.... This is said not as if it was a matter of doubt, he had before asserted it; as sure as men have sinned, so sure shall they die; nothing is more certain than death, it is appointed by God, and is sure; but taking it for granted, the experience of all men, and the instances of person... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL CALL, AND I WILL ANSWER THEE,.... Either at death, when the soul of than is required of him, and he is summoned out of time into eternity, and has sometimes previous notice of it; though not by a prophet, or express messenger from the Lord, as Hezekiah had, yet by some disease and distemp... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR NOW THOU NUMBEREST MY STEPS,.... Or "but now" g, at this present time thou seemest to have no desire to me, or affection for me, but the reverse. Job was in a pretty good frame of mind a little before, having in view his last change, and the glorious resurrection; but on a sudden he returns to h... [ Continue Reading ]
MY TRANSGRESSION [IS] SEALED UP IN A BAG,.... Denoting either the concealment of it, as in Hosea 13:12; not from God; nor in such sense sealed up as sin is by the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ, who has thereby removed it out of the sight of divine justice; so that when it is sought for it sha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SURELY THE MOUNTAIN FALLING COMETH TO NOUGHT,.... Job here returns to his former subject of the irreparable state of man at death, which he illustrates by various other similes, as before; and first by a "mountain falling", which may be supposed, and has been fact, and when it does, it "comes to... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WATERS WEAR THE STONES,.... Either by continual running in them, or constant dropping upon them p; and the excavations or hollow places they: make are never filled up again, these impressions are never effaced, nor the stones reduced to their ancient form; so man, though he may have the strength... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU PREVAILEST FOR EVER AGAINST HIM,.... God is a more than a match for man, in anything, in everything; there is no contending with him, or standing against him, he is stronger than he, and always prevails; there is no withstanding any disease, and the force of it, when he sends it; it is a messen... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS SONS COME TO HONOUR,.... Or "are multiplied" s, see Nahum 3:15; their families increase like a flock, become very numerous, which was reckoned a great blessing; or "become heavy" t; being loaded with gold and silver, with riches and honour, raised to great grandeur and dignity, and possessed of... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HIS FLESH UPON HIM SHALL HAVE PAIN,.... Either he shall be chastened with strong pains on his sick and dying bed; which is the reason why he neither rejoices at the happiness of his family, nor is distressed at their misfortunes; having so much pain in his flesh and bones to endure himself; or,... [ Continue Reading ]