Job 14:19

_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._ The Hebrew order is more forcible. 'Stones themselves are worn away by water.' THOU WASHEST AWAY THE THINGS WHICH GROW OUT OF - rather, 'its floods wash away the dust of the earth' х_ TISHTOP _ (H7857) _ CªPIYCHEYHAA_ (H5599)]. 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. Since those natural objects, when once destroyed, remain in the same state unrestored, so man, once dead, has no hope of living again in the present order of things....

16-22 Job's faith and hope spake, and grace appeared to revive; but depravity again prevailed. He represents God as carrying matters to extremity against him. The Lord must prevail against all who contend with him. God may send disease and pain, we may lose all comfort in those near and dear to us, every hope of earthly happiness may be destroyed, but God will receive the believer into realms of eternal happiness. But what a change awaits the prosperous unbeliever! How will he answer when God shall call him to his tribunal? The Lord is yet upon a mercy-seat, ready to be gracious. Oh that sinners would be wise, that they would consider their latter end! While man's flesh is upon him, that is, the body he is so loth to lay down, it shall have pain; and while his soul is within him, that is, the spirit he is so loth to resign, it shall mourn. Dying work is hard work; dying pangs often are...

Verse Job 14:19. _THE WATERS WEAR THE STONES_] Even the common stones are affected in the same way. Were even _earthquakes_ and violent concussions of nature wanting, the action of _water_, either _running_ over them as a _stream_, or _even falling upon them_ in _drops_, will wear these stones. Hence the proverb: - Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo. "Constant droppings will make a hole in a flint." Εκ θαμινης ραθαμιγγος, ὁκως λογος, αιες ιοισας, Χ' ἁ λιθος ες ρωχμον κοιλαινεται. "From frequent dropping, as the proverb says, per

THE WATERS WEAR THE STONES - By their constant attrition they wear away even the hard rocks, and they disappear, and return no more. The sense is, that constant changes are going on in nature, and man resembles those objects which are removed to appear no more, and not the productions of the vegetable world that spring up again. It is possible that there may also be included the idea here, that the patience, constancy, firmness, and life of any man must be worn out by long continued trials, as even hard rocks would be worn away by the constant attrition of waters. THOU WASHEST AWAY - Margin, “Overflowest.” This is literally the meaning of the Hebrew תשׁטף _tı̂shâṭaph_. But there is included the sense of washing away by the inundation. THE THINGS WHICH GROW OUT OF THE DUST OF THE EARTH - Herder and Noyes translate this, “the

EXPOSITION JOB 14:1 This chapter, in which Job concludes the fourth of his addresses, is characterized by a tone of mild and gentle expostulation, which contrasts with the comparative vehemence and passion of the two preceding chapters. It would seem that the patriarch, having vented his feelings, experiences a certain relief, an interval of calm, in which, his own woes pressing less heavily upon him, he is content to moralize on the general condition of humanity. JOB 14:1 MAN THAT IS BORN OF A WOMAN. In this fact Job sees the origin of man's inherent weakness. He is "born of a woman," who is "the weaker vessel" (1 Peter 3:7). He is conceived by her in uncle

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 of stones, yet the waters of afflictions will gradually wear him away, and bring him to the dust of death, and where he must lie till the heavens be no more: THOU WASHEST AWAY THE THINGS WHICH GROW [OUT] OF THE DUST OF THE EARTH; herbs, plants, and trees, which a violent inundation of water tears up by the roots, and carries away, and they are never restored to their places any more. The word ספיחיה, which we render "the things which grow out", the spontaneous productions of the earth, as in Leviticus 25:5. Aben Ezra interprets of floods of water; and so Schulte

CHAPTER S 12-14 JOB'S ANSWER TO ZOPHAR _ 1. His sarcasm (Job 12:1)_ 2. He describes God's power (Job 12:7) 3. He denounces his friends (Job 13:1) 4. He appeals to God (Job 13:14) 5. The brevity and trouble of life (Job 14:1) 6. The ray of light through hope of immortality (Job 14:7) Job 12:1. He answers not only Zophar but the others as well. Before this Job had expressed his

JOB 14:16 turns to the contrast of Job's present misery and hopeless end. Now God watches Job (Job 14:16). God writes down his sins, and seals up the indictments in a bag (Job 14:17). The mountains perish and the stones are worn away: so God destroys man's hope, and the man himself (Job 14:18). He is sunk in Sheol where he neither knows nor cares for the concerns of his family (Job 14:21). Only his flesh upon him hath pain and his soul within him mourneth (Job 14:22). [The flesh suffers pain through

THE WATERS, &C. Figure of speech _Paroemia._ App-6. MAN. a mortal. Hebrew. _'en6sh._ App-14....

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 and the foregoing; the division is only made here for convenience" sake. It would scarcely be according to the author's intention to make Job 13:23 the plea, and assume that, as God did not answer the demand there made, Job's plea took another turn. The question whether Job actually did expect that he would be replied to out of heaven can hardly be answered. We must, however, take into account the extreme excitation of his mind, and the vividness