Job 14:2

_HE COMETH FORTH LIKE A FLOWER, AND IS CUT DOWN: HE FLEETH ALSO AS A SHADOW, AND CONTINUETH NOT._ (Psalms 90:6; note, Job 8:9.)...

1-6 Job enlarges upon the condition of man, addressing himself also to God. Every man of Adam's fallen race is short-lived. All his show of beauty, happiness, and splendour falls before the stroke of sickness or death, as the flower before the scythe; or passes away like the shadow. How is it possible for a man's conduct to be sinless, when his heart is by nature unclean? Here is a clear proof that Job understood and believed the doctrine of original sin. He seems to have intended it as a plea, why the Lord should not deal with him according to his own works, but according to His mercy and grace. It is determined, in the counsel and decree of God, how long we shall live. Our times are in his hands, the powers of nature act under him; in him we live and move. And it is very useful to reflect seriously on the shortness and uncertainty of human life, and the fading nature of all earthly en...

Verse Job 14:2. _HE COMETH FORTH LIKE A FLOWER_] This is a frequent image both in the Old and New Testament writers; I need not quote the places here, as the readers will find them all in the _margin_. _HE FLEETH ALSO AS A SHADOW_] Himself, as he appears among men, is only the _shadow_ of his _real, substantial_, and _eternal_ being. He is here compared to a _vegetable_; he springs up, bears his flower is often nipped by disease, blasted by afflictions and at last cut down by death. The bloom of youth, even in the most prosperous state, is only the forerunner of hoary hairs, enfeebled muscles, impaired senses, general debility, anility, and dissolution. All these images are finely embodied, and happily expressed, in the beautiful lines of a very nervous and correct poet, too little known, but whose compositions deserve the _first place_

HE COMETH FORTH LIKE A FLOWER, AND IS CUT DOWN - Nothing can be more obvious and more beautiful than this, and the image has been employed by writers in all ages, but nowhere with more beauty, or with more frequency than in the Bible; see Isaiah 40:6; Psalms 37:2; Psalms 90:6; Psalms 103:15. Next to the Bible, it is probable that Shakespeare has employed the image with the most exquisite beauty of any poet: This is the state of man; today he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, tomorrow blossoms,

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

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 respect to his own case before his troubles came upon him, when he was possessed of all that substance, which made him the greatest man of the east; when his children were like olive plants around his table, and his servants at his command, and he in perfect health of body: and as a flower flourishes for a little while, and then withers; no sooner is it come to its full blow, but presently decays; such is the goodliness of man, it fades away whenever God blows a blast upon it; yea, he is easily and quickly cut down by death, like a beautiful flower cut with the knife, or cropped by the hand, o...

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

How sorrowful the lot of man, whom God so straitly overlooks! Man's life is transitory and insubstantial (Job 14:1 f.), why does God act the inquisitor with one so frail? Job 14:3. Let God cease to torment him (Job 14:6). JOB 14:4 is to be translated as _mg._ Oh that a clean thing could come out of an unclean! not one can. This is probably a gloss. It is the sigh of a pious reader, written on the margin, and mistakenly introduced into the text (Peake). Job 14:6. For accomplish substitute _mg._ have pleasure in....

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

7. So brief is man's allotted time he should be left to enjoy it. (Job 14:1-6) TEXT 14:1-6 14 MAN, THAT IS BORN OF A WOMAN, Is of few days, and full of trouble. 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a SHADOW, AND continueth NOT. 3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such A ONE, And bringest me into judgment WITH THEE? 4 Who can bring a clean thing OAT OF AN UNCLEAN? NOT ONE. 5 Seeing HIS DAYS ARE DETERMINED, The number of his months is with thee, And thou hast appointed HIS BOUNDS THAT HE CANNOT PASS; 6 Look away from him, that he may rest, Till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day. COMMENT 14:1-6 JOB 14:1Job continues to generalize his agoniz