1 Reis 14:13

Because in him there is found some good thing. — There is something singularly pathetic in this declaration of early death, in peace and with due mourning, as the only reward which can be given to piety in the time of coming judgment. It is much like the prophetic declaration to Josiah at the time of the approaching fall of the kingdom of Judah (2 Reis 22:18). But, at the same time, we find in the Old Testament little indication of that general view of the prevalent sorrow and burden of life, which makes Herodotus, in his celebrated story of Cleobis and Bito (Book 1:100:31), imply that at all times early death is Heaven’s choicest blessing. Such a view, indeed, is expressed in such passages as Jó 3:11; Eclesiastes 4:1; but these are clearly exceptional. Life is viewed — sometimes, as in Salmos 88:10; Isaías 38:18, even in contrast with the unseen world — as a place of God’s favour and blessing, which nothing but man’s wilful sin can turn to sorrow. The presence and the penalty of sin are recognised from the day of the Fall onwards, yet as only impairing, and not destroying, man’s natural heritage of joy.