Job 14:10 Komentář

Job had turned from speaking to his friends, finding it to no purpose to reason with them, and here he goes on to speak to God and himself. He had reminded his friends of their frailty and mortality (Job 13:12); here he reminds himself of his own, and pleads it with God for some mitigation of his miseries. We have here an account, I. Of man's life, that it is, 1. Short (Job 14:1). 2. Sorrowful (Job 14:1). 3. Sinful (Job 14:4). 4. Stinted (Job 14:5, Job 14:14). II. Of man's death, that it puts a final period to our present life, to which we shall not again return (Job 14:7-12), that it hides us from the calamities of life (Job 14:13), destroys the hopes of life (Job 14:18, Job 14:19), sends us away from the business of life (Job 14:20), and keeps us in the dark concerning our relations in this life, how much soever we have formerly been in care about them (Job 14:21, Job 14:22), III. The use Job makes of all this. 1. He pleads it with God, who, he thought, was too strict and severe with him (Job 14:16, Job 14:17), begging that, in consideration of his frailty, he would not contend with him (Job 14:3), but grant him some respite (Job 14:6). 2. He engages himself to prepare for death (Job 14:14), and encourages himself to hope that it would be comfortable to him (Job 14:15). This chapter is proper for funeral solemnities; and serious meditations on it will help us both to get good by the death of others and to get ready for our own.

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 continue; all which he makes use of with God, that he would not therefore deal rigorously with him, but have pity on him, and cease from severely afflicting him, till he came to the end of his days, which could not be long, Job 14:1; he observes of a tree, when it is cut down to the root, yea, when the root is become old, and the stock dies, it will, by means of being watered, bud and sprout again, and produce boughs and branches; but man, like the failing waters of the sea, and the decayed and dried up flood, when he dies, rises not, till the heavens be no more, Job 14:7; and then he wishes to be hid in the grave till that time, and expresses hope and belief of the resurrection of the dead, Job 14:13; and goes on to complain of the strict notice God took of his sins, of his severe dealings with men, destroying their hope in life, and removing them by death; so that they see and know not the case and circumstances of their children they leave behind, and while they live have continual pain and sorrow, Job 14:16.

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, nor keep it off; the great and the honourable, emperors, kings, princes, nobles, all die, and their honour is laid in the dust; yea, good men die, though Christ has died for them; even those that are the most useful and beneficial to men, the prophets of the Lord, and the ministers of his word; and it is no wonder that wicked men should die, though they put the evil day far from them, make an agreement with death, or bid it defiance, their wickedness shall not deliver from it; all men have sinned, and death passes on them, it is appointed for them to die; not their souls, which are immortal, but their bodies, which return to dust, and are only the mortal part; death is a disunion or separation of soul and body: and now when this is made, the body "wasteth away" in the grave, and becomes rottenness, dust, and worms, and does not by the strength of nature spring up again, as a tree does; though some understand, by an inversion of the phrases, a wasting before death through diseases, as if the words were to be read, "but man wasteth away and dieth" (z); he is enervated by sickness, his strength is weakened in the way, and when he dies there is none left in him; he is cut off (a), as some choose to render it, or cut down as a tree is; but then there is no force or natural strength in him to rise again, as in a tree: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? not in the same place he was; not in his house and habitation where he lived; nor in his family, and among his friends, with whom he conversed, nor in the world, and on the earth where he did business; he is indeed somewhere, but where is he? his body is in the grave; his soul, where is that? if a good man, it is in the presence of God, where is fulness of joy; it is with Christ, which is far better than to be here; it is with the spirits of just men made perfect; it is in Abraham's bosom, feasting with him and other saints; it is in heaven, in paradise, in a state of endless joy and happiness: if a wicked man, his soul is in hell, in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels, and other damned spirits; in a prison, from whence there is no release, and in the uttermost misery and distress, banished from the divine Presence, and under a continual sense of the wrath of God. (z) So the Tigurine version, Vatablus, and some in Drusius; and some Hebrews in Ramban and Bar Tzemach. (a) "exciditur", Beza, Piscator, Mercerus; so Kimchi & Ben Gersom.

Ver. 7-10. For there is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will be green again; and that the tender branches thereof will sprout forth. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth foliage as when it was planted. But man, when he is dead, and stripped, and consumed, where is he? MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION Now because this is self-evident according to the letter, we must refer the sense to the things of the interior, and search how they are to be made out after the spiritual signification. Thus in Holy Scripture by the name of 'tree' we have represented sometimes the Cross, sometimes the righteous man, or even the unrighteous man, and sometimes the Wisdom of God Incarnate. Thus the Cross is denoted by 'the tree,' when it is said, Let us put the tree into his bread; for to 'put the tree into the bread' is to apply the Cross to the Body of our Lord. Again by the title of 'the tree' we have the just man, or even the unjust man, set forth, as the Lord saith by the Prophet, I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree. Forasmuch as according to the word of the self-same Truth, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted: Solomon also saith, If the tree fall towards the South, or toward the North, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. For in the day of their death the just man does 'fall to the South,' and the unjust 'to the North,' in that both the just man in favour of the Spirit is brought to joy, and the sinner, together with the apostate Angel, who said, I will sit also upon the mount of the testimony, in the sides of the North, is cast away in his frozen heart. Again, the Wisdom of God Incarnate is represented by 'the Tree,' as where it is written thereon, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on Her. And as She Herself says, If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? And so in this place whereas a tree is preferred before man, what is man taken for but every carnal person? and what is denoted by the title of 'the tree,' but the life of the righteous? For there is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will be green again. For when in a death of painful endurance the just man is hard bestead for the truth, in the greenness of everlasting life he is recovered again; and he who here proved green by faith, there becomes green in actual sight. 'And his branches shoot,' in that it is most often the case that by the sufferings of the just man, all faithful persons are redoubled in the love of the heavenly country, and they receive the greenness of the spiritual life, while they are glad that he did courageously here in God's behalf.

Ver. 10. But when man is dead, and stripped, and consumed, where, I pray, is he? There is no man without sin, save Him Who came not into this world by sin; and whereas all we are tied fast in the bonds of guilt, we die by the mere loss of righteousness. Of the robe of innocence given us aforetime in Paradise, we are stripped naked, and we are yet further consumed by the subsequent dissolution of the flesh. Thus man being a sinner dies in guilt, is stripped bare of righteousness, is consumed in punishment. This nakedness of his erring son the Father vouchsafed to cover, who said, on his returning to him, Bring forth quickly the first robe. For 'the first robe' is the robe of innocence, which man being created aright received, but being persuaded wrongly by the serpent forfeited. Against this same nakedness it is said, Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked. For we 'keep our garments,' when we keep the precepts of innocency in our hearts, that whereas guilt strips us naked to the Judge, penance should cover us returning to the innocence we had forfeited. And it is well said, Where, I pray, is he? in that the sinner, man, refused to stand there where he was created; while here, where he fell, he is forbidden to stay for long. Willingly he forfeited his country, unwillingly he is driven forth from his exile, which he delights in. Where then is he, who is not in His love, where only it is truly to be?

This is not found to be the case in man with the passing of the present life and so he then says, "Where, I ask you, is man when he has died, been stripped and destroyed?" Job posits there are three things which man loses by degrees. First, the soul is separated from the body, and he expresses this saying, "when he has died." Second, he loses his covering and decorations of the body, which remain for some time to someone who has died. But afterwards he is stripped of even these and so he says, "been stripped." Finally, even the very structure of his body is dissolved and expresses this saying, "and destroyed." After these things have been completed, no sensible appearance of man remains and so to those who believe in only the sensible and corporeal appearances of man he seems entirely reduced to nothing. To express the doubt of these people, Job then says, "Where, I ask you, is man?"

Various moral sentiments. The antithesis between wisdom and folly, and the different effects of each.

But man dieth - No human being ever can spring from the dead body of man; that wasteth away, corrupts, and is dissolved; for the man dies; and when he breathes out his last breath, and his body is reduced to dust, then, where is he? There is a beautiful verse in the Persian poet Khosroo, that is not unlike this saying of Job: - "I went towards the burying ground, and wept To think of the departure of friends which were captives to death; I said, Where are they! and Fate Gave back this answer by Echo, Where are they? Thus paraphrased by a learned friend: - Beneath the cypress' solemn shade, As on surrounding tombs I gazed, I wept, and thought of friends there laid, Whose hearts with warmest love had blazed. Where are those friends my heart doth lack, Whose words, in grief, gave peace? Ah, where? And Fate, by Echo, gave me back This short but just reply, Ah, where?

JOB PASSES FROM HIS OWN TO THE COMMON MISERY OF MANKIND. (Job 14:1-22) woman--feeble, and in the East looked down upon (Gen 2:21). Man being born of one so frail must be frail himself (Mat 11:11). few days-- (Gen 47:9; Psa 90:10). Literally, "short of days." Man is the reverse of full of days and short of trouble.

man . . . man--Two distinct Hebrew words are here used; Geber, a mighty man: though mighty, he dies. Adam, a man of earth: because earthly, he gives up the ghost. wasteth--is reduced to nothing: he cannot revive in the present state, as the tree does. The cypress and pine, which when cut down do not revive, were the symbols of death among the Romans.

10 But man dieth, he lieth there stretched out, Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 11 The waters flow away from the sea, And a stream decayeth and dryeth up: 12 So man lieth down and riseth not again; Till the heavens pass away they wake not, And are not aroused from their sleep. How much less favoured is the final lot of man! He dies, and then lies there completely broken down and melted away (חלשׁ( yaw, in the neuter signification, confectum esse, rendered in the Targum by אתּבר and אתמקמק). The fut. consec. continues the description of the cheerless results of death: He who has thus once fallen together is gone without leaving a trace of life. In Job 14:11. this vanishing away without hope and beyond recovery is contemplated under the figure of running water, or of water that is dried up and never returns again to its channel. Instead of אזלוּ Isaiah uses נשּׁתוּ (Job 19:5) in the oracle on Egypt, a prophecy in which many passages borrowed from the book of Job are interwoven. The former means to flow away (related radically with נזל), the latter to dry up (transposed נתּשׁ, Jer 18:14). But he also uses יחרב, which signifies the drying in, and then ויבשׁ, which is the complete drying up which follows upon the drying in (vid., Genesis, S. 264). What is thus figuratively expressed is introduced by waw (Job 14:12), similar to the waw adaequationis of the emblematic proverbs mentioned at Job 5:7; Job 11:12 : so there is for man no rising (קוּם), no waking up (הקיץ), no ἐγείρεσθαι (נעור), and indeed not for ever; for what does not happen until the heavens are no more (comp. Psa 72:7, till the moon is no more), never happens; because God has called the heavens and the stars with their laws into existence, לעד לעולם (Psa 148:6), they never cease (Jer 31:35.), the days of heaven are eternal (Psa 89:30). This is not opposed to declarations like Psa 102:27, for the world's history, according to the teaching of Scripture, closes with a change in all these, but not their annihilation. What is affirmed in Job 14:10-12 of mankind in general, is, by the change to the plural in Job 14:12, affirmed of each individual of the race. Their sleep of death is עזלם שׁנת (Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57). What Sheôl summons away from the world, the world never sees again. Oh that it were otherwise! How would the brighter future have comforted him with respect to the sorrowful present and the dark night of the grave!