JOB CHAPTER 14 Man's natural misery, sin, and short life, our plea with God not to disturb us by his power, but suffer us to accomplish our appointed time, JOB 14:1. The other creatures decay and revive; but man, once dead, returneth not till the end of all things, JOB 14:7. He wisheth to be hid in... [ Continue Reading ]
HE COMETH FORTH out of his mother's womb, JOB 1:21. LIKE A FLOWER; which quickly groweth up and maketh a fair show, but soon withereth, or is cut down. AS A SHADOW; which being made by the sun, follows its motions, and is in perpetual variation, until at last it quite vanish and disappear.... [ Continue Reading ]
DOST THOU OPEN THINE EYES UPON SUCH AN ONE; either, 1. To take thought or care about him. Or rather, 2. To observe all his ways, that thou mayst find cause of punishment. He is not a fit match for thee. It is below thee to contend with him, and to use thy infinite wisdom and power to crush him. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
I do not say, _I am clean_, as Zophar pretendeth, JOB 11:4; but confess that I am a very unclean creature, and therefore liable to thy justice, if thou wilt deal rigorously with me; but remember that this is not my peculiar case, but the common lot of every man, who, coming from sinful parents, and... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS DAYS; THE DAYS or (as it follows) months of his life. _Are determined_; are by thy sentence and decree limited to a certain period. WITH THEE, i.e. exactly known to thee, or in thy power and disposal. Thou hast appointed a certain end of his days, beyond which he cannot prolong his life; and the... [ Continue Reading ]
TURN FROM HIM; withdraw thine afflicting hand from him. THAT HE MAY REST; that he may have some present comfort and ease. Or, _and let it cease_, to wit, the affliction, which is sufficiently implied. Others, _and let him cease_, to wit, to live, i.e. take away my life. But that seems not to agree w... [ Continue Reading ]
But man, though a far nobler creature, is in a much worse condition, and when once he loseth this present and worldly life, he never recovers it; therefore show some pity to him, and give him some comfort whilst he lives.... [ Continue Reading ]
WAX OLD; begin to wither and decay. AND THE STOCK DIE, to wit, in outward appearance.... [ Continue Reading ]
THROUGH THE SCENT OF WATER, i.e. by means of water. _Scent or smell_ is figuratively ascribed to a tree. LIKE A PLANT; like a tree newly planted.... [ Continue Reading ]
DIETH, AND WASTETH AWAY; his body by degrees rotting away; or, _and is cut off_, as this word is used, EXODUS 17:13 ISAIAH 14:12. WHERE IS HE? i.e. he is nowhere; or, he is not, to wit, in this world, as that phrase is commonly used. See JOB 3:16, JOB 7:8,21.... [ Continue Reading ]
This may be understood either, 1. By way of opposition, _the waters go or flow out of the sea_, and return thither again, ECCLESIASTES 1:7; _and a lake or river sometimes decayeth, and drieth up_, but afterwards is recruited and replenished. _But man lieth_, &c., as it follows. Or, 2. By way of res... [ Continue Reading ]
MAN LIETH DOWN, to wit, in his bed, the grave, or to sleep the sleep of death, as this phrase is used, GENESIS 46:30 DEUTERONOMY 31:6 2 SAMUEL 7:12 1 KINGS 1:21. RISETH NOT, to wit, to tills life; for he speaks not here of the life to come, nor of the resurrection of the belly after death by the Div... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE GRAVE; either, 1. In some dark vault under ground, such as good men hide themselves in times of persecution, HEBREWS 11:38. Lord, hide me in some hiding place from thy wrath, and all the intolerable effects of it, which are upon me; for I cannot be hid from thee, but by thee. Or, 2. In the g... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN? i.e. he shall not, namely, in this world, as was said before. The affirmative question is equivalent to an absolute denial, as GENESIS 18:17 PSALMS 46:7 JEREMIAH 5:9, and every where. Seeing death puts an end to all men's hopes of any comfortable being here, because man once dea... [ Continue Reading ]
I trust there is a time coming when thou wilt grant me the mercy which now thou deniest me, to wit, a favourable hearing, when thou _wilt call_ to me to speak for myself, and _I shall answer thee_; which I know will be to thy satisfaction and my comfort. Compare this with JOB 13:22, where the same w... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR NOW; so this is a reason of his desire of death, JOB 14:13. Or rather, _But now_; for this seems to be added by way of opposition. I believe thou wilt pity and help me, but for the present it is far otherwise with me. THOU, NUMBEREST MY STEPS; thou makest a strict inquiry into all my actions, th... [ Continue Reading ]
SEALED UP IN A BAG; as writings or other choice things, that they may be safely kept, and all of them brought forth upon occasion, and not one of them forgotten or lost. Compare DEUTERONOMY 32:44 JOB 37:7 HOSEA 13:12. THOU SEWEST UP MINE INIQUITY, i.e. thou keepest all my sins in thy memory, and fas... [ Continue Reading ]
As when a great _mountain falls_, either by an earthquake or inundation of waters, or from any other cause, it _moulders away like a fading leaf_, (as the Hebrew word signifies,) and never recovers its former height and stability; and as the rock, when by the violence of winds or earthquake, &c. IT... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
When once thou takest away this life, it is gone for ever; for he speaks not here of man's future and eternal life in another world. HE PASSETH, i.e. he dieth, or is about to die. Man's death is oft called a _passage_, or a _going_, to intimate that it is not an annihilation, but only a translation... [ Continue Reading ]
HE KNOWETH IT NOT; either, 1. Is ignorant of all such events; or, 2. Is not concerned nor affected with them. A dead or dying man minds not these things.... [ Continue Reading ]
This is man's condition; he is miserable both when he dies, because he dies without hope of returning to life, as he had discoursed before; and (as he now adds) whilst he lives, _whilst his flesh is upon him, and his soul within him_; whilst the soul is clothed with or united to the body, he feels s... [ Continue Reading ]