Job 10:22

And the shadow of death, without any order.

Death without order

While Job was under the bereaving hand of God, his thoughts were naturally turned upon the frailty of man, the shortness of life, and the gloomy scenes of mortality. The truth stated here is this--God discovers no order in calling men out of the world by death.

I. God discovers no order in sending death among mankind. Job believed that there is perfect order in the Divine Mind, respecting death, as well as every other event. In relation to God death is perfectly regular; but this regularity He has seen proper to conceal from the view of man. Though God has passed a sentence of mortality upon all mankind, yet He never discovers any order in the execution of it.

1. He sends death without any apparent respect to age.

2. Without any regard to men’s bodily strength or weakness.

3. Without any apparent respect to the place of their dying.

4. There is no order apparent in the means of death.

5. God pays no visible regard to the characters of men, in calling them off the stage of life.

6. God appears to pay no regard to the circumstances of men, in putting an end to their days.

7. Nor does He appear to consult the feelings of men.

II. Why does God send death through the world without any discernible order?

1. To make men sensible that He can do what He pleases, without their aid or instrumentality.

2. To make them know that He can dispose of them according to the counsel of His own will.

3. To convince man that he can do nothing without Him.

4. By concealing the order of death, God teaches mankind the propriety and importance of being constantly prepared for it.

Learn--If death is coming to all men, and coming without any order, then it equally concerns all to live a holy and religious life. And since God discovers no order in death, it becomes the bereaved and afflicted to submit to His holy and absolute sovereignty. This subject admonishes all to prepare without delay for their great and last change. (N. Emmons, D. D.).