Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Job » Chapter 14 » Verse 15

Job 14:15 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

15 Thou shalt call, H7121 and I will answer H6030 thee: thou wilt have a desire H3700 to the work H4639 of thine hands. H3027

Cross Reference

Job 10:3 STRONG

Is it good H2895 unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, H6231 that thou shouldest despise H3988 the work H3018 of thine hands, H3709 and shine H3313 upon the counsel H6098 of the wicked? H7563

Job 13:22 STRONG

Then call H7121 thou, and I will answer: H6030 or let me speak, H1696 and answer H7725 thou me.

Job 7:21 STRONG

And why dost thou not pardon H5375 my transgression, H6588 and take away H5674 mine iniquity? H5771 for now shall I sleep H7901 in the dust; H6083 and thou shalt seek me in the morning, H7836 but I shall not be.

Job 10:8 STRONG

Thine hands H3027 have made H6087 me and fashioned H6213 me together H3162 round about; H5439 yet thou dost destroy H1104 me.

Psalms 50:4-5 STRONG

He shall call H7121 to the heavens H8064 from above, H5920 and to the earth, H776 that he may judge H1777 his people. H5971 Gather H622 my saints H2623 together unto me; those that have made H3772 a covenant H1285 with me by sacrifice. H2077

Psalms 138:8 STRONG

The LORD H3068 will perfect H1584 that which concerneth me: thy mercy, H2617 O LORD, H3068 endureth for ever: H5769 forsake H7503 not the works H4639 of thine own hands. H3027

1 Thessalonians 4:17 STRONG

Then G1899 we G2249 which G3588 are alive G2198 and remain G4035 shall be caught up G726 together G260 with G4862 them G846 in G1722 the clouds, G3507 to G1519 meet G529 the Lord G2962 in G1519 the air: G109 and G2532 so G3779 shall we G2071 ever G3842 be G2071 with G4862 the Lord. G2962

1 Peter 4:19 STRONG

Wherefore G5620 G2532 let G3908 them that suffer G3958 according to G2596 the will G2307 of God G2316 commit the keeping G3908 of their G1438 souls G5590 to him in G1722 well doing, G16 as G5613 unto a faithful G4103 Creator. G2939

1 John 2:28 STRONG

And G2532 now, G3568 little children, G5040 abide G3306 in G1722 him; G846 that, G2443 when G3752 he shall appear, G5319 we may have G2192 confidence, G3954 and G2532 not G3361 be ashamed G153 before G575 him G846 at G1722 his G846 coming. G3952

Commentary on Job 14 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 14

Job 14:1-22. Job Passes from His Own to the Common Misery of Mankind.

1. woman—feeble, and in the East looked down upon (Ge 2:21). Man being born of one so frail must be frail himself (Mt 11:11).

few days—(Ge 47:9; Ps 90:10). Literally, "short of days." Man is the reverse of full of days and short of trouble.

2. (Ps 90:6; see on Job 8:9).

3. open … eyes upon—Not in graciousness; but, "Dost Thou sharply fix Thine eyes upon?" (See on Job 7:20; also see on Job 1:7). Is one so frail as man worthy of such constant watching on the part of God? (Zec 12:4).

me—so frail.

thee—so almighty.

4. A plea in mitigation. The doctrine of original sin was held from the first. "Man is unclean from his birth, how then can God expect perfect cleanness from such a one and deal so severely with me?"

5. determined—(Job 7:1; Isa 10:23; Da 9:27; 11:36).

6. Turn—namely, Thine eyes from watching him so jealously (Job 14:3).

hireling—(Job 7:1).

accomplish—rather, "enjoy." That he may at least enjoy the measure of rest of the hireling who though hard worked reconciles himself to his lot by the hope of his rest and reward [Umbreit].

7. Man may the more claim a peaceful life, since, when separated from it by death, he never returns to it. This does not deny a future life, but a return to the present condition of life. Job plainly hopes for a future state (Job 14:13; Job 7:2). Still, it is but vague and trembling hope, not assurance; excepting the one bright glimpse in Job 19:25. The Gospel revelation was needed to change fears, hopes, and glimpses into clear and definite certainties.

9. scent—exhalation, which, rather than the humidity of water, causes the tree to germinate. In the antithesis to man the tree is personified, and volition is poetically ascribed to it.

like a plant—"as if newly planted" [Umbreit]; not as if trees and plants were a different species.

10. 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.

11. sea—that is, a lake, or pool formed from the outspreading of a river. Job lived near the Euphrates: and "sea" is applied to it (Jer 51:36; Isa 27:1). So of the Nile (Isa 19:5).

fail—utterly disappeared by drying up. The rugged channel of the once flowing water answers to the outstretched corpse ("lieth down," Job 14:12) of the once living man.

12. heavens be no more—This only implies that Job had no hope of living again in the present order of the world, not that he had no hope of life again in a new order of things. Ps 102:26 proves that early under the Old Testament the dissolution of the present earth and heavens was expected (compare Ge 8:22). Enoch before Job had implied that the "saints shall live again" (Jude 14; Heb 11:13-16). Even if, by this phrase, Job meant "never" (Ps 89:29) in his gloomier state of feelings, yet the Holy Ghost has made him unconsciously (1Pe 1:11, 12) use language expressing the truth, that the resurrection is to be preceded by the dissolution of the heavens. In Job 14:13-15 he plainly passes to brighter hopes of a world to come.

13. Job wishes to be kept hidden in the grave until God's wrath against him shall have passed away. So while God's wrath is visiting the earth for the abounding apostasy which is to precede the second coming, God's people shall be hidden against the resurrection glory (Isa 26:19-21).

set time—a decreed time (Ac 1:7).

14. shall he live?—The answer implied is, There is a hope that he shall, though not in the present order of life, as is shown by the words following. Job had denied (Job 14:10-12) that man shall live again in this present world. But hoping for a "set time," when God shall remember and raise him out of the hiding-place of the grave (Job 14:13), he declares himself willing to "wait all the days of his appointed time" of continuance in the grave, however long and hard that may be.

appointed time—literally, "warfare, hard service"; imlying the hardship of being shut out from the realms of life, light, and God for the time he shall be in the grave (Job 7:1).

change—my release, as a soldier at his post released from duty by the relieving guard (see on Job 10:17) [Umbreit and Gesenius], but elsewhere Gesenius explains it, "renovation," as of plants in spring (Job 14:7), but this does not accord so well with the metaphor in "appointed time" or "warfare."

15. namely, at the resurrection (Joh 5:28; Ps 17:15).

have a desire to—literally, "become pale with anxious desire:" the same word is translated "sore longedst after" (Ge 31:30; Ps 84:2), implying the utter unlikelihood that God would leave in oblivion the "creature of His own hands so fearfully and wonderfully made." It is objected that if Job knew of a future retribution, he would make it the leading topic in solving the problem of the permitted afflictions of the righteous. But, (1) He did not intend to exceed the limits of what was clearly revealed; the doctrine was then in a vague form only; (2) The doctrine of God's moral government in this life, even independently of the future, needed vindication.

16. Rather, "Yea, thou wilt number my steps, and wilt not (as now) jealously watch over my sin." Thenceforward, instead of severe watching for every sin of Job, God will guard him against every sin.

number … steps—that is, minutely attend to them, that they may not wander [Umbreit] (1Sa 2:9; Ps 37:23).

17. sealed up—(Job 9:7). Is shut up in eternal oblivion, that is, God thenceforth will think no more of my former sins. To cover sins is to completely forgive them (Ps 32:1; 85:2). Purses of money in the East are usually sealed.

sewest up—rather, "coverest"; akin to an Arabic word, "to color over," to forget wholly.

18. cometh to naught—literally, "fadeth"; a poetical image from a leaf (Isa 34:4). Here Job falls back into his gloomy bodings as to the grave. Instead of "and surely," translate "yet"; marking the transition from his brighter hopes. Even the solid mountain falls and crumbles away; man therefore cannot "hope" to escape decay or to live again in the present world (Job 14:19).

out of his place—so man (Ps 103:16).

19. The Hebrew order is more forcible: "Stones themselves are worn away by water."

things which grow out of—rather, "floods wash away the dust of the earth." There is a gradation from "mountains" to "rocks" (Job 14:18), then "stones," then last "dust of the earth"; thus the solid mountain at last disappears utterly.

20. prevailest—dost overpower by superior strength.

passeth—dieth.

changest countenance—the change in the visage at death. Differently (Da 5:9).

21. One striking trait is selected from the sad picture of the severance of the dead from all that passes in the world (Ec 9:5), namely, the utter separation of parents and children.

22. "Flesh" and "soul" describe the whole man. Scripture rests the hope of a future life, not on the inherent immortality of the soul, but on the restoration of the body with the soul. In the unseen world, Job in a gloomy frame anticipates, man shall be limited to the thought of his own misery. "Pain is by personification, from our feelings while alive, attributed to the flesh and soul, as if the man could feel in his body when dead. It is the dead in general, not the wicked, who are meant here."