Job 14:13-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 14:7-15

We have seen what Job has to say concerning life; let us now see what he has to say concerning death, which his thoughts were very much conversant with, now that he was sick and sore. It is not unseasonable, when we are in health, to think of dying; but it is an inexcusable incogitancy if, when we are already taken into the custody of death's messengers, we look upon it as a thing at a distance. Job had already shown that death will come, and that its hour is already fixed. Now here he shows,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 14:13

And that thou wouldest hide me in the grave ,.... The house appointed for all living, which some understand by the "chambers" in Isaiah 26:20 ; The cemeteries or dormitories of the saints, where they lie and sleep until the indignation of God against a wicked world is over and past; or in Hades, the state of the dead, where they are insensible of what is done in this world, what calamities and judgments are on the inhabitants of it, and so are not affected and grieved with these things; or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 14:14

If a man die ,.... This is said not as if it was a matter of doubt, he had before asserted it; as sure as men have sinned, so sure shall they die; nothing is more certain than death, it is appointed by God, and is sure; but taking it for granted, the experience of all men, and the instances of persons of every age, rank, and condition, testifying to it; the Targum restrains it to wicked men, "if a wicked man die:' shall he live again ? no, he shall not live in this earth, and in the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 14:13

O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave - Dreadful as death is to others, I shall esteem it a high privilege; it will be to me a covert from the wind and from the tempest of this affliction and distress. Keep me secret - Hide my soul with thyself, where my enemies cannot invade my repose; or, as the poet expresses it: - "My spirit hide with saints above, My body in the tomb." Job does not appear to have the same thing in view when he entreats God to hide him in the grave; and to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 14:14

If a man die, shall he live again? - The Chaldee translates, If a wicked man die, can he ever live again? or, he can never live again. The Syriac and Arabic thus: "If a man die, shall he revive? Yea, all the days of his youth he awaits till his old age come." The Septuagint: "If a man die, shall he live, having accomplished the days of his life? I will endure till I live again." Here is no doubt, but a strong persuasion, of the certainty of the general resurrection. All the days of my... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 14:1-22

This chapter, in which Job concludes the fourth of his addresses, is characterized by a tone of mild and gentle expostulation, which contrasts with the comparative vehemence and passion of the two preceding chapters. It would seem that the patriarch, having vented his feelings, experiences a certain relief, an interval of calm, in which, his own woes pressing less heavily upon him, he is content to moralize on the general condition of humanity. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 14:7-14

Is there a life beyond the grave? We have here one of the dim Old Testament speculations on the life beyond, that stand out in startling contrast to the prevalent obscurity and apparent indifference of ancient Hebrew thought in regard to the great future. This serves as a good starting-point from which to approach the more full Christian light on the resurrection. I. THE CRAVING FOR IMMORTALITY IS INSTINCTIVE . The craving may be hidden by more pressing desires of the moment;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 14:7-15

Job to God: 3. A glimpse into the life beyond. I. " IF A MAN DIE , SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN ?" No! 1 . The voice of nature is against it. "For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again," etc. (verses 7-9). But nothing like this occurs in the case of man, of whom rather the cheerless proverb holds that, as the tree falls, so shall it lie ( Ecclesiastes 11:3 ). Hewn down by the axe of death, or laid prostrate by age beneath the sod, there is in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 14:13

Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave! literally, in Sheol , which here does not so much mean "the grave," as the place of departed spirits, described in Job 10:21 , Job 10:22 . Job desires to have God's protection in that" land of darkness," and to be "hidden" there by him until his wrath be past. It has been generally supposed that he means after his death; but Schultens thinks his desire was to descend to Sheol alive , and there remain, while his punishment continued,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 14:13-15

Self-defence before God: 3. Dawning of a new hope. The thoughts of the sufferer now carry him beyond the confines of the present life. He has just been speaking of Sheol, or Hades, as his destined end, and now the reflection occurs—What may happen then? It is the nature of thought to travel on and on, to know no bounds that it will not seek to overleap. It is perpetually asking, when one goal has been reached, for the after, the beyond. And in some such way must human thought have travelled... read more

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