Job 14:1 - Exposition

Man that is born of a woman . In this fact Job sees the origin of man's inherent weakness. He is "born of a woman," who is "the weaker vessel" ( 1 Peter 3:7 ). He is conceived by her in uncleanness ( Psalms 51:5 ; comp. below, Psalms 51:4 ), brought forth in sorrow and pain ( Genesis 3:16 ) suckled at her breasts, placed for years under her guidance. No wonder that he shares the weakness of which she is a sort of type. Is of few days ; literally, short of days. Length and shortness of days are, no doubt, relative; and it is difficult to say what term of life would not have seemed short to men as they looked back upon it. To Jacob, at the age of a hundred and thirty, it appeared that " few and evil had the days of the years of his life been" ( Genesis 47:9 ). Methuselah, perhaps, thought the same. We all, as we come towards old age, and death draws manifestly near, feel as if we had only just begun to live, as if, at any rate, we had not done half our work, and were about to be cut off before our time. But would the case be seriously different if our tale of years were doubled? And fall of trouble (comp. Job 5:7 ).