Job 4:19

19. Much less in them אַף , ( aph,) much more them. The strong logical argument is to be remarked. The same kind of argument is employed in Job 15:16; Job 25:5-6. Houses of clay A far more expressive figure for them than for us. Niebuhr says of the huts among the Arabs: “The walls are of mud mixed with dung, and the roof is thatched with a sort of grass.” Trav. 1:255. Such habitations are exceedingly exposed to destruction from floods of rain or storms of wind, and are a poor protection against the depredations of men. Belzoni witnessed the destruction of several villages of earth-built cottages by the rising of the Nile. “Men, women, children, cattle, corn, every thing was washed away in an instant.” The body is a similar house of clay. Paul speaks of “our earthly house of this tabernacle:” (2 Corinthians 5:1:) a like figure to which, Plato employs when he calls the body an earthly tent. If the angels untainted by sin are imperfect and untrustworthy in the sight of God, much more men, dwellers in “vile bodies,” that is, “bodies of humiliation,” (Philippians 3:21,) houses of clay. Natural inference the soul may live apart from the body as a man may away from his house.

Crushed before the moth Easier or sooner than the moth. ( Furst, Hahn.) Or, liphne may be better rendered, as the moth (is crushed.) The moth is a destructive insect which every one is ready to destroy. And such a being, alas! is man. Nature on every side antagonizes man, the great destroyer; ever arraying her forces against him. For a little while he maintains his hold upon life, and passing, justifies the moral of Pindar: “Men are the dream of a shadow,” Σκιας οναρ ανθρωποι .