Job 14:1-12

Job 14:1-12 Job has been confident that he would win in a court case before God but now his mood changes and he is overwhelmed by the brevity of life. Job moves from a description of his personal situation to the people in general.

14:1 Man, who is born of woman- The word man, adam, begins the verse and therefore is stressed. The phrase born of woman is only in Job in the OT. The expression includes everyone emphasizes the cycle of birth and the fragility of life and is used in Job 15:14; 25:4. It is used in the NT of John the Baptist in Matt. 11:11; Luke 7:28. Sirach 10:18

is short lived and full of turmoil- The brevity of life is highlighted as in 7:6, 16; 9:25-26; 10:20. This phrase few of days is an intentional reversal of the language about being full of days in Gen. 25:8; I Chron. 29:28; Job 42:17.

14:7 For there is hope for a tree,- The book of Job often appeals to agricultural illustrations. While there is hope for a tree, in 14:19 God destroys a man’s hope. The word for hope is used elsewhere in Job in 4:6; 5:16; 6:8; 7:6; 8:13; 11:18, 20; 17:15, 15; 19:10; 27:8. Several these passages uttered by Job stress his hopelessness (6:8; 7:6; 17:15; 19:10).

14:8 Though its roots grow old in the ground- In the ground is actually in the dust. The word for dust is used again at vs.19. Dust is often in Job associated with death (7:5; 17:16; 21:26).

And its stump dies in dry soil- Tree, roots, and stump are all mentioned as this tree is thoroughly dead.

14:9 At the scent of water it will flourish- This is a strong hyperbole picturing a tree’s ability to survive.[1] The word translated flourish (parach) is also used of Aaron’s rod that budded in Num. 17:5, 8 or the righteous flourishing in Ps. 92:12-13.

14:11 And a river becomes parched and dried up- Isa. 19:5. The verb translated parched is used of Noah’s flood waters (Gen. 8:13) and the waters of the Red Sea (Ps. 106:9). The verb dried up is used in Gen.8:7, 14; Josh. 4:23, 23; 5:1. Job’s friends were a dry wadi promising water but failing to deliver in 6:14-23, but this is also a general picture of human life.

14:12 So man lies down and does not rise- Job 7:9; Ps. 41:8; Ecc. 3:19-20. There are three different Hebrew words translated man in 14:10, 12. The word lies down (shakab) in Job is connected to death in 3:13; 7:21; 20:11; 21:26. While the tree cut down may spring to life once again, the man who dies will not rise from the dead.

Until the heavens are no more- Ps. 72:5, 7, 17; 89:29, 35-37. Is this a statement of the permeance of man’s death, once he dies he will never rise, or does this place a time limitation on the statement that man will not rise? While the Old Testament does indicate an end to the physical universe (Ps. 102:25-27; Isa. 51:6; in the Pseudepigrapha in I Enoch 45:4-5; 51:1-2), it seems to fit the context more if we take this as a statement about the permeance of death. In Deut. 11:21; Ps. 89:29, 35-37; Jer. 31:35-37 the reliability of God’s promises to Israel and David are as reliable as the sun, moon, and stars.

He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep- 7:8-10; 10:21-22. Sleep is not viewed as a temporary situation from which God will arouse man (like in I Cor. 15:6, 18. 51) but it is a permanent one (Jer. 51:39, 57).