Job contemplates Life and Death

   In the passage below we see Job contemplates the fleeting span of human life. Interesting and poignant, some of his descriptions include man's life as " few days and full of trouble", "comes forth like a flower and withers away". Job also realised that God is the ultimate judge but on v4, since he has never heard of Jesus, and perhaps also did not get revelation from God, he concluded that no one can make an unclean thing to clean.
Job also may not have understood about life after death. He contrasted how a tree may die, but its remnant may produce offshoots, and yet when a man dies, that is the end. People today who have not known Christ may have a similar view, where they have not heard of the Good News of spending eternity with God when we submit to Jesus our Lord.

It is interesting to see Job's thoughts, how he struggles with his views of reality and also his relationship with God. But we should remember which are Job's views and that his views are not necessarily always correct as he does not have the full revelation of the Gospels.


Job 14


 ¹ “Man who is born of woman
      Is of few days and full of trouble.
 ² He comes forth like a flower and fades away;
      He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
 ³ And do You open Your eyes on such a one,
      And bring me^[a] to judgment with Yourself?
 ⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
      No one!
 ⁵ Since his days are determined,
      The number of his months is with You;
      You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
 ⁶ Look away from him that he may rest,
      Till like a hired man he finishes his day.
 ⁷ “For there is hope for a tree,
      If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
      And that its tender shoots will not cease.
 ⁸ Though its root may grow old in the earth,
      And its stump may die in the ground,
 ⁹ Yet at the scent of water it will bud
      And bring forth branches like a plant.
 ¹⁰ But man dies and is laid away;
      Indeed he breathes his last
      And where is he?
 ¹¹ As water disappears from the sea,
      And a river becomes parched and dries up,
 ¹² So man lies down and does not rise.
      Till the heavens are no more,
      They will not awake
      Nor be roused from their sleep.
 ¹³ “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave,
      That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
      That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
 ¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again?
      All the days of my hard service I will wait,
      Till my change comes.
 ¹⁵ You shall call, and I will answer You;
      You shall desire the work of Your hands.
 ¹⁶ For now You number my steps,
      But do not watch over my sin.
 ¹⁷ My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
      And You cover^[b] my iniquity.
 ¹⁸ “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away,
      And as a rock is moved from its place;
 ¹⁹ As water wears away stones,
      And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
      So You destroy the hope of man.
 ²⁰ You prevail forever against him, and he passes on;
      You change his countenance and send him away.
 ²¹ His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
      They are brought low, and he does not perceive it.
 ²² But his flesh will be in pain over it,
      And his soul will mourn over it.”