Job 14
Job 14 contains Job’s deep lament and reflection on the brevity and weakness of human life, the fate after death, and the harsh conditions of life. Based on his own painful reality, Job confesses the limitations and fleeting nature that humans experience, as well as their helplessness before God.
1verse“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
2verseHe grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
3verseDo you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?
4verseWho can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
5verseSeeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass.
6verseLook away from him, that he may rest, until he accomplishes, as a hireling, his day.
7verse“For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.
8verseThough its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies in the ground,
9verseyet through the scent of water it will bud, and sprout boughs like a plant.
10verseBut man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
11verseAs the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,
12verseso man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
13verse“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!
14verseIf a man dies, will he live again? I would wait all the days of my warfare, until my release should come.
15verseYou would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire for the work of your hands.
16verseBut now you count my steps. Don’t you watch over my sin?
17verseMy disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
18verse“But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place.
19verseThe waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man.
20verseYou forever prevail against him, and he departs. You change his face, and send him away.
21verseHis sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it. They are brought low, but he doesn’t perceive it of them.
22verseBut his flesh on him has pain, and his soul within him mourns.”
Verses 1–6: The Brevity and Weakness of Life
Job begins by describing life as "a person born of a woman" and says that hardship in life comes along from the moment a person is born. Life is likened to something that blooms briefly like a flower and then withers (verse 2), and it passes by like a shadow. Job complains that God’s scrutiny and judgment feel far too harsh for human beings (verses 3–6). These lamentations show that humans cannot escape their limits and cannot change the allotted time and conditions.
Verses 7–12: Life and Death, and the Possibility of Recovery
Job emphasizes that while a tree can sprout again even after being cut down, it is difficult for a person to rise again once they die (verses 7–10). Here, Job distinctly contrasts trees and human beings, further highlighting the emptiness of life. although trees have a second chance, humans do not—and from that fact, a bitter feeling arises. In verse 12, by mentioning that the dead do not rise again, the viewpoint on life and death in the ancient Near East of that time is also revealed.
Verses 13–17: Traces of Hope for What God Will Do
Even in despair, Job expresses hope that God will hide himself from Job (verse 13) and that when his anger subsides, God will remember him. There is a brief appearance of hope in which Job immediately responds to God’s call (verse 15) and expectation for restored relationship with God. Despite God’s thorough scrutiny and record of sin (verses 16–17), Job’s heart is infused with the wish that God would look on him with grace.
Verses 18–22: The Disappearance of Hope and the Pain of Reality
But hope is quickly broken and disappears. The mountain collapses, rocks are moved, and, as water wears down stones, it is a metaphor for human weakness in the face of the great changes of nature (verses 18–19). In the end, even human hope collapses, dignity is completely gone, and the lonely reality remains in which even one’s remaining family no longer knows anything (verses 20–22).
Meditation Points
- While admitting honestly the fleetingness and limits of my life, where is the place within those limits where I can look to God and try to carry hope?
- Like Job, let us think about what ways there might be to reflect on the weakness of humanity revealed amid our lives, death, and suffering, and not let go of the thread of hope for even a moment.
Try Applying It to Me
- Let us reflect on what honest prayer I can offer to God amid the limits, pain, and uncertainty of the life I am experiencing right now.
- By acknowledging the limits and helplessness of my life, I can plan small practices to move toward God without losing hope.
