Man, born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
Job has been arguing with his friends. Now he turns to God and speaks about every human being, himself included: life is short, and it is full of trouble.
Job's tone changes here from debate to mourning. One writer compares his words to a psalm about human frailty:
The close of this address ends the first round of the debate. It is a beautiful funeral song about the frailty and uncertainty of human life. Man comes up like a flower, and is cut down and withers. We are listening to the wail of Psalm 90, but without its faith in God, and not yet followed by the triumph of Psalm 91.
The phrase is not about a short lifespan by human reckoning. Job himself went on living long after he said it, and the words still held:
In these verses Job gives a vivid description of how quickly man's life on earth passes. This is generally true of all mankind, though men do everything in their power to soften this condition. Job himself lived 140 years after his bitter experience, yet when it was finished, it was only "few of days." In view of this brevity of life, Job wondered why God troubles Himself to bring him to judgment, as he thought God was doing.
Job is speaking of man only as he enters the world by natural birth. One commentator notes how different a believer's words can be:
Now, if you are speaking of those who are born of God, is that all you could say? Surely not! To depart is no doubt gain, but to live is well worthwhile, above all when Christ is the object. Such people can say, in their measure and despite all their weaknesses and faults, "For to me to live is Christ." Yes, that life is full of blessing. But here it is only man born of woman, never born of God — not yet, until a later chapter. Not one of these is thought of as born of God.
Job's next words show what troubled him most. Shortness of life was bad enough; being unfit to stand before God was worse.
In the far-off days of Job human life was perhaps three times longer than it is today. Yet it was still "few of days," and then it was "full of trouble," just as it is today. Seen in the light of the eternal God, he is only like a fading flower or a fleeting shadow. Job was conscious of this about himself, and so he knew he could not stand up under God's inspection, nor stand before Him in judgment. What is more, he knew that he was not clean in the sight of God, and he was sure no one could produce the clean out of the unclean.
Job was right that no one can bring something clean out of something unclean. What he could not see is where cleansing does come from:
"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one!" This is impossible for any human being. Yet God is able to purify men's hearts, cleansing them through the blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7), by faith (Romans 3:25). But we find this only in the New Testament, so Job did not understand such a marvellous gospel.
Everything Job says here stays inside what he can see. Death ends the life he knows, and at this point in the book he has no light beyond it:
In Job 14, he clearly does not go beyond this present world of sight, and in the bitterness of his spirit has no sense of resurrection. A tree sprouts again in this present world, where we can see it. Man does not, and in fact never will, unless by a miracle, as with Lazarus. Death has wholly passed on him as an inhabitant of this world — a child of Adam. Such life he never recovers. Job was right, only he did not see beyond, nor here know Him who is the resurrection and the life.
- Few days. Even Job's extra 140 years counted as "few of days." The verse measures life by God's scale, not ours.
- Full of trouble. Job's grief is real but incomplete. It is the sorrow of Psalm 90 without its faith, and without the triumph of Psalm 91.
- Born of woman. That birth is all this verse describes — man as he comes from Adam, not yet born of God. Those born of God can say something more: for them, to live is Christ.
- Not clean. Job's own answer stands: no human being can bring the clean out of the unclean. The problem is deeper than the shortness of life.
- Not seeing beyond. Job was right about man and death. He stopped too soon: he did not yet know the One who is the resurrection and the life, or the blood that cleanses.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; and he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.
Job has been answering his friend Zophar. He ends the first round of the debate by turning from his friends to God. He paints every human life in two pictures: a blossom, and a shadow. One question sits under the poetry. If man is this brief, why does God examine him at all?
These lines close a long speech, and they sound like a funeral song. One writer sets them beside Psalm 90 and points out what is missing.
This speech closes the first round of the debate. Its ending is a most beautiful funeral song about the frailty and uncertainty of human life. Man comes up like a flower, and is cut down and withers. We are listening to the wail of Psalm 90, but without its faith in God, and not yet followed by the triumph of Psalm 91.
The picture is about man as born of woman, not about those born of God. A flower draws admiration for as long as it lasts, and that is not long.
If you are speaking of those who are born of God, is that all you could say? Surely not! To depart is no doubt gain, but to live is well worth while, particularly when Christ is the object... But here it is merely man born of woman, never born of God. "He comes forth like a flower" — for they are all much the same when they are born. So far they are like a flower: an interesting object, no doubt. But how quickly it is fully grown and completely plain. "He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down; he flees also as a shadow, and continues not." You know very well — we all know — that many children die. Death is especially frequent among them.
(Kelly follows an older translation, "is cut down"; the ESV reads "withers.")
"Few days" is not a statement about the calendar. Job himself outlived his suffering by a long stretch, and the verdict still held.
Job himself lived 140 years after his bitter experience. Yet when it was over, it was still only "few days." Like a flower, man comes forth and fades away. Like a shadow he does not continue. Life is that short. So Job wondered why God troubles Himself to bring him to judgment, as he thought God was doing.
Job's life was far longer than ours. Set beside the eternal God, that made no difference.
In the far-off days of Job, human life was perhaps three times longer than it is today. Yet it was after all "of few days," and then it was "full of trouble," just as it is today. So seen in the light of the eternal God, he is only like a fading flower or a fleeting shadow. Job knew this about himself. So he knew he could not stand God's inspection, nor stand before Him in judgment.
Later in the chapter Job compares man with a tree. One writer marks where Job's sight stops.
In Job 14 he clearly does not go beyond this present world that he can see. In the bitterness of his spirit he has no sense of resurrection. The tree sprouts now and visibly in this present world; man does not... Job was right, only he did not see beyond, nor did he here know Him who is the resurrection and the life.
Frailty is the whole subject of the verse. One writer shows what God did about it.
The flower attracts the eye, and no sooner charms with interest than it fades away for ever. Such is man — all men, without exception... Man is not only sinful, unclean and corrupt, but weak and without continuance, for he passes away. Rich or poor, high or low, in this there is no difference... Still it is a blessing to remember that Jesus died for weak and frail ones. For it is written: "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
- Frail — Job ends the first round of debate with a funeral song: a flower that fades, a shadow that will not stay.
- Few — "Few days" is a verdict, not a number. Job lived 140 more years, and it still counted as few.
- Faded — Set beside the eternal God, man is a fading flower. Job knew he could not stand God's inspection.
- Faithless — This is Psalm 90's lament without Psalm 90's faith in God. Job's eye stops at the world he can see. He does not yet know the One who is the resurrection and the life.
- For the frail — Weakness is not the end of the story. It is why Christ died: "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
Yet dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
Job has just described how short and fragile human life is. Now he turns to God with a question that is half complaint and half plea: if a man's days are already so few and so hard, why watch him so closely and bring him to court?
Job is not describing a believer here. "Born of woman" marks out man as a creature only, with no new birth in view.
Here it is simply man born of woman, never born of God — not yet, not until a later chapter — none of these is thought of as born of God… "And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one." It does not mean "not one person," but "not one thing."
Job's problem is not that he thinks himself sinless. He measures his own brief life against the God who never ends, and he already knows how that inspection would go.
In Job's far-off days human life was perhaps three times longer than it is today. Yet his life was still "few of days," and then it was "full of trouble," just as it is today. So, seen in the light of the eternal God, man is only like a fading flower or a passing shadow. Job knew this about himself, so he knew he could not stand God's inspection, or stand before Him in judgment. He also knew that he was not clean in God's sight, and he was sure no one could produce the clean out of the unclean.
Job's question is true as far as it goes. But he does not stay with it; he turns from the truth he has just spoken and asks God to look away.
But how sadly true verses 1 and 2 are! And will the mighty God enter into judgment with such a frail creature — not only frail, but impure by nature! Ah, let Job weigh his own words well. Instead he moves on in self-pity, begging to be left alone for a while, until like a hired worker he finishes his day! (verses 3-6).
Behind the question lies an assumption of Job's own. He is sure he already knows what God is doing with him.
Because life is so short, Job wondered why God troubles Himself to bring him to judgment, as he thought God was doing.
Job's instinct is sound. No one can afford to be brought into judgment with God. The believer's answer is not to deny that verdict but to accept it in advance.
But first let us recognize that we are all subject to condemnation, and in ourselves liable to judgment as responsible to God… The Christian has, through grace, anticipated this. He has recognized by divine teaching that condemnation is his own portion. He knows that in him, that is, in his flesh, nothing good lives. He has said in spirit, "Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you" [older translations: "no man living shall be justified"].
What keeps the chapter so dark is the horizon. Job reasons only about this present world, where a felled tree can sprout but a dead man cannot.
In Job 14, he does not go beyond this present world of sight, and in his bitterness of spirit he has no sense of resurrection… Job was right, but he did not see beyond it, and here he did not know Him who is the resurrection and the life.
Job asks the question as though God's eye on him were hostile. By the end of the book, that same light has done what his friends could not do.
Man was never so exposed as a sinner as in the presence of the Son of God, and yet who was so attractive to the sinner?… In the presence of the light of God Job goes down in self-judgment. He says, "I despise myself." When his three friends had said all they had to say, his confidence in himself was still unshaken. He felt himself to be morally superior to them. But the light of God brought him down: "now my eye sees You" was what killed the sinful pride of his heart.
- Frail — man here is "born of woman," not born of God. He is a fading flower and a passing shadow. Nothing clean comes out of an unclean source.
- Exposed — Job knows he could not survive God's inspection. His own words condemn the self-defence he keeps making.
- Mistaken — he treats God's eye on him as a summons to court, and begs to be left alone.
- Answered — if God enters into judgment, no one living stands. Grace lets a person own that verdict now instead of meeting it later.
- Broken open — the eye Job wanted turned away was the very thing that brought him down, until he could say, "now my eye sees You."
Who can bring a clean [man] out of the unclean? Not one!
Job is answering his friends, and here he turns to God with a question that leaves him no way out. It confesses where he came from, and it raises a further question: does God have an answer Job could not yet see?
Job asks and answers in the same breath. One writer notes that the answer reaches wider than we might first read.
"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one." It does not mean, "not one person," but "not one thing." I say this only so that it is understood.
The picture behind the words is a spring and the stream that flows from it.
This leads him to a wider view of man's sad and frail condition, but still with his own case clearly before his eyes. If the fountain is corrupt, no one need wonder that its stream is foul.
Job has just described how short and troubled human life is. Now he adds uncleanness to frailty as a second reason for God to leave him alone.
But how sadly true are verses 1, 2! And will the mighty God enter into judgment with such a frail creature — not only frail but impure by nature! Ah, let Job ponder well his own words. But he passes on in self-pity to beg that he be let alone for a little, until as a hired man he completes his day (verses 3-6).
Writers read this line as a principle, not a mood. The whole race takes what it has from its head.
The first man was also, in a very real way, the representative of his race. This was not by any formal covenant made for his descendants, of which Scripture has no trace, but because God Himself made him the head of the race. Scripture states this in the plainest possible way. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" expresses the law. "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." And the Lord affirms the principle in the strongest terms: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."
The same law explains why each new child adds to the world's evil — and why that is not the whole story.
Through the woman death had come in, and through the woman life comes in, but the life she brings in carries the taint of its origin: "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" asks Job. We must answer with him: by nature, "not one." So the truth taught here is that human increase means human defilement. Every child born into the world only adds to the evil in it. But this does not stand alone: we also see that "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."
Job's "not one" holds for every child of Adam. Writers point to one birth where God did what Job said no one could do.
God completely shut out the poison that sin had put into human nature in every other case. So the Lord Jesus was born of the woman, not of the man... The power of the Highest overshadowed His mother from the start, and only in this way was "that holy thing" born of her at the right time. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one," Job 14. This, and far more than this, was "that holy thing" which was born of the virgin. With God nothing is impossible.
The same writer sets His birth beside the new birth.
In His person human nature was cleansed from its defilement, and God did what Job declared impossible for man — brought forth a clean thing out of an unclean (Job 14:4). At His birth He was what we become at new birth, but without any taint of evil, perfect in all things — yes, the Eternal Life itself.
One writer names what Job's question could not reach:
"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one." This is impossible for any human being. Yet God is able to purify man's hearts, cleansing them through the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 1:7), by faith (Rom. 3:25). But this is found only in the New Testament, so Job did not understand such a marvellous gospel.
- Source — The verse states a law about origins: a corrupt fountain gives a foul stream. "Not one" means not one thing, not just not one person.
- Reach — The law covers every descendant of Adam, the head God made for the race. Each birth adds to the evil; none takes away from it.
- Deadlock — Job pleads his impurity as a reason for God to look away from him. The plea leaves him with no hope in himself.
- Exception — God did the one thing Job called impossible. By the power of the Highest, "that holy thing" was born of the virgin, untainted, though of a fallen race.
- Outcome — A clean thing did come out of an unclean. So God cleanses hearts through the blood of Jesus Christ, by faith — the gospel Job had not yet been shown.
If his days are determined, if the number of his months is with thee, [and] thou hast appointed his bounds which he must not pass,
Job speaks these words in the middle of his suffering. He describes a life that is short and already measured out before it begins. Job never doubts that God fixes the limits of every human life. What he does with that fact is where the trouble starts.
Job's picture of man in this chapter is a flower cut down and a shadow that does not stay. The days themselves are the point: God counts them, not us. One writer draws out a double truth here. Human life feels unstable, yet God has settled all of it.
Here it is simply man born of woman, never born of God... "He comes out like a flower, and is cut down; he flees like a shadow, and does not last." You know very well — we all know — that many children die. Death is most frequent there... "Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass." So it is all uncertain — a shaky position as far as man is concerned — but God has settled all of it.
Because man's days are few, his life must end, and God decides when. Another writer presses past that fact with a question the verse does not answer.
Man has few days. His life in this world must end in death, and God decides the time when he goes, as verse 5 states. But what then? Job felt he was just like a hired worker putting in his day, and he wished that God would give him rest until the end came. But again, what then?
In the next line Job asks God to look away from him. That plea can be taken two ways. One commentator asks what Job really wanted from the God who set his limits.
He recognises that God has determined the length of a man's life, and man cannot overstep his limits. But why did Job not fully submit at this time to the greater work of God? Why did he strain against the limits God had placed him under? (v.5). "Look away from him that he may rest," Job says. Did he mean he wanted God to relax the limits, so he could rest comfortably? For he was only like a hired man: could he not finish his day's work in peace?
Job's speech ends here, and the first round of the debate ends with it. Another writer measures Job's closing words against two psalms.
The close of this speech brings the first round of the debate to an end. It is a most beautiful funeral song about the frailty and uncertainty of human life. Man comes up like a flower, and is cut down and withers. We are listening to the cry of Psalm 90, but without its faith in God, and not yet followed by the triumph of Psalm 91.
Job draws his limit at the grave, and in this chapter he does not look past it. One writer says Job is right as far as his sight goes.
In Job 14 he clearly does not look past this present world of sight. In the bitterness of his spirit he has no sense of resurrection. The tree sprouts now, and visibly, in this present world — man does not... Job was right, only he did not see beyond, nor here know Him who is the resurrection and the life.
The same hand that sets the boundary reaches past it.
Our coming into the world is completely under God's control. And once we are born, our life is in His hand. Death, too, answers to His will... He is "the sovereign Lord of life and death." He kills; death is His black-winged messenger... He "makes alive," and "brings up" from the grave. Resurrection is the sovereign act of His power.
- Determined. God counts your days. Your months are already with Him — uncertain to you, settled with Him.
- Bounded. The limit is real: life in this world must end, and the timing of that end is God's decision, not yours.
- Contested. Job accepts the limit but strains against it. He asks God to look away instead of fully submitting to Him.
- Incomplete. His cry is as honest as Psalm 90 about frailty, but it never reaches Psalm 90's faith. In this chapter he sees nothing past the grave.
- Answered. The One who fixes the boundary also crosses it: He kills and makes alive, and resurrection is the act of His own power.
Look away from him; and let him rest, till he accomplish, as a hireling, his day.
Job has just said that God counts a man's days and sets limits no one can pass. Now he asks only to be left alone, like a hired worker finishing his day — which raises the question behind the whole chapter: when the day ends, what then?
Job asks God to look away from him, so that the days he has left can pass quietly. One writer ties the plea to the limits Job has just admitted:
His short span of life is all in God's hands. So why not look away and give him a little relief, so that he may enjoy his day like a hired worker? All the more so, since life on earth closes for man with no hope. A tree that is cut down may sprout again. But man is like water that drains away and dries up: he lies down and rises no more, as long as the heavens last.
Another writer questions what Job really wanted from God:
Why did Job not fully submit at this time to God's greater work, instead of fretting against the limits God had placed him under? (v.5). "Look away from him that he may rest," Job says. Did he mean he wanted God to relax the limits, so he could rest comfortably? For he was only like a hired man: could he not finish his day's work in peace?
The comparison is not flattering. A hired servant stood outside the household:
These were different from the house servants, who were usually slaves. A hired servant was taken on for the day and paid at the end of it. A servant hired by the priest did not count as one of the family, and could not eat the holy food. The slaves, by contrast, counted as part of the family.
So Job casts himself as a man hired for a single day, paid at sundown, and outside the family circle.
One writer hears in the plea the voice of a man turned in on himself:
But how sadly true are verses 1, 2! And will the mighty God enter into judgment with such a frail creature — not only frail, but impure by nature! Ah, let Job ponder well his own words. But he goes on in self-pity, begging to be left alone for a while, until he finishes his day like a hired worker! (verses 3-6).
The same writer sets the whole speech beside two psalms:
The close of this address ends the first round of the debate. It is a most beautiful funeral song about the frailty and uncertainty of human life. Man comes up like a flower, and is cut down and withers. We are listening to the wail of the 90th psalm, but without its faith in God, and not yet followed by the triumph of the 91st psalm.
Job's plea assumes this day is all there is. Another writer presses the obvious question twice:
Man being of few days, his life in this world must end in death, and the time when he goes is determined by God, as verse 5 states. But, what then? Job felt he was just like a hired man filling out his day, and he wished that God would give him rest until the end came. But again, what then?
That silence is not error, only limited light:
In Job 14 he clearly does not look beyond this present world of sight. In the bitterness of his spirit he has no sense of resurrection. The tree sprouts again, here and now, in this present world — man does not… Job was right. He simply did not see beyond, and he did not yet know Him who is the resurrection and the life.
The same image can also become a way to live:
Everything around us is an empty show, but what is inside lasts. When the heart takes hold of this fact, it becomes like someone brought into a house to work for the day. He does the work well, but he passes through instead of settling into the circumstances… May the Lord keep us going on in simplicity, doing our day's work like a hired worker, until Christ comes — and then each one will receive his praise from God.
- The day — Job asks God to look away so he can finish his short life quietly, like a worker seeing out his shift.
- The wage — a hired servant was taken on for one day, paid at sundown, and never part of the family. That is how Job sees himself before God.
- The lament — his words on human frailty are true, yet they come as self-pity; it is the sorrow of Psalm 90 without its faith.
- The limit — "what then?" is the question Job cannot answer. He does not yet see past this world to resurrection.
- The turn — the same picture becomes a good way to live. Do the day's work well, pass through instead of settling down, and wait for Christ.