Job 14:7–8

He closes his answer (Job 14) with wider thoughts on man's miserable lot in this world. Man is frail and faulty by nature, with no hope of coming back to life here — unlike a tree, which can sprout again however low it is cut down.

He started to reason the matter out. He took the example of a tree that had been cut down, its root long in the earth. He had watched the years pass, and the stump left behind had begun to decay. Yet a change came. Something happened. Perhaps an earth tremor cracked the rocks and opened a fresh channel for water to reach its roots. As a result, the dead tree came to life and sprouted again. The hope of Job was that something like that lay before mankind.

In Job 14, he does not go beyond this present world of sight, and in the bitterness of his spirit he has no sense of resurrection. The tree sprouts now, here where we can see it — man does not, and never will, unless by a miracle, as with Lazarus. Death has passed fully on him as someone who lives in 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.

There was no mystery about the tree, but there was about the human race. Like the tree stump, the body of man wasted away in the ground. Yet no sign of continuing life appeared, as it did when the young shoots sprang from the old roots of the tree. Still, Job realised that man is made of more than body, for he spoke of his spirit, and this is what puzzled him.

That is the language of man apart from revelation. It is the expression of one who is in darkness and uncertainty. Teachers of error often quote Job and the words of his friends to defend false teachings such as soul-sleep and the annihilation of the wicked, as if these were true revelations from God. But their words are only the expressions of the human mind, and often false and misleading. What Job and his friends said is recorded in an inspired account that cannot fail, yet revelation is a different matter altogether.

People very often stop there, but the Spirit of God does not stop there in Job. It is plain that he says what Scripture fully backs — "till the heavens are no more." That is a remarkable phrase. We might have expected "till the earth is no more," which would be natural enough. But man lives and dies, and does not rise — not till the earth is no more, but "till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep."

Does this mean that Israel can never be restored? No, it does not. For a tree may die, so that in its first state it bears fruit no more. Yet "there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil" (Job 14:7-8). Israel will rise again in a different state from the one that brought her to ruin. This will truly be "life from the dead" (Romans 11:15).

He took the picture of a tree that had been cut down, its root long in the earth. He had watched the years pass, until the stump left behind began to decay. Yet a change came. Something happened — an earth tremor may have cracked the rocks and opened a fresh channel for water to reach its roots. Then the dead tree came to life and sprouted again. Job's hope was that something like that lay ahead for mankind.

"Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant. But a man dies and is laid low." There is no hope for him in this earthly life; he dies and is done with. A plant, on the other hand, may be brought down to the worst and nothing appear, and yet it may shoot up again, especially if there is water to help it.

In Job 14, he does not go beyond this present world of sight, and in the bitterness of his spirit he has no sense of resurrection. The tree sprouts now, in plain view, in this present world. Man does not, and in fact never will, unless by a miracle, as with Lazarus. Death has wholly passed upon him as a dweller in 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.

He speaks of man who "lies down and rises not." That is the language of man apart from revelation. It is the expression of one who is in darkness and uncertainty. Teachers of error often quote Job and the sayings of these friends to defend false teachings — such as soul-sleep, or the annihilation of the wicked — as if these were true revelations from God. But their words are only the expressions of the human mind, and often false and misleading.

Yet the fact is this. Though man's body decays completely in the grave, the new sprouting of a tree is a comparison, not a contrast, to the eventual "sprouting" of a new body from the old. Man's resurrection is longer delayed, but it is just as certain. Job knew this, as he says in chapter 19:26. But in chapter 14 he is too concerned about the immediate future to give proper weight to the distant future.

Job can say, "There is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again … though its root grow old in the earth … yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches" (Job 14:7-9). Israel has indeed failed. The tree has been battered by wind and storm among the nations, but the root remains, so Israel will bud and bring forth branches again.

People in Old Testament times believed that the soul of man survived death and that resurrection lay ahead. Job's words here show it, and the Lord made it plain when He argued with the Sadducees of His day. What God had not yet made known was that for the saint resurrection will mean entering a new and incorruptible order of things. Our Lord showed this when He rose from the dead. So we have no need to discuss the matter and reason it out, as Job does here. God has plainly revealed the whole truth of it.