As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,
A cut-down tree can sprout again, but Job says a man's life drains away like water from a lake. The image raises the book's hardest question — is death simply the end of a man, and if not, when does he come back?
The contrast Job draws
Job sets a cut-down tree beside a dying man, and the tree comes off better. One writer traces the logic of the picture and the sharp turn at the end of it.
William Kelly"Though the root grows old in the earth, and the stock dies in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dies, and wastes away." There is no hope for him for this earthly life; he dies and is done with. A plant is different. It may be brought down to its worst, with nothing showing, and yet it may shoot up again, especially if water helps it.
The same writer notes elsewhere that Job is speaking about man as he stands on earth, and that within those limits his words hold exactly.
William KellyAnd the more, as life on earth closes for man hopelessly, though a tree cut down may sprout again, while, like waters that fail and dry up, man lies down, and rises no more while the heavens last. He speaks of "man" for this world, and nothing can really be conceived more exact.
"Till the heavens are no more"
Job sets a time limit on this sleep: the end of the heavens. One writer matches that with a scene in Revelation.
William KellyThis is man — the prey of sorrow, decay and death, with no ray of divine light, till all ends in utter gloom. But it is not actual extinction. Yet it is a "sleep" only broken when "the heavens are no more." How striking the agreement with Revelation 20:11! This resurrection comes after the resurrection of the blessed and holy, who reign with Christ. It comes only when the thousand years of their reign are over.
The same writer notes which end Job names, and which he does not.
William KellyMany people stop there, but the Spirit of God, speaking here through Job, does not... We might have expected "till the earth is no more," which would be natural and easy to understand. But man lives and dies, and does not rise — not till the earth is no more, but till the heavens are no more.
Sleep is not extinction
Some read this verse to mean that the dead stop existing. One writer answers that Job's own words say the opposite.
J. N. DarbyBut what is that sleep? That he cannot tell you. He only uses words that fit a man who knows nothing of the other world, or of the state between death and resurrection. Those words certainly do not say the dead have ceased to exist. They imply the opposite. When I say they shall not rise, they shall not awake or arise out of their sleep, these words assume someone who is asleep. He will not wake till a set time. It is not a statement of non-existence, but the contrary... Job does not tell me what becomes of his soul in the meantime, and I do not expect him to. The Lord tells me it is not destroyed with the body. The apostle uses this same word "sleep," adding "in Jesus" for the saints, who have their gain in death, because He receives their spirits.
How much light Job had here
How should we rate what Job says here? One writer places it between faith and unbelief, and points to fuller light elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Samuel RidoutHe lies down and rises no more, so long as earth and heaven remain. This is not exactly the language of unbelief, nor yet of faith. It is one speaking as a man, and of things upon earth... Thank God, even in the Old Testament there was more light.
Another writer puts it more sharply. Job's sight stops at this world, and his grief leaves him no thought of rising:
J. N. DarbyIn Job 14 he clearly does not go beyond 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 light that came later
Job does not stay in this darkness. Later in the book he speaks of a Redeemer, and one writer draws out how much Job knew when he said it.
The Bible TreasuryHis wondrous words were "written" — yes, "printed in a book"... A "Redeemer" should one day stand upon the earth. Job knew this; and that, though his body should become the food of worms, yet in his flesh he should see God. He knew that he should die, and rise again... His memorable words are written in the BOOK OF BOOKS forever. So they give us the first clear statement of a life beyond the death that man's sin brought in.
Summary
- Picture — A felled tree buds again when water reaches it. A man does not. What drains away does not come back by itself.
- Limit — Job speaks of man as he stands on earth, and inside that limit he is right: this life, once ended, does not start again.
- Clock — He dates the waking not by the earth's end but by the heavens' end, which matches the scene of Revelation 20:11.
- Sleep — "Sleep" assumes a sleeper. Job denies a rising now, not continued existence; the soul is not destroyed with the body.
- Light — Job's sight here stops at this world, and his grief leaves no thought of rising. But the book does not stop here. He later says he will see God in his own flesh.