Job 14:13

Job then goes back to what he longs for. He asks God to hide him in the grave till His anger has turned away, to appoint him a time, and then to remember him. If a man dies, shall he live again? Job was the very opposite of a sceptic. He looks for his time of renewal or exchange, and does not doubt, deep down, God's yearning after the work of His hands.

Job has inferred that death is the end of everything. Even so, he pleads with God that he might die, hoping to be hidden this way until God's anger had subsided. For he thought that his troubles came from the wrath of God (v.13). In this he was totally mistaken. But if he died, would he live again? (v.14) He answered that question himself in chapter 19:26-27. His words here show the confused state he was in, which often made him speak inconsistently.

One thing above all made his grief so sharp. He felt that God's wrath was on him, and that the dreadful poison of God's anger was consuming him. We know he was mistaken. God was chastening His poor servant, and that was only another proof of His love. But he did not know it, and we should not be harsh with one who felt that the Lord was dealing bitterly with him.

Even though he expected to go to the grave, he could still ask God to hide him, to keep him secret until His wrath was past, to appoint him a set time, and to remember him. Job had some idea that God would keep him in a secret place until He raised his body from the grave. Faith in God had given Job this wonderful knowledge. He would wait in God's secret place, for God's appointed time, until his body was changed.

He recognised that he had an "appointed time," when his "change" would come. He saw that there would be a divine "call," and that he would "answer" it, since he was a "work" of God's hands. In speaking this way he was taught by God, as we can see in the light of the New Testament.

Job next seems to express a hope — vague and spoiled by evil thoughts of God — of a bright hereafter. He wants to be hidden from God in Sheol until this mighty Being changed His mind and stopped chasing His creature. Then God would look on him with favour; but now He only watched him as an enemy! This is sad beyond words for a man who knew God. But such is unbelief even in a saint. We can catch the gleam of faith in the desire and the question.

In Job 14, he does not go beyond this present world of sight. In his bitterness of spirit he has no sense of resurrection. Job was right, only he did not see beyond, nor did he here know Him who is the resurrection and the life.

We have the moving record of how he tried to spell out a yes. He reasoned from the picture of a cut-down tree. He did reach the conclusion that death was not the end of men. In the end his change would come, and he would rise in answer to the call of God. Still, at best it was a conclusion he had reached by reasoning and not a plain word of revelation from God.