Job 14, "Such Brevity in Life!"

Job continues his defense, begging for a trial before God.

Job 14:1-6, Like a flower withers away

"Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.

He springs up like a flower and withers away; 

like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

Do you fix your eye on such a one? 

Will you bring him before you for judgment?

Who can bring what is pure from the impure? 

No one!

Man's days are determined; 

you have decreed the number of his months

and have set limits he cannot exceed.

So look away from him

 and let him alone, 

till he has put in his time like a hired man.

From the perspective of the ages, a man's life is a brief passing shadow. This message on the frailty of life appears throughout the Old Testament, see, for example, Psalm 90: 3-10. So Job asks that God turn away pain and suffering from these mere mortal, allowing them to serve their time and die.

The time allotted for man might be number in days or months, but the lifetime has limits. (In Genesis 6: 3 a time length of 120 years is set; in Psalm 90: 10 that time might be 70 or 80 years.)

Job 14:7-12, Trees

"At least there is hope for a tree: 

If it is cut down, it will sprout again, 

and its new shoots will not fail.

Its roots may grow old in the ground 

and its stump die in the soil,

yet at the scent of water it will bud 

and put forth shoots like a plant.

But man dies and is laid low; 

he breathes his last and is no more.

As water disappears from the sea 

or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

so man lies down and does not rise;

 till the heavens are no more, 

men will not awake 

or be roused from their sleep.

Trees rejuvenate when there is moisture -- they sprout new seeds. But what about man? They never rise again. (Job claims people are not awakened -- they lie in the grave until the heavens end.)

Job 14:13-17, Renewal?

"If only you would hide me in the grave 

and conceal me till your anger has passed! 

If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

 If a man dies, will he live again? 

All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.

You will call and I will answer you; 

you will long for the creature your hands have made.

Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.

My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; 

you will cover over my sin.

Job associates his pain with God's anger. He wants to skip over this angry portion. He looks to a time when his offenses might be sealed up and covered. He even wonders if he could hide in the grave (Sheol) for a time to avoid God's anger, if only that time would pass and he would eventually be remembered and brought back to life.

Job 14:18-22, Erosion

"But as a mountain erodes and crumbles 

and as a rock is moved from its place,

as water wears away stones 

and torrents wash away the soil, 

so you destroy man's hope.

You overpower him once for all, 

and he is gone; 

you change his countenance 

and send him away.

If his sons are honored, 

he does not know it; 

if they are brought low, 

he does not see it.

He feels but the pain of his own body 

and mourns only for himself."

At every step man is easily overpowered. He erodes away without knowledge of the future or of his descendants. "All is vanity" agrees Ecclesiastes 1: 2.