14:1ffI Life is short and full of trouble, Job laments in his closing remarks to this first round of conversation. Sickness, loneliness, disappointment, and death cause Job to say that life is not fair. Some understand verses 14 and 15 to mean that, even in his gloom, Job hoped for the resurrection of the dead. If this is true, then Job understood the one truth that could put his suffering in perspective. God’s solution to believers who live in an unfair world is to guarantee life with him forever. No matter how unfair your present world seems, God offers the hope of being in his presence eternally. Have you accepted this offer?
Life Application Study BibleJobChapter 14
Job 14
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 803, 804
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14Job 14
1How short is life, how full of trouble!
2We blossom like a flower and then wither.Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
3Must you keep an eye on such a frail creatureand demand an accounting from me?
4Who can bring purity out of an impure person?No one!
5You have decided the length of our lives.You know how many months we will live,and we are not given a minute longer.
6So leave us alone and let us rest!Weare like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.
7“Even a tree has more hope!If it is cut down, it will sprout againand grow new branches.
8Though its roots have grown old in the earthand its stump decays,9 at the scent of water it will budand sprout again like a new seedling.
10“But when people die, their strength is gone.They breathe their last, and then where are they?
11As water evaporates from a lakeand a river disappears in drought,12 people are laid to rest and do not rise again.Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake upnor be roused from their sleep.
13“I wish you would hide me in the grave*and forget me there until your anger has passed.But mark your calendar to think of me again!
14Can the dead live again?If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle,and I would eagerly await the release of death.
15You would call and I would answer,and you would yearn for me, your handiwork.
16For then you would guard my steps,instead of watching for my sins.
17My sins would be sealed in a pouch,and you would cover my guilt.
18“But instead, as mountains fall and crumbleand as rocks fall from a cliff,19 as water wears away the stonesand floods wash away the soil,so you destroy people’s hope.
20You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene.You disfigure them in death and send them away.
21They never know if their children grow up in honoror sink to insignificance.
22They suffer painfully,their life is full of trouble.”
Life Application Notes 3 notes
14:7-22The Old Testament does not say much about the resurrection of the dead. This is not surprising because Jesus had Not yet conquered death. Job's pessimism about death is understandable. What is remarkable is his budding hope (14:14). If only God would hide him with the dead and then bring him out again! If only he coutd die and live again! When we must endure suffering, we have an advantage over Job. We know that the dead will rise. Christ arose, and we have hope based on Christ’s promise in John 14:19.
14:22Job's profound speech in this chapter illustrates a great truth: To have a right set of doctrines is not enough. To know what to believe is not all that is required to please God. Truth untested by life’s experiences may become static and stagnant. Suffering can bring a dynamic quality to life. Just as drought drives the roots of a tree deeper to find water, so suffering can drive us beyond superficial acceptance of truth to dependence on God for hope and life.
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14:13 Hebrew in Sheol.