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Man [that is] born of a woman [is] of few days, and full of trouble.

Man that is born of a woman, … — Or, that is borne about by a woman in her womb. Job’s design is here to set forth the misery of man (whom in the last verse of the former chapter he had compared, 1. To a rotten thing; 2. To a moth eaten garment), ab exordio ad exodium, from his conception to his dissolution. Man, earthly man, that is born of a woman, or mannesse, that weaker vessel, who both breedeth, beareth, and bringeth forth in sorrow a weak sorry man, Genesis 3:16 , and is (as Gregory expresseth it) ante partum onerosa, in partu dolorosa, post partum laboriosa, every way calamitous; neither is her babe in a better condition, but born with a cross on his back (as the story is told of Frederick, the Elector of Saxony), and having his whole life overspread with sins and miseries, as with a filthy leprous eruption. (Joh. Manl. loc. com.)

Is of few days — Heb. Short of days. Short indeed, everything reckoned; for, 1. Childhood and youth are vanity. 2. Sleep, as a publican, takes off a third part of our time. 3. All the days of the afflicted are evil, and Mortis habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus (Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. ix. c. 10); it is not a life, but a death rather that is spent in sorrow; in which regard Plotinus, the philosopher, held mortality a mercy, that we may not always be held uuder the miseries of this life present. 4. Scarce one of a thousand live that little time that they are here, but woefully waste the flower of their age, the strength of their bodies, the vigour of their spirits, in sinful pleasures and sensual delights, and then either sit and sing all too late, and in vain,

or else complain with old Themistocles, that now they must die when they do but begin only to be wise. The life of a wicked man runneth out as the sand in an hour glass, that doth little good; he considereth not that upon this little point of time hangs the crown of eternity; and that the very next moment he may be cut off from all possibility of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever. Hence his many troubles here; all which are but typical of those hereafter; besides the fear of death, which maketh him all his lifetime subject to bondage, Hebrews 2:15 . It were much to be wished that men would consider their time is short, their task long, and that, therefore, they should use all speed and diligence; lest (so as children have usually torn their books) they have ended their lives before they have learned their lessons.

And full of trouble — Or, of indignation, commotion, perturbation. Those three vultures, fear, anger, grief, are frequently feeding upon his heart while he is in this world; and, like a ship in a storm, he is tossed much, but faileth little or nothing. Few and evil are the days of my pilgrimage, saith good old Jacob, Genesis 47:9 . And she in the poet could say as much of her son Achilles:

Nυν θ αμα ωκυμορος, και υιζυρος περι παντων Eπλεο - (Thetis ap. Hom. lliad).

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He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

He cometh forth like a flower — What he had asserted concerning the shortness of man’s life is here illustrated by two elegant similitudes, frequently used, not in Scripture only, but in heathen authors, as were easy to instance, Isaiah 28:1 ; Isaiah 40:6 James 1:10-11 1 Peter 1:24 . A flower hath a spring and a fall; so have men their times and their turns; their rise and their ruin. Why and how man in his flourish is like to a flower; see Psalms 103:15-16 , where he is compared to a flower of the field (which lies open to all inconvenience), not of the garden, which is much sheltered from sharp winds, fenced from the teeth and feet of beasts, from the hands of children, strangers, …

And is cut down — Heb. Cut around, or circumcised, sc. by some nipping or blasting wind, such as that east wind, Genesis 41:23 , or some cropping hand, or its own fading nature; and then it is not, saith David, Psalms 103:16 , that is, it neither continues any longer in being, nor returns any more into being; no more doth man, though in his time never so flourishing.

He fleeth also — With post haste, as one that fleeth for life; so doth he from life, every moment yielding somewhat unto death: Orimur, morimur, finisque ab origine pendet; life, as fast as it increaseth, decreaseth. It is improper, saith one, to ask when we shall die, but rather when we shall make an end of dying?

As a shadow — As the shadow of a dial, our lives are continually hasting to their period, and never make stop. By these, and many the like comparisons (common in this Book and other Scriptures), we see how much God desireth that we should mind our mortality; to blame, then, are those who have one leg in the grave and the other in hell, and yet do put far away thoughts of death, and under gray hairs nourish green hopes and desires; neither may young men be excused who bind upon long life, and boast of tomorrow, Proverbs 27:1 , since they know not what a great bellied day may bring forth. Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam (Hor. i.). The Jews have a proverb, that many times old camels carry young camels’ skins to the market. And how often see we elder folk carry men’s and children’s bodies to the grave?

And continueth not — Heb. Standeth not, as a pillar, but vanisheth as a shadow, yea, as a dream of a shadow, as the Greek poet hath it, τιδε τις; τιδ ουτις; σκιας οναρ ανθρωπος (Pindar). The Vulgate translateth, He continueth not in the same state. To have no shadow of turning, noteth the perfection of God, James 1:17 .

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And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one? — sc. To observe his faults strictly, and to punish him for the same severely? doth this become so great a Majesty? This Job speaketh, non citra stomacbum, not without stomach, as forgetting himself through impatience, saith Mercer, and seeking to ease himself any way of the pains and dolors he sustained, being carried out of himself by his unruly passions. By this question Job doth non tam admirari quam arguere, saith Brentius; not so much wonder as warble with God, that he should care for so poor a creature, whom it might seem to him rather to contemn. But Job should have remembered, that God openeth his eyes upon man, not to punish him only, but to help and relieve him, Psalms 34:15 . And at another time Job could set it upon the score of God’s favours to man, that he visiteth him every morning (viz. by his fatherly chastisements) and trieth him every moment Job 7:17-18 .

And bringest me into judgment with thee? — Poor me, who am τρισανθρωπος , thrice a man; that is most miserable, even me thou questionest in the rigour of thy righteous judgment, Me gravissimis tuis iudiciis extra ordinem divexas (Mera.). See a like expostulation Psalms 89:46-51 , and all to move God to compassion. Our frailty is a good pleadable argument to this purpose.

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Who can bring a clean [thing] out of an unclean? not one.

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one — q. d. I confess I am unclean; but what can I do withal? or how can I do otherwise, since I do but my kind? But was this a sufficient plea? David was of another mind when he alleged this as a great aggravation of his bloodguiltiness, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me," Psalms 51:5: q.d. I have not only fallen into these foul sins, but I have done it out of the venomousness and vitiosity of my nature, commonly called original, and by the apostle inhabiting sin, Romans 7:17 , as by the schools peccatum peccans, the sinning sin, as that which is the source and seminary of all actual disobedience. And because this uncleanness is natural to us, therefore it maketh us as loathsome to God as a toad is to us, because poison is in the nature of it. Papists say (but not truly) that original sin is the smallest of all sins, not deserving any more of God’s wrath than only a want of his blessed presence; and that too without any pain or sorrow of mind from the apprehension of so great a loss. They hold also those motions of the heart not consented to be no sins, but necessary conditions, arising from our constitution, and such as Adam had in his innocence. Contrariwise, Job here grants a birthblot upon all, and lays his hand upon it as the cause of the length of men’s troubles and shortness of their lives; only he forgetteth himself (saith Mercer here) when he pleadeth that he should rather be pitied than thus sharply punished, because he was naturally inclined to sin, and cannot avoid it. For as Aristotle saith of drunkards, that they deserve double punishments, διπλα τα τπιτιμια (Ethic. lib. 3, cap. 5); first, for their drunkenness, and then for the sin committed in and by their drunkenness: so do all men deserve double damnation; first, for the corruption of nature (signified by those legal pollutions, by bodily issues), and then for the cursed effects of it, Genesis 6:5 Romans 7:8 . But it may be Job here had an eye to that promise made to Noah after the flood, Genesis 8:21 , where the Lord moveth himself to mercy by consideration of man’s native corruption, even from his childhood, for he knoweth our frame, …, Psalms 103:14 , that is (as the Chaldee paraphrast explaineth it), he knoweth our evil figment or thought which impelleth to sin; he knoweth it, and weigheth it. See the like Isaiah 48:8-9 . We may beseech the Lord to spare us when we act in sin, because our natures are sinful; but let not any go about either to palliate or extenuate their acts of sin by the sinfulness of their natures; as those do, who, being told of their evil pranks and practices, plead for them, saying, We are flesh and blood, …

Not one — Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis; but no mere man can bring forth a clean child out of unclean seed. Adam begat a son after his own image, Genesis 5:3 . Corruptus corruptum, that which is of the flesh, John 3:3-8 . Sin is propagated, and proceedeth from the union of body and soul into one man. That phrase, warmed in sin, Psalms 51:5 , is meant of the preparation of the body, as an instrument of evil, which is not so actually till the soul come. But we should not be so inquisitive how sin came in, as how to be rid of it; like as when a fire is kindled in a city, all men are more careful to quench it than to question where and how it began. Now there is one only way of ridding our hearts of sin, viz. to run to Christ, and to believe in him; "For if the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed"; and hereunto, both the Chaldee paraphrast had respect, likely, when he rendered this text, Cannot one? that is, cannot God? as also the Vulgate Latin, Nonne tu qui solus es? Canst not thou alone? sc. by thy merit and Spirit, according to that of the apostle, 1 Corinthians 6:11 .

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Seeing his days [are] determined, the number of his months [are] with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

Seeing his days are determined, … — God hath set every man both his time (whether shorter, called here his days, or longer, the number of his months, they have both their bounds which none can pass) and also his task, Acts 13:25 . John fulfilled his course, et in brevi vitae spatio tempora virtutum multa replevit, and he lived long in a little time; he wrought hard, as not willing to be taken with his task undone (Hieron.). So Acts 13:36 . David, after he had served his own generation, and had done all the will of God, fell on sleep. See more of this on Job 7:1 .

Thou hast appointed his bounds — Heb. His statutes. It is appointed for all men once to die, Hebrews 9:27 , once for all, and for ever it is appointed, and this statute is irrepealable. Here then we see the cause why some, likely to live long, die soon, and others more infirm live longer. God hath set the bounds of each one’s life to a very day. The bounds may be passed which our natural complexion setteth; the bounds cannot be passed which the providence and will of God setteth. Stat sua cuique dies - (Virg.).

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Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

Turn from him, that he may rest — Heb. Look away from him, i.e. from me; look not so narrowly, and with such a critical eye, upon mine out strays, thus to hold me still on the rack; look not so angerly, afflict me not so heavily, but let me rest or cease from my present pressures and doleful complaints, and spend the span of this transitory life with some comfort, and then let the time of my departure come when thou pleasest.

Till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day — That is, saith the gloss, till I am as willing to die as a labouring man is to go to supper and to bed. The word rendered accomplish signifieth properly to acquiesce, and rest in a thing, and vehemently to desire it. The saints, when they die, shall rest in their beds, Isaiah 57:2 , they rest from their labours, Revelation 14:13 , and that απαρτι , presently, straight upon the stroke of death; no sooner have they passed under the flaming sword of that punishing angel but they are forthwith in paradise. Here they are seldom quiet, but tossed up and down as the ball upon the racket, or ship upon the waves; and hence it is that they sometimes fret or faint, as Job, and speak unadvisedly with their lips; these firm mountains are moved with earthquakes, these calm seas are stirred with tempests; and truly, whosoever hath set himself to do every day’s work with Christian diligence, to bear every day’s crosses with Christian patience, and is sensible of his failings in both; libenter ex vitae, et quasi pleno passu egredietur, saith one, he will be full glad to be gone hence, and be as weary of his life as ever any hireling was of his work. See Trapp on " Job 7:1 " See Trapp on " Job 7:2 "

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For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

For there is hope of a tree, … — Here Job setteth on his request, Job 14:6 , with a reason; God loveth a reasonable service, and liketh well that we reverently reason it out with him. And for the literal sense, all things, saith Gregory, are so plain, that there is no need to say anything to that, it being no more than this; either I shall have comfort in this world before I die, or never here; therefore grant me rest now. This argument Job illustrateth, 1. By a dissimilitude, here. 2. By a similitude, Job 14:11-12 . The dissimilitude between a tree and a man is this: a tree may be hewed and felled, yet feel no pain. Again, succisa repullalat, imbribus irrigata, a tree cut down, if well watered, - will spring and sprout up again (Merlin). But now man, as he is very sensible of every stroke of God’s hand, neither can he suffer sickness or other affliction without smart, so when once cut down by death, he can by no means be recovered; he cannot revive without a miracle.

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Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

Though the root thereof wax old in the earth — And so the more unlikely to shoot forth again. Trees also have their old age wherein they decay.

And the stock thereof die in the ground — Heb. In the dust, as it needs must, when, cut off from the root, it lieth along on the earth. It was by a miracle that Aaron’s rod flourished: not only all the plants of God’s setting, but the very boughs cut off from the body of them, shall flourish and be fruitful.

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