Ver. 1. Man that is born of a woman, &c.] 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, O mihi praeteritos referat si Iupiter annos! 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: Νυν θ αμα ωκυμορος, και υιζυρος περι παντων Επλεο —(Thetis ap. Hom. lliad).
Ver. 2. 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 40:6 Jas 1:10,11 1Pe 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, &c. 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.