If a man dies, will he live again (Job 14:22)? Job had already begun to answer his own question in the previous study. There he said: “Man lies down, and rises not: till the heavens are no more, they (men) will not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that you would hide me in the grave, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me” (Job 14:12-13; parenthesis mine)!
According to the first arrangement or covenant the Lord had made with men, he would, for all intents and purposes, remain out of men’s lives, which is the meaning behind Adam’s rebellion in eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-7; cp. Romans 1:21-22, 28). Mankind was driven from the Lord’s presence (Genesis 3:22-24), and when men died, they became completely unconscious of all events that took place in the land of the living. Neither were they conscious of the Lord or of anything in the realm of the spirit, for they were driven from God’s presence. However, would they live again (Job 14:14)? The text claims all who were in the grave were dead, or in a kind of sleep until the wrath of God was past, which would continue until the coming of Christ, and the new arrangement or New Covenant was made and established, which is what the Gospel is all about.
Due to his suffering, Job had longed for death (Job 14:13). However, throughout his life or his appointed time (cp. Job 7:1) he had waited in hope for his change (resurrection) to come. He realized that the Lord would one day desire the work of his hands and continue with his original plan, and Job would be ready (Job 14:15).
Presently, however, Job perceived the Lord was treating him with severity. He believed the Lord had calculated each and every deed Job had ever done amiss, whether purposefully or ignorantly (Job 14:16; cp. 10:14). The Lord scrutinized it all, as though he placed great value on each sin Job had ever committed, stored it all in a bag (a record) and labeled it, so not even one transgression would be missed (Job 14:17; cp. Deuteronomy 32:32-34). Thus, Job describes the wrath of God (cp. verse-13). Nevertheless, we need to keep all this in the context of the cosmic drama, which had been taking place behind the scenes (Job 1 & 2). For the most part, God hadn’t done anything to Job, except to withdraw his protection from him (cp. Genesis 3:22-24). Job’s enemies did the rest.
God’s wrath, for the most part is revealed from heaven (Romans 1:18) by his withdrawing his presence from men and giving them over to do what they wish to do (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). In the matter of Job’s calamity, God withdrew from Job’s enemies and permitted them to do to Job what they desired, and the hope (of the enemy, vis-à-vis a satan) was that Job wouldn’t curse God, but, instead, Job remained faithful to the Lord. Job was ignorant of the reason the Lord seemed to act against him, but he, nevertheless, continued to hope in him (cp. Job 13:15)
In the context of the prevailing wrath of God (verse-13), all of creation tends to decay and return to its original chaotic state (cp. Genesis 1:2). The very mountains of the earth gradually wear away and are washed to the sea. Great rocks are moved from their place, and the waters wear away the stones and wash away the soil, destroying the hope of men who seek to build up a world without God (Job 14:18-19).
Thus, the Lord prevails over man, in the war mankind declared against him through their rebellion (cp. Genesis 3:1-7; Romans 1:21-22, 28). For the most part, the Lord needs only to take a hands-off policy (Genesis 3:22-24; Romans 1:24, 26, 28) rather than take an active part in the warfare, because men, without God, will tend to destroy themselves, and the earth, without God, will wear away and rush toward its original chaotic state (Genesis 1:2). Men die, and that glow of life, which once emanated from his body, is removed and the Lord sends him away (Job 14:20). His descendants come to honor or disgrace, but the dead perceive nothing of anything that occurs in the land of the living (Job 14:21). Rather, his flesh decays in the grave, and his soul, the life that animated his body, bemoans its departure, knowing all his labor during his life in this world is lost (Job 14:22).[1]
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[1] In verse-22 Job uses the literary tool of personification, giving ‘life’ to the flesh, which experiences pain as it decays in the grave, and having the soul, while yet in the grave, actually feeling regret over it all taking place. Nothing is experienced after death; Job’s description of such experience is “personification.” It is a literary tool.
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