Job 14:2

Job 14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

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, Isa 28:1; Isa 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 Psa 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, Gen 41:23, or some cropping hand, or its own fading nature; and then it is not, saith David, Psa 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, Pro 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, Jas 1:17.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 14:2. He cometh forth like a flower — Tender and delicate, fair and beautiful, his faculties and members opening and expanding themselves by degrees; and is cut down — By the scythe of some spreading malady; or cropped by the rude hand of some ruthless distemper; or nipped and withered by the frost of some wasting weakness and decay. He fleeth also as a shadow — Which, being caused by the sun, follows its motions, and is in perpetual variation, until, at last, it quite vanishes and disappears. “The flower,” says Henry, “is fading, and all its beauty soon withers and is gone. The shadow is fleeting, and its very being will soon be lost in the shadows of night. Of neither do we make any account, in neither do we put any confidence.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(Psa 90:6; see on Job 8:9).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. He cometh forth like a flower] This is a frequent image both in the Old and New Testament writers; I need not quote the places here, as the readers will find them all in the margin.

He fleeth also as a shadow] Himself, as he appears among men, is only the shadow of his real, substantial, and eternal being. He is here compared to a vegetable; he springs up, bears his flower is often nipped by disease, blasted by afflictions and at last cut down by death. The bloom of youth, even in the most prosperous state, is only the forerunner of hoary hairs, enfeebled muscles, impaired senses, general debility, anility, and dissolution. All these images are finely embodied, and happily expressed, in the beautiful lines of a very nervous and correct poet, too little known, but whose compositions deserve the first place among what may be called the minor poets of Britain. See at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on Job 14:22.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. and is cut down] Rather, and withereth, cf. similar figures Isa_40:6 seq.; Psa_37:2; Psa_90:6; Psa_103:15 seq.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down,.... As the flower comes from the earth, so does man; as it comes out of the stalk, so man out of his mother's womb; as the flower flourishes for a while, and looks gay and beautiful, so man while in youth, in health and prosperity. Job, doubtless, has respect to his own case before his troubles came upon him, when he was possessed of all that substance, which made him the greatest man of the east; when his children were like olive plants around his table, and his servants at his command, and he in perfect health of body: and as a flower flourishes for a little while, and then withers; no sooner is it come to its full blow, but presently decays; such is the goodliness of man, it fades away whenever God blows a blast upon it; yea, he is easily and quickly cut down by death, like a beautiful flower cut with the knife, or cropped by the hand, or trampled upon by the foot, see Psa 103:15;

he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not; either as the shadow of the evening, which is lost when night comes on; or the shadow on a dial plate, which is continually moving on; or, as the Jewish Rabbins say, as the shadow of a bird flying, which stays not, whereas the shadow of a wall, or of a tree, continues: a shadow is an empty thing, without substance, dark and obscure, variable and uncertain, declining, fleeting, and passing away; and so fitly resembles the life of a man, which is but a vapour, a bubble, yea, as nothing with God; is full of darkness, of ignorance, and of adversity, very fickle, changeable, and inconstant, and at most but of a short continuance.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down - Nothing can be more obvious and more beautiful than this, and the image has been employed by writers in all ages, but nowhere with more beauty, or with more frequency than in the Bible; see Isa 40:6; Psa 37:2; Psa 90:6; Psa 103:15. Next to the Bible, it is probable that Shakespeare has employed the image with the most exquisite beauty of any poet:

This is the state of man; today he puts forth

The tender leaves of hope, tomorrow blossoms,

And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;

The third day comes a frost a killing frost,

And - when he thinks, good easy man, full surely

His greatness is a ripening - nips his root,

And then he falls.

Henry viii. Act iii. Sc. 2.

He fleeth also as a shadow - Another exquisite figure, and as true as it is beautiful. So the Psalmist:

My days are like a shadow that declineth.

Psa 102:11.

Man is like to vanity;

His days are as a shadowy that passeth away.

Psa 144:4.

The idea of Job is, that there is no substance, nothing that is permanent. A shadow moves on gently and silently, and is soon gone. It leaves no trace of its being, and returns no more. They who have watched the beautiful shadow of a cloud on a landscape, and have seen how rapidly it passes ever meadows and fields of grain, and rolls up the mountain side and disappears, will have a vivid conception of this figure. How gently yet how rapidly it moves. How soon it is gone. How void of impression is its course. Who can track its way; who can reach it? So man moves on. Soon he is gone; he leaves no trace of his being, and returns no more.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Shadow. Pulvis et umbra sumus. (Horace iv. Ode 7.) "Come then, ye men, whom nature condemns to spend your days in darkness, ye who resemble the leaves, are of little strength, formed of mud, shadow-like,...of a day’s duration, miserable mortals, men like dreams, attend to the immortals." (Aristophanes, Avib.) --- Most of these expressions occur in Job, Psalm ci. 12., Wisdom ii. 5., and Ecclesiastes ii. 23., &c.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He cometh forth out of his mother’s womb, Job 1:21.

Like a flower; which quickly groweth up and maketh a fair show, but soon withereth, or is cut down.

As a shadow; which being made by the sun, follows its motions, and is in perpetual variation, until at last it quite vanish and disappear.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Like a flower — But as for the flowers and their perfumes, nature has given them birth but for a day — a mighty lesson to man. (PLINY, Hist., xxi, chap. 1.) The flower rises from the dark recesses of its mother earth; so man cometh forth from eternity, which in like manner is עולם, hidden and dark. Ever frail and perishable, they both abide, for a little while, the sport of change and storm, and at last sink into the unknown whence they came. (Compare Ecc_6:4.)

Is cut down — Withereth. Aristotle defined man to be “the spoil of time,” and St. Augustine compares his frailty to the fragility of glass.

A shadow — “What shadows we are, what shadows we pursue.” — Edmund Burke. (See note Job_4:19.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down. Few similes are more frequently used in Scripture, (comp. Psa_103:15 Isa_28:1, 4 40:6, 7 Jam_1:10, 11 1Pe_1:24) and certainly none could have more poetic beauty. Eastern flowers do not often last much more than a day. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. (comp. Job_7:2 Job_8:9 1Ch_29:15 Psa_102:11 Psa_109:23 Ecc_6:12, etc.) Shadows are always changing; but the shadows which flee away the fastest, and which Job has probably in his mind, are those of clouds, or other moving objects, which seem to chase each other over the earth, and never to continue for a single minute in one stay.

Man as a flower.

I IN HIS ORIGIN. He springeth from the ground.

II IN HIS CONSTITUTION. He is composed of dust.

III IN HIS STRUCTURE. His physical organism is as beautiful and delicate as that of a flower.

IV IN HIS FRAILTY. He is as easily destroyed as a flower.

V IN HIS EVANESCENCE. He is as short-lived as a flower.

VI IN HIS END. Like a flower, he returns to the dust.

LESSONS.

1. Lowly thoughts of self.

2. Care of the body.

3. Preparation for the end.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Flower - The flower is fading, and all its beauty soon withers and is gone. The shadow is fleeting, and its very being will soon be lost in the shadows of night. Of neither do we make any account, in neither do we put any confidence.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.