Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 16:22
When a few years are come, then I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return.
22. It is doubtful whether Job means by “a few years” his whole life, or the years that are still to run of it. The last sense is fairest to the language. His disease though mortal was not immediately fatal; but at least his days were consumed “without hope.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
22 17:2. What Job sought with tears was that God would cause his innocence to be acknowledged by God, and made manifest against men. Now he adds words in support of his prayer, or gives the reason for it. He so prays, for here in this life he has no hope of restoration. God’s anger will pursue him to the grave, which is already his portion.
16:22. For a few years shall come,
And I shall go the way whence I shall not return!
17:1. My spirit is spent,
My days are extinct.
The grave is ready for me!
17:2. Surely mockeries encompass me,
And mine eye must dwell on their provocation!
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When a few years are come – Margin years of number; that is, numbered years, or a few years. The same idea is expressed in Job 7:21; see the notes at that place. The idea is, that he must soon die. He desired, therefore, before he went down to the grave, to carry his cause before God, and to have, as he did not doubt he should have, the divine attestation in his favor; compare the notes at Job 19:25-27. Now he was overwhelmed with calamities and reproaches, and was about to die in this condition. He did not wish to die thus. He wished that the reproaches might be wiped off, and that his character might be cleared up and made fair. He believed assuredly that if he could be permitted to carry his cause directly before God, he might be able to vindicate his character, and to obtain the divine verdict in his favor; and if he obtained that, he was not unwilling to die. It is the expression of such a wish as every man has, that his sun may not go down under a cloud; that whatever aspersions may rest on his character may be wiped away; and that his name, if remembered at all when he is dead, may go untarnished down to future times, and be such that his friends may repeat it without a blush.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 16:22
When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
The shortness of human life
Doctrine–The coming in of a few new years will set us out of this world, never to return to it.
I. In what respects we can have but few years to come.
1. In comparison of the many years to which mans life did, at one time, extend.
2. In comparison of the years of the world that are past.
3. In comparison of the great work which we have to do, namely, our salvation and generation work.
4. In comparison of eternity.
II. Why is the coming, and not the going, of the few years mentioned?
1. Because, that by the time they are fully come in, they are gone out.
2. Because that year will at length begin to come which we will never see the going out of.
III. When the few years have sent us off, there is no returning.
1. Men cannot come back (Job 16:14).
2. God will not bring them back. Improvement–
(1) That men seriously weigh with themselves that they are now a great step nearer another world than they were.
(2) That they take a humbling back-look of their way, and consider the many wrong steps which they have taken in their past years.
(3) That they renew the acceptance of the covenant, and lay down measures for their safety in another world.
(4) Eternity is a business of great weight. The happiness of the other world is too great for us to be indifferent about it, and to be cheated out of it by Satan and our vain hearts. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The shortness and frailty of human life
This is not one of Jobs fretful speeches; it is one in which he is giving forth the utterances of an inspired philosophy, and suggests a few practical reflections, as well on the frailty of life as on the irreversible issues of death.
I. The shortness and frailty of human life. When a few years are come. Almost every image that could be thought of to denote transitoriness, fleetness, brief duration, sudden change, will be found in Scripture as an emblem of human life. Our days are represented as passing from us just as an eagle hasteneth to her prey, as the swift post flies on his errand, as the ships of Ebeh cleave a path through the waters, as the weavers shuttle darts through the web, as the rolling clouds move in the air. Or again, our life is a flower clothed in glory for a day–a shepherds tent, which on the morrow will be removed to some other place–a vapour, curling up for a moment into some beautiful shape, and then dissolving into nothingness–a shadow, flinging its bold outline across our path, and in an instant departing to leave no trace behind. But let us consider some of the senses in which this expression, a few years, may be taken. Thus it may be taken in a contingent sense with a sad reference to lifes uncertainty, to the consciousness which should be present to all of us, that the invisible guiding hand which struck down our friend during the past year may be led to lay us low the next. In this view the word few may be taken in its most severe and absolute sense. It may mean three years, or two years, or even one, but it behoves the youngest, and the strongest, and most full of hope amongst us, to speak as Job spake. Every day throws fresh confusion into our calculated probabilities of lifes duration. Death seems to be always finding some new door which we had left out of our account, and which we had not provided against; it seemed to be too remote a contingency to be numbered among human likelihoods. But commonly, the word few is used in some comparative sense. The labourers in the field of the Gospel are said to be few compared with the plenteousness of the harvest; they who find the way of life are said to be few compared with those by whom the way is missed; and so, in the text, the years of our life are said to he few, compared with the many things which have to be done therein, in order to fit us for a condition of immortality. The comparison comes natural to us. In all great works to be done, we almost intuitively consider as an element of the difficulty the question of time. The surprise of the Jews when they supposed our Lord to say that He would rebuild their temple after it was destroyed, was not that He should rebuild it, but that what it had cost forty-and-six years to accomplish, He should be able to do in three days. Well, the building up of the spiritual temple does not always require forty-and-six years, though it may require threescore years and ten. But whatever the unknown limit be, the years always seem to be getting shorter as that limit is approached; or as the work to be done in it remains in an unfinished state. The fact, as you perceive, cries aloud against the folly of all delayed repentances. To subdue the power of sin, to get disengaged from the ties of the world, to change the bias of an evil heart, and acquire a relish and taste for holiness, to become skilled in those higher acquisitions of the saintly life–how to wait, how to hope, how to be silent, how to sit still–oh, we want a long life for this! Grace may dispense with it sometimes, and does; as when our young righteous are taken away from the evil to come; and then the green blade is as fit for the garner as the shock of corn in its season. But in all cases where longer time is granted, longer time is required; and then, if a portion of these years be wasted, what arrearages of work are thrown forward to the remainder; and thus we fail to make any advance. We have everything to unlearn and undo. But again, I think the time that remains to us is described by the phrase few years, because howsoever many they be, they will appear few when they are past. For the truth of this, I may appeal with confidence to the experience of the aged. You may have many years to live, but they will not appear many when you have lived them out. What the text seems to suggest is, that the duration of the future should be measured by the minds estimate of the duration of the past. Assume, for example, that you have ten more years to live; to know whether this is a long time or a short time, measure it by what appears to you now the length of the last ten years. Something important and noticeable occurred about that time; realise the fact, that after a corresponding lapse for the future you will be no more seen. Such a method of measuring your length of days from the other end of the line cannot fail to leave upon the heart a salutary impression of the shortness of life. Wherefore, let us all calculate our length of clays according to Jobs life table; let us reckon our years backwards, that is, not by what they are in prospect, but what they will seem in review. I note one other thought, which could hardly have been out of the patriarchs mind, when he spoke of his remaining years as few, namely, that they must be few–incomparable, and beyond all arithmetical reduction few–when compared with the life which was to succeed. This should be always an element in the Christians computation of time. We shall never get at the true length of our years without it. If the apostle Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, had taken for his guidance any of our human calendars he would have said, That light affliction which has been upon me for nearly thirty years; but instead of this he recollects that time is not to be estimated by this standard at all. Length of service must be compared with length of reward–increase the one and you diminish the other, and this without limit; so that if the duration of the succeeding recompense become infinitely great, the duration of the service becomes inappreciably small. Who cares to be king for a day? Who for one morsel of meat would become anothers servant for the rest of his life? Or, on the other hand, who would not endure sorrow for a night to he assured that he should enter upon a life of endless joy on the morrow? Whence I shall not return.
II. The irreversible issues of death.
1. Here we should note the moral scope of the expression. Job is not to be understood as if he would exclude the possibility of his return to earth bodily to visit his friends, and renew his employments, to tell lifes tale a second time–his design is manifestly to indicate the fixedness of his spiritual state when these few years of life shall have run out. His meaning is, I shall go to the place whence I shall not return for any of the available purposes of salvation, for repentance, for prayer, for making reconciliation. It is a place where all is determined, unalterable, final; where as each tree falls, so it lies; where he that is unjust is unjust still; where he that is holy will be holy still. He had used similar language in the 7th chapter. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. To which we may not unfittingly add that exhortation of the wise man, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
2. And now let me gather up some of the lessons of our subject. I speak to many who must take up the words of our text in their most literal sense. When a few years are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Your years to come must be few, because your years past have been many. Well, what have you been doing with those many? And your work, how stands it? Has your life been all wasted, all unprofitable, all of the earth, earthy? Have you made nothing of your day of grace and visitation? And yet your sun is going down. As thus–it should teach us to get our hearts fixed upon the true rest, while our few years are continued, and be gradually preparing for our final rest when these years are gone. Let our souls be staid on the right rest now. We know where it is, what it is, who it is says, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; rest from the buffetings of a changeful world, rest from the tossings of an anxious heart, rest from the accusations of an upbraiding conscience, rest from the suggestions of a desponding and fearful mind. Get skilled in the art of dying daily, of anticipating the summons to an eternal world. (D. Moore, M. A.)
Calm in prospect of death
Why should we be pensive and wistful when we think how near our end is? Is the sentry sad as the hour for relieving guard comes nigh? Is the wanderer in far-off lands sad as he turns his face homewards? And why should not we rejoice at the thought that we, strangers and foreigners here, shall soon depart to the true metropolis, the mother country of our souls? I do not know why a man should be either regretful or afraid as he watches the hungry sea eating away his bank shoal of time upon which he stands, even though the tide has all but reached his feet, if he knows that Gods strong arm will be stretched forth to him at the moment when the sand dissolves from under his feet, and will draw him out of many waters, and place him on high above the floods in that stable land where there is no more sea. (A. Maclaren.)
The extreme brevity of human life
I. The fact itself. It is in accordance with the representations of Scripture. Our life nearly resembles Jonahs gourd, which came up in a night and perished in a night. Our life is short, if you consider–
1. The actual span of life. Seventy years, and infantile tenderness is transformed into decrepitude,–the infant at its mothers breast becomes the man of hoary hairs, tottering beneath the pressure of infirmities, and sinking fast into the cold and silent grave.
2. The millions who die young. It is said that by far the greater number of human beings die in infancy. And how many die in youth!
3. The momentous objects to which we have to attend in this life. We came not into this world just to exist, or just to spend a mere animal life; we came to prepare for eternity, for our final and irrevocable destinations beyond these narrow confines. Here we have to repent, to seek an interest in Christ, to love, to serve, to glorify our Creator, to labour in His cause, to cultivate our faculties, to discipline our hearts, prior to our entrance upon a deathless state of existence beyond the tomb. All this to do, and yet so short a time for its accomplishment.
4. The momentous interruptions which we experience in our attention to these essential duties. What cares fill up this little life of ours! what sorrows, what temptations, what losses and crosses, to call off our attention from our grand concerns!
5. The uniform testimony of Scripture respecting it.
6. Its contrast with that dread eternity to which we haste. Our life beyond this present scene will be commensurate, in its duration, with the life of God, eternal as the throne on which He sits and sways the universe.
II. Improve this fact.
1. By meditating on the brevity of life; using whatever can aid you to impress your minds deeply with this solemn fact.
2. Take care not to waste life.
3. Improve life. Seize the fleeting moments as they pass.
4. Ever keep in view the uncertainty of life.
5. Remember that these few years of your existence will soon be past.
6. Remember that there will be no return to this present world. Let us live while we live. Let us all keep the end of our journey in view. Let us learn to die daily. Let us seek an interest in the grace, and blood, and righteousness, and intercession of the blessed Redeemer. (F. Pollard.)
The final journey anticipated
I. Consider the momentous journey which is here anticipated. Under the figure of a journey, Job directs our attention to that important period, when the immortal spirit must quit terrestrial things, and our perishing bodies be consigned to the silent grave. This journey may be considered–
1. Solemn in its nature. There is an indescribable solemnity in death, even to the man who is best prepared for the event. The path is unexplored; at least, the experience of those who have gone is of very little benefit to survivors: to know what it is to die, we must enter the darksome vale. The journey is of a solitary description; we must perform it lonely and unattended; the tenderness of affection, and the pomp of equipage, are of very little avail in the hour of mortality.
2. Indisputable in its certainty.
3. Unknown in its commencement. The moment when we shall be called to begin this momentous journey is wisely hid from our view. Our passage to the tomb may be by slowly rolling years of gnawing pain; or by a sudden stroke we may be launched into eternity.
4. Important in its consequences. The hour of death terminates all possibility of spiritual improvement.
II. Describe the effect which this anticipation ought to produce. The anticipation of a journey, so momentous in its nature and consequences, ought–
1. To elicit serious examination respecting our state of preparation. Man by nature is not prepared for this important event.
2. To excite just fear in those who are unprepared.
3. To stimulate the righteous to constant watchfulness.
4. It furnishes a source of consolation to the afflicted Christian. He looks forward with solemn delight to that period when he shall be called from this state of suffering and pain to the blissful regions of immortality. He considers the hour of dissolution as the time of his introduction to angelical society, heavenly employment, a fulness of felicity, the unveiled glories of his Redeemer,–and the whole eternal in duration. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Our last journey
I. Let us realise our inevitable journey. I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Let us apply it each one to himself. The fact that all men are mortal has little power over our minds, for we always make a tacit exception and put off the evil day for ourselves. How the individuality of a man comes out in his dying hour! What an important being he becomes! Differences on the dying bed arise out of character and not out of rank. In death the financial element looks contemptible, and the moral and the spiritual come to be most esteemed. How did he live? What were his thoughts? What was his heart towards God? Did he repent of sin? The individuality of the man is clear, and the mans character before God, and now it is also evident that death tests all things. If you look upon this poor dying man, you see that he is past the time for pretences and shams.
II. Now, let us contemplate its meaning. Very soon we shall have to start upon our solemn and mysterious pilgrimage. Hence, if there is anything grievous to be borne, we may well bear it cheerfully, for it cannot last long. When a few years are come we shall be gone from the thorn and the briar which now prick and wound. Hence, too, if there is any work to be done for Jesus let us do it at once, or else we shall never do it, for when a few years are come we shall have gone whence we shall not return.
III. Now, consider the fact that we shall not return–When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. To the occupations of life–to sow and reap, and mow; to the abodes of life–to the stoic and to the country house; to the pleasures of life. To the engagements of the sanctuary, the communion table, the pulpit, or the pew, we shall not return. We need not wish to return. What is there here that should either tempt us to stay in this world or induce us to return to it if we could? Still, I could suppose in a future state some reasons for wishing to return. I can suppose we might have it in our hearts, for instance, to wish to undo the mischief which we did in life. You cannot come back to carry out those good resolutions, which as yet are as unripe fruit. Neither can we come back to rectify any mistake we have made in our life work, nor even return to look after it, in order to preserve that which was good in it.
IV. And now let us enquire whither we shall go? In some respects it happeneth alike to all, for all go upon the long journey. All go to the grave, which is the place of all living. Then, we shall all go forward in our journey towards resurrection. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. When a few years are come] I prefer Mr. Good’s version: –
“But the years numbered to me are come.
And I must go the way whence I shall not return.”
Job could not, in his present circumstances, expect a few years of longer life; from his own conviction he was expecting death every hour. The next verse, the first of the following chapter, should come in here:
My breath is corrupt, c.] He felt himself as in the arms of death: he saw the grave as already digged which was to receive his dead body. This verse shows that our translation of the twenty-second verse is improper, and vindicates Mr. Good’s version.
I HAVE said on Job 16:9 that a part of Job’s sufferings probably arose from appalling representations made to his eye or to his imagination by Satan and his agents. I think this neither irrational nor improbable. That he and his demons have power to make themselves manifest on especial occasions, has been credited in all ages of the world not by the weak, credulous, and superstitious only, but also by the wisest, the most learned, and the best of men. I am persuaded that many passages in the Book of Job refer to this, and admit of an easy interpretation on this ground.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. To the state and place of the dead, whence men do not and cannot return to this life. The meaning is, My death hastens, and therefore I earnestly desire that the cause depending before God between me and my friends may be searched out and determined, that if I be guilty of these things whereof they accuse me, I may bear the shame and blame of it before all men; and if I be innocent, that I may live to see my own integrity and the credit of religion (which suffers upon this occasion) vindicated, that so I may die in peace with God, and may leave the savour of a good name behind me.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. fewliterally, “yearsof number,” that is, few, opposed to numberless(Ge 34:30).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When a few years are come,…. As the years of man’s life are but few at most, and Job’s years, which were yet to come, still fewer in his apprehension; or “years of number” m, that are numbered by God, fixed and determined by him, Job 14:5; or being few are easily numbered:
then I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return; that is, go the way of all flesh, a long journey; death itself is meant, which is a going out of this world into another, from whence there is no return to this again, to the same place, condition, circumstances, estate, and employment as now; otherwise there will be a resurrection from the dead, the bodies will rise out of the earth, and souls will be brought again to be united with them, but not to be in the same situation here as now: this Job observes either as a kind of solace to him under all his afflictions on himself, and from his friends, that in a little time it would be all over with him; or as an argument to hasten the pleading of his cause, that his innocence might be cleared before he died; and if this was not done quickly, it would be too late.
m “anni numeri”, Montanus, Vatablus, Bolducius; “numbered days”, Broughton; so Tigurine version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(22) When a few years are come.Literally, years of number, which means either years than can be easily numbered, as men of number (Gen. 34:20) is used to express few men; or years that are numbered, that is, allotted, determined. It is strange to find Job speaking, in his condition, of years, but so, for that matter, is it to find a man so sorely tormented as he was indulging in so long an argument. Perhaps this shows us that the narrative of Job is intended to be an ideal only, setting forth the low estate of sin-stricken humanity: this is only thrown out as a suggestion, no weight is assigned to it more than it may chance to claim. Perhaps, however, these words are spoken by Job in contemplation of his condition as a dying man, even had he not been so afflicted.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Few years Literally, years of number. His life he conceives is now near its end; its few years are past, and soon he shall go the way from which “no traveller returns.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
READER! while we behold Job bowed down under the very heavy load of sorrow, and hear the complaints issuing from him, as related in this chapter; let us not be too hasty, in charging the poor man with impatience. Alas! What can the coolness of reason accomplish, in the hour of warm distresses. No doubt it is our unbelief, which is at the bottom of all our rash conclusions, and unbecoming thoughts. And had Job instead of looking at second causes, been able to have had his faith always exercised, in resting upon GOD’S faithfulness, and GOD’S promises; faith would have triumphed more nobly. But where, blessed JESUS, where shall we look for this perfection of faith, but in thee the author of it? Oh! that had but grace in all my lesser exercises, to remember that thou art everlastingly pursuing one plan, and that a plan of pure love and mercy, in all the events which take place in thy church; and among thy people! Thou hast thine eyes upon them for good. And all is working together for good, even in the very moment when outward circumstances, or inward trials, seem to be most distressing. This we know by the sequel of Job’s history, to have been the case in his instance. And it is the same in the instance of all the redeemed. How many a precious soul hath found cause in the close of some heavy trial, to look back through the dark passage he hath been brought, and then he could discern, though he could not while passing through it, the clear marks of JESUS’S presence, and his leadings in the way! How many have kissed the rod, at the moment it hath been taking from them, which while exercising in GOD’S hand, they have trembled under? Reader! let our improvement from this chapter, and indeed from all Job’s history, be to arrive to this most certain conclusion; whom the LORD loveth he chasteneth. Precious JESUS! never, never remit those tokens of thy love to me, however painful to flesh and blood! Under the blessed teachings of thy HOLY SPIRIT, I am every day learning more and more, (though one of the most wayward scholars in thy school), that they are necessary. I see, gracious LORD, that the greatest enemy I have to contend with my spiritual warfare, is my own fleshly, sinful, corrupt, and unbelieving heart. I see that this flesh is always seeking ease and enjoyment, and forever opposing the holy pursuits, and desires of my better part. LORD! undertake for me. Stir up my soul. Unsettle my rest; hedge up my path with thorns if thou seest it needful, so that if I seek after my lovers in any corrupt affection, I may not find them. And dear LORD, allure me, and bring me into the wilderness, and there speak comfortably unto me, according to thine own most sweet and gracious promise, that I may return unto thee, my Ishi, my first, and best, and truest husband, at length, perfectly convinced that in thee only, present peace and everlasting happiness are found.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“When a few years are come.” Job 16:22
Here is the idea of measured sorrow. A man complains of the road, but he is cheered by the fact that the end is not far away. The Christian has not only to think of years, but “a few years” quite a handful of days, a breath or two, a struggle or two, a disappointment or two, and then the end of all is reached. We should always look out for the mitigations of our condition. The sufferer here finds it in the brevity of the time which he has to endure; we may always find it in the same direction. Others can find mitigations in different ways, as in the kindness of friends, the brightness of mind under bodily affliction, domestic comfort, and the evident accomplishment of divine purposes in the purification of the character. We are not called upon in all cases to find consolation at the same point, but every man is called upon as a child of God to find consolation somewhere. Let him say, “This is my Father’s hand: not my will, but thine, be done,” and all his afflictions will be turned into sources of joy. We are to kiss the rod and him who hath appointed it; we are to look upon chastening not as pleasant but as grievous, yet afterwards working the peaceable fruit of righteousness. The text may be regarded as a refrain to a life-song. However the music may run now smoothly, now roughly; now harshly, like a strong wind, now softly, like a breeze among the flowers yet the refrain is, “When a few years are come.” “Brief life is here our portion.” The brevity of life which has its mournful aspects has also its aspects of comfort and encouragement. The misanthropist would say, Life is so short, it is not worth while attempting to do anything great: the tower will not be half-finished, the work will but mock me by an abrupt termination; I will turn away from all activity, and wait for the end: the philanthropist would say, Life is brief, therefore I must be up and doing; I must redeem the time or buy up the opportunity; not a moment is to be lost; I must hoard the hours as a miser hoards gold: the sufferer may say, Presently all will be over; in a day or two I shall see heaven’s gate opened, and join the happy throng on high, at the best, “when a few years are come,” this night of time will be forgotten in the brightness of heaven’s eternal day; I will encourage myself by this reflection: I will pray that I may be man enough to stand out the whole trial for the little time that yet remains: “he that endureth to the end shall be saved:” may God help me to be faithful unto death; then he will not withhold from me the crown of life. “Until death,” and that is just within sight; the dark shadow is already upon me; the grave is already opening at my feet. Oh, poor, throbbing, suffering heart, hope on: even tomorrow may see thee bearing the banner of victory, and hear thee singing the song of the free.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Job 16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return.
Ver. 22. When a few years are come, &c. ] Heb. Years of number; that is, years that may easily be counted and cast up. The years of the longest liver are but few, they may be quickly numbered. This ran much in Job’s mind, and made him very desirous to be cleared before he died, that he might not go out of the world in a snuff.
Then shall I go the way
Whence I shall not return
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the way, &c. Figure of speech Euphemism (App-6), for death.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a few years: Heb. years of number, Job 14:5, Job 14:14
whence: Job 7:9, Job 7:10, Job 14:10, Ecc 12:5
Reciprocal: 1Ki 2:2 – I go Job 4:20 – they perish Job 7:6 – swifter
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
OUR LAST JOURNEY
When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Job 16:22
I.Let us realise our inevitable journey.
II.Let us contemplate its nearness.
III.Let us consider our non-return from the journey.
IV.Let us inquire whither we are going on our last journey.
Illustration
We need not wish to return. What is there here that should either tempt us to stay in this world or induce us to return to it if we could? Still, I could suppose in a future state some reasons for wishing to return. I can suppose we might have it in our hearts, for instance, to wish to undo the mischief which we did in life. If a dying man should receive mercy in his last moments, one might imagine him as desiring to return to earth to tell the glad tidings and beseech his family and friends to seek salvation. Who would not wish for once to plead with his children if he felt that he had neglected his duty to them? A man might wish, even if he were in the unquenchable flame, to come back to earth or to send a messenger, as the rich man did, to tell his brethren, lest they should come into the place of torment. Selfishness might wish to be spared the reproaches of those we helped to ruin. But you cannot come back or send back to undo your ill deeds. Therefore seek to mend matters now. Avoid the doing of evil, and as for that which is already done, confess it before God, and seek to administer the antidote by an earnest and godly life.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Job 16:22. When a few years are come The number of years which is determined and appointed to me; then I shall go the way whence I shall not return Namely, to the state and place of the dead, whence men cannot return to this life. The meaning is, my death hastens, and therefore I earnestly desire that the cause depending between me and my friends may be determined, that if I be guilty of these things, I may bear the shame of it before all men; and, if I be innocent, that I may see my own integrity and the credit of religion (which suffers upon this occasion) vindicated, that so I may die in peace with God, and may leave the savour of a good name behind me. Observe, reader, to die is to go the way whence we shall not return. It is to go a journey, a long journey, a journey for good and all; to remove from this to another country, from the world of sense to the world of spirits! It is a journey to our long home; there will be no coming back to our state in this world, nor any change of our state in the other world. We must all of us very certainly, and very shortly, go this journey; and it is comfortable to those who keep a good conscience to think of it; for it is the crown of their integrity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 16:22 to Job 17:16. Job pleads in favour of his prayer for Divine vindication, that death is before him and he has no hope, if he must now die.
Job 17:2 is obscure; the general sense seems to be that Job complains of the delusive hopes, held out by the friends, of return to health and prosperity (Peake).
Job 17:3 continues the idea of Job 16:20 f. God, as Jobs advocate, is to give to God as his creditor a pledge that He will in the future vindicate him. Who else will strike hands with Job over such a bargain?
Job 17:4. Not Jobs unintelligent friends.
Job 17:5 as translated in RV is a threat to the friends that their denunciations of Job will be punished by the suffering of their children (Duhm regards the verse as a gloss).
Job 17:6 f. resumes Jobs complaint of his misery.
Job 17:8 f., its effect on the righteous. These verses, as they stand, must express Jobs conviction of final victory. But are they not rather an extract from some speech of the friends? (Duhm, Peake).
Job 17:10-12 appears to be a repudiation of the friends delusive hopes of recovery. But the whole passage is very obscure except Job 16:11 a.
Job 17:13-15. Translate as mg., Job has no hopes. In Job 16:16 b the sense is not certain.