I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Job in his affliction wished he had never been born but had been carried straight from the womb to the grave to rest from trouble in darkness from which none return. To have been as though he had not been is to be unconscious and without intelligence, with no conscious soul living on apart from the body. The dead lie in the dust unaware of what goes on around them, not living consciously in heaven, hell, or hades. They sleep thus in the grave until the promised resurrection to see God in the flesh, without which they would remain in that condition forever. Such suffering does not prove the sufferer is under God's displeasure, for God was working through Job's affliction to glorify Himself, to comfort thousands of sufferers, and to bless Job himself.
Setting and Wording
The words belong to Job himself in his long debate with his three friends over the cause and object of human suffering. Conscious of his own integrity yet judging only by limited human wisdom and observation, he could not understand God's dealings with him and wished he had died at birth rather than live to suffer, yet he did not charge God foolishly. Job was a real man and his history is fact, and God who sees the end from the beginning was working out through his affliction what would glorify Himself forever after. That affliction was meant to give comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and to prove a blessing to Job himself. Suffering does not prove the sufferer is under God's displeasure, for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and Jesus the Son of God was the prince of sufferers.
The cry is a wish to have never been born and to have been carried straight from the womb to the grave. In affliction Job longed for the quiet rest of death, not for death to take him to heaven. Death is felt here as a fearful loss that would leave him as though he had not existed. The grave is set forth as a place of rest from trouble. It is also described in the surrounding words as a land of darkness, without order or light, and as a place from which one does not return.
The word rendered grave is the Hebrew kever. It is distinct from sheol, which denotes the state of death. The carrying from the womb to the grave is evidence that the dead are in the grave.
Death as Unconscious Sleep
To be as though one had not been is to be unconscious and without intelligence, with no conscious soul continuing apart from the body. Giving up the ghost is breathing one's last, not the separation of a conscious entity from the body to live elsewhere. The dead are returned to the earth and lie in darkness in the dust, unaware of what happens around them. They do not live on consciously in heaven, hell, or hades.
Death places adults in the same condition as infants who die, unconscious and unintelligent as though they had never existed. That condition is the same unconscious, unintelligent condition as before creation, which shows that people do not exist consciously before life. When life is extinguished and the body returns to dust, nothing of the person remains except the particles of the body, which take other forms in nature.
The dead sleep unconsciously in the grave until the promised future hope of resurrection, of seeing God in the flesh. Without resurrection they would remain in that condition forever, which would have been humanity's everlasting state without the Saviour. A later resurrection such as that of Moses does not mean death had not reigned over him. The verse also shows the fate of the wicked as utter destruction, that they perish as though they had never been.
Job in his affliction wished he had never been born but had been carried straight from the womb to the grave to rest from trouble in darkness from which none return. To have been as though he had not been is to be unconscious and without intelligence, with no conscious soul living on apart from the body. The dead lie in the dust unaware of what goes on around them, not living consciously in heaven, hell, or hades. They sleep thus in the grave until the promised resurrection to see God in the flesh, without which they would remain in that condition forever. Such suffering does not prove the sufferer is under God's displeasure, for God was working through Job's affliction to glorify Himself, to comfort thousands of sufferers, and to bless Job himself.
Setting and Wording
The words belong to Job himself in his long debate with his three friends over the cause and object of human suffering. Conscious of his own integrity yet judging only by limited human wisdom and observation, he could not understand God's dealings with him and wished he had died at birth rather than live to suffer, yet he did not charge God foolishly. Job was a real man and his history is fact, and God who sees the end from the beginning was working out through his affliction what would glorify Himself forever after. That affliction was meant to give comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and to prove a blessing to Job himself. Suffering does not prove the sufferer is under God's displeasure, for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and Jesus the Son of God was the prince of sufferers.
The cry is a wish to have never been born and to have been carried straight from the womb to the grave. In affliction Job longed for the quiet rest of death, not for death to take him to heaven. Death is felt here as a fearful loss that would leave him as though he had not existed. The grave is set forth as a place of rest from trouble. It is also described in the surrounding words as a land of darkness, without order or light, and as a place from which one does not return.
The word rendered grave is the Hebrew kever. It is distinct from sheol, which denotes the state of death. The carrying from the womb to the grave is evidence that the dead are in the grave.
Death as Unconscious Sleep
To be as though one had not been is to be unconscious and without intelligence, with no conscious soul continuing apart from the body. Giving up the ghost is breathing one's last, not the separation of a conscious entity from the body to live elsewhere. The dead are returned to the earth and lie in darkness in the dust, unaware of what happens around them. They do not live on consciously in heaven, hell, or hades.
Death places adults in the same condition as infants who die, unconscious and unintelligent as though they had never existed. That condition is the same unconscious, unintelligent condition as before creation, which shows that people do not exist consciously before life. When life is extinguished and the body returns to dust, nothing of the person remains except the particles of the body, which take other forms in nature.
The dead sleep unconsciously in the grave until the promised future hope of resurrection, of seeing God in the flesh. Without resurrection they would remain in that condition forever, which would have been humanity's everlasting state without the Saviour. A later resurrection such as that of Moses does not mean death had not reigned over him. The verse also shows the fate of the wicked as utter destruction, that they perish as though they had never been.