Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
Job pleads to be left alone for a little while because his days are few, that he may have a brief respite and take comfort a little before he dies. He describes the place to which he is going as a land of darkness and the shadow of death, without order and without light, a place of decay and return to dust from which he will not return. That place is the grave itself, where the dead lie as though they had not been, sleeping unconsciously and able to take no more comfort. Death is therefore not entrance into heaven or hell or any conscious joy, but a dark and fearful prospect under the dominion of the grave. Hope lies not in reward at death but in awakening from that sleep at the resurrection, without which death would mean destruction.
Job's Plea and Setting
Job pleads to be left alone because his days are few. He asks for relief and a brief respite from pressure so that he may have a little comfort. His appeal looks toward the short remainder of life before death, asking for that easing before he goes to the place from which he will not return.
The cry belongs to the colloquies between Job and his three friends in Job 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering, and in particular to Job 8-10. Job is a real character and his history is fact, and the book must be studied as a whole. Affliction does not prove that the sufferer has sinned. Job is enduring affliction under God's discipline while his friends wrongly insist his suffering is punishment for his own sin.
In this plea Job speaks conscious of his own integrity yet unable to understand God's dealings with him. He does not charge God foolishly. God saw the end from the beginning and was working through Job's affliction what would glorify Himself forever after. That work would also bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and prove a blessing to Job himself.
Death as Dark Unconscious Grave
Job asks for a brief respite because his remaining days are few, that he may have a little comfort before he dies and goes to the place from which he will not return. That place where he is going is described as a land of darkness and the shadow of death and deep shadow, where light itself is as darkness. It is a place of disorder and without light, presented as an enemy's land and a dark and fearful prospect rather than a pleasant thing or a friendly passage into life with God. It is a state of decay and ruin and return to dust, from which there is no return except by resurrection.
That description presents death as the grave itself, a quiet, grave-bound state and not continued life elsewhere. The dead are in the grave, as though they had not been, and do not enter heaven, hell, or any conscious state in hades. Job's words about his few remaining days therefore belong to a description of death as going to a land of darkness, not as passing to conscious joy in heaven.
The one who could take comfort is the conscious part of the person while he still lives, but at death he enters darkness where he can take no more comfort because he is unconscious. The dead sleep unconsciously in the grave and do not live elsewhere as conscious beings, having returned to the dust. For that reason comfort must be sought before death, since unconsciousness follows in the grave.
Death is therefore not entrance into immediate heavenly bliss or conscious joy in heaven, nor into heaven, hell, or a conscious hades. It is not a pleasant thing over which the grave has no dominion, but a dark and fearful prospect under the grave's dominion. It is not a friendly passage into life with God, but an enemy's land of death, darkness, disorder, and no light.
The grave is where the dead sleep until the resurrection, a dark place of death and deep shadow. Without a resurrection death means destruction and decay and ruin rather than continued conscious life. Hope therefore lies in resurrection and not in entering reward at death.
Job pleads to be left alone for a little while because his days are few, that he may have a brief respite and take comfort a little before he dies. He describes the place to which he is going as a land of darkness and the shadow of death, without order and without light, a place of decay and return to dust from which he will not return. That place is the grave itself, where the dead lie as though they had not been, sleeping unconsciously and able to take no more comfort. Death is therefore not entrance into heaven or hell or any conscious joy, but a dark and fearful prospect under the dominion of the grave. Hope lies not in reward at death but in awakening from that sleep at the resurrection, without which death would mean destruction.
Job's Plea and Setting
Job pleads to be left alone because his days are few. He asks for relief and a brief respite from pressure so that he may have a little comfort. His appeal looks toward the short remainder of life before death, asking for that easing before he goes to the place from which he will not return.
The cry belongs to the colloquies between Job and his three friends in Job 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering, and in particular to Job 8-10. Job is a real character and his history is fact, and the book must be studied as a whole. Affliction does not prove that the sufferer has sinned. Job is enduring affliction under God's discipline while his friends wrongly insist his suffering is punishment for his own sin.
In this plea Job speaks conscious of his own integrity yet unable to understand God's dealings with him. He does not charge God foolishly. God saw the end from the beginning and was working through Job's affliction what would glorify Himself forever after. That work would also bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and prove a blessing to Job himself.
Death as Dark Unconscious Grave
Job asks for a brief respite because his remaining days are few, that he may have a little comfort before he dies and goes to the place from which he will not return. That place where he is going is described as a land of darkness and the shadow of death and deep shadow, where light itself is as darkness. It is a place of disorder and without light, presented as an enemy's land and a dark and fearful prospect rather than a pleasant thing or a friendly passage into life with God. It is a state of decay and ruin and return to dust, from which there is no return except by resurrection.
That description presents death as the grave itself, a quiet, grave-bound state and not continued life elsewhere. The dead are in the grave, as though they had not been, and do not enter heaven, hell, or any conscious state in hades. Job's words about his few remaining days therefore belong to a description of death as going to a land of darkness, not as passing to conscious joy in heaven.
The one who could take comfort is the conscious part of the person while he still lives, but at death he enters darkness where he can take no more comfort because he is unconscious. The dead sleep unconsciously in the grave and do not live elsewhere as conscious beings, having returned to the dust. For that reason comfort must be sought before death, since unconsciousness follows in the grave.
Death is therefore not entrance into immediate heavenly bliss or conscious joy in heaven, nor into heaven, hell, or a conscious hades. It is not a pleasant thing over which the grave has no dominion, but a dark and fearful prospect under the grave's dominion. It is not a friendly passage into life with God, but an enemy's land of death, darkness, disorder, and no light.
The grave is where the dead sleep until the resurrection, a dark place of death and deep shadow. Without a resurrection death means destruction and decay and ruin rather than continued conscious life. Hope therefore lies in resurrection and not in entering reward at death.