And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
Job speaks in the midst of his affliction and debate with his friends about his suffering with an image of a collapsing mountain and a rock torn from its place to show how even what seems firm and enduring wears away and comes to nothing, as does human life going down to the grave. It belongs to his picture of the grave as a place of darkness and stillness where the dead sleep and rest without waking until God calls them. Death there is an unconscious sleep with no thought or activity or knowledge, the very opposite of conscious life. That waiting is not hopeless, for when God calls Job will answer, and that call is the resurrection at the coming of the Lord when the heavens pass away, when he will be raised to see his living Redeemer after his body is destroyed. The grave itself remains gloomy, but the hope of resurrection and immortal life takes away its gloom and has comforted the dying.
Setting and Imagery
Job 14:18 stands within the long debate about his afflictions carried on between Job and his three friends, which runs from Job 4 through Job 31. It belongs to Job's own teaching about death in that debate.
The falling mountain coming to nothing and the rock removed out of its place show that even mountains and rocks are taken away. Even a mountain can collapse and a rock be moved from its place, expressing the fragility and passing away of what appears firm and enduring. Applied to man, this means human life ends in the grave.
The verse belongs to Job's description of sheol as the place of the dead, where the dead remain in sleep and rest until God calls them. In that setting the image of a collapsing mountain and a displaced rock contributes to his picture of death as stillness, darkness, and corruption.
Death as Unconscious Sleep
The verse teaches that the dead are unconscious, that death is a sleep and not a state of conscious existence, with no conscious thought or activity. Death is the exact opposite of life, the cessation of continued conscious existence, a blank unconscious sleep in darkness and forgetfulness with no remembrance, where thoughts perish and there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom. The dead are like people asleep and know nothing of what is happening around them, not even about their own children, which is why the dead cannot communicate information.
Even a mountain collapsing and a rock being displaced cannot change the dead person's state or awareness. This proves man does not possess natural immortality, agreeing with the fact that the brain is the organ of thought as the eye is of vision, so that when the brain loses vitality conscious life ceases to flow. Without a resurrection even those fallen asleep in Christ are perished. The dead are unconscious and unaware and are not suffering between death and the final judgment.
Resurrection Hope and Comfort
Job 14:18 stands within a portrayal of death as a sleep in the dust from which the dead do not wake but wait in the grave until the heavens are no more. That long waiting does not deny a rising again, for the same context looks for an answer when God calls, and that call is the resurrection at the Lord's coming when the heavens pass away and are dissolved. The waiting therefore points to a future resurrection rather than to suffering after death, to being raised to life and seeing the living Redeemer even after the body has been destroyed.
Death is not a gate into endless life, and the grave in itself is gloomy, yet the hope of resurrection takes away that gloom. In that hope the verse belongs to death followed by resurrection and immortal life, and it has comforted a dying believer who marked it in his Bible.
Job speaks in the midst of his affliction and debate with his friends about his suffering with an image of a collapsing mountain and a rock torn from its place to show how even what seems firm and enduring wears away and comes to nothing, as does human life going down to the grave.
It belongs to his picture of the grave as a place of darkness and stillness where the dead sleep and rest without waking until God calls them.
Death there is an unconscious sleep with no thought or activity or knowledge, the very opposite of conscious life.
That waiting is not hopeless, for when God calls Job will answer, and that call is the resurrection at the coming of the Lord when the heavens pass away, when he will be raised to see his living Redeemer after his body is destroyed.
The grave itself remains gloomy, but the hope of resurrection and immortal life takes away its gloom and has comforted the dying.
Setting and Imagery
Job 14:18 stands within the long debate about his afflictions carried on between Job and his three friends, which runs from Job 4 through Job 31. It belongs to Job's own teaching about death in that debate.
The falling mountain coming to nothing and the rock removed out of its place show that even mountains and rocks are taken away. Even a mountain can collapse and a rock be moved from its place, expressing the fragility and passing away of what appears firm and enduring. Applied to man, this means human life ends in the grave.
The verse belongs to Job's description of sheol as the place of the dead, where the dead remain in sleep and rest until God calls them. In that setting the image of a collapsing mountain and a displaced rock contributes to his picture of death as stillness, darkness, and corruption.
Death as Unconscious Sleep
The verse teaches that the dead are unconscious, that death is a sleep and not a state of conscious existence, with no conscious thought or activity. Death is the exact opposite of life, the cessation of continued conscious existence, a blank unconscious sleep in darkness and forgetfulness with no remembrance, where thoughts perish and there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom. The dead are like people asleep and know nothing of what is happening around them, not even about their own children, which is why the dead cannot communicate information.
Even a mountain collapsing and a rock being displaced cannot change the dead person's state or awareness. This proves man does not possess natural immortality, agreeing with the fact that the brain is the organ of thought as the eye is of vision, so that when the brain loses vitality conscious life ceases to flow. Without a resurrection even those fallen asleep in Christ are perished. The dead are unconscious and unaware and are not suffering between death and the final judgment.
Resurrection Hope and Comfort
Job 14:18 stands within a portrayal of death as a sleep in the dust from which the dead do not wake but wait in the grave until the heavens are no more. That long waiting does not deny a rising again, for the same context looks for an answer when God calls, and that call is the resurrection at the Lord's coming when the heavens pass away and are dissolved. The waiting therefore points to a future resurrection rather than to suffering after death, to being raised to life and seeing the living Redeemer even after the body has been destroyed.
Death is not a gate into endless life, and the grave in itself is gloomy, yet the hope of resurrection takes away that gloom. In that hope the verse belongs to death followed by resurrection and immortal life, and it has comforted a dying believer who marked it in his Bible.