Job 14:5, commentary and pictures

Seeing his days are determined means a person's days and months are fixed and known by God, who sets limits to human life that cannot be passed. Human life is brief and numbered, passing quickly like a shadow and cut down in death to appear no more among the living. Death is a sleep in the dust in silence and darkness, a rest in triumph of faith to await the resurrection morning. Unlike a cut tree that can sprout again, a person cut down in death has no spark of life left to kindle anew and no power in himself to live again, so life after death must come through power outside himself. The appointed waiting lasts only until God calls, with hope of being raised from sleep to see the living Redeemer and be brought forth to glorious immortality in the first resurrection.

Life Bounded by God

A person's days are determined and the number of months are with God, who knows their measure and appoints bounds to human life that cannot be passed. The lifespan is limited and appointed, and life cannot extend beyond the bounds God has set. This affirms God's sovereignty over the span of human life.

Human life is brief and numbered, few in days and full of trouble, anxiety and care. It passes quickly through its stages like a shadow that soon disappears, and even age may be cut short. A person is cut down in death and appears no more among the living and among his kind. The dead await the raising.

The verse belongs to Job's reflection on human mortality and to his discussion of suffering and of God's dealings with people. It expresses concern about the future of the dead. It joins the question whether a dead person can live again to the hope of waiting for God's call and answering when the change comes.

Death Sleep and Resurrection

Death is a sleep in the dust, marked by silence and darkness, a laying to rest to await the resurrection morning. It is a falling asleep in triumph of faith, with the countenance left calm and lovely in death. The bounded duration of human life belongs to this same hope of being raised to see the living Redeemer.

Unlike a cut tree whose root life can sprout again, a person's life when cut down in death is entirely snuffed out with no spark left to kindle anew. By forfeiting life humanity has lost even the power of life that nature gives plants. Man's days are few and full of trouble and of anxiety and care, determined and bounded, after which he is cut down in death and appears no more among the living and among his kind.

A person has no life-giving power remaining in himself to live again. If he lives after passing off the human stage it must be through power outside himself, through God's power and not his own. The appointed time is a bounded waiting until a change comes, when God calls and the dead answer. Job's question whether a dead person can live again is thus joined to his hope of waiting for that call.

The verse carries hope of being raised from the sleep of death to see the living Redeemer. Those who trust in Christ will be brought forth to glorious immortality in the first resurrection when the Life-giver calls. Death is a bounded period of waiting, and the sleep lasts only a short time, only a few days, until Jesus soon comes. The limits appointed to days and months therefore accompany the hope that the dead rest until that call.

Job's prayer in this context to be hidden in Sheol proves Sheol is the place of the dead for righteous and wicked alike. It is exactly equivalent to Hades, meaning the invisible world or common receptacle of all mankind in death. It is not the place of punishment.

The chapter and verse give words of comfort at the funeral and grave-side of a faithful believer, including one who died at age sixty-two. They assure mourners that they do not mourn as those who have no hope. Death occurs within God's appointed limits, for He determines days and months, knows their measure, and sets bounds that cannot be passed. Spoken to the congregation left behind, they direct the living to look for the resurrection.