I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Job in his suffering despairs of life and looks for death, calling decay his father and the devouring maggot his mother and sister because he expects soon to lie decaying in the grave. To name them as family pictures closest union with the grave, where death takes the place of life and the pit becomes his house and home in darkness and dust. That grave is Sheol, the underground state of death, a place of silence, sleep, rest, darkness and corruption with no work or knowledge or conscious converse with the living. There the dead rest unconscious in bodily decay, without reward or beholding God's face, waiting in the dust until the appointed change comes. That change is the resurrection from mortality to immortality when the Redeemer stands at the latter day upon the earth and calls them forth, without which they would lie there forever.
Context and Wording
The passage stands in the debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions. It belongs to the second of five divisions of the book, the colloquies in chapters 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering. Job was a real man and the record preserves what was actually spoken. He spoke conscious of his own integrity yet unable to comprehend God's dealings with him, though without charging God foolishly, while God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers, and prove a blessing to Job.
In this reply Job protests his innocence and desires death. The language expresses despair and nearness to death. He treats corruption and the worm as his closest family because he expects to lie in the grave. Corruption and worms are made his family since he expects his body to decay in the grave.
To call corruption father and the worm mother and sister pictures decay as close as family. It shows close union and identification with the grave. There death takes the place formerly occupied by life, in darkness and silence. The grave is thus presented as home and burial in darkness as a bed, a home of corruption and worms in Sheol, the grave and state of death. The dead descend into it and rest in the dust, in darkness, rest, bodily decay and unconsciousness, waiting in the grave until the appointed change comes. From that condition Job's concern is whether anyone can recover, and his hope rests on God's power to raise the dead.
The worm is the literal worm that feeds on corruption and consumes dead bodies. It is a destroyer associated with corruption and death. It is not tormented by fire; worm and fire destroy the carcasses of those who have transgressed against God.
Grave as Home
The grave is the dead person's house or home, where the bed is made in darkness behind the bars of the pit and rest together is in the dust mingled with the clods of the valley. To call corruption father and the worm mother and sister pictures that home as close union and identification with decay, with worms surrounding the body as family while it lies subject to corruption. That condition of darkness, corruption, and worms is the state before the appointed change, which is the change from mortality to immortality at the resurrection and not a spirit leaving the body at death, so the dead rest in the grave until that time.
Sheol in this verse is the grave and the state of death, the underground abode of the dead in the dust of the earth. The dead are not in Heaven nor in hell but in corruption and the grave awaiting resurrection, which proves sheol is the grave and not a place of conscious existence nor a realm where immortal souls live. There in silence, secrecy, and darkness there is no work, device, knowledge nor wisdom, the dead are unconscious and cannot hold converse with the living, which proves familiar spirits are not the spirits of the dead.
The verse thus proves the general character of sheol as a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption and worms. It describes the dead person's resting place as darkness where the bed is made and hope goes down to the bars of sheol to rest together in the dust, a place of silence and sleep where the dead await a set time and the hope of being called back to life. In that context the grave's decay as a family image belongs to the description of sheol as the abode of the dead and supports the claim that all people go there at death and sleep until the resurrection.
Unconscious Sleep in Death
Death in the verse is a state of darkness, rest, sleep and bodily decay in which the dead are unconscious. The grave is pictured as the dead man's house and home, where corruption is as near as a father and the worm as near as mother and sister, and that close family image shows entrance into secrecy, silence, corruption and decay in the dust. There in sheol, the underground abode of the dead, there is no work, device, knowledge nor wisdom, no thoughts or conscious activity and no conscious happiness, but rest without converse with the living. That unconscious condition proves that familiar spirits are not the spirits of the dead. Job faces that grave in calm acceptance while waiting for the appointed time when his Redeemer shall call him forth, with resurrection as the way out.
The verse describes death and bodily decay, not conscious torment, happiness, or conscious life. Sheol is the grave and state of death, into which the dead descend and where they rest together in the dust mingled with corruption. The grave is a place of corruption and death where worms surround and consume the body in the sleep of death, the dead belonging to corruption and the worm as to a family.
In that state there is no reward to see, and the body is consumed by worms in the sleep of death with the bed made in darkness. Unlike angels, man at death does not behold God's face in heaven, but sleeps in the grave in corruption with the worm, returned to earth, unconscious and remaining there until his reward comes at Christ's coming to raise him. Death is gloomy and an enemy brought by sin, with no hope of continued life in the grave, and apart from future life it is hopeless. The hope of the righteous is therefore not fulfilled while dead, but waits until the Redeemer stands at the latter day upon the earth to bring resurrection, when in restored flesh to see God.
Waiting for Resurrection
The decay in which corruption becomes as close as a father and the worm as close as mother and sister is the condition of the dead before the appointed change comes. The grave is the house, the bed is made in darkness, and the resting place is mingled with the clods of the valley in the dust of the earth. There the dead wait in the grave and rest in the dust until that time. That change is the resurrection, the change from mortality to immortality, not a spirit leaving the body at death.
The hope of the righteous is not fulfilled while dead and is not received at death in heaven. From the grave, where the body returns to corruption and worms and rests in the dust with no reward to see, the question is asked where the hope now is and who shall see it. That asking shows the hope waits beyond the grave and will not be found in continued life in the grave. It expresses concern whether anyone can recover from that condition of darkness, decay, and the sleep of death brought by sin as an enemy. The answer is the resurrection, when in restored flesh to see God.
The dead remain in the grave until God calls them forth and sleep there until the resurrection. They wait until the Redeemer stands at the latter day upon the earth to bring resurrection. Then God raises and rewards the righteous in the judgment at Christ's coming. In that raising Job will in restored flesh see God rather than lie in death and corruption forever.
Without a resurrection the dead would lie there forever in darkness and silence where death has taken the place formerly occupied by life. The close identification with the grave therefore shows the necessity of a resurrection. The hope rests on God's power to raise the dead.
Practical Applications
The return of the body to corruption makes decay and the worm as close as nearest kin, and that frailty and mortality warns to be ready because life can end at any time. The end of ambition is the grave, where corruption becomes as close as a father and the worm as close as a mother and sister. The grave will soon be a person's bed-chamber and the earth his pillow, so going into a churchyard and reading gravestones reminds the ambitious that death awaits them and humbles their pride.
Calling corruption father and the worm mother and sister familiarizes death and decay to oneself, joined to counting the grave one's house and making one's bed in darkness. That familiarizing is the way to go through sufferings without being surprised or daunted by the worst, whether prison, whip, pillory, banishment, or death. As touching the world to come it means trusting in God through Christ, and as touching this world it means accepting the grave beforehand. So accepted, it holds a steadfast purpose, refuses compromise, keeps preaching, and endures separation from family and privation in serene trust.
The language of claiming corruption and the worm as family pictures death and the grave. Applied to the claim that the ten commandments were abolished and buried with Christ, that picture rejects the claim as absurd. The moral law has not been destroyed or made void.
Job in his suffering despairs of life and looks for death, calling decay his father and the devouring maggot his mother and sister because he expects soon to lie decaying in the grave. To name them as family pictures closest union with the grave, where death takes the place of life and the pit becomes his house and home in darkness and dust. That grave is Sheol, the underground state of death, a place of silence, sleep, rest, darkness and corruption with no work or knowledge or conscious converse with the living. There the dead rest unconscious in bodily decay, without reward or beholding God's face, waiting in the dust until the appointed change comes. That change is the resurrection from mortality to immortality when the Redeemer stands at the latter day upon the earth and calls them forth, without which they would lie there forever.
Context and Wording
The passage stands in the debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions. It belongs to the second of five divisions of the book, the colloquies in chapters 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering. Job was a real man and the record preserves what was actually spoken. He spoke conscious of his own integrity yet unable to comprehend God's dealings with him, though without charging God foolishly, while God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers, and prove a blessing to Job.
In this reply Job protests his innocence and desires death. The language expresses despair and nearness to death. He treats corruption and the worm as his closest family because he expects to lie in the grave. Corruption and worms are made his family since he expects his body to decay in the grave.
To call corruption father and the worm mother and sister pictures decay as close as family. It shows close union and identification with the grave. There death takes the place formerly occupied by life, in darkness and silence. The grave is thus presented as home and burial in darkness as a bed, a home of corruption and worms in Sheol, the grave and state of death. The dead descend into it and rest in the dust, in darkness, rest, bodily decay and unconsciousness, waiting in the grave until the appointed change comes. From that condition Job's concern is whether anyone can recover, and his hope rests on God's power to raise the dead.
The worm is the literal worm that feeds on corruption and consumes dead bodies. It is a destroyer associated with corruption and death. It is not tormented by fire; worm and fire destroy the carcasses of those who have transgressed against God.
Grave as Home
The grave is the dead person's house or home, where the bed is made in darkness behind the bars of the pit and rest together is in the dust mingled with the clods of the valley. To call corruption father and the worm mother and sister pictures that home as close union and identification with decay, with worms surrounding the body as family while it lies subject to corruption. That condition of darkness, corruption, and worms is the state before the appointed change, which is the change from mortality to immortality at the resurrection and not a spirit leaving the body at death, so the dead rest in the grave until that time.
Sheol in this verse is the grave and the state of death, the underground abode of the dead in the dust of the earth. The dead are not in Heaven nor in hell but in corruption and the grave awaiting resurrection, which proves sheol is the grave and not a place of conscious existence nor a realm where immortal souls live. There in silence, secrecy, and darkness there is no work, device, knowledge nor wisdom, the dead are unconscious and cannot hold converse with the living, which proves familiar spirits are not the spirits of the dead.
The verse thus proves the general character of sheol as a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption and worms. It describes the dead person's resting place as darkness where the bed is made and hope goes down to the bars of sheol to rest together in the dust, a place of silence and sleep where the dead await a set time and the hope of being called back to life. In that context the grave's decay as a family image belongs to the description of sheol as the abode of the dead and supports the claim that all people go there at death and sleep until the resurrection.
Unconscious Sleep in Death
Death in the verse is a state of darkness, rest, sleep and bodily decay in which the dead are unconscious. The grave is pictured as the dead man's house and home, where corruption is as near as a father and the worm as near as mother and sister, and that close family image shows entrance into secrecy, silence, corruption and decay in the dust. There in sheol, the underground abode of the dead, there is no work, device, knowledge nor wisdom, no thoughts or conscious activity and no conscious happiness, but rest without converse with the living. That unconscious condition proves that familiar spirits are not the spirits of the dead. Job faces that grave in calm acceptance while waiting for the appointed time when his Redeemer shall call him forth, with resurrection as the way out.
The verse describes death and bodily decay, not conscious torment, happiness, or conscious life. Sheol is the grave and state of death, into which the dead descend and where they rest together in the dust mingled with corruption. The grave is a place of corruption and death where worms surround and consume the body in the sleep of death, the dead belonging to corruption and the worm as to a family.
In that state there is no reward to see, and the body is consumed by worms in the sleep of death with the bed made in darkness. Unlike angels, man at death does not behold God's face in heaven, but sleeps in the grave in corruption with the worm, returned to earth, unconscious and remaining there until his reward comes at Christ's coming to raise him. Death is gloomy and an enemy brought by sin, with no hope of continued life in the grave, and apart from future life it is hopeless. The hope of the righteous is therefore not fulfilled while dead, but waits until the Redeemer stands at the latter day upon the earth to bring resurrection, when in restored flesh to see God.
Waiting for Resurrection
The decay in which corruption becomes as close as a father and the worm as close as mother and sister is the condition of the dead before the appointed change comes. The grave is the house, the bed is made in darkness, and the resting place is mingled with the clods of the valley in the dust of the earth. There the dead wait in the grave and rest in the dust until that time. That change is the resurrection, the change from mortality to immortality, not a spirit leaving the body at death.
The hope of the righteous is not fulfilled while dead and is not received at death in heaven. From the grave, where the body returns to corruption and worms and rests in the dust with no reward to see, the question is asked where the hope now is and who shall see it. That asking shows the hope waits beyond the grave and will not be found in continued life in the grave. It expresses concern whether anyone can recover from that condition of darkness, decay, and the sleep of death brought by sin as an enemy. The answer is the resurrection, when in restored flesh to see God.
The dead remain in the grave until God calls them forth and sleep there until the resurrection. They wait until the Redeemer stands at the latter day upon the earth to bring resurrection. Then God raises and rewards the righteous in the judgment at Christ's coming. In that raising Job will in restored flesh see God rather than lie in death and corruption forever.
Without a resurrection the dead would lie there forever in darkness and silence where death has taken the place formerly occupied by life. The close identification with the grave therefore shows the necessity of a resurrection. The hope rests on God's power to raise the dead.
Practical Applications
The return of the body to corruption makes decay and the worm as close as nearest kin, and that frailty and mortality warns to be ready because life can end at any time. The end of ambition is the grave, where corruption becomes as close as a father and the worm as close as a mother and sister. The grave will soon be a person's bed-chamber and the earth his pillow, so going into a churchyard and reading gravestones reminds the ambitious that death awaits them and humbles their pride.
Calling corruption father and the worm mother and sister familiarizes death and decay to oneself, joined to counting the grave one's house and making one's bed in darkness. That familiarizing is the way to go through sufferings without being surprised or daunted by the worst, whether prison, whip, pillory, banishment, or death. As touching the world to come it means trusting in God through Christ, and as touching this world it means accepting the grave beforehand. So accepted, it holds a steadfast purpose, refuses compromise, keeps preaching, and endures separation from family and privation in serene trust.
The language of claiming corruption and the worm as family pictures death and the grave. Applied to the claim that the ten commandments were abolished and buried with Christ, that picture rejects the claim as absurd. The moral law has not been destroyed or made void.