His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
The verse stands in chapters 3-31, the second of the five parts of the book, which record the poetic colloquies between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering, with only the opening narrative and closing statement in prose. Job is presented as a real character whose history is fact and is to be studied as part of the whole book for its lesson on suffering. More specifically, it belongs to Job's answer to Zophar's second speech about the portion of the wicked.
In its wording, it describes a person in prosperous health, comfort and strength, with abundant nourishment, well nourished in body. Job contrasts this one who dies in comfort with one who dies in bitterness, yet says both lie in the dust. This shows that at death all men, good and bad alike, return to the dust, the grave — sheol or hades — a land of darkness.
It thus shows that the wicked prosper in this present life, with their punishment reserved for the future. People of different circumstances therefore share the same state in death, awaiting the day when the wicked are brought forth for judgment. In its light, the incident of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 could not take place immediately after death.
The verse stands in chapters 3-31, the second of the five parts of the book, which record the poetic colloquies between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering, with only the opening narrative and closing statement in prose. Job is presented as a real character whose history is fact and is to be studied as part of the whole book for its lesson on suffering. More specifically, it belongs to Job's answer to Zophar's second speech about the portion of the wicked.
In its wording, it describes a person in prosperous health, comfort and strength, with abundant nourishment, well nourished in body. Job contrasts this one who dies in comfort with one who dies in bitterness, yet says both lie in the dust. This shows that at death all men, good and bad alike, return to the dust, the grave — sheol or hades — a land of darkness.
It thus shows that the wicked prosper in this present life, with their punishment reserved for the future. People of different circumstances therefore share the same state in death, awaiting the day when the wicked are brought forth for judgment. In its light, the incident of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 could not take place immediately after death.