The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Death is the common level where people of every rank lie together in the grave and earthly distinctions, mastery, oppression, trouble and care come to an end. That common place is one receptacle for the dead, sheol or hades, the grave under the earth. There the dead rest asleep in silence and darkness without consciousness, awareness, suffering, or knowledge, while awaiting the awakening to come. It is rest in the dust, not entry into heaven or hell as a place of conscious joy or suffering, which stands in wide contrast to paradise in heaven before the throne of God as the dwelling-place of God and future home of the saints. On another reading it teaches that the everlasting kingdom is the place where servants are free from their masters.
Context and Plain Meaning
The line is poetry, not prose, belonging to one of the sublimest religious poems in the literature of the world. It stands in the second division of the book, the colloquies between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering. The book sets forth the great problems that have perplexed humanity in all ages, an overruling providence and sin and suffering. In it God is disciplining Job and bringing him through the fire of affliction, while his three friends charge him with sin and declare his sufferings are because of sin, which teaches not to misjudge fellow sufferers in the same way.
The small and great being together and the servant being free from his master means that death is a common level where people of every rank are together in the grave. There earthly distinctions and power end, and service relationships, trouble, oppression, burdens and care come to an end, so that the servant is no longer under the master who ruled over him and the oppressed are beyond the reach of oppressors, while the weary and prisoners rest. That common place is one common receptacle for the dead, sheol or hades, the grave under the earth. Death and the grave so receive people of every rank, small and great, servants and masters alike, and death's reach is universal so that no age, rank, or nationality exempts anyone.
In its setting Job wished that even if he had died in infancy he would have been at rest with kings and counselors. He likened that lot to a hidden, untimely birth that had not been.
Death as Unconscious Sleep
The dead are at rest and asleep in silence and darkness, in the land of forgetfulness. In that condition there is no consciousness, awareness, or concern for what takes place on earth or in heaven, no suffering, and no device, wisdom, or knowledge. The weary rest there, the prisoners rest together, and the whole man rests there. Earthly rank and service no longer divide them, for trouble, oppression, burdens and care come to an end and the servant is free from the master who ruled over him. Even one dying in infancy would be at rest with kings and counselors, like a hidden, untimely birth that had not been.
Death is rest in the grave and sleep in the dust, not entry into heaven or hell at death. It is not a passage to immediate conscious joy or suffering after death, but a cessation of life in a place of rest and darkness. That common receptacle for the dead is sheol or hades, the grave under the earth, where the entire man lies in secrecy and silence in perfect unconsciousness. It stands in wide contrast to paradise in heaven before the throne of God, a place of life, joy, peace and perfect bliss, the dwelling-place of God and future home of the saints where the righteous sing redemption and dwell forever.
Death is a blank interval in which the dead lie in unconsciousness while awaiting the change and awakening to come. They remain asleep and unaware until they are raised, and can only be rescued from that state by a resurrection. Job faced this fate calmly, resting in the dust until his change should come and awaiting the time when his Redeemer would call him forth. On a different reading, the place where the small and great are together and servants are free from their masters is the everlasting kingdom.
Death is the common level where people of every rank lie together in the grave and earthly distinctions, mastery, oppression, trouble and care come to an end. That common place is one receptacle for the dead, sheol or hades, the grave under the earth. There the dead rest asleep in silence and darkness without consciousness, awareness, suffering, or knowledge, while awaiting the awakening to come. It is rest in the dust, not entry into heaven or hell as a place of conscious joy or suffering, which stands in wide contrast to paradise in heaven before the throne of God as the dwelling-place of God and future home of the saints. On another reading it teaches that the everlasting kingdom is the place where servants are free from their masters.
Context and Plain Meaning
The line is poetry, not prose, belonging to one of the sublimest religious poems in the literature of the world. It stands in the second division of the book, the colloquies between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering. The book sets forth the great problems that have perplexed humanity in all ages, an overruling providence and sin and suffering. In it God is disciplining Job and bringing him through the fire of affliction, while his three friends charge him with sin and declare his sufferings are because of sin, which teaches not to misjudge fellow sufferers in the same way.
The small and great being together and the servant being free from his master means that death is a common level where people of every rank are together in the grave. There earthly distinctions and power end, and service relationships, trouble, oppression, burdens and care come to an end, so that the servant is no longer under the master who ruled over him and the oppressed are beyond the reach of oppressors, while the weary and prisoners rest. That common place is one common receptacle for the dead, sheol or hades, the grave under the earth. Death and the grave so receive people of every rank, small and great, servants and masters alike, and death's reach is universal so that no age, rank, or nationality exempts anyone.
In its setting Job wished that even if he had died in infancy he would have been at rest with kings and counselors. He likened that lot to a hidden, untimely birth that had not been.
Death as Unconscious Sleep
The dead are at rest and asleep in silence and darkness, in the land of forgetfulness. In that condition there is no consciousness, awareness, or concern for what takes place on earth or in heaven, no suffering, and no device, wisdom, or knowledge. The weary rest there, the prisoners rest together, and the whole man rests there. Earthly rank and service no longer divide them, for trouble, oppression, burdens and care come to an end and the servant is free from the master who ruled over him. Even one dying in infancy would be at rest with kings and counselors, like a hidden, untimely birth that had not been.
Death is rest in the grave and sleep in the dust, not entry into heaven or hell at death. It is not a passage to immediate conscious joy or suffering after death, but a cessation of life in a place of rest and darkness. That common receptacle for the dead is sheol or hades, the grave under the earth, where the entire man lies in secrecy and silence in perfect unconsciousness. It stands in wide contrast to paradise in heaven before the throne of God, a place of life, joy, peace and perfect bliss, the dwelling-place of God and future home of the saints where the righteous sing redemption and dwell forever.
Death is a blank interval in which the dead lie in unconsciousness while awaiting the change and awakening to come. They remain asleep and unaware until they are raised, and can only be rescued from that state by a resurrection. Job faced this fate calmly, resting in the dust until his change should come and awaiting the time when his Redeemer would call him forth. On a different reading, the place where the small and great are together and servants are free from their masters is the everlasting kingdom.