The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
The word rendered grave is the Hebrew sheol, elsewhere rendered hell in the Old Testament, and this is one of thirty-one Old Testament instances where the King James Version renders sheol as grave.Sheol means the grave, sepulchre, underworld, or state of the dead. It stands here as one of four things that are insatiable and never satisfied or filled: the grave, the barren womb, the earth not filled with water, and the fire that never says it has enough.
In the setting of verses 15-16, the grave is pictured as continually crying for more and demanding without being filled, like the horse-leech's daughter crying give. Its insatiability shows that death advances without pause while people delay and remain unaware. Time continues even as they sleep on toward coming divine judgment.
That same image of never saying enough describes a victorious war spirit. Kept craving, it presses for more conquest and more bloodshed. It presses likewise for more booty and more glory.
The word rendered grave is the Hebrew sheol, elsewhere rendered hell in the Old Testament, and this is one of thirty-one Old Testament instances where the King James Version renders sheol as grave. Sheol means the grave, sepulchre, underworld, or state of the dead. It stands here as one of four things that are insatiable and never satisfied or filled: the grave, the barren womb, the earth not filled with water, and the fire that never says it has enough.
In the setting of verses 15-16, the grave is pictured as continually crying for more and demanding without being filled, like the horse-leech's daughter crying give. Its insatiability shows that death advances without pause while people delay and remain unaware. Time continues even as they sleep on toward coming divine judgment.
That same image of never saying enough describes a victorious war spirit. Kept craving, it presses for more conquest and more bloodshed. It presses likewise for more booty and more glory.