Job 14:22

But his flesh upon him shall have pain,.... Either he shall be chastened with strong pains on his sick and dying bed; which is the reason why he neither rejoices at the happiness of his family, nor

But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn. "Flesh" and "soul" describe the whole man.

This is man’ s condition; he is miserable both when he dies, because he dies without hope of returning to life, as he had discoursed before; and (as he now adds) whilst he lives, whilst his flesh is upon him, and his soul within him; whilst the soul is clothed with or united to the body, he feels sharp pain in his body, and bitter grief in his soul. Seeing therefore the state of man upon earth is so vain and unhappy every way, Lord, give me some comfort to sweeten my life, or take away my life from me.

Job 14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.Ver. 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain] That is, say some, but as long as he is living his body is afflicted with a thousand evils; and though his soul, by the condition of her creation, be exempt from them, yet she bears a part in them, and becomes miserable with it. A dying man hath sorrow without and sorrow within; the whole man is in misery, as Job here felt himself. Others hold that this poetic representation hath no other meaning, but that the dead have no manner of communication with the living (Aben Ezra, Mercer, Diodati). Broughton rendereth it, His flesh is grieved for itself, and his soul will mourn for itself; q.d. he takes no thought or care for his children or nearest relations.

Verse 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain] The sum of the life of man is this, pain of body and distress of soul; and he is seldom without the one or the other, and often oppressed by both. Thus ends Job's discourse on the miserable state and condition of man. THE last verse of the preceding chapter has been differently translated and explained. Mr. Good's version is the following, which he vindicates in a learned note: - For his flesh shall drop away from him; And his soul shall become a waste from him. The Chaldee thus: "Nevertheless his flesh, on account of the worms, shall grieve over him; and his soul, in the house of judgment, shall wail over him." In another copy of this version it is thus: "Nevertheless his flesh, before the window is closed over him, shall grieve; and his soul, for seven days of mourning, shall bewail him in the house of his burial." I shall give the Hebrew: - אך בשרו עליו יכאב Ach besaro alaiv yichab, ונפשו עליו תאבל Venaphsho alaiv teebal. Which Mr. Stock translates thus, both to the spirit and letter: - But over him his flesh shall grieve; And over him his breath shall mourn. "In the daring spirit of oriental poetry," says he, "the flesh, or body, and the breath, are made conscious beings; the former lamenting its putrefaction in the grave, the latter mourning over the mouldering clay which it once enlivened." This version is, in my opinion, the most natural yet offered. The Syriac and Arabic present nearly the same sense: "But his body shall grieve over him; and his soul be astonished over him." Coverdale follows the Vulgate: Whyle he lyveth his flesh must have travayle; and whyle the soul is in him, he must be in sorowe. On Job 14:2. I have referred to the following beautiful lines, which illustrate these finely figurative texts: - He cometh forth as a FLOWER, and is CUT Down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. All flesh is GRASS, and all the goodliness thereof is as the FLOWER of the field. The GRASS withereth, the FLOWER fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever. The morning flowers display their sweets, And gay their silken leaves unfold; As careless of the noonday heats, As fearless of the evening cold. Nipp'd by the wind's untimely blast, Parch'd by the sun's directer ray, The momentary glories waste, The short-lived beauties die away. So blooms the human face divine, When youth its pride of beauty shows; Fairer than spring the colours shine, And sweeter than the virgin rose. Or worn by slowly-rolling years, Or broke by sickness in a day, The fading glory disappears, Yet these, new rising from the tomb, With lustre brighter far shall shine; Revive with ever-during bloom, Safe from diseases and decline. Let sickness blast, let death devour, If heaven must recompense our pains: Perish the grass and fade the flower, If firm the word of God remains.

22. But his flesh] Or, only. The prep. rendered here “upon him” is the same as that rendered “within him,” it means with him or in connexion with him, and the verse differs little from this, Only his flesh hath pain and his soul mourneth. The dead knoweth nothing of the upper world, only this can be said of him that his flesh hath pain and his soul mourneth; but the Hebrew expresses the idea more distinctly that his flesh and soul do these things in connexion with him. There are two ideas expressed: (1) that the body in the grave, being that of a still existing person, feels the gnawing and the wasting of corruption, cf. Isaiah 66:24, and that the soul in Sheol leads a mournful and dreary existence; and (2) that these elements of the person though separated still belong to the person. The first circle of speeches, now completed, started from Job’s complaints in ch. 3. Job did not there name God nor make any open imputation against Him, but his bitter maledictions of the day of his birth and his impatient cry, Why gives He life to him that is in misery, (Job 3:20), shewed too well against whom it was that he “turned his spirit” (Job 15:12.) Hence the three friends conceive that the first thing to aim at is to bring Job back to just and reverent thoughts of God. Therefore they dwell upon the attributes of God and contrast Him with man, hoping by this great thought of God to still the tumult in Job’s breast and bring him to take his right place before the Creator. The friends all impress this thought of God upon Job, each, however, doing it in his own way. The oldest and most thoughtful of the three, Eliphaz, lays hold of the moral purity of God and His universal goodness. Bildad insists on the discriminating rectitude of God in His rule of the world. While Zophar magnifies the omniscience of the Divine insight, which guides God’s dealings with men. Each of these views is designed to meet some side of Job’s feeling as expressed in his complaints. Job answers these arguments for the most part indirectly. His own unmerited afflictions furnished the answer to them, and he mainly dwells on this. Only at last is he driven by the form in which Zophar puts the common argument of the friends directly to meet it. To their great argument of “God,” with which they thought to terrify and silence him, he replies that he does need to be taught regarding God. He is not inferior to them in knowledge of God; but it is just God that he desires to meet. He will go before Him to maintain his rectitude. He challenges God to make known the sins of which he has been guilty (Job 13:23). However irreligious Job’s demeanour might seem to his friends (Job 15:4), it is obvious that he has struck from their hands the weapon they have hitherto been using against him.

But his flesh upon him shall have pain - Dr. Good renders this, “his flesh shall drop away from him.” This is evidently a representation of the state of the man after he was dead.

22. Upon him and within him are the same, (òìéå,) and signify either “on his own account,” or better, in him.