Job 7:1

[Is there] not an appointed time to man upon earth?.... There is a set time for his coming into the world, for his continuance in it, and for his going out of it; this is to man "on earth", with

Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

JOB CHAPTER 7 Our times are like those of hirelings, restless and hopeless. Death desirable. His days are as a weaver’ s shuttle; his life is as wind; and he was consumed out of this world, and should appear in it no more, . Therefore he will speak to God, ,12: is tired out and weary of life, . Man unworthy of God’ s notice, . He confesseth his sin, and prayeth for forgiveness, ,21. Is there not a certain and short time limited by God wherein man shall live in this sinful, and vain, and miserable world, after which he shall live in a holier and happier place and state? and is it a crime in me to desire that God would give me some ease and respite for the present, and bring me to that blessed and joyful period? Like the days of an hireling; whose time is limited and short, being but for a few years, 21:16, and sometimes but for days, ,2, and whose condition is full of toil and hardship.

Job 7:1 [Is there] not an appointed time to man upon earth? [are not] his days also like the days of an hireling?Ver. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth?] There is, certainly. Our bounds are prescribed us, and a pillar set by him who bears up the heavens, which we are not to transpass. Stat sua cuique dies, said the heathen poet (Virg. Aeneid 10), our last day stands, the rest run. It is said of the Turks, that they shun not the company of those that have the plague, but pointing upon their foreheads, say, it was written there at their birth when they should die. Now if there be an appointed time, &c., what mean the Lutherans to teach that God hath not determined the period of men’ s days, but it is in man’ s power to lengthen or shorten them, Humanae vitae terminus non est decreto simplici et absoluto constitutus (Homing). In this one verse we have two metaphors, both which do evince the contrary. The first is from soldiers, implied in the word öáà translated an appointed time, or a warfare, because there was a set time for soldiers to fight, and a set time also for them to serve. The second is from a hireling. Are not his days also like the days of an hireling?] Describit humanae vitro brevitatem, saith Vatablus. Here he describeth the shortness of man’ s life, and with it that his days are determined; for with a hireling we agree to work with us for a certain time, and usually for a day, or by the day; and hence we call them day labourers. It importeth then that the time of man’ s life is short and set; for hirelings are appointed to an hour. See Job 14:14; Ecclesiastes 2:3; John 7:30; Isaiah 38:5. Fifteen years just were added to Hezekiah’ s life. Our hairs are numbered, much more our days. This Job allegeth to set forth his own extreme misery, as one condemned to perpetual torments without any respite or refreshing; and therefore in a worse case than any soldier or servant.

CHAPTER VII Job continues to deplore his helpless and afflicted state, 1-6. He expostulates with God concerning his afflictions, 7-12; describes the disturbed state of his mind by visions in the night season; abhors life, 13-16; and, showing that he is unworthy of the notice of God, begs pardon and respite, 17-21. NOTES ON CHAP. VII Verse 1. Is there not an appointed time to man] The Hebrew, with its literal rendering, is as follows: הלא צבא לאנוש עלי ארץ halo tsaba leenosh aley arets, "Is there not a warfare to miserable man upon the earth?" And thus most of the versions have understood the words. The SEPTUAGINT: Ποτερονουχιπειρατηριονεστιὁβιοςανθρωπουεπιτηςγης; "Is not the life of man a place of trial upon earth?" The VULGATE: Militia est vita hominis super terram, "The life of man is a warfare upon earth?" The CHALDEE is the same. N'y a-t-il pas comme un train de guerre ordonne aux mortels sur la terre? "Is there not a continual campaign ordained for mortals upon the earth?" FRENCH BIBLE. The GERMAN and DUTCH the same. COVERDALE: Is not the life off man upon earth a very batayle? CARMARDEN, Rouen, 1566: Hath man any certayne tyme upon earth? SYRIAC and ARABIC: "Now, man has time upon the earth." Non e egli il tempo determinato a l'huomo sopra la terra?" "Is there not a determined time to man upon the earth?" BIB. ITAL., 1562. All these are nearer to the true sense than ours; and of a bad translation, worse use has been made by many theologians. I believe the simple sentiment which the writer wished to convey is this: Human life is a state of probation; and every day and place is a time and place of exercise, to train us up for eternal life. Here is the exercise, and here the warfare: we are enlisted in the bands of the Church militant, and must accomplish our time of service, and be honourably dismissed from the warfare, having conquered through the blood of the Lamb; and then receive the reward of the heavenly inheritance.

1. The connexion is with the preceding verses ch. Job 6:28-30, which express the thought of Job’s innocence, and the thought that in spite of his innocence he is miserably plagued. Under this feeling he throws his eye over all mankind, and sees them also doomed by an inexorable destiny to a life that is brief and filled with pain. an appointed time] Or, a time of service. The reference is to the hard service of the soldier, in which there are two elements, the fixed period and the hard toil of the campaign. Both are laid on man by a power to which he is subject; cf. Isaiah 40:2; Job 14:14. days of a hireling] The “hireling” might be the mercenary soldier, whose fate, far from home and at the disposal of an alien power, might be thought harder even than that of the ordinary soldier. The word is used in this sense, Jeremiah 46:21, and the verb, 2 Samuel 10:6. In Job 7:2, however, the word has its ordinary sense of a hired labourer, and this is probably its meaning here.

Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? - Margin, or, warfare.

Fourth long strophe — JOB BEWAILS THE VANITY OF LIFE, Job 7:1-11.a. Eliphaz had drawn a glowing picture of justice and mercy as blended together in the divine ordering of human life.