If a Man Dies

Job's lament reflects on the brevity of life. Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue. Job notes that a man's days are determined, the number of his months is with God, and God has appointed his bounds that he can't pass. He asks God to look away so that man may rest like a hireling at the end of his day.

Job draws a contrast with a tree. For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud. Man, however, dies and is laid low; like waters that fail from the sea, he lies down and does not rise till the heavens are no more.

At the center of the chapter is Job's question: If a man dies, will he live again? I would wait all the days of my warfare, until my release should come. He imagines God calling and himself answering, and God desiring the work of His hands. Job does not yet see the full answer, and the chapter ends in sorrow. In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 15:20 declares that Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who are asleep, giving the full answer Job longed for.