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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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Job 14:14
Comments
As Barnes comments, Job having brought himself almost to the point of belief in an afterlife, now checks himself. Still he is unsure; still the future work of God is unclear to him, yet he wants to have hope. Will man live again after being brought down to the grave? The resurrection had been the assumption on which the hope of the last verse was built, but will there be a resurrection? Certainly we will not live again on earth, and what Christian would want to come back to a world which continues in rebellion against God and is under his curse. Job’s hope is for a world in which sin has been removed from his heart, the devil is no longer free to roam, death is defeated, and where man has open fellowship with God. In spite of not seeing clearly what will take place, he is happy to put up with earthly troubles – which he compares to a time of hard service – if he can only retain some hope of being released from this life to a better life. He resolves that he will therefore wait until God’s kindness is extended to him. He refers to this time of blessing as his change. He knows he must be changed for he currently inhabits a body of pain and sickness, a mortal body; death hangs over him as a continual threat to his existence and his peace of mind.
Application
This is where the hope of every believer should be focused, and we have much clearer light on the nature of this hope than Job. For some, life is too pleasant and they are tempted to wish to stay here for ever. For others life is filled with more or less trials and they serve to wean us from this world. For both there are cycles to be experienced and periods of joy interspersed with periods of trial. God allocates each to us according to his perfect wisdom, and by these prepares each one for the eternity.
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