Today’s passage: Job 14
Helpful thoughts:
- Job concludes his response to Zophar.
- Though Job’s response is to Zophar’s accusation, he still speaks towards God.
- This chapter is speaking much in the same way as what we see in Ecclesiastes. Job is speaking of life “under the sun.”
- The “renewal” he would desire is the same kind of a renewal a tree could experience when a new shoot sprouts. Job is literally comparing the idea of a root under the ground sprouting new limbs above ground to the impossibility of a man being buried (Sheol = the grave) and sprouting forth new life.
- This kind of renewal is not something man experiences in this life. Therefore, the hope of man is destroyed (Verse 19).
- The chapter on a whole indicates a man in the depths of depression. Job is verbalizing sadness and hopelessness.
Questions to consider:
- When we read verse 14, knowing what we do about eternal life and the resurrection, what answer could we give to Job? (1 Corinthians 15, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Revelation 21:1-5)
- How could this give to Job more hope than a tree has? (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
- How is the hope and encouragement we have been reading about in these passages different than what Job’s friends (And even Job) have been focusing on? In what way has their focus remained “under the sun?” Why must we keep our eyes “above the sun” and on the Son in life?