Job 14:2

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down,.... As the flower comes from the earth, so does man; as it comes out of the stalk, so man out of his mother's womb; as the flower flourishes for a

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. (Psalms 90:6; note, Job 8:9 .)

He cometh forth out of his mother’ s womb, . Like a flower; which quickly groweth up and maketh a fair show, but soon withereth, or is cut down. As a shadow; which being made by the sun, follows its motions, and is in perpetual variation, until at last it quite vanish and disappear.

Job 14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.Ver. 2. He cometh forth like a flower] What he had asserted concerning the shortness of man’ s life is here illustrated by two elegant similitudes, frequently used, not in Scripture only, but in heathen authors, as were easy to instance, Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 40:6 James 1:10-11 1 Peter 1:24. A flower hath a spring and a fall; so have men their times and their turns; their rise and their ruin. Why and how man in his flourish is like to a flower; see Psalms 103:15-16, where he is compared to a flower of the field (which lies open to all inconvenience), not of the garden, which is much sheltered from sharp winds, fenced from the teeth and feet of beasts, from the hands of children, strangers, &c. And is cut down] Heb. Cut around, or circumcised, sc. by some nipping or blasting wind, such as that east wind, Genesis 41:23, or some cropping hand, or its own fading nature; and then it is not, saith David, Psalms 103:16, that is, it neither continues any longer in being, nor returns any more into being; no more doth man, though in his time never so flourishing. He fleeth also] With post haste, as one that fleeth for life; so doth he from life, every moment yielding somewhat unto death: Orimur, morimur, finisque ab origine pendet; life, as fast as it increaseth, decreaseth. It is improper, saith one, to ask when we shall die, but rather when we shall make an end of dying? As a shadow] As the shadow of a dial, our lives are continually hasting to their period, and never make stop. By these, and many the like comparisons (common in this Book and other Scriptures), we see how much God desireth that we should mind our mortality; to blame, then, are those who have one leg in the grave and the other in hell, and yet do put far away thoughts of death, and under gray hairs nourish green hopes and desires; neither may young men be excused who bind upon long life, and boast of tomorrow, Proverbs 27:1, since they know not what a great bellied day may bring forth. Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam (Hor. i.). The Jews have a proverb, that many times old camels carry young camels’ skins to the market. And how often see we elder folk carry men’ s and children’ s bodies to the grave? And continueth not] Heb. Standeth not, as a pillar, but vanisheth as a shadow, yea, as a dream of a shadow, as the Greek poet hath it, τιδετις; τιδουτις; σκιαςοναρανθρωπος (Pindar). The Vulgate translateth, He continueth not in the same state. To have no shadow of turning, noteth the perfection of God, James 1:17.

Verse 2. He cometh forth like a flower] This is a frequent image both in the Old and New Testament writers; I need not quote the places here, as the readers will find them all in the margin. He fleeth also as a shadow] Himself, as he appears among men, is only the shadow of his real, substantial, and eternal being. He is here compared to a vegetable; he springs up, bears his flower is often nipped by disease, blasted by afflictions and at last cut down by death. The bloom of youth, even in the most prosperous state, is only the forerunner of hoary hairs, enfeebled muscles, impaired senses, general debility, anility, and dissolution. All these images are finely embodied, and happily expressed, in the beautiful lines of a very nervous and correct poet, too little known, but whose compositions deserve the first place among what may be called the minor poets of Britain. See at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on Job 14:22.

2. and is cut down] Rather, and withereth, cf. similar figures Isaiah 40:6 seq.; Psalms 37:2; Psalms 90:6; Psalms 103:15 seq.

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down - Nothing can be more obvious and more beautiful than this, and the image has been employed by writers in all ages, but nowhere with more beauty, or

2. Like a flower — But as for the flowers and their perfumes, nature has given them birth but for a day — a mighty lesson to man. (PLINY, Hist., xxi, chap.