Job 4:20

They are destroyed from morning to evening,.... That is, those that dwell in houses of clay, before described; the meaning is, that they are always exposed to death, and liable to it every day they

They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. From morning to evening - unceasingly; or, better, between the morning and evening of one short day (so Exodus 18:14; Isaiah 38:12).

From morning to evening; either, 1. Speedily, between morning and evening, like the grass; they flourish in the morning, and in the evening are cut off, ,6. Or rather, 2. All the day long, as the phrase is, . There is not a moment wherein man is not sinking and drawing on towards death and corruption. For ever; as to human appearance and the course of nature, as many such like passages are to be understood in this book; or in reference to this present. and worldly life, which when once lost is never recovered, . Without any regarding it, Heb. without putting the heart to it; the word heart being understood there, as also 34:23 , as may appear by comparing 57:1, where the same phrase is used, and the word heart expressed. The meaning is either, 1. Yet few or no men that survive them lay it to heart as they should do. Or, 2. They perish beside the expectation of all men, when both themselves and others thought their mountain was so strong that it could not be removed. Or rather, 3. This is so common a thing for all men, though never so high and great, to perish in this manner, that no man heeds it, but passeth it by as a general accident not worthy of observation. Otherwise, no man procuring or furthering it, Heb. without any man’ s putting the hand to it, i.e. they perish of themselves, without any violent hand.

Job 4:20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding [it].Ver. 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening] Heb. They are beaten to pieces, as in a mortar, with one sorrow upon another, till the very breath be beaten out of their bodies at length; and all this from morning to evening, all the day long, or all their life long, which is here set forth (for the brevity of it) by an artificial day, and such also as no man can be sure he shall have twelve hours to his day ( Per totum diem, through the entire day, Drus.), for how many are there whose sun hath set at high noon! in the prime and pride of their days have they been suddenly snatched away by the hand of death; yea, how many see we whose sun setteth in the very rising, so that they are carried from the birth to the burial! Every hour, surely, we all yield somewhat unto death, and a very short cut hath the longest liver of all, from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave. Eliphaz here seemeth to compare us to those creatures called Ephemerobii, which are young in the morning, middle aged at noon, and dead ere night; they begin and end their lives in a day (Aristot.). Man’ s life is a vapour, saith St James, a bubble, say the heathens, a blast, a dream, a shadow, a dream of a shadow, &c. They perish for ever] That is, they die once for all. For "if a man die, shall he live again?" Job 14:14. No such matter. In this war, as there is no discharge, Ecclesiastes 8:8, so neither is it granted to any man to err twice; therefore Austin said that he would not for the gain of a million worlds be an atheist for half an hour; because he knew not but God might in that time call for him, and cut him off from all time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever, since he could die but once only, and after death judgment: every man’ s death’ s day is his doom’ s day, Hebrews 9:27. Without any regarding it] Heb. Putting, sc. his heart to it, or laying it upon his heart, as every man living should do, Ecclesiastes 7:2, but that few or none so do, see Isaiah 57:1. David did, when hearing of his child’ s decease, he said, "I shall go to him," 2 Samuel 12:23. And Moses, seeing the people’ s carcases fall so fast in the wilderness, prayed for himself and the rest, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom," Psalms 90:12. Every dead corpse is a monitor, a dumb preacher, Etiam muta clamant cadavera. Abel, though dead, speaketh; but how few hearken to him! Dives thought that if one came from the dead to forewarn his brethren, great matters would be done.

(20) From morning to evening.—The process is continual and unceasing, and when we consider the ravages of time on history, we may well say, as in Job 4:20, that “none regardeth it.” The next verse, however, may seem to imply that they themselves are unmindful of their decay, it is so insidious and so complete.

Verse 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening] In almost every moment of time some human being comes into the world, and some one departs from it. Thus are they "destroyed from morning to evening." They perish for ever] יאבדו yobedu; peribunt, they pass by; they go out of sight; they moulder with the dust, and are soon forgotten. Who regards the past generation now among the dead? Isaiah has a similar thought, Isaiah 57:1: "The righteous perisheth, and No MAN LAYETH IT TO HEART: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Some think that Isaiah borrowed from Job; this will appear possible when it has been proved, which has never yet been done, that the writer of this book flourished before Isaiah. If, however, he borrowed the above thought, it must be allowed that it has been wondrously improved by coming through his hands.

20. from morning to evening] i. e. from a morning to an evening, in the course of a single day, cf. Isaiah 38:12. They are short-lived as ephemerids. without any regarding] i. e. without any one noticing it; so insignificant and of no account are they, that they pass away unobserved, like ephemeral insects. The words might mean, without any of them laying to heart; they are thoughtless in their sinful levity, an idea parallel to “without wisdom” in the next verse. Job 4:19 described how easily men are destroyed, this verse describes how soon. All is meant to widen the chasm between men and God, and by giving Job right thoughts of God, and of himself a man, to bring back his mind to a becoming attitude towards Heaven.

They are destroyed from morning to evening - Margin, “beaten in pieces.” This is nearer to the Hebrew.

20. From morning to evening — So short is their life that they may be called ephemeral. They perish forever — That is, from this present life.