Job 9:25

Now my days are swifter than a post,.... Or "than a runner" (a) in a race, in order to obtain the prize; or than one that rides post, or runs on foot to carry a message, such as were Cushi and

Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. A post - a courier.

What he had said of the calamities which God usually inflicted upon good men, he now exemplifieth in himself. My days; the days, either of my prosperity; for the time of affliction is commonly described by the night; or rather, of my life, as the last clause showeth; for it were an absurd and contradictious speech to say that his prosperous days saw no good. A post; who runs or rides upon swift horses. They see no good; I enjoy no good in them. Seeing is oft put for experiencing either good or evil, .

Job 9:25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.Ver. 25. Now my days are swifter than a post, &c.] Not my prosperous days only (as Broughton glosseth), but the whole course of my life; the vanity whereof Job expresseth by many similitudes; and here search is made into three of the four elements, earth, water, and air, to find out a fit one. What is swifter upon earth than a post, who rides without stop or stay, and spares for no horse flesh? indeed, he taketh some time to rest in; but so doth not man’ s life; it is ever in motion, and every moment we yield somewhat to death. Animantis cuiusque vita est fuga, saith the philosopher, our last day stands, the rest run. Cum crescit vita, decrescit, to live is but to lie a-dying (Seneca). They flee away] As David fled from the face of Absalom, Psalms 3:1; as Brentius was advised by that senator of Hala to flee for his life, cito, citius, citissime, with all possible speed, since they were at hand that sought it. See 1 Samuel 19:11; 1 Samuel 19:18. They see no good] But are few, and with all evil, Genesis 47:9 Job 14:1. Some good days Job had had, but they were so soon over (and his present pressure so great) that he was scarce aware of them, nor could take the comfort of them now; the Epicurians indeed held that a man might be cheerful amidst the most exquisite torments, ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione, by the remembrance of those pleasures and delights that formerly he had enjoyed (Cic. de Fin. I. 2; Sen. de Benef. 1. 4. c. 22). Job held this but a slight comfort; his care was in prosperity how to make the best use of it; his thoughts ran upon the uncertainty of all creature comforts, that he might hang loose to them, and hold them no otherwise than a child doth a bird in his hand.

(25) Swifter than a post.—The runner, with his messages and dispatches. He now turns away from the contemplation of God and His dealings to that of his own misery.

Verse 25. Swifter than a post] מני רץ minni rats, than a runner. The light-footed messenger or courier who carries messages from place to place. They flee away] The Chaldee says, My days are swifter than the shadow of a flying bird. So swiftly do they flee away that I cannot discern them; and when past they cannot be recalled. There is a sentiment like this in VIRGIL, Geor. lib. iii., ver. 284: - Sed FUGIT interea, CUBIT IRREPARABILE tempus!__ "But in the meanwhile time flies! irreparable time flies away!"

25. Now my days] Better, and my days—under the weight of this unjust and oppressive Force (Job 9:5-24). than a post] i. e. a courier, 2 Samuel 18:22; 2 Samuel 18:24.

Now my days are swifter than a post - Than a courier, runner, or racer, רוּץ rûts. Vulgate, cursore; Septuagint, δρομέως dromeōs, a racer.

Second section, in strophes of four, three, and four verses — JOB’S CASE A PRE-EMINENT OF THIS MORAL , Job 9:25-35.Strophe a — The premature destruction of his life, and his intolerable burden of