[As] the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away
Which being dispersed by the wind, or broke up by the sun, is never seen, or returns more; for though the wise man speaks of clouds returning after the rain, this is not to be understood of the same clouds, but of succeeding ones, ( Ecclesiastes 12:2 ) ; so pardon of sin is expressed by the same metaphor, to show that sin thereby is no more, no more to be seen or remembered, ( Isaiah 43:25 ) ( 44:22 ) ; the Targum renders it "as smoke", by which the shortness and consumption of men's days are expressed, ( Psalms 102:3 ) ; but by the simile of a cloud here is not so much designed the sudden disappearance of life as the irrevocableness of it when gone, as the reddition or application following shows:
so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no [more];
the grave is the house or long home that all must go to, it being the appointment of God that all should die, or be in the state of the dead; which is meant by the grave, since all are not interred in the earth; and this, as here, is frequently expressed, as if it was man's act being hither brought; and when it designs an interment in the earth, it is with great propriety called a going down; and however that be, yet the state of the dead is a state of humiliation, a coming down from all the grandeur, honour, and glory of the present state, which are all laid in the dust; and when this is man's case, he comes up no more from it, that is, of himself, by his own power; none but Christ, who is God over all, ever did this; or none naturally, or by the laws of nature, for noticing short of almighty power can effect this; it must be done in an extraordinary way, and is no less than a miraculous operation; nor will this be done until the general resurrection of the just and unjust, when all that are in their graves shall come forth, the one to the resurrection of life, and the other to the resurrection of damnation; excepting in some few instances, as the Shunammite's son, ( 2 Kings 4:32-35 ) ; the man that touched the bones of the prophet Elisha, ( 2 Kings 13:21 ) ; the daughter of Jairus, ( Mark 5:41 Mark 5:42 ) ; the widow of Nain's son, ( Luke 7:14 Luke 7:15 ) ; Lazarus, ( John 11:43 John 11:44 ) ; and those that rose at our Lord's resurrection, ( Matthew 27:53 ) ; this is further explained in ( Job 7:10 ) .