Job 14:15

15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands.

Job 14:15 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:15

Thou shall call, and I will answer thee
Either at death, when the soul of than is required of him, and he is summoned out of time into eternity, and has sometimes previous notice of it; though not by a prophet, or express messenger from the Lord, as Hezekiah had, yet by some disease and distemper or another, which has a voice, a call in it to expect a remove shortly; and a good man that is prepared for it, he answers to this call readily and cheerfully; death is no king of terrors to him, he is not reluctant to it, yea, desirous of it; entreats his dismission in peace, and even longs for it, and rejoices and triumphs in the views of it: or else at the resurrection, when Christ shall call to the dead, as he did to Lazarus, and say, Come forth; and when they shall hear his voice, even the voice of the archangel, and shall answer to it, and come forth out of their graves, the sea, death, and the grave, being obliged to deliver up the dead that are therein; though some think this refers to God's call unto him in a judicial way, and his answers to it by way of defence, as in ( Job 13:22 ) ; but the other sense seems more agreeable to the context:

thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands;
meaning his body, which is the workmanship of God, and a curious piece of workmanship it is, wonderfully and fearfully made, ( Psalms 139:14 ) , and curiously wrought; and though it may seem to be marred and spoiled by death, yet God will have a desire to the restoration of it at the resurrection to a better condition; even the bodies of his people, and that because they are vessels chosen by him, given to his Son, redeemed by his blood, united to his person, and sanctified by his Spirit, whose temples they are, and in whom he dwells: wherefore upon these considerations it may be reasonably supposed that Father, Son, and Spirit, have a desire to the resurrection of the bodies of the saints, and in which they will have a concern; and from which it may be concluded it will be certainly effected, since God is a rock, and his work is perfect, or will be, both upon the bodies and souls of his people; and the work of sanctification will not be properly completed on them until their vile bodies are changed, and made like to the glorious body of Christ; which must be very desirable to him, who has such a special love for them, and delight in them. Some render the words with an interrogation, "wilt thou desire [to destroy] the work of thine hands" F5? surely thou wilt not; or, as Ben Gersom,

``is it fit that thou shouldest desire to destroy the work of thine hands?''

surely it is not becoming, it cannot be thought that thou wilt do it; but the former sense is best.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Pokt) "perdere desiderabis?" Pagninus, Vatablus.

Job 14:15 In-Context

13 O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath is past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dieth, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change shall come.
15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands.
16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
17 My transgression [is] sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up my iniquity.
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