Man [that is] born of a woman
Man, Adam; not the first man, so called, for he was made and
created out of the dust of the earth, and not born of a woman;
the woman was made out of him, and not he of her; "earthly man",
as Mr. Broughton translates it, as every descendant of Adam is;
as is the earth, such are they that are earthy, everyone of which
is born of a woman; yet not as opposed unto and distinguished
from the heavenly One, or the Lord from heaven, for he also as
man was made and born of a woman: this, though a proper
description of all mankind, there being none but what are born of
a woman, see ( Matthew
11:11 ) ; yet Job chiefly designs himself; for having spoken
of his wasting circumstances in which he was, in ( Job 13:28 ) , goes on in
this to treat of his frailty and mortality, and to improve it
into an argument with God for pity and mercy, as appears from (
Job 14:3 ) ;
where he speaks of himself in the first person, as here in the
third, and all along: he may have respect in this clause to Eve,
the mother of all living, from whom all descend, and of whom, in
a sense, they may be said to be born; or else to his immediate
parent, he and every man being born of a woman; no man, but the
first, ever came into the world in any other way; there is one
that came into the world without an earthly father, and that is
our Lord Jesus Christ, but none without a mother; nor lie, who
indeed was born of a virgin, and so in an extraordinary and
miraculous manner; and this is observed, not so much on account
of natural descent, or to denote that, as being reckoned from the
mother, she having so great a concern in the production of man,
conceiving, bearing, and bringing him forth; nor to remark the
sinfulness of nature, though one born of a sinful woman must
needs be so too, since this is expressed clearly in ( Job 14:4 ) ; but the
weakness and frailty of man; as is the creature that generates,
such is that that is generated; creatures born of strong ones are
strong, and of weak ones weak; a creature born of a lion is a
strong one; and man, born of a woman, must be weak and feeble,
and no wonder he is short lived, as follows:
[is] of few days;
or "short of days" F3; comes short of the days he might
have lived, if man had never sinned, and comes short of the days
the first man did live, and which those before the flood
generally lived, who most of them lived upwards of nine hundred
years; whereas now, and ever since the times of Moses, and about
which Job lived, the days of the years of man are but threescore
and ten; and such are shorter of days still, who live not more
than half this time, who are cut off in the bloom and prime of
life, the days of whose youth are shortened, who die in their
youth, or in their childhood and infancy; and such especially are
short of days who are carried from the womb to the grave, or die
as soon as born; and those that live the longest, their days are
but few, when compared with the days of eternity, or with those
men shall live in another world, either good men in heaven, or
wicked men in hell, which will be for ever; and especially with
respect to God, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day, and therefore the days and age of man
are as nothing before him. Job has here also a respect to
himself, whose days in his own apprehension were very few, and
just at an end, and therefore craves pity and compassion, see (
Job 10:20 ) ;
and what aggravates the shortness of man's days is, as it
follows:
and full of trouble;
man is born to it, being born in sin; sin and trouble go
together, where there is sin there is trouble; sin entered into
the world, and death by it, with the numerous train of
afflictions and miseries which issue in it: all men have their
troubles, some of one sort, and some of another; wicked men are
not indeed in trouble as other men, as good men are; they have
not the same sort of trouble, yet are not exempt from all; they
are "full of commotion" F4 disquietude and uneasiness, as the
word signifies; they are restless, and ever in motion; they are
like the troubled sea, that cannot rest, but is continually
casting up mire and dirt; some are of such tempers and
dispositions, that they cannot sleep unless they do mischief; and
though they are many of them prosperous in their worldly
circumstances, there are others that are reduced to poverty and
distress, are attended with diseases and disorders, pains and
sores, and blaspheme that God that has power over them; and these
are of all men the most miserable, having no interest in God, in
his loving kindness, nor any enjoyment of his presence, and so
nothing to support them in, and carry them through their
troubles; and though they are generally without any sense of sin
or danger, have no remorse of conscience, and their hearts are
hardened; yet at times they are "full of trembling" F5, as
some render the words; are seized with a panic through the
judgments of God that are upon them, or are coming upon them, or
when death is made the king of terrors to them: and good men they
have their troubles; besides those in common with others, they
have inward troubles arising from the vanity of their minds and
thoughts, the impurity of their hearts, and the power of
indwelling sin in them, and especially from the breaking forth of
it in words and deeds; from the weakness of their graces, from
the hidings of God's face, and the temptations of Satan: in
short, Job's meaning is, that men in the ordinary course of
things meet with so much trouble, that there is no need of any
extraordinary afflictions to be laid on them, such as his were.
F3 (Mymy ruq) "brevis dierum", Montanus, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens; so Beza, Vatablus, Drusius, Mercerus.
F4 (zgr ebv) "satur commotione", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis.
F5 "Saturus tremore", Montanus; "satur trepidi tumultus", Schultens.