Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Job Chapter 14
Metaphysically Interpreting Job 14:13-17
14:13Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14:14If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, Till my release should come. 14:15Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee: Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of thy hands. 14:16But now thou numberest my steps: Dost thou not watch over my sin? 14:17My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And thou fastenest up mine iniquity.
July 14, 1940: Job 14:13-17
What is the meaning of the word Sheol? Sheol means "the grave." It is so translated in the Authorized Version
What meaning is found in the first three lines of the text of todays lesson, as follows:
"Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol,
That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past,
That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!"?
Job wished that he might die and be hidden away in the grave until the time should come for him to be restored to divine favor, when Jehovah would remember him and bring him to life again.
What logically follows this wish for temporary oblivion? The wish to know whether or not life extends beyond the grave. "If a man die, shall he live again?" Job doubts whether, once dead, he could be reawakened.
"All the days of my warfare would I wait,
Till my release should come."
What warfare and what release are referred to here?
These lines continue the thought of Job's lying in the grave and escaping the necessity of further struggle until the "wrath" of Jehovah should pass, when he would be "released" from death and resurrected, to live again in the favor of Jehovah, as he had done before he was tested. This was idle talk, for the resurrection of the body was not believed in at that time.
What aroused such a train of thought in Job's mind? Two things: first the desire to escape further suffering, and secondly the thought that since his body was the work of Jehovah his Maker would wish to see His work again performing its appointed functions. The divine economy avoids waste of substance.
What is the inference in the couplet "My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And thou fastenest up mine iniquity"? That inasmuch as he continues to suffer, Job's sin, if sin is the cause of his suffering, is not forgiven, but that Jehovah refuses to forgive him. His sin is sealed up and kept intact, as evidence against him.
Transcribed by Tom Schulte on 9-12-2013.
