Ayub 14:13

The Possibility of Another Life

14:13 “O that ¹  you would hide me in Sheol, ² 

and conceal me till your anger has passed! ³ 

O that you would set me a time ⁴ 

and then remember me! ⁵ 

Ayub 41:8

41:8 If you lay your hand on it,

you will remember ⁶  the fight,

and you will never do it again!

Ayub 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ⁷ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

[14:13]  ¹ tn The optative mood is introduced here again with מִי יִתֵּן (mi yitten), literally, “who will give?”

[14:13]  sn After arguing that man will die without hope, Job expresses his desire that there be a resurrection, and what that would mean. The ancients all knew that death did not bring existence to an end; rather, they passed into another place, but they continued to exist. Job thinks that death would at least give him some respite from the wrath of God; but this wrath would eventually be appeased, and then God would remember the one he had hidden in Sheol just as he remembered Noah. Once that happened, it would be possible that Job might live again.

[14:13]  ² sn Sheol in the Bible refers to the place where the dead go. But it can have different categories of meaning: death in general, the grave, or the realm of the departed spirits [hell]. A. Heidel shows that in the Bible when hell is in view the righteous are not there – it is the realm of the departed spirits of the wicked. When the righteous go to Sheol, the meaning is usually the grave or death. See chapter 3 in A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and the Old Testament Parallels.

[14:13]  ³ tn The construction used here is the preposition followed by the infinitive construct followed by the subjective genitive, forming an adverbial clause of time.

[14:13]  ⁴ tn This is the same word used in v. 5 for “limit.”

[14:13]  ⁵ tn The verb זָכַר (zakhar) means more than simply “to remember.” In many cases, including this one, it means “to act on what is remembered,” i.e., deliver or rescue (see Gen 8:1, “and God remembered Noah”). In this sense, a prayer “remember me” is a prayer for God to act upon his covenant promises.

[41:8]  ⁶ tn The verse uses two imperatives which can be interpreted in sequence: do this, and then this will happen.

[42:6]  ⁷ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).