John Trapp on Job 14:2

Verſe 2. He cometh forth like a flower] What he had aſſerted concerning the ſhortneſſe of mans life is here illuſtrated by two elegant ſimilitudes frequently uſed, not in Scripture only,Iſa. 28.1. and 40.6. Jam. 1.10, 11. 1 Pet. 1.24. but in Heathen Authors, as were eaſie to inſtance. A flower hath a ſpring and a fall: ſo have men their times and their turns; their riſe, and their ruine. Why, and how man in his flouriſh is like to a flower, See Pſal. 103.15, 16. where he is compared to a flower of the field (which lies open to all inconveniencies) not of the garden, which is much ſheltered from ſharpe winds, fenced from the teeth and feet of beaſts, from the hands of children, ſtrangers, &c.

And is cut down] Heb. cut round, or circumciſed, ſc, by ſome nipping or blaſting wind, ſuch as that Eaſt-wind, Gen. 41.23. or ſome cropping hand, or its own fading nature, and then it is not, ſaith David, Pſalm 103.16. that is, it neither continues any longer in being, nor returns any more into being: no more doth man, though in his time never ſo flouriſhing.

He fleeth alſo] With poſt-baſte, as one that fleeth for life; ſo doth he from life, every moment yeilding ſomewhat unto death: Orimur, morimur, finiſque ab origire pendet; Life, as faſt as it increaſeth, decreaſeth. It is improper, ſaith one, to ask when we ſhall dye, but rather when we ſhall make an end of dying?

As a ſhadow] As the ſhadow of a dial: our lives are continually haſting to their period, and never make ſtop. By theſe, and many the like compariſons (common in this book, and other Scriptures) we ſee how much God deſireth that we ſhould mind our mortality: too blame then are thoſe who have one leg in the grave, and the other in hell, and yet do put far away thoughts of death, and under gray hairs nouriſh green hopes and deſires: neither may young men be excuſed who bind upon long life,Vitae ſumma brevis ſpem ne[illegible: 1 letter] vetat inchoare longam. and boaſt of to morrow, Prov. 27.1. ſith they know not what a great-bellied day may bringforth. The Jewes have a proverb, that many times old camels carry young camels skins to the market. And how often ſee we elder folk carry young mens and childrens bodies to the graves?

And continueth not] Heb. ſtandeth not, as a pillar, but vaniſheth as a ſhadow, yea,Hor. lib. 1. corm. 4. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Pindar. as a dream of a ſhadow, as the Greek Poet hath it. The Vulgar tranſlateth, He continueth not in the ſame ſtate. To have no ſhadow of turning, noteth the perfection of God, Jam. 1.17.