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Does Job 7:9 Contradict the Resurrection?

Job 7:9

9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

There are many hundreds of verses which make it clear that there will be a resurrection from the dead (John 5:28-29, for instance). Does this verse contradict them?

Job's Exasperation

The book of Job accurately records Job's conversation with his friends, not all of which is doctrinally correct. The men, in trying to figure out the cause of Job's suffering, say many things that are wrong, and God straightens them out beginning in chapter 38.

So how do we know when a Bible character is speaking doctrinally correctly? When the narrator is speaking, when someone is prophesying, or when God is speaking, we can use those statements for doctrine. It's usually very obvious from the context.

For example, Job himself, when prophesying later in the book, teaches authoritatively on the resurrection:

Job 19:25-26

25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Also, if the message is consistent with what is obviously taught throughout the Bible, then it acts as another witness to the truth and other prophecies, and is therefore authoritative.

Job's Statement in a Physical Context

The statement in Job 7:9 could also be interpreted from a purely physical lense, much in the same way Solomon in Ecclesiastes comments on many topics in the context of "under the sun" (i.e. from a carnal perspective purely in regard to physical experience on earth). In general, not counting the rare exception where someone is raised from the dead, once human beings die, that's it (Hebrews 9:27).

This interpretation is bolstered by the statement that follows Job's apparent denial of the resurrection - "He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more" (verse 10). The life that he lived on this earth, "under the sun", is over.

So we could also interpret this statement in regard to a standard human lifespan and the fact that until the Resurrection, resurrection events don't typically happen. Job could be speaking from a purely natural perspective on the surety and temporal finality of death, apart from God and supernatural occasions.

Conclusion

What Job said in his desperation and misery in Job 7:9, therefore, does not teach that the resurrection doesn't take place. If indeed Job was speaking in the eternal sense here, which I find to be the less likely interpretation, the Bible accurately records what he said that was wrong.

If that is the case, one should take care to realize that Job is "complaining in the bitterness of his soul" (verse 11), after sleepless nights (verses 3-4), skin that is infested with sores and parasites (verse 5), after his entire family and fortune disappeared in less than one day. No one speaks 100% logically, correctly, or even coherently when they are going through what Job went through.

The Bible is not like other religious "scriptures" which contain unrealistic, perfect characters who never show their humanity. Every man as his best state is altogether vanity (Psalm 39:5), much more so one in Job's shoes, therefore we will cut Job some slack if he indeed spoke wrongly here, even though I think the passage is better understood as Job commenting on the finality of death for the natural human body.