But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where [is] he?
Ver. 10. But man dieth, and wasteth away] Heb. Strong and lusty man, Homo quantum vis robustus (Vat.), dieth and wasteth away, or is cut off, sc. worse than a tree, for he grows no more; or is discomfited, vanquished, as Exodus 17:13; Exodus 32:18, sc. by death, and so carried clean out of this world.
Yea, man giveth up the ghost] Homo vulgaris et plebeius. All of all sorts must die, whether noble or ignoble, as Rabbi Abraham here observeth. Job is very much in this discourse about death; and surely, as Nazianzen wisheth of hell, so could I of death, Utinam ubique de morte dissereretur! Oh that it were more in men's minds and mouths than it is!
And where is he?] q.d. Nowhere above ground; or if he be, putrefit et teterrime olet, he putrefies and stinks filthily; and as his life is taken away, so is his glory; yea, being once out of sight, he grows by little and little out of mind too, little thought of, less spoken of, many times not so much as his name mentioned or remembered in the next generation, Ecclesiastes 1:11. There is no remembrance of former things, or men, neither shall there be any remembrance, &c. So Ecclesiastes 2:16; Ecclesiastes 8:10; Ecclesiastes 9:5. Hence the state of the dead is called "the land of forgetfulness," Psalms 88:12; Psalms 31:12, "I am forgotten, as a dead man out of mind." Heathens also say the same (Hor. lib. 4, Carm. 7):
Cum semel occideris, et de te splendida Minos
Fecerit arbitria,
Non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te
Restituet pietas.