He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Ver. 2. He cometh forth like a flower] What he had asserted concerning the shortness of man's life is here illustrated by two elegant similitudes, frequently used, not in Scripture only, but in heathen authors, as were easy to instance, Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 40:6 James 1:10,11 1 Peter 1:24. A flower hath a spring and a fall; so have men their times and their turns; their rise and their ruin. Why and how man in his flourish is like to a flower; see Psalms 103:15,16, where he is compared to a flower of the field (which lies open to all inconvenience), not of the garden, which is much sheltered from sharp winds, fenced from the teeth and feet of beasts, from the hands of children, strangers, &c.
And is cut down] Heb. Cut around, or circumcised, sc. by some nipping or blasting wind, such as that east wind, Genesis 41:23, or some cropping hand, or its own fading nature; and then it is not, saith David, Psalms 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 haste, as one that fleeth for life; so doth he from life, every moment yielding somewhat unto death: Orimur, morimur, finisque ab origine pendet; life, as fast as it increaseth, decreaseth. It is improper, saith one, to ask when we shall die, 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; to 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, and boast of tomorrow, Proverbs 27:1, since they know not what a great bellied day may bring forth. Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam (Hor. i.). The Jews have a proverb, that many times old camels carry young camels' skins to the market. And how often see we elder folk carry men's and children's bodies to the grave?
And continueth not] Heb. Standeth not, as a pillar, but vanisheth as a shadow, yea, as a dream of a shadow, as the Greek poet hath it, τιδε τις; τιδ ουτις; σκιας οναρ ανθρωπος (Pindar). The Vulgate translateth, He continueth not in the same state. To have no shadow of turning, noteth the perfection of God, James 1:17 .