Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Appointed time - better, warfare х tsaabaa' (H6635)], hard conflict with evils (so in Isaiah 40:2); but in Daniel 10:1;14:14, it is translated appointed time (cf. Job 14:5-13) - 'appoint me a set time' - "the measure of my days" (Psalms 39:4). Job reverts to the sad picture of man, however great, which he had drawn (Job 3:14), and details in this chapter the miseries which his friends will see if, according to his request (Job 6:28), they will look on him. Even the christian soldier, "warring a good warfare," rejoices when it is completed (1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:7-8) - "I have fought a good fight: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Man is enlisted as a soldier, to fight the battle of life for a set time: implying a state of hardship and sore trials.