15. And respecting that passage, If a man
go down to the grave, he shall come up no more, observe what
follows, for it is written, He shall come up no more, neither shall
he return to his own house. For since the whole world shall
pass away, and every house shall be destroyed, how shall he return to
his own house, there being henceforth a new and different earth?
But they ought to have heard Job, saying, For there is hope of a
tree; for if it be cut down, it will sprout again, and the tender
branch thereof will not cease. For though the root thereof wax
old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the rocky ground; yet
from the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth a crop like a new
plant. But man when he dies, is gone; and when mortal man falls,
is he no more Job xiv. 7–10.? As it were
remonstrating and reproving (for thus ought we to read the words is no more with an
interrogation There is no
indication of a question in the Septuagint version of the passage,
which means in the Hebrew, and where is he? (A.V. and R.V.):
Vulg. ubi, quæso, est?); he says since a
tree falls and revives, shall not man, for whom all trees were made,
himself revive? And that thou mayest not suppose that I am
forcing the words, read what follows; for after saying by way of
question, When mortal man falls, is he no more? he says, For
if a man die, he shall live again Job xiv. 14: For if a man die, shall
he live again? (A.V. and R.V.). By omitting the interrogation here, and
inserting it above in v. 10, Cyril exactly inverts the
meaning.; and immediately
he adds, I will wait till I be made again Ib. v.
14: (A.V.) All
the days of my appointed time (R.V. of
my warfare) will I wait, till my change (R.V. release) come.; and again elsewhere, Who shall raise up
on the earth my skin, which endures these things Job xix. 26: (R.V.) and that he shall
stand up at the last upon the earth: and after my skin hath been
thus destroyed, &c. Cyril, as usual, follows the
Septuagint.. And Esaias the Prophet says, The
dead men shall rise again, and they that are in the tombs shall
awake Is. xxvi. 19.. And the
Prophet Ezekiel now before us, says most plainly, Behold I will open
your graves, and bring you up out of your graves Ezek. xxxvii. 12.. And Daniel says, Many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life,
and some to everlasting shame Dan. xii. 2..