To Die Seasonably

[Job 5:26] Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.
[Thou shalt come - not literally, but expressing willingness to die. Eliphaz speaks from the Old Testament point of view, which made full years a reward of the righteous (Ps. 91:16; Ex 20:12), and premature death the lot of the wicked (Ps 55:23). The righteous are immortal till their work is done. To keep them longer would be to render them less fit to die. G-d takes them at their best (Isa. 57:1). The good are compared to wheat (Matt. 13:30).
You shall not die before your time; you shalt depart from life like a full-fed guest; happy in what you hast known and in what you hast enjoyed.
Full age - In a mature and old, but vigorous age, as the word implies for it is a great blessing, to live to a full age, and not to have the number of our years cut short. Much more, to be willing to die, to come cheerfully to the grave: and to die seasonably, just in the bed-time, when our souls are ripe for G-d.
(Job 42:17; Gen. 35:29), Not mere length of years, but ripeness for death, one's inward and outward full development not being prematurely cut short, is denoted (Isa. 65:22). Like a shock of corn - you shalt completely run through the round of the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of life; and you shalt be buried like a wholesome seed in the earth; from which you shalt again rise up into an eternal spring!
Cometh in - literally, "ascends." The corn is lifted up off the earth and carried home; so the good man "is raised into the heap of sheaves".
Seasoned - That their death shall be seasonable, and they shall finish their course, at length, with joy and honour. It is a great mercy:
1. To live to a full age, and not to have the number of our months cut off in the midst. If the providence of G-d do not give us long life, yet, if the grace of G-d gives us to be satisfied with the time allotted us, we may be said to come to a full age. That man lives long enough that has done his work and is fit for another world.
2. To be willing to die, to come cheerfully to the grave, and not to be forced thither, as he whose soul was required of him. Do we not speak of longing to be with the Father? It is a returning home, from which we started from.
3. To die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when it is fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand a day longer, lest it shed. Our times are in G-d's hand; it is well they are so, for He will take care that those who are His shall die in the best time: however their death may seem to us premature, it will be found not unseasonable.]

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