Job's Perspective of Death

Earlier in the Bible when we were reading the psalms and wisdom literature I would focus on those Old Testament authors' view of death. While some of the verses made it sound like the authors understood there was an afterlife, other passages sounded like, to them, death was it. Job talks of death in a similar fashion. In chapter three he wishes for death rather than the circumstances he is in--all but ruined with a total loss of possessions, his children, and his health. He says, "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?..For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest" (3:11,13). Several verses later he also says of death, "There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest" (17).

The People's Bible on Job by Rudolph E. Honsey explains things very well:

Here we must understand that Job was speaking only of death and the grave in regard to people lying buried far from the activities of life. He was not implying that death is extinction or that there is no different between the eternal destiny of believers and unbelievers. As we will see, there are other passages in this book in which Job expressed his hope of the resurrection and a life after death. Here, however, he emphasized only one thing: in death there is a physical cessation of the joys and troubles of life. He was so utterly tormented physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually that he bluntly expressed the wish that he could die and thus be relieved of the suffering he was experiencing.