For man also knows not his time: as the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.
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Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
Now as these things are written in the Scriptures, the case is clear, that the saints know that a certain time is measured to every person, but that no one knows the end of that time is plainly intimated by the words of David, “Declare unto me the shortness of my days.” What he did not know, that he desired to be informed of. Accordingly the rich man also, while he thought that he had yet a long time to live, heard the words, “You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be which you have provided?” And the Preacher speaks confidently in the Holy Spirit, and says, “Man also knows not his time.” Wherefore the patriarch Isaac said to his son Esau, “Behold, I am old, and I know not the day of my death.” Our Lord, therefore, although as God and the Word of the Father, both knew the time measured out by him to all and was conscious of the time for suffering, which he himself had appointed also to his own body. Yet since he was made man for our sakes...
Many can know chronological time. Everybody, for example, knows that noon is the time for healthy people to eat lunch. The time, however, which is determined by physicians, is not known to everyone but only to the physician. And since there is only one physician for the soul, to whom we say, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you,” only this physician knows our time. But the individual does not know his time. The inhabitants of Tyre, for example, who would have been ready to repent if the supernatural miracles had occurred among them—they did not know the time.
With. Hebrew adds, "evil. "Net, (Montanus) or hook. (Haydock)
Them. They may use precautions; but, without God's aid, they will not succeed, Psalm cxxvi. 1. (Calmet)
