Never see the light of day

Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? (Job 3:16).

his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light (Ps 49:19).

He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light (Job 33:28). 

This continues my ongoing fascination with the light motif in Scripture, and the significance of light for folks who lived prior to the advent of artificial lighting. This reinforces the link in Gen 1 between the creation of light and the creation of life. Sunlight, albeit literal, becomes a symbol of earthly, embodied existence and experience. To be fully alive is to participate in daylight. 

A couple of passages trade on the popular adage that death is a one-way trip, using night as a metaphor for death and sunlight as a metaphor for life. These occur in poetic passages. 

Another passage describes miscarriage in terms of dying before one ever sees the light of day. Very poignant. From a theological perspective, if God saves at least some babies who die from spontaneous or induced abortion, they won't see daylight, but heavenly light. And at the resurrection of the just, they will finally see the light of day.