Human destiny is ultimately defined by a total surrender to forces far greater than man. It is an unavoidable journey that ends in physical transformation and final departure. The primary approach among commentators is that God takes a firm, overpowering hold on a person, defeating him permanently. This inescapable grip removes him from the living world with no possibility of return [רש״י, רמב״ן, רלב״ג, אבן עזרא, שטיינזלץ]. Other perspectives view this eternal, unyielding hold slightly differently, seeing destruction itself as the force that captures man [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון], or comparing it to being arrested and locked away in the prison of death [תקות אנוש].
As a result of this overpowering force, a person is forced to walk away, slowly separating from this world toward an eternal home [רש״י, שטיינזלץ, תקות אנוש]. This departure is accompanied by a noticeable physical change. Some explain this as the natural process of aging that alters a person's facial features over time [שטיינזלץ], while others view it as the sudden physical transformation that occurs at the exact moment of death [תקות אנוש]. Ultimately, God sends the person away from the physical world to a place from which he will never come back [מצודת דוד, שטיינזלץ, תקות אנוש].
In contrast to this purely physical understanding of mortality, a unique perspective views this process as a tragic story of human hope. In this view, it is hope itself that overpowers a young person, filling him with strength and the illusion that his success will last forever. Driven by this optimism, he walks confidently through the paths of life. However, when old age sets in and his physical appearance changes, hope no longer recognizes the person it once loved. It pulls away and dismisses him entirely [מלבי״ם].
Another interpretation traces this pattern back to the dawn of humanity, viewing it as the story of the first man. Originally, God granted Adam a holy strength intended to let him live forever, allowing him to walk the world closely with His Maker. However, following his sin, Adam's face changed, and the divine radiance and image of God within him were ruined. As a consequence, God hid His face, sending Adam out of the Garden of Eden and sealing the fate of mortality for all future generations [אלשיך].