Chapter 30

1 Job’s honour is turned into extreme contempt. 15 His prosperity into calamity.

1. But now. This is one of the most touching chapters in the book. In it Job pictures the contrast between his present and former condition.

That are younger. It seems that in Job’s district there lived a vile and debased people, regarded as thieves by their neighbors, who saw in Job’s calamities an opportunity to insult a member of a superior group. These people were so inferior and corrupt that they were held in lower esteem than the sheep dogs. The Orientals could scarcely use language that would express greater contempt of anyone than to call him a dog (see Deut. 23:18; 1 Sam. 17:43; 24:14; 2 Sam 3:8; 9:8; 16:9; 2 Kings 8:13).

2. Profit me. Job seems to be describing those who were reduced by degradation and poverty to the place where they were of no value to an employer. Now he himself, who once had been honored by princes and nobles (ch. 29:9, 10), was reduced to the place where people of the most degraded ranks of life showed no respect for him.

3. Want and famine. In order to emphasize his own plight, Job goes into detail to show the wretchedness of these people who mock him.

Fleeing. This represents the translation of the LXX. The Hebrew word thus translated occurs only twice, here and in v. 17, where the participial form is rendered “sinews.” More correctly it should read “gnawing,” which also seems to be its meaning here. These people were literally “gnawers of the desert.” They were reduced to the place where they gnawed the roots and shrubs found in the desert.

4. Mallows. The word thus translated is generally thought to describe a plant having small, thick, sour-tasting leaves. This plant was edible, but not desirable for food.

Juniper roots. The word rendered “juniper” occurs only here and in 1 Kings 19:4, 5 and Ps. 120:4. It is probably a species of broom plant that grows in the Jordan valley and in Arabia. It is not to be confused with the modern juniper. Bedouins often camp in a place where it grows, in order to be sheltered by it from the wind and sun. It would be used for food only by those who were reduced to the utmost penury. This is the “juniper” under which Elijah sought rest when he was fleeing from the wrath of Jezebel.

5. Driven forth. Outcast tribes almost invariably became robber tribes. Deprived of the ordinary sources of livelihood, they resorted to plunder and rapine. It was intensely aggravating to Job that he should be the object of ridicule by such vagrants as these.

6. Valleys. Western Asia is full of rocky regions, seamed with deep gorges and clefts that are pierced with caves and cracks. The area about Petra is perhaps the most remarkable of these regions, but there are many others that closely resemble it. The word rendered “cliffs” may be translated “dreadful,” giving the sense that these outcasts dwelt in the most dreadful of ravines, rugged, isolated regions otherwise inhabited only by wild beasts.

7. Brayed. The voices of these vagrants sounded like the braying of wild asses.

Gathered together. These people were almost less than human in their manner of life, yet Job had sunk so low that he had become the object of their ridicule. That he is not unsympathetic toward these people is indicated by his description of apparently the same group in ch. 24:4–8. He does not despise them, but he is confused and hurt by the fact that he has sunk lower than they.

8. Base men. Literally, “men of no name.” The entire description points to a reversion to the animal level of existence. They had no family heritage, they knew none of the better things of life, yet they were ready to mock a man who had once possessed such things.

9. Their song. It is a pastime of degenerate men to make up ribald songs about those whom they despise. Job was the victim of such indignities (see Job 17:6; Ps. 69:12; Lam. 3:14).

10. They abhor me. It is hard for Job to realize that the very people who were generally abhorred by humanity should abhor him. The lowest of men now considered themselves much higher than he.

Spit in my face. The Hebrew may mean either to spit in the face or to spit in the presence of. The former seems to be the more natural way to translate the Hebrew expression.

11. Loosed my cord. The figure seems to be of a bow. The application is not entirely clear. Job may be saying that God has loosed his bowstring, that is, has taken away his vigor. He is now the victim of his weakest enemies, who rush upon him with unbridled ferocity. They cast off all restraint arising from respect to his rank, standing, and moral worth, and treat him with every kind of indignity.

12. Youth. Heb. pirchach. This noun occurs nowhere else in the OT, but the root from which it is derived is common and means “to bud,” “to sprout,” “to shoot.” Hence pirchach has been translated “brood,” or “progeny,” and has been referred to the rabble already described.

Push away. Job seems to say, “They jostle and crowd me from the path. Once the aged and honorable rose and stood in my presence, and the youth retired to the background; but now the rabble elbow me aside. They trip me, trample me, and overwhelm me.”

13. Mar my path. That is, they break up all my plans. Job’s erstwhile friends did not prove to be friends in his hour of extremity. Instead, they were a disappointment to him. They made the burden of his suffering far greater by their lack of understanding. Instead of making his pathway more difficult they might have done the opposite. They were fair-weather friends, and now that the tempests of life bore down upon his soul they brought him no encouragement. “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”

No helper. This may mean that these people are so worthless and degraded that no one will help them.

14. Breaking in. This may refer to a break made by an enemy in the walls of a city. When such a wall fell, the attacking army would pour in (see Isa. 30:13).

15. Terrors. His misfortunes, his enemies, and even his friends conspire to fill Job’s soul with terror. The vivid contrast between the glorious past and the dismal present tends to accentuate that terror.

Soul. Heb.nedibah, “nobility,” “nobleness.”

As the wind. The figure reveals how ruthless was the pursuit. It is hard to find in the desert a hiding place from the wind.

Welfare. Heb. yeshuФah, “salvation,” “deliverance,” here probably “prosperity.” The dissolving of a cloud before the wind is a fit symbol of the disappearance of Job’s former prosperity and well-being.

16. Poured out. Job seems to have experienced a disintegration of his life that is hard to express in words. His reverses have done something to him. He has been severely wounded, and he is not yet healed. He is crushed, battered, and worn.

17. Bones. Often represented in the Scriptures as the seat of acute pain (see Ps. 6:2; 22:14; 31:10; 38:3; 42:10; 14:30).

Sinews. Literally, “gnawers” (see on v. 3). Day and night Job suffered the ravages of unremitting pain.

18. Garment changed. The ordinary interpretation of this passage is that, because of the nature of his malady, Job’s garment had become disfigured and filthy. It may also mean that instead of being clothed merely with an ordinary garment as heretofore, he is now clothed with a garment of loathsome ulcers—a painful garment that clings to him as closely as the collar of his tunic.

21. Cruel. This statement must be understood as reflecting the viewpoint of Job under the pressure of his suffering, and not the true character of God.

22. To the wind. Job seems to say: “I am like stubble caught up by a whirlwind and borne hither and thither until it disappears.”

23. Bring me to death. This is the language of despair. Job alternates between hope and despair.

24. To the grave. The LXX gives a very different sense: “Oh, then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another, and he should do this for me.”

25. Did not I weep? Again Job appeals on the basis of his former life. He feels justified in crying for help, because he was always compassionate toward others.

26. When I looked. Job cannot understand why, when he was so sympathetic to others, he should be forced to cope with evil and darkness.

27. Prevented me. That is, confronted me.

29. Dragons. Heb. tannim, also the word for jackals, as in RSV (see Ps. 44:19; Isa. 13:22; 34:13; 35:7; 43:20; Jer. 9:11; 10:22; 51:37; Micah 1:8; Mal. 1:3). Job compares his complaints to the cries of wild animals.

Owls. Preferably, “ostriches.” Job’s mourning resembled the doleful noise made by the ostrich in the lonely desert.

30. My skin is black. From these and other symptoms some have tried to diagnose Job’s disease (see ch. 2:7).

31. To mourning. What formerly gave cheerful sounds now gives only notes of plaintiveness and lamentation. This is a poignant contrast between Job’s past and his present experience.