Job 30

Whereas in the last chapter, Job spoke of his former glory and honor; Chapter 30 speaks of his present situation both physically and spiritually.  Job has gone from one extreme to another.  In Job’s present condition, he speaks of his unrelenting physical disease and the disrespect he received at the hands of others.  This is quite different from his former glory.  In the past Job was the head, however, in his present condition he is the tail and the scorn of others.

Job 30:1

¹But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

Job is commenting on how much things have changed for him.  He has gone from one extreme to the other.  Those who were formerly considered not worthy to be a dog of his flock, their sons are now scorning him.  Possibly, the sons are acting at the prompting of the fathers.  It seems as if everyone is taking advantage of Job’s fallen state.

Often it is pictured that the Book of Job has a few characters, Job and his three friends.  However, Job is speaking of others.  There was obviously more going on than just the discussions.  Others, who are not speaking, have taken to belittling Job.  This supports the understanding that a significant amount of time has passed.  There are others involved that do not have speaking roles.

In the discussion of these other characters, it is important that one keeps in mind Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 4:6.

⁶And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

One is not to go beyond what is written.  The reader should not add or take away from what is written.  Yet that does not preclude one from understanding the context or the inference of the words.  One must be mindful to read out of the text and not read into it.  Within the context of the written word, it indicates that many were at odds with Job.  For Job to state such things, he would have had to experience them.  The calamity did not just happen to Job and then his friends showed up in the next few days.  One has to appreciate the time that has passed.  That, in itself, has multiplied Job’s suffering.

Job 30:2-7

²Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? ³For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. ⁴Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. ⁵They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) ⁶To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. ⁷Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

Job refers to those that ridiculed him as a wild and lower class of people.  How far Job has fallen to be the object of their scorn, those who have little respect for others.  Things have really changed for Job, once he commanded the respect of all; now he is the scorn of fools.

Job 30:8

⁸They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

The ones that are oppressing Job are children of fools.  In the past, their fathers did not dare to speak in Job’s presence, but now is different.  Job stated that they came from fathers that were unrighteous men.  This implies that they did not have an appropriate foundation or upbringing.  Their fathers were of a lower descent.  Further it implies that the sons were not worthy to pass judgment of Job or any other righteous man.  How far Job has fallen.  Many have taken advantage of Job’s situation for their own selfish reasons.

Job 30:9

⁹And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

To have suffered the loss of all is one thing.  To be the ridicule of others only serves to compound the suffering.  Not that one should worry what others think; however, it makes it hard to find a place of sanctuary.  When one leaves their home, they are reminded of their suffering.  To be ridiculed compounds the pain.  Whereas time is a healer, Job cannot be healed when he is continually reminded of the events that have occurred.  Job’s condition is continually spoken of by others, there is no rest for Job.

Job 30:10

¹⁰They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

These people showed disdain for Job.  Formerly, they would go to Job for wisdom, now they walk away from him.  Yet they still take time to insult and taunt him.  It seems that many have gone from holding Job in high regard to loathing him.  To many, Job has become no better than a traitor to their cause.

Job 30:11

¹¹Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

Job correctly stated why all this has occurred.  It was God who loosed the cord, it was God who allowed all this to happen.  Now because God has done this, they believe that they have a right to cause more misery to Job.  When God chastises or tests an individual as in Job’s situation, it is not permission to do likewise.  Those that are castigating Job are not attentive to Leviticus 19:18.

¹⁸Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

These have taken advantage of a situation where they should have never intervened.  One is not to punish, where they do not have specific permission.

What follows is what these people are doing to Job.  They are compounding his suffering.  They would have been best to leave the situation to God and not to interfere, Job 30:12-13.

¹²Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. ¹³They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

The youth who are not fully acquainted with Job’s wisdom, have made things difficult on him.  This is not just a literal thing Job is stating.  It is not just that these have tripped him up physically.  Anything Job has done to try to recover from his situation, they have made it difficult for him.  Whatever has occurred since the beginning of the book, life has been made difficult by others.  One should never do that; it is not their place.

Further, these have no helper, because God is not their helper.  They have gone out on their own.  They have taken it upon themselves to make life difficult for Job.  They have not taken the opportunity to show Job compassion.  They have taken every opportunity to ridicule and bully him.

Job 30:14-15

¹⁴They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. ¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

They are as the wind because they are relentless.  There is no place for Job to hide from them.  He can find no rest from his detractors.  If there is a small opening, they will find it and pursue Job to make life more grueling for him.  All hope from the community seems to have faded away.

Now Job speaks of what all this has done to him, Job 30:16-19.

¹⁶And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. ¹⁷My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. ¹⁸By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. ¹⁹He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

All that has happened to Job has left him with no rest.  For Job, life has become extremely difficult.  Most of all Job morns the loss of spiritual understanding of his situation.  Again Job makes reference to God, in that he stated, He hast cast me.  Job attributes his overall condition to no other than God.  Job knows his life and it is only God who could have allowed such a condition to happen to him.

Job continues in his plea to God, Job 30:20-21.

²⁰I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. ²¹Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

Job cries out to God, but Job believes that God is not listening.  This lack of communication is felt as cruelty by Job.  To Job, being without God is more painful than all the things he has lost.  Job does not lament his wealth, family and prosperity nearly as much as he laments the change in his relationship with God.  It is God’s strong hand that allowed all this to happen.  Job has never attributed his condition to Satan.  Job understands that without God removing the hedge, the devil is powerless to touch the righteous.

Job 30:22

²²Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

This is Job’s summation of his current life.  He stated that God has allowed him to weather the storms of life only to cause him to be a victim of the intense power of the onslaught of others.

Job 30:23

²³For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

This is not just a declaration that someday Job will die.  It is Job’s belief that his situation will not change prior to death.  The pain has become so intense and persistent that Job sees no end to it.  As Job had stated earlier in the book, he no longer wanted to live.  His present condition was so overwhelming, he wanted to die.  However, God did not grant this request.  This is partially the reason Job believed that God was no longer answering him.  As Job stated earlier in the book, death would be bring rest in Sheol (7585).  Job felt that this was the only thing that he had to look forward to in his present life.

It is important to note that the house Job is referring to is Sheol (7585).  Job is speaking of first death.  When Job stated destruction he is not referring to second death.

Job 30:24-25

²⁴Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. ²⁵Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

Regardless of Job’s situation, he still had compassion for the less fortunate in life; as we should too.  Too often, people get so wrapped up in their own lives, they seem to forget others.  Often they seem to think that they are the only ones suffering.  No matter how bad it may seem for an individual, there are many that are suffering more than them.  It should be mankind’s nature to always show compassion for others.  There should always be time to comfort another.  One should think of the less fortunate and grieve for them.  They should thank God for what they do have.

Job 30:26

²⁶When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

This sums up Job’s current perspective in life.  Nothing was working out for him, or so it seemed.  So it seems for many who suffer.  When they are in desperate times, waiting for God to move on their behalf; they have a tendency to only see the negative side.  They wait for the eleventh hour hoping that God will move on their behalf.  Yet it seems as if it never comes.  Paul warns us in Galatians 6:9.

⁹And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

When one wearies as Job has, they lose sight of the bigger picture.  They forget that possibly, there is a reason for their condition, as there was for Job.  One needs to be focused on 1 Peter 1:6-7.

⁶Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ⁷That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Yeshua Messiah:

One is to greatly rejoice in life.  They are to rejoice when they are going through trials.  However, they are not to rejoice for the trial, but rather, they are to rejoice because they are God’s.  If one walks with Yeshua, they can always be assured that God is with them through the trial.  It would be nice if trials could be avoided, but as Yeshua stated in John 16:33:

³³These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

As long as one is in the world, they will have tribulation.  But as Yeshua stated, He has overcome the world.  Believers, being the sons of God, have likewise overcome the world.  Therefore, a believer should rejoice.  The only unknown is whether one will have joy through it or will they be wearied in well doing.

In Job 30:27-31, Job speaks of his present condition.  One must not restrict their understanding to just figurative statements.  Remember what Satan stated to God in Job 2:4-5.

⁴And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. ⁵But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

Satan said touch his bone and flesh, this includes every part of his body.  What really happened to Job is not explained in the text.  What is known it is stated in Job 2:6-7.

⁶And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. ⁷So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. ⁸And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

God gave Satan free reign to afflict Job. The only restriction was that Satan could not kill Job.  God never said touch him once and that was it.  Satan could have been continuously afflicting Job.  Further the text states that Job was covered with boils.  What is not known is whether Satan merely afflicted the skin to cause the boils or was there some internal disease that resulted in the boils.  Thereby afflicting more than Job’s skin.  More than likely, Satan continually afflicted Job.  Or possibly, Satan afflicted Job with a disease that overtook him.

Nonetheless, one should not be too quick to assume what was Job’s physical ailment.  Remember Satan’s goal, it was not for Job to actually curse God to his face.  Although thought by many to be a lower life form; Satan’s intelligence, abilities and tenacity far exceed that of humans.  It would be foolish to assume that it was merely boils that afflicted Job.  Satan had much more at stake than many may realize.

It is assumed by some that Satan’s goal was to prove God wrong.  Satan was not foolish enough to think it would be that easy or even possible.  Remember, it was God who offered up Job.  Satan had little interest in him, because Job was not a typical believer.  God stated that there was none like Job in all the earth.  For one to think that God would offer up Job with the possibility that Job would fail, shows a lack of understanding of God’s character.  God knows the beginning from the end, He knew Job would not curse Him regardless of the calamity.  Satan knew this too, because he knew who he was dealing with.  However, Satan’s goal was much different than hoping Job would curse God.  It was to maximize the confusion among humans.  To do this, he maximized Job’s pain and suffering, to serve his purpose.  Therefore, Job did not suffer from just boils on his skin.  It was much more intense and widespread.  More than likely, touching every cell of Job’s body.  Satan may have afflicted Job with multiple diseases that would cause most people to die.  Job may have been as close to death and in as much pain as Satan could amass.  Satan was after Job in a very intense way.

Job 30:27

²⁷My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

 

Job may have been at a point where his body was breaking down.  Every day the pain was getting more intense and was affecting another part of his body.  It would never give him rest.  He could never become accustom to the pain, because it was ever changing and increasing.

Job 30:28

²⁸I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

Job is speaking figuratively; to state he was without the sun refers that he was without God’s enlightenment.  Job mourned his situation and God did not provide understanding for him.  He mourned in the congregation and as stated before, few showed compassion for his condition.  It seems that Job was alone in his condition.

Job 30:29

 ²⁹I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

Dragons comes from the Hebrew word taniyn (H8577).  It is translated dragon 21 times, serpent 3 times, whale 3 times, and sea monster once.  In Exodus 7, this word is translated serpent; Aaron and pharaoh magician’s rod was transformed into taniyn (H8577).  Other times, it refers to a large sea monster.  This leaves the reader with extremes for the meaning of taniyn (H8577).  What can be understood from this, is that the animal that is described is something people would avoid and attempt to destroy if confronted.  It is a misunderstood animal.  This is Job’s condition.

As for the owl, it is not often that owls are found in groups, parliament.  The owl is a solitary animal that operates in the dark.  This is what Job’s life has become.  Formerly, Job was sought after and now he is being avoided.  His life has become solitary.  Job is misunderstood and others will attack him out of fear and ignorance of his situation.

Job 30:30-31

³⁰My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. ³¹My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

Job’s condition has overwhelmed him.  The pain that he felt seemed unending to him.  Throughout history, as a general rule, not many have appreciated what Job went through.  His pain wore on him and it was beyond just a simple skin condition.  To not understand what was at stake between Satan and God is to misunderstand the purpose of the entire book.  Job who was often taunted by others during his time and throughout history, because few understand there was a higher purpose of the book.  The Book of Job was a precursor to the righteousness of Yeshua.  There would be a day when Yeshua would stand against Satan.  Then Satan would realize that his reign of terror would be coming to an end.

Job’s condition effected every part of his being.  It brought him to the edge of death, the limit allowed by God.  Satan would do all he could to disrupt God’s plans and purposes.   God allowed this, because God trusted Job and knew that Job would not curse Him.  Job never did this, a testament to his faithfulness to God and his beliefs.

Where do we stand in our own lives.  When things do not work out for us do we credit Satan and misunderstand God.  Too often people question God and His perfection.  We cry because of the injustice of the world.  Why would God allow this to happen?  Are we like Job are we righteous or are we doing our own thing?

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