Job 30 Study Notes

30:1-4 Previously young and old, officials and nobles, had respected Job (29:7-11, 21-23) and waited for his approval (29:24). Now he suffered humiliation at the hands of society’s rabble. The mockers’ fathers were worthless men whose indolent lifestyle sapped their vitality and forced them to scrounge for food. Mallow (or saltwort) came from an edible plant that served as food for the poor. The roots of the broom tree were usually used to make charcoal rather than food (Ps 120:4).

30:5-6 Job was an object of derision even by the rabble of the earth, who were outcasts, living among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

30:7-8 These men cried from hunger like wild donkeys. To be referred to as having no name was an insult; it was the same as nonexistence.

30:9-10 Returning to the topic of v. 1, Job lamented the songs the young men created to mock him (Lm 3:14). They also spit at him.

30:11-14 Job had hoped for renewed strength and vitality (29:20); now he lamented his weakness before his tormentors. He compared himself to a besieged city and his tormentors to invaders (16:13-14). Erecting siege ramps made from trees, stones, and earth to breach a wall was a common tactic in ancient warfare (Jr 6:6).

30:15 Pursued by terrors (18:14), Job has lost his dignity and his serenity.

30:16-19 Job’s life had disintegrated into days and nights of unbearable suffering. It was as though God had bound him in a straitjacket and thrown him on the ground.

30:20-23 These verses form a prayer. Job accuses God of cruelty; God beats him with a storm, then leads him to death, “the meeting-house for all mankind.”

30:24 Job questioned the Lord’s conduct. God’s attack seemed like “kicking a man when he is down.”

30:25-26 Weeping for sufferers and grieving for the needy is expected to result in good and light. But he has only received evil and darkness.

30:27-30 Job’s suffering was total—physical, spiritual, and emotional. His churning insides and fever may have been a side-effect of the disease that blackened his skin. Abandoned by God and his fellow man, he compared his unheeded cries for help to the jackal’s woeful howl and the mournful sound of the ostrich (Mc 1:8).

30:31 In bold figures Job portrayed his cries as the sounds of musical instruments. Rather than tunes of joy (21:12; Ps 33:2), praise (Ps 150:4), or comfort (1Sm 16:23), Job’s lyre produced only dirge-like tones. His flute provided no happy melody (21:12; Mt 11:17), only a mourning sound (Mt 9:23).