Chapter 29 was “the then.”
Chapter 30 is “the now.”
Chapter 29 was “The Lord gave…”
Chapter 30 is “The Lord took away…”
Job was the godly and wealthy sheik, the family man of incomparable character, the one that was admired, respected, and honored. But now Mr. Class Act has become riffraff – the stuff that is swept off the kitchen floor and thrown into the garbage can.
The contrast between these chapters could not be greater. FI Anderson crystallizes the disparity when he states, “Job has exchanged the respect of the most respectful for the contempt of the most contemptible.”
The first half of chapter 30 deals with the depths of Job’s social shame, the second half looks at Job’s spiritual and physical suffering.
30:1 “But now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.”
“But now…” The word “now” appears three times in this chapter; it’s as if a sudden and piercing stab of pain pulls Job back from his thoughts of better days. The word “mock” is the same as “smile” just a few verses earlier (29:24). Job smiled on people to encourage them, but this classless group of people smiles derisively and mockingly. One commentator writes, “The most deplorable youths mock Job, who had been the most respected person in the community.”
We need to put the second half of verse one in context (“whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock”). Job had enormous compassion for the down-and-outers. He ascribed great worth to his servants. He was not despising this group of people because of their station in life. These are not just people down on their luck – these are those that hate society and everything good about it.
(Just a side note: as a lover of dogs I have to raise one objection. You’ve heard the saying, “The politicians are spending money like drunken sailors.” But then drunken sailors object, “Hey, don’t associate us with politicians." Even though dogs in the Jewish society were considered as lower than low (even worse than cats), and even though (as Poole writes), “Dogs are every where mentioned with contempt, as filthy, unprofitable, and accursed creatures,” I am going to stand up for dogs everywhere who object to being associated with this uncivilized band of society haters.)
The following verses describe these desert dwellers:
30:2 “Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me? Vigor had perished from them. 3 From want and famine they are gaunt who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation, 4 Who pluck mallow by the bushes, and whose food is the root of the broom shrub.”
“They pluck mallow…” (or saltwort as some versions have it). One ancient writer says that this plant was cooked as a vegetable and the leaves were sour and furnished very little nourishment. It was apparently like eating a bark salad with ranch dressing.
And another side note…have you ever meditated on the word “marshmallow?" Its “mallow from the marshes.” Wikipedia says that marsh mallow was originally used for medicinal purposes (like curing sore throats) and dates back to Egyptian times (I think they found a bag of them in King Tut’s tomb next to some petrified s’mores). When you received your giant bottle of marshmallow pills from Pharaoh’s Pharmacy, the instructions on the bottle read: Take one marshmallow three times a day.” And did you know that modern marshmallows no longer contain marshmallow? What? Is the government looking into this? And one last thing on this meaningless interlude: someday I am going to write a history of marshmallows:
Volume One: Marshmallows That Contain Marshmallow
Volume Two: The Legend of Peeps
(I apologize for this little intermission; but every now and then I just have to get away from all this suffering stuff.)
Back to reality.
30:5 “They are driven from the community; they shout against them as against a thief, 6 So that they dwell in dreadful valleys, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.”
These men were troglodytes – cave dwellers, people of degraded, primitive or brutal character. The word “troglodyte” literally means, “one who creeps into holes.” There was a contempt felt for the Trogs by civilized society (the word “driven” carries the idea of forcefulness). One writer states, “They had to take shelter in the most dangerous and out of the way and unfrequented of places.”
I think that Job probably offered at least some of these guys an opportunity for employment – but they chose thievery and panhandling to the rigors of an 8-5 job.
30:7 “Among the bushes they cry out; under the nettles they are gathered together.”
They ate roots and lived in holes or caves or dry stream beds or ravines or gullies.
30:8 “Fools, even those without a name, they were scourged from the land.”
This group of people is called “Ben-Nabaal” – “sons of no-name.” Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “He (or she) made a name for himself.” Implied in that is the fact that they have become honorable or influential. So to be called “Ben Nabaal” is in effect saying that a person is without honor and without influence. They are nobodies.
They are persons not fit for civil society. “So inhuman are they that aged men, whose sufferings ought to excite pity, are allowed to perish near them without a helping hand!” (From the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary)
30:9 “And now I have become their taunt, I have even become a byword to them.”
Adam Clarke writes in his commentary, “Job is no longer affluent so they are no longer respectful.”
30:10 “They abhor me and stand aloof from me, and they do not refrain from spitting at my face.”
The literal translation is, “They have abominated me…!” The detestable have now become the detestors. I can imagine moms warning their kids, “Get away from that icky man Job! Don’t go anywhere near him!”
Job had probably admonished some of these young men to turn their lives around, but now they are spitting in his face. Clark writes, “What a state must civil society be in when such indignities were permitted to be offered to the aged and afflicted!”
It needs to be emphasized again that this entire passage is not a commentary on Job's attitude toward these unfortunates; it rather accents the depths of shame to which he has fallen in the community. As we have seen in past chapters and will see in chapter 31, Job had sort of a “Mother Theresa spirit” when it came to helping those beaten down by life.
30:11 “Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, they have cast off the bridle before me.”
The Trogs think to themselves, “Well, if God has cast him off, we might as well also!”
Have you noticed what is not recorded anywhere in these verses (or even in these ending chapters)? There is absolutely no hint that Eliphaz, Bildad or Zophar tried to stop any of this degrading treatment of Job. The Trogs may have acted despicably by spitting at Job, but the Comforters are inexcusable for their lack of action on Job’s behalf.
30:12 “On the right hand their brood arises; they thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction.”
The NIV puts verse 12 this way, “On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.” The rabble have attacked Job with such force that it appears as though they are besieging a fortified city.
13 “They break up my path, they profit from my destruction; No one restrains them. 14 As through a wide breach they come, amid the tempest they roll on.”
The Message translates verses 13-14 this way, “They throw every kind of obstacle in my path, determined to ruin me—and no one lifts a finger to help me! 14 They violate my broken body, trample through the rubble of my ruined life.”
The imagery of an attacking army continues: the army assails a fortress, laying siege for a long time and finally breaking through and sacking and ransacking the person of Job.
30:15 “Terrors are turned against me; they pursue my honor as the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.”
The Message puts the first part of verse 15 this way, “Terrors assault me—my dignity in shreds…”
In his commentary Barnes writes, “Everything (they can come up with) to produce terror has been turned against him.” Trapp brings the first half of this chapter to a close by paraphrasing Job’s words, “I am utterly deprived of all means of avoiding this misery.”
Conclusion: When I pastored the small church in Hawthorne, Wisconsin, a young man visited one Sunday and sat in one of the pews toward the back of the sanctuary. Not until I went back to shake his hand during the greeting time did I find out that he had brought his dog with him. His dog “Diesel” sat perfectly still the entire service and didn’t make a sound. The next day I sent Diesel an official “Thanks for visiting!” letter and expressed my gratitude to him for visiting the church (and for bringing his master with him). I like dogs.
Looking back on my time of pastoring, there has only been one person that I regretted asking to stand behind the pulpit and preach a sermon. I was a rookie preacher at the time and, if I remember correctly, a relative of one of the people in the church I was pastoring asked if Preacher Bob (I can’t even remember his name) could preach a Sunday night sermon. I said that would be fine. But somewhere close to the end of his sermon he made a statement that I will never forget (and that convinced me to NEVER invite him back). He said simply this, “There are some people so far from God, I would never allow them to live in my dog house.” As I sat on the front pew, anxiously waiting for him to leave town, my only thought was, “You may not allow them to live in your dog house, but Jesus had supper with some of them. And then He died on Calvary for them.”
Jesus loves people.
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