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90 lines
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Esther';
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Title = 'The Book of Job';
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SubTitle1 = 'Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 30';
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<p id="Chapter30" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 30
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<p id="Job30_1"><a onclick="return mV('Job',30,'1-31');">Job 30:1-31</a>.
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<p><b>1. younger</b>—not the three friends (<a onclick="return mV('Job',15,10);">Job 15:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',32,4, 6-7);">32:4, 6-7</a>). A general description: <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,'1-8');">Job 30:1-8</a>, the lowness of the persons who derided him; <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,'9-15');">Job 30:9-15</a>, the derision itself. Formerly old men rose to me (<a onclick="return mV('Job',29,8);">Job 29:8</a>). Now not only my <i>juniors,</i> who are bound to reverence me (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',19,32);">Lev 19:32</a>), but even the mean and <i>base-born</i> actually <i>deride</i> me; opposed to, "smiled upon" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',29,24);">Job 29:24</a>). This goes farther than even the "mockery" of Job by <i>relations</i> and <i>friends</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',12,4);">Job 12:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',16,10,20);">16:10, 20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',17,2, 6);">17:2, 6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,22);">19:22</a>). Orientals feel keenly any indignity shown by the young. Job speaks as a rich Arabian emir, proud of his descent.
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<br><br><b>dogs</b>—regarded with disgust in the East as unclean (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',17,43);">1Sa 17:43</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',26,11);">Pro 26:11</a>). They are not allowed to enter a house, but run about wild in the open air, living on offal and chance morsels (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',59,14,15);">Psa 59:14-15</a>). Here again we are reminded of Jesus Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',22,16);">Psa 22:16</a>). "Their fathers, my coevals, were so mean and famished that I would not have associated them <i>with</i> (not to say, set them over) my dogs in guarding my flock."
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<p id="Job30_2"><b>2.</b> If their fathers could be of no profit to me, much less the sons, who are feebler than their sires; and in whose case the hope of attaining old age is utterly gone, so puny are they (<a onclick="return mV('Job',5,26);">Job 5:26</a>) [MAURER]. Even if they had "strength of hands," that could be now of no use to me, as all I want in my present affliction is sympathy.
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<p id="Job30_3"><b>3. solitary</b>—literally, "<i>hard</i> as a rock"; so translate, rather, "dried up," emaciated with hunger. Job describes the rudest race of Bedouins of the desert [UMBREIT].
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<br><br><b>fleeing</b>—So the <i>Septuagint.</i> Better, as <i>Syriac, Arabic,</i> and <i>Vulgate</i>, "<i>gnawers</i> of the wilderness." What they gnaw follows in <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,4);">Job 30:4</a>.
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<br><br><b>in former time</b>—literally, the "<i>yesternight</i> of desolation and waste" (the most utter desolation; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',6,14);">Eze 6:14</a>); that is, those deserts frightful as night to man, and even there from time immemorial. I think both ideas are in the words <i>darkness</i> [GESENIUS] and <i>antiquity</i> [UMBREIT]. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',30,33);">Isa 30:33</a>, <i>Margin</i>).
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<p id="Job30_4"><b>4. mallows</b>—rather, "salt-wort," which grows in deserts and is eaten as a salad by the poor [MAURER].
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<br><br><b>by the bushes</b>—among the bushes.
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<br><br><b>juniper</b>—rather, a kind of broom, <i>Spartium junceum</i> [LINNAEUS], still called in Arabia, as in the <i>Hebrew</i> of Job, <i>retem,</i> of which the bitter roots are eaten by the poor.
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<p id="Job30_5"><b>5. they cried</b>—that is, "a cry is raised." Expressing the contempt felt for this race by civilized and well-born Arabs. When these wild vagabonds make an incursion on villages, they are driven away, as thieves would be.
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<p id="Job30_6"><b>6.</b> They are forced "to dwell."
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<br><br><b>cliffs of the valleys</b>—rather, "in the gloomy valleys"; literally, "in the gloom of the valleys," or wadies. To dwell in valleys is, in the East, a mark of wretchedness. The troglodytes, in parts of Arabia, lived in such dwellings as caves.
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<p id="Job30_7"><b>7. brayed</b>—like the wild ass (<a onclick="return mV('Job',6,5);">Job 6:5</a> for food). The inarticulate tones of this uncivilized rabble are but little above those of the beast of the field.
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<br><br><b>gathered together</b>—rather, sprinkled here and there. Literally, "poured out," graphically picturing their disorderly mode of encampment, lying up and down behind the thorn bushes.
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<br><br><b>nettles</b>—or brambles [UMBREIT].
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<p id="Job30_8"><b>8. fools</b>—that is, the impious and abandoned (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',25,25);">1Sa 25:25</a>).
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<br><br><b>base</b>—nameless, low-born rabble.
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<br><br><b>viler than,</b> etc.—rather, they were <i>driven</i> or <i>beaten out of the land.</i> The Horites in Mount Seir (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',14,6);">Gen 14:6</a> with which compare <a onclick="return mV('Gen',36,20,21);">Gen 36:20-21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',2,12,22);">Deu 2:12, 22</a>) were probably the aborigines, driven out by the tribe to which Job's ancestors belonged; their name means troglodytae, or "dwellers in caves." To these Job alludes here (<a onclick="return mV('Job',30,'1-8');">Job 30:1-8</a>, and <a onclick="return mV('Gen',24,'4-8');">Gen 24:4-8</a>, which compare together).
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<p id="Job30_9"><b>9.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',17,6);">Job 17:6</a>). Strikingly similar to the derision Jesus Christ underwent (<a onclick="return mV('Lam',3,14);">Lam 3:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',69,12);">Psa 69:12</a>). Here Job returns to the sentiment in <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,1);">Job 30:1</a>. It is to such I am become a song of "derision."
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<p id="Job30_10"><b>10. in my face</b>—rather, refrain not to spit in deliberate contempt <i>before</i> my face. To spit at all in presence of another is thought in the East insulting, much more so when done to mark "abhorrence." Compare the further insult to Jesus Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',50,6);">Isa 50:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',26,67);">Mat 26:67</a>).
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<p id="Job30_11"><b>11. He</b>—that is, "God"; antithetical to "they"; <i>English Version</i> here follows the marginal reading (<i>Keri</i>).
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<br><br><b>my cord</b>—image from a bow unstrung; opposed to <a onclick="return mV('Job',29,20);">Job 29:20</a>. The text (<i>Chetib</i>), "<i>His</i> cord" or "reins" is better; "yea, each lets loose his reins" [UMBREIT].
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<p id="Job30_12"><b>12. youth</b>—rather, a (low) <i>brood.</i> To rise on the right hand is to accuse, as that was the position of the accuser in court (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',3,1);">Zec 3:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',109,6);">Psa 109:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>push...feet</b>—jostle me out of the way (<a onclick="return mV('Job',24,4);">Job 24:4</a>).
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<br><br><b>ways of</b>—that is, their ways of (that is, with a view to my) destruction. Image, as in <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,12);">Job 19:12</a>, from a besieging army throwing up a way of approach for itself to a city.
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<p id="Job30_13"><b>13.</b> Image of an assailed fortress continued. They tear up the path by which succor might reach me.
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<br><br><b>set forward</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',1,15);">Zec 1:15</a>).
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<br><br><b>they have no helper</b>—Arabic proverb for <i>contemptible</i> persons. Yet even such afflict Job.
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<p id="Job30_14"><b>14. waters</b>—(So <a onclick="return mV('2Sa',5,20);">2Sa 5:20</a>). But it is better to retain the image of <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,12);">Job 30:12</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,13);">13</a>. "They came [upon me] as through a wide <i>breach,</i>" namely, made by the besiegers in the wall of a fortress (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',30,13);">Isa 30:13</a>) [MAURER].
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<br><br><b>in the desolation</b>—"Amidst the crash" of falling masonry, or "with a shout like the crash" of, etc.
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<p id="Job30_15"><b>15. they</b>—terrors.
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<br><br><b>soul</b>—rather, "my dignity" [UMBREIT].
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<br><br><b>welfare</b>—prosperity.
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<br><br><b>cloud</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',7,9);">Job 7:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,22);">Isa 44:22</a>).
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<p id="Job30_16"><b>16-23.</b> Job's outward calamities affect his mind.
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<br><br><b>poured out</b>—in irrepressible complaints (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',42,4);">Psa 42:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jos',7,5);">Jos 7:5</a>).
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<p id="Job30_17"><b>17.</b> In the <i>Hebrew,</i> night is poetically personified, as in <a onclick="return mV('Job',3,3);">Job 3:3</a> : "night pierceth my bones (so that they fall) <i>from</i> me" (not as <i>English Version,</i> "<i>in</i> me"; see <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,30);">Job 30:30</a>).
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<br><br><b>sinews</b>—so the <i>Arabic,</i> "veins," akin to the <i>Hebrew;</i> rather, "gnawers" (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Job/Job030.html#Job30_3">Job 30:3</a>), namely, my gnawing pains never cease. Effects of elephantiasis.
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<p id="Job30_18"><b>18. of my disease</b>—rather, "of God" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',23,6);">Job 23:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>garment changed</b>—from a robe of honor to one of mourning, literally (<a onclick="return mV('Job',2,8);">Job 2:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',3,6);">Jhn 3:6</a>) and metaphorically [UMBREIT]. Or rather, as SCHUTTENS, following up <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,17);">Job 30:17</a>, My <i>outer</i> garment is changed into affliction; that is, affliction has become my outer garment; it also bindeth me fast round (my throat) as the collar of the <i>inner</i> coat; that is, it is both my inner and outer garment. Observe the distinction between the inner and outer garments. The latter refers to his afflictions <i>from without</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',30,'1-13');">Job 30:1-13</a>); the former his personal afflictions (<a onclick="return mV('Job',30,'14-23');">Job 30:14-23</a>). UMBREIT makes "God" subject to "bindeth," as in <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,19);">Job 30:19</a>.
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<p id="Job30_19"><b>19.</b> God is poetically said to do that which the mourner had done to himself (<a onclick="return mV('Job',2,8);">Job 2:8</a>). With lying in the ashes he had become, like them, in dirty color.
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<p id="Job30_20"><b>20. stand up</b>—the reverential attitude of a suppliant before a king (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',8,14);">1Ki 8:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',18,'11-13');">Luk 18:11-13</a>).
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<br><br><b>not</b>—supplied from the first clause. But the intervening affirmative "stand" makes this ellipsis unlikely. Rather, as in <a onclick="return mV('Job',16,9);">Job 16:9</a> (not only dost thou refuse aid to me "standing" as a suppliant, but), <i>thou dost regard me with a frown:</i> eye me sternly.
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<p id="Job30_22"><b>22. liftest...to wind</b>—as a "leaf" or "stubble" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',13,25);">Job 13:25</a>). The moving pillars of sand, raised by the wind to the clouds, as described by travellers, would happily depict Job's agitated spirit, if it be to them that he alludes.
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<br><br><b>dissolvest...substance</b>—The <i>marginal Hebrew</i> reading (<i>Keri</i>), "my wealth," or else "wisdom," that is, sense and spirit, or "my hope of <i>deliverance.</i>" But the text (<i>Chetib</i>) is better: Thou dissolvest me (with fear, <a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,15);">Exd 15:15</a>) <i>in the crash</i> (of the whirlwind; see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Job/Job030.html#Job30_14">Job 30:14</a>) [MAURER]. UMBREIT translates as a verb, "Thou <i>terrifiest</i> me."
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<p id="Job30_23"><b>23.</b> This shows <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,25);">Job 19:25</a> cannot be restricted to Job's hope of a <i>temporal</i> deliverance.
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<br><br><b>death</b>—as in <a onclick="return mV('Job',28,22);">Job 28:22</a>, the realm of the dead (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,27);">Hbr 9:27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',3,19);">Gen 3:19</a>).
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<p id="Job30_24"><b>24.</b> Expressing Job's faith as to the state after death. Though one must go to the grave, yet He will no more afflict <i>in the ruin</i> of the body (so <i>Hebrew</i> for "grave") there, if one has cried to Him when being destroyed. The "stretching of His hand" to punish after death answers antithetically to the raising "the cry" of prayer in the second clause. MAURER gives another translation which accords with the scope of <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,'24-31');">Job 30:24-31</a>; if it be natural for one in affliction to ask aid, why should it be considered (by the friends) wrong in my case? "Nevertheless does not a man in ruin stretch out his hand" (imploring help, <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,20);">Job 30:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Lam',1,17);">Lam 1:17</a>)? If one be in his calamity (destruction) is there not therefore a "cry" (for aid)? Thus in the parallelism "cry" answers to "stretch—hand"; "in his calamity," to "in ruin." The negative of the first clause is to be supplied in the second, as in <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,25);">Job 30:25</a> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',28,17);">Job 28:17</a>).
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<p id="Job30_25"><b>25.</b> May I not be allowed to complain of my calamity, and beg relief, seeing that I myself sympathized with those "in trouble" literally, "hard of day"; those who had a hard time of it.
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<p id="Job30_26"><b>26.</b> I may be allowed to crave help, seeing that, "when I looked for good (on account of my piety and charity), yet evil," etc.
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<br><br><b>light</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',22,28);">Job 22:28</a>).
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<p id="Job30_27"><b>27. bowels</b>—regarded as the seat of deep feeling (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',16,11);">Isa 16:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>boiled</b>—violently heated and agitated.
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<br><br><b>prevented</b>—<i>Old</i> English for "unexpectedly came upon" me, "surprised" me.
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<p id="Job30_28"><b>28. mourning</b>—rather, I move about <i>blackened,</i> though not by the sun; that is, whereas many are blackened by the sun, I am, by the heat of God's wrath (so "boiled," <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,27);">Job 30:27</a>); the elephantiasis covering me with blackness of skin (<a onclick="return mV('Job',30,30);">Job 30:30</a>), as with the garb of mourning (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',14,2);">Jer 14:2</a>). This striking enigmatic form of <i>Hebrew</i> expression occurs, <a onclick="return mV('Isa',29,9);">Isa 29:9</a>.
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<br><br><b>stood up</b>—as an innocent man crying for justice in an assembled court (<a onclick="return mV('Job',30,20);">Job 30:20</a>).
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<p id="Job30_29"><b>29. dragons...owls</b>—rather, "jackals," "ostriches," both of which utter dismal screams (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',1,8);">Mic 1:8</a>); in which respect, as also in their living amidst solitudes (the emblem of desolation), Job is their brother and companion; that is, resembles them. "Dragon," <i>Hebrew, tannim,</i> usually means the crocodile; so perhaps here, its open jaws lifted towards heaven, and its noise making it seem as if it mourned over its fate [BOCHART].
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<p id="Job30_30"><b>30. upon me</b>—rather, as in <a onclick="return mV('Job',30,17);">Job 30:17</a> (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Job/Job030.html#Job30_17">Job 30:17</a>), "my skin is black (and falls away) <i>from me.</i>"
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<br><br><b>my bones</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,20);">Job 19:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',102,5);">Psa 102:5</a>).
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<p id="Job30_31"><b>31. organ</b>—rather, "pipe" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',21,12);">Job 21:12</a>). "My joy is turned into the voice of weeping" (<a onclick="return mV('Lam',5,15);">Lam 5:15</a>). These instruments are properly appropriated to joy (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',30,29,32);">Isa 30:29, 32</a>), which makes their use now in sorrow the sadder by contrast.
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