Job 30, But Now You Attack Me!

Before these calamities, men listened to Job and he had honor and influence! But that has all changed.

Job 30:1-2, Now all mock me

"But now they mock me, men younger than I, 

whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, 

since their vigor had gone from them?

Now, in the face of Job's calamities, everyone has turned against him. Even rabble whom Job would not have put with his sheep dogs deride him. Hartley points out that in the ancient Near East, dogs were unattractive scavengers, not pets, these people are even lower than dogs, yet they mock Job. 

The Hebrew word translated "mock" in verse 1 is sachaq, which means "to laugh", the same word used at the beginning of Job 29: 24 in the previous chapter, where the NIV translates it as smile. To use a modern turn of phrase: previously people were happy to laugh with Job, now they all laugh at him.

Job 30:3-8, The rabble

Haggard from want and hunger, 

they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.

In the brush they gathered salt herbs, 

and their food was the root of the broom tree.

They were banished from their fellow men, 

shouted at as if they were thieves.

They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, 

among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

They brayed among the bushes 

and huddled in the undergrowth.

A base and nameless brood, 

they were driven out of the land.

To emphasize his "lower than dogs" comparison, Job now describes the rabble in detail. These people who wander the land, banished from all communities, look on Job and laugh at the fact that he is even much lower than them.

Job 30:9-11, Even God afflicts me

"And now their sons mock me in song; 

I have become a byword among them.

They detest me and keep their distance; 

they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, 

they throw off restraint in my presence.

Job continues his lament at the pain and suffering he is receiving -- even God has defeated him and so the rabble have no reason to be restrained. The Hebrew translated here "unstrung my bow" could mean that God has taken away all Job's power but it could also be translated (say Hartley) as "loosed my cord", something one does to one's tent as they prepare to take it down. With that translation, Job is saying that God has undone the central cord of Job's tent (ie. Job's body) and it is falling down.

Job 30:12-15, I am under assault

On my right the tribe attacks; 

they lay snares for my feet, 

they build their siege ramps against me.

They break up my road; 

they succeed in destroying me-- 

without anyone's helping them.

They advance as through a gaping breach; 

amid the ruins they come rolling in.

Terrors overwhelm me; 

my dignity is driven away as by the wind,

 my safety vanishes like a cloud.

Job uses images from siege warfare to identify his suffering with an attack; an enemy lays traps, builds seige ramps, destroys roads, swarms through a gap in the walls. Hartley says that Job here correctly considers the possibility that an evil force is attacking him.

All of these attacks lead Job to terror, with dignity and safety all disappearing.

Job 30:16-19, Assaulted by God

"And now my life ebbs away; 

days of suffering grip me.

Night pierces my bones; 

my gnawing pains never rest.

In his great power [God] becomes like clothing to me; 

he binds me like the neck of my garment.

He throws me into the mud, 

and I am reduced to dust and ashes.

Job has no rest, days of suffering are followed by nights of pain. Job feels as if he is being grabbed by the throat and thrown into the mud.

Job 30:20-23, You, God, are attacking me!

"I cry out to you, O God, 

but you do not answer; 

I stand up, but you merely look at me.

You turn on me ruthlessly; 

with the might of your hand you attack me.

You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; 

you toss me about in the storm.

I know you will bring me down to death, 

to the place appointed for all the living.

Until now, Job has been lamenting of his suffering, as if he were attacked by God. Here, finally, he directly addresses God with his complaint. He cries out to God and laments that God is silent. Indeed God seems to ruthlessly be assaulting Job, an assault that will eventually end in death.

Job 30:24-26, Have I not wept over others?

"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man 

when he cries for help in his distress.

Have I not wept for those in trouble? 

Has not my soul grieved for the poor?

Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; 

when I looked for light, then came darkness.

Job have cried over the distress of others -- why does no one weep with him?

Job 30:27-31, Churning stomach

The churning inside me never stops; 

days of suffering confront me.

I go about blackened, but not by the sun; 

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

I have become a brother of jackals, 

a companion of owls.

My skin grows black and peels; 

my body burns with fever.

My harp is tuned to mourning, 

and my flute to the sound of wailing.

Job's pain is certainly physical; he has nausea, blackened skin pealing off, even Job's musical instruments have only the setting of mourning and wailing!

In Psalm 38 we have a penitential lament of David. The images are similar to those of this chapter, but there David knows he is guilty. It is important in reading Job's lament that we recognize that, as he claims and unlike David, Job is innocent. Job will repeat to his strong claim of innocence in the next chapter.