Job Sings the Blues

Continuing a Bible study of Job, Job is still speaking in chapter 30:

(Job 30:1) "But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock."

Now those same young men who hid themselves out of respect for Job, whom he spoke of in the last chapter, now laugh at him. Men, whose fathers were not respectable enough to be put in charge of the care of the dogs of his flocks, now mocked him.

(2) "Indeed, how might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?"

This scripture is a little difficult, but I think the sense is that those same unrespectable fathers were of no use to Job when they were young and strong, and certainly not now at the end of their lives. Perhaps "old age perished" means that they lived so that they never even reached old age; therefore why would they ever have been of profit to Job?

(3) "For want and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste, (4) Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their food."

By hunger and poverty, they were loners and outcasts of society, wandering the desert. Job is illustrating to what depths he has sunk in public estimation that the sons of the most wretched in society treat him with contempt.

(5) "They were driven out from among men, they cried after them as after a thief, (6) To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth and the rocks. (7) Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they gathered together. (8) Children of fools, yes, children of base men; they were driven out of the land."

KJV Job 30:8b says "they were viler than the earth". In this case NIV may give a better sense of the meaning. The word "naka" means "strike, scourge, smite". The little word "min" translated as "than" can also mean "from" or "out of". "Viler than the earth" may have been a way of saying "unfit for the land".

(9) "And now I am their song; yes, I am their byword."

Paraphrased, "Now I am just an object of their joking and made up mocking songs".

(10) "They abhor me, they flee far from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face. (11) Because He has loosened my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me."

In verse 11, "He" (although not capitalized in KJV, as it never is, but I do as a show of respect) must refer to God. The sense is, like an archer with a bow, God has so relaxed the string of his bow, that he has been left defenseless and without strength. Letting loose the bridle is like throwing off all restraints; like unrestrained headstrong horses, the young men let loose all sorts of disrespect and contempt.

There are some interesting notes on verse 11 by some of the early commentators that read it slightly differently. Because I have limited access to the early manuscripts, I can only take their words on this, and will quote from the writing of Albert Barnes: "But instead of the usual reading in the Hebrew text, 'yithriy', 'my nerve', another reading, 'yithriv', 'his nerve', is found in the qeri (margin). This reading has been adopted in the text by Jahn, and is regarded as genuine by Rosenmuller, Umbreit, and Noyes." According to that interpretation, the young men have so afflicted Job with their constant derision, that he has been rendered defenseless, as an archer with a slackened bow string; and therefore the flood gates are now opened, so to speak, and he is constantly hit with a flood of disrespect and contempt.

I think either interpretation works here. I don't think Job means any disrespect if he is declaring that God is the one who allowed this to happen to him, because after all, nothing can happen outside of God's will.

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

The fact that Job continues to place the blame on the young men for all his calamity, seems to suggest that the possibilty of the Albert Barnes interpretation above is a good one. "They have no helper" may mean simply that they need no one to help them, or it may mean that there is no one there to help them or counsel them with a better way.

(14) "They came as a wide breaking in of waters; in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me."

Again, their derision comes upon Job as a flood.

(15) "Terrors are turned upon me; they pursue my soul as the wind, and my welfare passes away as a cloud. (16) And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. (17) My bones are pierced in me in the night, and my sinews take no rest."

As in Psalms 42:4, "I pour out my soul in me", verse 16a is a way of saying Job is dissolved in grief. Job has been pierced to the bone, and his tendons or muscles also have no rest. The original word translated as "sinews" is "araq", and it also means "gnaw", "chew", "eat", or "pain". Some of the old commentators suggest that the word means "gnawers" and Albert Barnes said that it might refer to the teeth. Therefore verse 17b might mean that his teeth grind continually and take no rest, or that gnawing pains, in general, never cease. Anyway you look at it, Job says he is a man in constant pain and sorrow!

(18) "By the great force of my disease is my garment changed; it binds me about as the collar of my coat."

The original word translated as "changed" is "chaphas" and means more than just "changed". More completely, it means "concealed", "masked", "disguised", "hidden", or it can mean "to be searched out" or "exposed". I believe the sense is that because the disease has changed him so much, his clothing now binds tightly or maybe sticks to his skin because of sores. Perhaps Job now disguises himself because of his hideous disease. Maybe Job metaphorically refers to his leprous skin as a new kind of covering that binds him tightly and one that he cannot easily cast off.

(19) "He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes."

Job speaks of God doing this to him or at least bringing calamity on him so that he has become regarded as worthless. "A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments" by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, beautifully points out that in reality, "God is poetically said to do that which the mourner had done to himself". In Job 2:8, the verse reads, "And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself; and he sat down among the ashes." Job obviously means that God had brought him to the state where he did this, but isn't it interesting to think how many times we want to blame God for things we do to ourselves?

(20) "I cry unto You, and You do not hear me; I stand up, and You regard me (not)."

Job now speaks directly to God. The KJV translators added the word "not" at the end of the verse because they thought it carried over from the first part of the verse. However, it's not necessary to the meaning to add "not", as the sense may be that Job cries out to the Lord and He doesn't seem to hear, or at least doesn't respond; Job stands up and God considers whether to answer Job or not.

(21) "You have become cruel to me; with Your strong hand You oppose Yourself against me."

My first thought was "Whoa, Job! You've gone too far now!" But then I have to think about how many times we ask today, "Why me? Why are You doing this to me?" We certainly aren't asking why God is doing good things to us! So the sense is the same. The word translated as "cruel" comes from a root word meaning to "act harshly" and the word also means "fierce". Perhaps rather than accusing God of being cruel to him, Job is merely stating what he thinks as fact, that the Lord has acted in a strong harsh way against him.

(22) "You lift me up to the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and dissolve my substance."

The image is that Job is tossed to and fro like a limp rag doll in the wind.

(23) "For I know You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living."

The grave is the house appointed to all when they die.

(24) "However He will not stretch out His hand to the grave, though they cry in His destruction."

Job knows God will bring him to the grave, but He will not pursue him beyond that. Although men cry in despair while they are dying or for those who are dying, the grave is the ultimate rest for the weary.

(25) "Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? (26) When I looked for good, then evil came; and when I waited for light, there came darkness."

Job appears to be reflecting back on his life to point out that he was always compassionate, so perhaps expecting life to be good for him in return, but instead it was evil and dark with adversity and affliction.

(27) "All within me boiled, and rested not; the days of affliction confronted me."

Looking at the original words' meanings, I have transcribed this verse for my study purposes to what I believe is the best sense. The KJV says, "My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me." "Meeh", the word translated as "bowels" can refer to a lot of different internal body parts, and "qadam", the word translated as "prevented", actually paints more a picture of projecting oneself, to meet, or confront.

(28) "I went mourning without the sun; I stood up and I cried in the congregation."

The word translated as "mourning" is "qadar", and it means "ashy" or "dark-colored", which can imply mourning, but in this instance I believe it just means dark, as he repeats this in verse 30. Job's skin is dark even without the sun burning it.

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

Interestingly, the word translated as "dragons" can also mean "jackals". The word translated as "owls" was actually two words that looks like "daughters of owls", or "daughters of howling", which has been suggested by some of the old commentaries to be understood as ostriches. Perhaps the sense is that Job is like those animals known for their mournful wailing in the night.

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

Job only sings the blues now!