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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 30:16 - 30:31
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The Unspeakable Misery and Disappointment with which Job Battled
v. 16. And now my soul is poured out upon me, dissolved in suffering and anguish; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me, he was in the strong clutches of suffering and found himself unable to shake them off.
v. 17. My bones are pierced in me in the night season, the restless night itself, which increases the pains of every affliction, pierces his bones from his body; and my sinews take no rest, literally, "my gnawers, not do they sleep," a reference either to the gnawing pains throughout his body or to the maggots in his ulcers.
v. 18. By the great force of my disease is my garment changed, by God's fearful power his clothes lost all their semblance, hanging about his shrunken form loose and flapping, more like a sack than a dress; it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat, it no longer stands off properly, but clings to him like a tight-fitting shirt collar.
v. 19. He hath cast me into the mire, as an evidence of His great contempt, and I am become like dust and ashes, both on account of the appearance of his skin and the dirt which he had strewn upon himself.
v. 20. I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not hear me, God acted as though He paid no attention to Job's pleading; I stand up, and Thou regardest me not, looking at him fixedly, indeed, but in the absent-minded manner which made Him lose the import of Job's complaint.
v. 21. Thou art become cruel to me, the Lord changing His nature into that of a cruel tormentor; with Thy strong hand Thou opposest Thyself against me, making war upon him.
v. 22. Thou liftest me up to the wind, making him a plaything of the storm; Thou causest me to ride upon it and dissolvest my substance, rending him apart by the fierceness of the tempest.
v. 23. For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, or, "back from the dust of death," and to the house appointed for all living, where the living assemble, a confident cry in the midst of hopelessness, looking forward to the resurrection of the dead.
v. 24. Howbeit, he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction, literally, "But is it not in falling one stretches out his hand, in destruction raises a call for help?" Such actions are the expression of man's natural, instinctive impulse to save his life if threatened by death, and therefore no one should blame Job for his cry for help.
v. 25. Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? He who showed true sympathy with the poor and miserable in their afflictions would surely not be denied this show of the instinct of self-preservation, this plea for help!
v. 26. When I looked for good, then evil came unto me, this being another reason why his craving for help should go unchallenged; and when I waited for light, there came darkness, he had nothing but misfortune to contend with.
v. 27. My bowels boiled and rested not, on account of the intense heat of the fever which was devouring him and the torments of his anxiety; the days of affliction prevented me, flinging themselves in his way, encountering him with all fierceness.
v. 28. I went mourning without the sun, blackened, not by the heat of the sun, but as a consequence of his illness; I stood up, and I cried in the congregation, complaining aloud on account of the pain of his sufferings.
v. 29. I am a brother to dragons, to the jackals of the desert in appearance, and a companion to owls, to the ostriches of the wilderness.
v. 30. My skin is black upon me, having become blackened with his sickness, it peeled off his flesh, and my bones are burned with heat, drying up with the heat of his disease.
v. 31. My harp also, the lyre, or zither, or lute, as an instrument used upon joyful occasions, is turned to mourning and my organ, the pipe also being an instrument of joy, into the voice of them that weep. All the festive and joyous music, so expressive of Job's former prosperity, was hushed, and only the tones of sadness and deepest lamentation remained. He had reached a point of degradation and suffering unequaled in the history of the human race.