Job's Negative Image Of Life - Job Chapter Thirty Series

Job 30 could be outlined -

Job’s loss of honor. (Job 30:1-14)

Job’s negative image of life. (Job 30:15-31)

Job continues speaking. The outward calamities of Job have affected his mental state.

1 "But now they mock at me, men younger than I, Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. 2 Indeed, what profit is the strength of their hands to me? Their vigor has perished. 3 They are gaunt from want and famine, Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste, 4 Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And broom tree roots for their food. 5 They were driven out from among men, They shouted at them as at a thief. 6 They had to live in the clefts of the valleys, In caves of the earth and the rocks. 7 Among the bushes they brayed, Under the nettles they nestled. 8 They were sons of fools, Yes, sons of vile men; They were scourged from the land. 9 "And now I am their taunting song; Yes, I am their byword. 10 They abhor me, they keep far from me; They do not hesitate to spit in my face. 11 Because He has loosed my bowstring and afflicted me, They have cast off restraint before me. 12 At my right hand the rabble arises; They push away my feet, And they raise against me their ways of destruction. 13 They break up my path, They promote my calamity; They have no helper. 14 They come as broad breakers; Under the ruinous storm they roll along. 15 Terrors are turned upon me; They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed like a cloud. Job 30:1-15 (NKJV)

JOB’S LOSS OF HONOR

In this section Job is thinking of the most vile human beings he knows – and yet he sees that the children of those men would despise him in his present condition.

In verse one – men younger than he is – mock him. There is now no respect for his age – there is no respect because he is older. The fathers of these young men – Job did not like – they were on the lowest rung of society. He did not even regard them fit to sit with the dogs of his flock. The Contemporary English Version translates this verse:

“Young people now insult me, although their fathers would have been a disgrace to my sheep dogs.” Job 30:1 (CEV)

The point that Job is making is that – “even the children of people I despise – mock me. The lowest of the low have no respect for me.”

In verse two Job says that these men were of no use to him. When they would work they were not just lazy – they had no strength or energy what-so-ever.

In verses three thru eight Job describes these men:

1. They were starving to death – skinny and lifeless.

2. They search the wastelands at night for food.

3. They eat the center of sticks from the bushes. (sage brush)

4. They dig up roots and eat those too.

5. They are driven away by decent folk to become outcasts.

6. They were treated like criminals.

7. They live between the rocks – in holes in the ground.

8. They make noises like the wild donkey in the wilderness.

9. They lay down under thorn bushes.

10. Their fathers were fools.

11. They are the children of vile people.

12. They were forced to live in the wilderness.

Now it is the children of these people who mock Job. The family heritage of these people is not to pretty – yet to them Job has become a laughing-stock. Here is a list of taunting that Job receives from these young men:

1. They sing a song of ridicule about me.

2. My name has been slandered among them.

3. They despise me.

4. They keep far away from me.

5. They spit in my face.

6. At the place of honor – trouble arises.

7. They plan destruction for me.

8. They set traps in my path – potholes and barriers.

9. They plan all this by themselves.

10. There is no stopping them – they come as storm on the horizon.

In verse eleven Job gives the reason this is happening to him – “because God has taken away his strength and afflicted him.”

In verse fifteen Job sees terror at every turn – in fact terrors chase after him. Job’s honor is gone – taken away by a tornado – his prosperity has vaporized like a cloud.

In verses one thru fifteen Job sees that his life has become so low that his honor is gone – he has become a laughing stock of young men of vile background.