Job 30:1-4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 30:1-14

Here Job makes a very large and sad complaint of the great disgrace he had fallen into, from the height of honour and reputation, which was exceedingly grievous and cutting to such an ingenuous spirit as Job's was. Two things he insists upon as greatly aggravating his affliction:? I. The meanness of the persons that affronted him. As it added much to his honour, in the day of his prosperity, that princes and nobles showed him respect and paid a deference to him, so it added no less to his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 30:1

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision ,.... Meaning not his three friends, who were men in years, and were not, at least all of them, younger than he, see Job 15:10 ; nor were they of such a mean extraction, and such low-lived creatures, and of such characters as here described; with such Job would never have held a correspondence in the time of his prosperity; both they and their fathers, in all appearance, were both great and good; but these were a set of profligate... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 30:2

Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me ,.... For though they were strong, lusty, hale men, able to do business, yet their strength was to sit still and fold their hands in their bosoms, so that their strength was of no profit or avail to themselves or others; they were so slothful and lazy, that Job could not employ them in any business of his to any advantage to himself; and this may be one reason, among others, why he disdained to set them with the dogs of his flock... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 30:3

For want and famine they were solitary ,.... The Targum interprets it, without children; but then this cannot be understood of the fathers; rather through famine and want they were reduced to the utmost extremity, and were as destitute of food as a rock, or hard flint, from whence nothing is to be had, as the word signifies, see Job 3:7 ; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste : to search and try what they could get there for their sustenance and relief,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 30:4

Who cut up mallows by the bushes ,.... Which with the Troglodytes were of a vast size F18 Diodorus Siculus, l. 3. p. 175. ; or rather "upon the bush" F19 עלי שיח "super virgulto", Montanus, Schultens; "super arbustum", Bochart. or "tree"; and therefore cannot mean what we call mallows, which are herbs on the ground, and grow not on trees or bushes; and, besides, are not for food, but rather for medicine: though Plutarch F20 In symposio septem sap. says they, were the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 30:1

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision - Compare this with Job 29:8 , where he speaks of the respect he had from the youth while in the days of his prosperity. Now he is no longer affluent, and they are no longer respectful. Dogs of my flock - Persons who were not deemed sufficiently respectable to be trusted with the care of those dogs which were the guardians of my flocks. Not confidential enough to be made shepherds, ass-keepers, or camel-drivers; nor even to have... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 30:2

The strength of their hands profit me - He is speaking here of the fathers of these young men. What was the strength of their hands to me? Their old age also has perished. The sense of which I believe to be this: I have never esteemed their strength even in their most vigorous youth, nor their conduct, nor their counsel even in old age. They were never good for any thing, either young or old. As their youth was without profit, so their old age was without honor. See Calmet. Mr. Good contends... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 30:3

Fleeing into the wilderness - Seeking something to sustain life even in the barren desert. This shows the extreme of want, when the desert is supposed to be the only place where any thing to sustain life can possibly be found. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 30:4

Who cut up mallows by the bushes - מלוח malluach , which we translate mallows, comes from מלח melach , salt; some herb or shrub of a salt nature, sea-purslane, or the salsaria, salsola, or saltwort. Bochart says it is the ἁλιμος of the Greeks, and the halimus of the Romans. Some translate it nettles. The Syriac and Arabic omit the whole verse. The halimus, or atriplex halimus, grows near the sea in different countries, and is found in Spain, America, England, and Barbary. The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 30:1

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision . As Job had been speaking last of the honour in which he was once held, he beans his contrast by chewing how at present he is disgraced and derided. Men who are outcasts and solitary themselves, poor dwellers in caves (verse 6), who have much ado to keep body and soul together (verses 3, 4), and not men only ' but youths, mere boys, scoff at him, make him a song and a byword (verse 9). nay, "spare not to spit in his face" (verse... read more

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