Job 30:16

FURTHER DIMENSIONS OF JOB'S MOURNFUL CONDITION

"And now my soul is poured out within me;

Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

In the night season my bones are pierced in me.

And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

By great force is my garment disfigured;

It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

He hath cast me into the mire,

And I am become like dust and ashes.

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me.

I stand up, and thou gazest at me.

Thou art turned to be cruel to me;

With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.

Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride upon it.

For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,

And to the house appointed for all living.

Howbeit, doth not one stretch out his hand in his fall?

Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?"

"Beginning with this paragraph and on to the end of the chapter Job turns to the familiar burden of his complaint, his actual misery."[21]

"By God's great force is my garment disfigured" (Job 30:18). One does not need to be a scholar to know that this is a false rendition. Does it take the "great power" of Almighty God to disfigure such a trifling thing as a garment worn by a human being? "Job's garment seems a trivial effect of the mighty power of God."[22] Other translations suggested by scholars are also subject to uncertainty and question. Perhaps it is best to view the passage, as stated by Driver, to be, "Hopelessly obscure or corrupt."[23]

"He hath cast me into the mire" (Job 30:19). As this reads, we have a false charge against God, and therefore we do not accept this as the proper translation of the text. God never casts anyone into the mire. Perhaps Rowley is correct who wrote that, "The Hebrew reads. `He (or it) has cast me into the mire, and there is no indication that the subject is any different from that of Job 30:18.'[24] And what disfigured Job's garment? It was his disease, not God; and we think that it was that same disease that had cast Job into the mire.

"I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me ... thou art turned to be cruel to me ... thou persecutest me ... and thou dissolvest me in the storm ... I know that thou wilt bring me to death" (Job 30:20-23). The general opinion of scholars on these verses is that Job is here accusing God of doing all these terrible things to him; but we find it impossible to harmonize such opinions with God's words in Job 42, "My servant Job has spoken of me the thing that is right" (Job 42:7-8). The reader knows that it was Satan, not God, who dealt so severely with Job. And, if our translation in these verses is correct (and we remain skeptical about that), then we must read Job's words as references to what God was allowing to happen, and not as references to what God was doing against Job.

"Verse 24 is unintelligible."[25] But some liberal scholars cannot overlook a chance like that to `emend' the text and make it say something that fits their theories. For example, Pope wrote concerning this unintelligible verse, "Taken in its hostile sense, by implication, Job accuses God of assaulting him while he is helpless and imploring help."[26] This cannot possibly be correct, because God twice declared that Job had spoken the truth concerning God. God never assaulted any human being while he was praying, or at any other time.