Job 30 - Introduction

The contrasted picture of Job's present abject condition

The chapter forms a contrast to ch. 29; and as in that picture of Job's past felicity the brightest part was the high respect he enjoyed among men, sitting a prince in the midst of them, so in this the darkest part is the contumely and indignity he now suffers from the basest and most abject of mankind. Ch. 29 ended with a reference to his former high place among men, and the present chapter starts with the antithesis to this, the contempt in which the base-born races now hold him. The subjects touched upon in the chapter are the same as those in ch. 29, though they are pursued in the reverse order.

First, Job 30:1, a picture of the base and miserable race of men who now hold him in contempt.

Second, Job 30:9, description of the indignities to which he is subjected at their hands.

Third, Job 30:16, account of the condition to which he is reduced; his despondency of mind, his gnawing pains, and the terrible severity of God under which he suffers.

Fourth, Job 30:24, a final contrast between his present unpitied, joyless condition and former days, when he himself was full of compassion for them in trouble and when his life was filled with music and gladness.