Job 30:2 Commentary and Bible Study

Job emphasises the degradation of his position by pointing out the worthlessness and the low estate of the fathers of those who insulted him. Their insults intended to place Job below even themselves, but where were they to start with? They were the lowest in society, men who would have been of no possible profit to him even if he had chosen to employ them in his service, for their strength was exhausted through hardship and rough living. They had no ability left to offer any useful service and were more in need of help themselves than able to work for others. They were the dregs of society and the off-scouring of the earth and yet it was these and their children who now saw fit to pour contempt on Job. They were people who had no proper home to live in but wandered around almost like animals and sheltered wherever they could in waste places far away from normal human habitation. Hunger and poverty had reduced them to the point where they scarcely lived like human beings at all. They were forced to feed on what was barely edible and offered virtually no sustenance. And yet it was such as these and their children that now taunted Job in his extremity. It seemed that the whole world had heard of the evil that had befallen him, and there were none who were afraid to take advantage of it.