Job 30

The young who ran in fear of Job now mock him; they make fun of him.

Job 30:2-8

You have this mockery of the poor and the destitute that Job is now a part of. They are fools' fools, and they have no name. Remember, “name” in the Old Testament doesn’t mean that you have no title it means that you have no essence, you are no one, and Job has to associate with them. This is a self-righteous or superior attitude coming out. Job is saying why would he, the mediator, have to stoop down to them. It is blurring the lines a little bit. It is a problem.

Job 30:18

Job says even God, the great force, smashes and twists Job. Imagine a straitjacket as the image there. He says that God is destroying him. When Job wonders “did you ever expect me to turn out like this” Job is citing the divine retribution principle. By this principle the answer should be “no”, but we know that anything can happen. We don’t know, God can do anything He wills, it’s not just based upon what you think.

Job 30:24-25

Job is asking why there isn’t someone to cry for help on his behalf, he is looking for a mediator. He wants someone like himself, who will do what he did for the poor. The answer is that there is, but it also answers that Job is way out of line with who he is. Job has gone crazy here.

Job 30:26

What disturbs Job is why the divine retribution principle doesn’t work. Job cries out that there is nothing left for him. What he shows is that this is an enigma, people can’t figure out why he ended up the way he did. In the process of explaining the contrast and in the process of trying to highlight why these contrasts don’t make any sense Job has exalted himself a little too high and he has made God seem a little too unfair. This is where things start to go wrong in Job’s thinking. For Job to think of himself so high and that it’s wrong for God to put him so low Job is still reasoning in the divine retribution principle. Job hasn’t left that system of thought. A good practical application for this is you have to be consistent in how you think about suffering and the gospel. You cannot say “I know God has a plan, but it is not fair for me to be suffering.”. Why? Because then you have just lapsed back into divine retribution.