I’m a bit surprised in chapter 30 by Job’s judgmentalism. Did he really regard some people as so low they weren’t worth the company of his sheep dogs?
It would seem so.
In Job’s life, God has given (chapter 29), and God has taken away (chapter 30 – see also 1:21). In the good days, Job recognized some people would always be worthless. They wouldn’t work, wouldn’t save, wouldn’t listen, knew everything and succeeded at nothing but failure – largely for lack of or half-hearted trying. You’ve known people like that, right? We should acknowledge some folks are that way. It has always been so. Now, in Job’s time, the sons of those people, equally worthless, make fun of him and insult him.
And this brings to point the difference between Job and “worthless people.” Despite what Job knew about them, he still felt for them and prayed for them. But now that he finds himself in a situation similar to their’s, none of them feel for him. None of them pray for him.
Value is not determined by circumstance, but by action. Job was not being judgmental. He was just being honest – honest about what he knew, and honest about how he felt. Chapter thirty may well be the most pitiful of all Job has spoken.