Job 30:3
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
Original Language Analysis
וּבְכָפָ֗ן
and famine
H3720
וּבְכָפָ֗ן
and famine
Strong's:
H3720
Word #:
2 of 8
hunger (as making to stoop with emptiness and pain)
גַּ֫לְמ֥וּד
they were solitary
H1565
גַּ֫לְמ֥וּד
they were solitary
Strong's:
H1565
Word #:
3 of 8
sterile (as wrapped up too hard); figuratively, desolate
הַֽעֹרְקִ֥ים
fleeing
H6207
הַֽעֹרְקִ֥ים
fleeing
Strong's:
H6207
Word #:
4 of 8
to gnaw, i.e., (figuratively) eat (by hyberbole); also (participle) a pain
Historical Context
The wilderness (midbar) in Israelite consciousness represented chaos, danger, and death—the opposite of ordered community. Exile to wilderness was both punishment and death sentence. Archaeological evidence shows ancient communities did exile criminals and undesirables to marginal lands where survival was nearly impossible.
Questions for Reflection
- How does Job's description challenge modern assumptions about human dignity being inherent rather than socially constructed?
- In what ways do economic hardship and social exile still reduce people to 'wilderness' existence today?
- How should the church respond to society's 'outcasts' in light of Christ's identification with the suffering?
Analysis & Commentary
For want and famine they were solitary (בְּחֶסֶר וּבְכָפָן גַּלְמוּד)—The triple Hebrew nouns intensify their desperate condition: cheser (חֶסֶר, lack/want), kafan (כָפָן, famine/hunger), and galmud (גַּלְמוּד, desolate/solitary). The word galmud conveys barrenness and abandonment. Fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste (הָעֹרְקִים צִיָּה אֶמֶשׁ שׁוֹאָה וּמְשֹׁאָה)—They 'gnaw' (עֹרְקִים) the dry ground (צִיָּה), a vivid image of eating dirt from starvation.
Job describes human beings reduced to animal existence, expelled from community into the midbar (wilderness). This echoes Israel's wilderness wandering but without divine provision. These outcasts represent humanity stripped of dignity, civilization, and hope—yet these are the ones who now mock Job. The passage forces reflection on how suffering erases social hierarchies and the fragility of human dignity.