Job 13:28

Human destiny

28 Surely a person wastes away like refuse, like clothing that a moth eats.

Job 13:28 Meaning and Commentary

Job 13:28

And he as a rotten thing consumeth
This by some Jewish writers ^F26 is referred to and connected with the driven leaf and dry stubble Job compares himself to, ( Job 13:25 ) ; and so the sense is, that his body, which, for its frailty and weakness, is compared to such things, is like any rotten thing, a rotten tree, as Ben Melech; or any thing else that is rotten, that is consuming and wasting away, as Job's body was, being clothed with worms and clods of dust:

as a garment that is moth eaten;
a woollen garment, which gathers dust, out of which motifs arise; for dust, in wool and woollen garments produces moths, as Aristotle ^F1 and Pliny ^F2 observe; and a garment eaten by them, slowly, gradually, and insensibly, yet certainly, decays, falls to pieces, becomes useless, and not to be recovered; such was Job's body, labouring under the diseases it did, and was every day more and more decaying, crumbling into dust, and just ready to drop into the grave; so that there was no need, and it might seem cruel, to lay greater and heavier afflictions on it: some interpreters make this "he" to be God himself who sometimes is as rottenness and a moth to men, in their persons, families, and estates; see ( Hosea 5:12 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 R. Levi, Ben Gersom, & Bar Tzemach.
F1 Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 32.
F2 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 35.

Job 13:28 In-Context

26 You even write bitter things about me, make me inherit my youthful indiscretions.

27 You tie up my feet and restrict all actions; you stamp marks on the bottom of my feet.

28 Surely a person wastes away like refuse, like clothing that a moth eats.