20141109 Sunday, November 9 2014
Job 30: The Dogs Of The Flock

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"With the dogs of my flock"

In ancient times, a sheep dog was not necessarily a specific breed, but rather almost any domesticated dog that was capable of tending and defending flocks from straying, thieves and predators.

Domesticated working animals are a prime example of the difference between the "clean" and "unclean" animals that are listed in the LORD's dietary laws of health (see the Fact Finder question below). Dogs, horses, donkeys and camels are all "unclean" for food, but were, and remain, valuable servants to humans - even the most righteous humans. John the Baptist wore clothing made of camel leather: "3:4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins" (Matthew 3:4 KJV; see also The Ministries Of The Two Greatest Prophets). Jesus Christ chose a donkey to ride in His "Triumphal Entry" into Jerusalem: "12:15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt" (John 12:15 KJV; see also Israel In History and Prophecy: The Messiah).

The working and environmental-maintenance creatures were the primary reason that the LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) commanded Noah to take both "clean" and "unclean" birds and animals on the ark.

"7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 7:3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

7:5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7:7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 7:9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth." (Genesis 7:1-10 KJV)

Righteous Job (see What Was In The Heart Of Job's Tabernacle?) had great flocks of sheep - before and after his great tribulation (see What Did Satan Accuse The LORD Of Doing?, How Did The Devil Challenge Job To Commit A Satan? and What Did Satan Do To Job's Soul?).

"1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 1:3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east." (Job 1:1-3 KJV)

"42:12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses." (Job 42:12 KJV)

Job also employed sheep dogs for his great flocks. He regarded those dogs higher than those who mock the righteous (see Crucified To The Sound Of Mockers).

"30:1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. 30:2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? 30:3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. 30:4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. 30:5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) 30:6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. 30:7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. 30:8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

30:9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. 30:10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. 30:11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. 30:12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. 30:13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. 30:14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. 30:15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

30:16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 30:17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. 30:18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. 30:19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. 30:21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. 30:22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. 30:23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

30:24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. 30:25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? 30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. 30:27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. 30:28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. 30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. 30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. 30:31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep." (Job 30:1-31 KJV)

Fact Finder: How and why are the LORD's "clean and unclean" animals list about human health, not "religion."
See What Makes Creatures Clean or Unclean?