Albert Barnes Commentary Job 30:22

"Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride [upon it]; And thou dissolvest me in the storm." — Job 30:22 (ASV)

Thou liftest me up to the wind - The meaning here is that he was lifted up as stubble is by a tempest and driven mercilessly along. The image of riding on the wind or the whirlwind is common in Eastern writers, and indeed elsewhere. Thus, Milton says,

“They ride the air in whirlwind.”

Thus Addison, speaking of the angel that executes the commands of the Almighty, says,

“Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.”

Coverdale translates this verse, “In times past thou didst set me up on high, as it were above the wind, but now hast thou given me a very sore fall.” Rosenmuller thinks that the image here is not taken from straw or chaff driven by the wind, but that Job's meaning is that he is lifted up and carried high like a cloud. However, the image of chaff or straw taken up by the whirlwind and driven about seems to best fit the scope of the passage. The idea is that the tempest of calamity had swept everything away and had driven him about as a worthless object, until he was wasted away and ruined.

It is possible that Job, in this passage, refers to the sandstorm that sometimes occurs in the deserts of Arabia. The following description of such a storm by Mr. Bruce (Volume 4, pages 553-554) will provide an illustration of the force and sublimity of the passage. It is copied from Taylor’s Fragments, in Calmet’s Dictionary, Volume 3, page 235:

“On the fourteenth,” says Bruce, “at seven in the morning, we left Assa Nagga, our course being due north. At one o’clock we alighted among some acacia trees at Waadiel Halboub, having gone twenty-one miles. We were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight, surely one of the most magnificent in the world.

“In that vast expanse of desert from the west and to the northwest of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, at others stalking on with majestic slowness; at intervals we thought they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm us, and small quantities of sand did actually more than once reach us. Again they would retreat so as to be almost out of sight—their tops reaching to the very clouds. There, the tops often separated from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in the air, and were seen no more.

“Sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon shot. About noon they began to advance with considerable swiftness toward us, the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of them ranged alongside of us about the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of the largest appeared to me at that distance as if it would measure two feet. They retired from us with a wind at southeast, leaving an impression on my mind to which I can give no name, though surely one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment.

“It was in vain to think of fleeing; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no use to carry us out of this danger, and the full persuasion of this riveted me to the spot where I stood, and let the camels gain on me so much in my state of lameness, that it was with some difficulty I could overtake them.

“The whole of our company were much disheartened, except Idris, and imagined that they were advancing into whirlwinds of moving sand, from which they should never be able to extricate themselves; but before four o’clock in the afternoon these phantoms of the plain had all of them fallen to the ground and disappeared. In the evening we came to Waadi Dimokea, where we passed the night, much disheartened, and our fear more increased, when we found, on waking in the morning, that one side of us was perfectly buried in the sand that the wind had blown over us during the night.

“The sun shining through the pillars, which were thicker, and contained more sand, apparently, than on any of the preceding days, seemed to give those nearest us an appearance as if spotted with stars of gold. I do not think they ever seemed to be nearer than two miles. The most remarkable circumstance was that the sand seemed to keep in that vast circular space, surrounded by the Nile on our left, in going round by Chaigie toward Dougola, and was seldom observed much to the east of a meridian passing along the Nile through the Magizan, before it takes that turn; whereas the simoom was always on the opposite side of our course, coming upon us from the southeast.

“The same appearance of moving pillars of sand presented themselves to us this day in form and disposition like those we had seen at Waadi Halboub, only they seemed to be more in number, and less in size. They came several times in a direction close to us, that is, I believe, within less than two miles. They began, immediately after sunrise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun; his rays shining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire.”

“If my conjecture,” says Taylor, “is admissible, we now see a magnificence in this imagery not apparent before: we see how Job’s dignity might be exalted in the air; might rise to great grandeur, importance, and even terror, in the sight of beholders; might ride on the wind, which bears it about, causing it to advance or to recede; and, after all, when the wind diminishes, might disperse, dissipate, melt this pillar of sand into the undistinguished level of the desert. This comparison seems to be precisely adapted to the mind of an Arab, who must have seen or been informed of similar phenomena in the lands around him.”

And dissolvest my substance - Margin, or wisdom. The word rendered “dissolvest” means to melt, to flow down, and then to cause to melt, to cause to pine away and perish (Isaiah 64:7). It is applied to a host or army that appears to melt away (1 Samuel 14:16). It is also applied to one who seems to melt away with fear and terror (Exodus 15:15; Joshua 2:9, 2:24). Here the meaning is probably that God caused Job to melt away, as it were, with terrors and alarms. He was like one caught up in a whirlwind and driven along with the storm, who, in such circumstances, would be dissolved with fear. The word rendered “substance” (תשׁיה tûshı̂yâh) has been very variously interpreted. The word, as it is written in the text, means help, deliverance, purpose, enterprise, counsel, or understanding (Job 6:13; Job 11:6). But by some, including Gesenius, Umbreit, and Noyes, it is supposed that it should be read as a verb, תשוה from שוה—to fear. According to this, the meaning is, “you terrify me.” This interpretation agrees better with the context, is more abrupt and emphatic, and is probably the true one.