John Gill Commentary Job 13:28

"Though I am like a rotten thing that consumeth, Like a garment that is moth-eaten." — Job 13:28 (ASV)

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).

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FOOTNOTES:

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