Why did Job scrape himself with a piece of clay?

Was it to help with pustules? Didn't he know that salve works better?

Was it out of despair? Wouldn't this be sin then for cutting yourself in grief (self-mutilation).

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"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Maybe he scraped his sores because they were itchy. I am only speculating, as I do know people who suffer with extreme eczema, and they will scratch, scrape, and rub their hands until they bleed, due to the intense and uncontrollable itchy-ness. They are not self-mutilating, just trying to get some relief that cannot be found in salves and creams. Maybe Job's sores felt like that.

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Ginny Dohms
Puritan Reformed Church
RPNA (GM)
Canada

I tend to agree with Ginny. I have occasional eczema on my arms and left knee and have done the same thing. I think the picture is that he is absolutely miserable.

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Rich
PCA, Northern VA
Student, New Geneva Theological Seminary

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from a medical standpoint I wonder what he had.

My kids and some of their teammates came down with a few boils last month that they'd gotten from the mixed martial arts club's mats. After they are lanced, they ooze, and their bandages had to be changed regularly until they were healed. I can just imagine a person covered in boils. It would be an oozing mess.

A technology that can produce gold rings wouldn't use peices of broken clay to cut themselves with, but they would be a good choice to scrape way puss and other discharge from the boils as well as to help alleviate scratching. They are safe in that it's difficult to cut yourself with them, and they are literally laying around everywhere in a day before plastic and cheap paper.

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Tim Vaughan
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian, OPC,
Santa Maria
California

If his geographic location was the arid Middle East, he most likely had cutaneous leishmaniasis, a protozoal, parasitic disease of the skin.

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Mary Vanderkooi
Kale Heywott Church (KHC)
Soddo, Ethiopia

I would agree that the scraping was not an act of "self-mutilation"--as much as an attempt to get some measure of relief from his physical discomfort.

As to what exactly this disease may have been, we can not be certain. Scholars and commentators have suggested everything from small pox, to elephantiasis, chronic eczema, psoriasis, or leprosy. What ever it was, Satan really "put it to" Job.

Symptoms of Job's afflictions:
Inflamed ulcerous sores (2:7).
Itching (2:8)
Degenerative changes in facial skin (2:7; 12)
Loss of appetite (3:24)
Depression (3:25)
Worms in the boils (7:5)
Hardened skin and running sores (7:5)
Difficulty in breathing (9:18)
Dark eyelids (16:16)
Foul breath (19:17)
Loss of weight (19:20 & 33:21)
Continual Pain (30:17)
Restlessness (30:27)
Blackened skin (30:30)
and fever (30:30)

This affliction may have lasted several months at least, because Job referred to his "months of emptiness' (7:3) and the "months of old when God watched over me..." (29:2).

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Sterling Harmon
Presbyterian Church of Coventry (PCA)
Coventry, CT
Deacon
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Cutaneous leishmaniasis usually doesn't itch that bad but if it is secondarily infected with bacteria and worm maggots, that would account for many of the other symptoms.

In developing nations where there are untreated worm infections, autoimmune diseases such as eczema, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and so forth are quite rare, though they may on occasion occur.

Wouldn't plucking out one's hair and beard be self-mutilation?

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[FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="2"][COLOR="Teal"]Just my humble opinion![/SIZE][SIZE="3"]
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Depends on why he did it. Maybe it was in order to scratch more effectively, or to get at the cooties that were driving him nuts.

Wow, fascinating thread.

Pulling out one's hair isn't mutilation. From Ezra chapter 9

It's a wide spread cultural practice brought on by intense emotions like distress and sorrow. The verses that outlaw mutilation are specific to certain types of cutting. Piercing, pulling out of hair, getting the end of your foreskin cut off etc.. aren't examples of the mutilation that is unlawful.