איוב, פרק ל׳, פסוק ז׳

Job is mocked by individuals of the lowest social standing, outcasts who live in such severe destitution that their behavior resembles that of desperate wild animals. As these men wander among the trees and bushes, they let out loud, distressing cries. The primary approach among commentators is that these cries are likened to the braying of wild donkeys, a sound torn from their throats by severe hunger and deep agony [אבן עזרא, מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Another perspective suggests that as they roam through the shaded woods, their cries are heavy sighs, born of a desperate search for any moist grass to eat [אלשיך].

Their struggle for basic survival drives them to seek shelter and sustenance under harsh thornbushes and thistles. The primary approach among commentators understands their interaction with these thorns as an act of gathering. These miserable individuals huddle closely together, either to find a meager place to sit beneath the sharp branches [רש"י, רמב"ן, אבן עזרא, מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ] or to desperately consume whatever edible parts of the thornbush they can find [אלשיך].

Beyond simply gathering together, their presence among the wild brush carries darker implications. Some explain that their time in the thicket leaves them battered and wounded, with the sharp thorns physically piercing their flesh like a painful disease or lesion [רלב"ג]. A more striking image suggests that these people become entirely indistinguishable from their harsh environment. They appear as mere extensions of the wild brush, as if they themselves are sprouting and growing directly out of the thorns [מלבי"ם].