James 1:14-15(v1)But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when…
Matthew 5:28-29(v1)but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. If your right eye…
Psalms 119:37(v1)Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
1 John 2:16(v1)For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
Proverbs 6:25(v1)Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.
Show all 38 cross-references
2 Samuel 11:2-4(v1)At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was…
Proverbs 4:25(v1)Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.
Genesis 6:2(v1)God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
Proverbs 23:31-33(v1)Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake, and…
Job 34:21(v4)“For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings.
2 Chronicles 16:9(v4)For Yahweh’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward…
Proverbs 5:21(v4)For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
Job 14:16(v4)But now you count my steps. Don’t you watch over my sin?
Proverbs 15:3(v4)Yahweh’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Jeremiah 32:19(v4)great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give everyone according to his ways,…
Jeremiah 16:17(v4)For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes.
Job 20:29(v2)This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
Job 21:30(v3)that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led out to the day of wrath?
Psalms 139:1-3(v4)Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search…
Genesis 16:13(v4)She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”
Job 34:22(v3)There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
Psalms 44:21(v4)won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Hebrews 4:13(v4)There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an…
John 1:48(v4)Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
Job 27:13(v2)“This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty.
Psalms 55:23(v3)But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I…
Psalms 73:18(v3)Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
Proverbs 1:27(v3)when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you.
Proverbs 10:29(v3)The way of Yahweh is a stronghold to the upright, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
Proverbs 21:15(v3)It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
Isaiah 28:21(v3)For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and…
Matthew 7:13(v3)“Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.
Romans 9:22(v3)What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
1 Thessalonians 5:3(v3)For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they…
2 Thessalonians 1:9(v3)who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
Hebrews 13:4(v2)Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
2 Peter 2:1(v3)But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,…
Jude 1:7(v3)Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having in the same way as these given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3Would not God then have punished me?
Would not God then have punished me?
I kept my eyes from all wanton looks.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes;…
Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
Ver. 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes] This chapter, since it is one of the largest in all the book, so it is elegant, various, and very full of matter; for it shows us, as in a mirror, both what we should do and what we should not do. Good Melancthon, about the beginning of the Reformation, mournfully complained, Quos fugiamus habemus; quos sequamur non intelligimus, We have whom to flee from (meaning the Papists), but whom to follow, we yet understand not (by reason of the many divisions among Protestants). But here we may be at a better certainty; by treading in Job’s footsteps, and striving to express him to the world; who against all the cavils and calumnies of his foe friends, makes it out here, that he is no hypocrite or flagitious person as they falsely charged him, but a man fearing God and eschewing evil, Job 1:1. Let therefore as many as would be perfect be thus minded and thus mannered; propounding to themselves the highest pitch and the best patterns; resolving to resemble them as much as may be. Here we have Job’s holy care to flee fornication as a deadly evil; by avoiding the occasion, by taking bonds of his senses, and by doing all be could to be out of the way when the temptation came. Austin thanks God that the temptation and his heart met not. Job would prevent that mischief by laying laws upon his eyes, those windows of wickedness and loop holes of lust, the very door and bait of all evil concupiscence, Mat 5:29 1Jn 2:16, that flesh pleaslng lust, that nest egg of the devil (as one wittily calleth it), that eldest child of old Adam’s strength, bearing name of the mother, which is called in general, lust, or concupiscence. Now that Job might not lust, he would not look on a forbidden object; for he knew that wanton glances cause contemplative wickedness; such as will soon break out into foul practices; as ill humours in the body do into sores and blotches, εκ του οραν γινεταιτο εραν, Ut vidi, ut perii! - oculi sunt in amore duces.
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Why then should I think upon a maid?] Contemplarer in virginem, Lustfully consider her beauty, till my heart be hot as an oven with lawless lusts, and my body wollows in the mire of that abominable filth. For unbridled lust, like the wild fig, will soon mount over the wall; and those base, vain, wanton, capering thoughts will break out, if not timely suppressed; if we handle them not roughly at the door (as Elisha said), their master’s feet will not be far behind them. Quell them therefore and crush them in the egg; it is not safe being at Satan’s meal, though our spoon be never so long; remember, that of looking comes thinking; and of thinking, worse. Look upon the woeful chain of David’s lust, and remember how many have died of the wound in the eye. The basilisk slayeth with his sight. Circe {In Greek and Latin mythology the name of an enchantress who dwelt in the island of Aea, and transformed all who drank of her cup into swine; often used allusively.} will enchant all that behold her. Irregular glancing, or inordinate gazing, is that which metamorphoseth a man into a beast, and makes him a prey to his own brutish affections. Hence David prayeth, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity," Psa 119:37. Job here steppeth one degree further, from a prayer to a vow; yea, from a vow to an imprecation, Job 31:7. That his eyes should be eyes of adamant, that will turn only to one point; that he would not look but where he might lawfully like. Saints have a single eye (and contrariwise the wicked, Hos 3:1), like that Persian lady, who being at the marriage of Cyrus, and afterwards asked how she liked the bridegroom? How? said she, I know not; I saw no one but my husband. Charles V used to clap to his casement; and the young Lord Harrington to pull his hat over his eyes when fair ladies passed along.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1–4So far have I been from wallowing in the…
So far have I been from wallowing in the mire of uncleanness, or any gross wickedness, wherewith you charge me, that I have abstained even from the least occasions and appearances of evil, having made a solemn resolution within myself, and a solemn covenant and promise to God, that I would not wantonly or lustfully fix mine eyes or gaze upon a maid, lest mine eyes should affect my heart, and stir me up to further filthiness. Hereby we plainly see that that command of Christ. Mat 5:29, was no new command peculiar to the gospel, as some would have it, but the very same which the law of God revealed in his word, and written in men’s hearts by nature, imposed upon men in the times of the Old Testament. See also 2Pe 2:14; 1Jo 2:16. Should I think upon, i.e. indulge myself in filthy and lustful thoughts? Seeing I was obliged, and accordingly took care, to guard mine eyes, I was upon the same reason obliged to restrain my imagination. Or, why then should I consider, or contemplate, or look curiously, or thoughtfully, or diligently? Since I had made such a covenant, why should I not keep it? A maid; which is emphatically added, to show that that circumstance which provokes the lust of others had no such power over him, and that he restrained himself from the very thoughts and desires of filthiness with such persons, wherewith the generality of men allowed themselves to commit gross fornication, as deeming it to be either none, or but a very little sin. Withal he insinuates with how much more caution he kept himself from uncleanness with any married person.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1The lusts of the flesh, and the love of…
The lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world, are the two fatal rocks on which multitudes split; against these Job protests he was always careful to stand upon his guard.
I. Against the lusts of the flesh. He not only kept himself clear from adultery, from defiling his neighbour's wives (Job 31:9), but from all lewdness with any women whatsoever. He kept no concubine, no mistress, but was inviolably faithful to the marriage bed, though his wife was none of the wisest, best, or kindest. From the beginning it was so, that a man should have but one wife and cleave to her only; and Job kept closely to that institution and abhorred the thought of transgressing it; for, though his greatness might tempt him to it, his goodness kept him from it. Job was now in pain and sickness of body, and under that affliction it is in a particular manner comfortable if our consciences can witness for us that we have been careful to preserve our bodies in chastity and to possess those vessels in sanctification and honour, pure from the lusts of uncleanness. Now observe here,
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1. What the resolutions were which, in this matter, he kept to (Job 31:1): I made a covenant with my eyes, that is, "I watched against the occasions of the sin; why then should I think upon a maid?" that is, "by that means, through the grace of God, I kept myself from the very first step towards it." So far was he from wanton dalliances, or any act of lasciviousness, that, (1.) He would not so much as admit a wanton look. He made a covenant with his eyes, made this bargain with them, that he would allow them the pleasure of beholding the light of the sun and the glory of God shining in the visible creation, provided they would never fasten upon any object that might occasion any impure imaginations, much less any impure desires, in his mind; and under this penalty, that, if they did, they must smart for it in penitential tears. Note, Those that would keep their hearts pure must guard their eyes, which are both the outlets and inlets of uncleanness. Hence we read of wanton eyes (Isa 3:16) and eyes full of adultery, Pe2 2:14. The first sin began in the eye, Gen 3:6. What we must not meddle with we must not lust after; and what we must not lust after we must not look at; not the forbidden wealth (Pro 23:5), not the forbidden wine (Pro 23:31), not the forbidden woman, Mat 5:28. (2.) He would not so much as allow a wanton thought: "Why then should I think upon a maid with any unchaste fancy or desire towards her?" Shame and sense of honour might restrain him from soliciting the chastity of a beautiful virgin, but only grace and the fear of God would restrain him from so much as thinking of it. Those are not chaste that are not so in spirit as well as body, Co1 7:34. See how Christ's exposition of the seventh commandment agrees with the ancient sense of it, and how much better Job understood it than the Pharisees, though they sat in Moses's chair.
2. What the reasons were which, in this matter, he was governed by. It was not for fear of reproach among men, though that is to be considered (Pro 6:33), but for fear of the wrath and curse of God. He knew very well, (1.) That uncleanness is a sin that forfeits all good, and shuts us out from the hope of it (Job 31:2): What portion of God is there from above? What blessing can such impure sinners expect from the pure and holy God, or what token of his favour? What inheritance of the Almighty can they look for from on high? There is no portion, no inheritance, no true happiness, for a soul, but what is in God, in the Almighty, and what comes from above, from on high. Those that wallow in uncleanness render themselves utterly unfit for communion with God, either in grace here or in glory hereafter, and become allied to unclean spirits, which are for ever separated from him; and then what portion, what inheritance, can they have with God? No unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem, that holy city. (2.) It is a sin that incurs divine vengeance, Job 31:3. It will certainly be the sinner's ruin if it be not repented of in time. Is not destruction, a swift and sure destruction, to those wicked people, and a strange punishment to the workers of this iniquity? Fools make a mock at this sin, make a jest of it; it is with them a peccadillo, a trick of youth. But they deceive themselves with vain words, for because of these things, how light soever they make of them, the wrath of God, the unsupportable wrath of the eternal God, comes upon the children of disobedience, Eph 5:6. There are some sinners whom God sometimes out of the common road of Providence to meet with; such are these. The destruction of Sodom is a strange punishment. Is there not alienation (so some read it) to the workers of iniquity? This is the sinfulness of the sin that it alienates the mind from God (Eph 4:18, Eph 4:19), and this is the punishment of the sinners that they shall be eternally set at a distance from him, Rev 22:15. (3.) It cannot be hidden from the all-seeing God. A wanton thought cannot be so close, nor a wanton look so quick, as to escape his cognizance, much less any act of uncleanness so secretly done as to be out of his sight. If Job was at any time tempted to this sin, he restrained himself from it, and all approaches to it, with this pertinent thought (Job 31:4), Doth not he see my ways; as Joseph did (Gen 39:9), How can I do it, and sin against God? Two things Job had an eye to: - [1.] God's omniscience. It is a great truth that God's eyes are upon all the ways of men (Pro 5:20, Pro 5:21); but Job here mentions it with application to himself and his own actions: Doth not he see my ways? O God! thou hast searched me and known me. God sees what rule we walk by, what company w walk with, what end we walk towards, and therefore what ways we walk in. [2.] His observance. "He not only sees, but takes notice; he counts all my steps, all my false steps in the way of duty, all my by-steps into the way of sin." He not only sees our ways in general, but takes cognizance of our particular steps in these ways, every action, every motion. He keeps account of all, because he will call us to account, will bring every work into judgment. God takes a more exact notice of us than we do of ourselves; for who ever counted his own steps? yet God counts them. Let us therefore walk circumspectly.
II. He stood upon his guard against the love of the world, and carefully avoided all sinful indirect means of getting wealth. He dreaded all forbidden profit as much as all forbidden pleasure. Let us see,
1. What his protestation is. In general, he had been honest and just in all his dealings, and never, to his knowledge, did any body any wrong. (1.) He never walked with vanity (Job 31:5), that is, he never durst tell a lie to get a good bargain. It was never his way to banter, or equivocate, or make many words in his dealings. Some men's constant walk is a constant cheat. They either make what they have more than it is, that they may be trusted, or less than it is, that nothing may be expected from them. But Job was a different man. His wealth was not acquired by vanity, though now diminished, Pro 13:11. (2.) He never hasted to deceit. Those that deceive must be quick and sharp, but Job's quickness and sharpness were never turned that way. He never made haste to be rich by deceit, but always acted cautiously, lest, through inconsideration, he should do an unjust thing. Note, What we have in the world may be either used with comfort or lost with comfort if it was honestly obtained. (3.) His steps never turned out of the way, the way of justice and fair dealing; from that he never deviated, Job 31:7. He not only took care not to walk in a constant course and way of deceit, but he did not so much as take one step out of the way of honesty. In every particular action and affair we must closely tie ourselves up to the rules of righteousness. (4.) His heart did not walk after his eyes, that is, he did not covet what he saw that was another's, nor wish it his own. Covetousness is called the lust of the eye, Jo1 2:16. Achan saw, and then took, the accursed thing. That heart must needs wander that walks after the eyes; for then it looks no further than the things that are seen, whereas it ought to be in heaven whither the eyes cannot reach: it should follow the dictates of religion and right reason: if it follow the eye, it will be misled to that for which God will bring men into judgment, Ecc 11:9. (5.) That no blot had cleaved to his hands, that is, he was not chargeable with getting any thing dishonestly, or keeping that which was another's, whenever it appeared to be so. Injustice is a blot, a blot to the estate, a blot to the owner; it spoils the beauty of both, and therefore is to be dreaded. Those that deal much in the world may perhaps have a blot come upon their hands, but they must wash it off again by repentance and restitution, and not let it cleave to their hands. See Isa 33:15.
2. How he ratifies his protestation. So confident is he of his own honesty that, (1.) He is willing to have his goods searched (Job 31:6): Let me be weighed in an even balance, that is, "Let what I have got be enquired into and it will be found to weigh well" - a sign that it was not obtained by vanity, for then Tekel would have been written on it - weighed in the balance and found too light. An honest man is so far from dreading a trial that he desires it rather, being well assured that God knows his integrity and will approve it, and that the trial of it will be to his praise and honour. (2.) He is willing to forfeit the whole cargo if there be found any prohibited or contraband goods, any thing but what he came honestly by (Job 31:8): "Let me sow, and let another eat," which was already agreed to be the doom of oppressors (Job 5:5), "and let my offspring, all the trees that I have planted, be rooted out." This intimates that he believed the sin did deserve this punishment, that usually it is thus punished, but that though now his estate was ruined (and at such a time, if ever, his conscience would have brought his sin to his mind), yet he knew himself innocent and would venture all the poor remains of his estate upon the issue of the trial.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–4I made a covenant with mine eyes,.... Not to…
I made a covenant with mine eyes,.... Not to look upon a woman, and wantonly gaze at her beauty, lest his heart should be drawn thereby to lust after her; for the eyes are inlets to many sins, and particularly to uncleanness, of which there have been instances, both in bad men and good men, Gen 34:2; so the poet (t) represents the eye as the way through which the beauty of a woman passes swifter than an arrow into the hearts of men, and makes impressions there; see Pe2 2:14; hence Zaleucus ordered adulterers to be punished, by plucking out the eyes of the adulterer (u); wherefore Job, to prevent this, entered into a solemn engagement with himself, laid himself under a strong obligation, as if he had bound himself by a covenant, made a resolution in the strength of divine grace, not to employ his eyes in looking on objects that might ensnare his heart, and lead him to the commission of sin; he made use of all ways and means, and took every precaution to guard against it; and particularly this, to shut or turn his eyes from beholding what might be alluring and enticing to him: it is said (x) of Democritus, that he put out his eyes because he could not look upon a woman without lusting after her:
why then should I think upon a maid; of corrupting and defiling her, since he had made a covenant with his eyes, and this would be a breach of that covenant: and therefore, besides the sin of lusting after her, or of corrupting her, he would be a covenant breaker, and so his sin would be an aggravated one: or he made a covenant with his eyes, to prevent any impure thoughts, desires, and inclinations in him; for the eye affects the heart, and stirs up lust in it, and excites unclean thoughts and unchaste desires: this shows that the thought of sin is sin; that fornication was reckoned a sin before the law of Moses; and that Job better understood the spirituality of the law than the Pharisees did in the time of Christ, and had the same notion of lust in the heart being fornication and adultery as he had; and that good men are not without temptation to sin, both from within and from without; and therefore should carefully shun all appearances of evil, and whatsoever leads unto it, and take every necessary precaution to guard against it.
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(t) Musaeus de Heron. & Leand. v. 92, &c. (u) Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 13. c. 24. (x) Tertullian. Apolog. c. 46.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv1–2Job's protestation of his innocence, with regard to wantonness,…
Job's protestation of his innocence, with regard to wantonness, ver. 1-4. Fraud and injustice, ver. 5-8. Adultery, ver. 9-12. Haughtiness and severity toward his servants, ver. 13-15. Unmercifulness to the poor, ver. 16-23. Confidence in his wealth, ver. 24, 25. Idolatry, ver. 26-28. Revenge, ver. 29-31. Neglect of poor strangers, ver. 32 Hypocrisy, or not reproving others, ver. 33, 34. He wishes God would answer and that his words might be recorded, ver. 35-37. Protests his innocence, as to oppression, ver. 38-40.
I made - So far have I been from any gross wickedness, that I have abstained from the least occasions and appearances of evil.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Job makes a solemn protestation of his chastity and…
CHAPTER XXXI
Job makes a solemn protestation of his chastity and integrity,
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1-12;
of his humanity, 13-16;
of his charity and mercy, 17-23;
of his abhorrence of covetousness and idolatry, 24-32;
and of his readiness to acknowledge his errors, 33, 34;
and wishes for a full investigation of his case, being
confident that this would issue in the full manifestation
of his innocence, 36-40.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI
Verse 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes] ברית כרתי לעיני berith carats leeynai: "I have cut" or divided "the covenant sacrifice with my eyes." My conscience and my eyes are the contracting parties; God is the Judge; and I am therefore bound not to look upon any thing with a delighted or covetous eye, by which my conscience may be defiled, or my God dishonoured.
Why then should I think upon a maid?] ומה אתבונן על בתולה umah ethbonen al bethulah. And why should I set myself to contemplate, or think upon, Bethulah? That Bethulah may here signify an idol, is very likely. Sanchoniatho observes, that Ouranos first introduced Baithulia when he erected animated stones, or rather, as Bochart observes, ANOINTED stones, which became representatives of some deity. I suppose that Job purges himself here from this species of idolatry. Probably the Baithulia were at first emblems only of the tabernacle; בית אלוה beith Eloah, "the house of God;" or of that pillar set up by Jacob, Ge 28:18, which he called בית אלהים beith Elohim, or Bethalim; for idolatry always supposes a pure and holy worship, of which it is the counterfeit. For more on the subject of the Baithulia, See Clarke on Ge 28:19.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Job 31:1. I made a covenant with mine eyes,…
Job 31:1. I made a covenant with mine eyes, &c. — So far have I been from any gross wickedness, that I have abstained from the least occasions and appearances of evil. It was possible Job’s friends might make quite another use than he intended of the relation which he had made of his miserable condition in the foregoing chapter. And, therefore, lest it should confirm them in their old error, and they should take what he had said to be an argument of his guilt, he gives, in this chapter, a large and particular account of his integrity, which, in general, he had so often asserted; laying his very soul, and the most secret inclinations of it, open before them; together with the actions of his whole life in his private capacity, (for of his public he had spoken before, chap. 29.,) both in respect of his neighbours of all sorts, and in respect of God, to whom he again most solemnly appeals, in the conclusion of this discourse, for the truth of what he here asserts. Why then should I think upon a maid? — This is generally understood to mean the great care and circumspection which Job had used to avoid all temptations and occasions of sin; and he subjoins, in the following verses, the very high and reasonable motives which had urged him, and should urge every man, to such a circumspection; namely, to avoid destruction, the sure consequence of it. Which is a further proof that his prospects were to another life; for, had he spoken of a temporal destruction, it would have been the very thing which his antagonists had repeated over and over to him, and had urged as an argument of his guilt that he was thus miserably destroyed. When Job, therefore, says the same thing, namely, that a sure destruction attends the wicked; it is their portion, an inheritance from God; it is plain he must understand it in another sense than his antagonists did; namely, of their final retribution in a future state. See Peters, and the note on Job 31:13; Job 31:23.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv1–4I made a covenant with mine eyes - The…
I made a covenant with mine eyes - The first virtue of his private life to which Job refers is chastity. Such was his sense of the importance of this, and of the danger to which man was exposed, that he had solemnly resolved not to think upon a young female. The phrase here, “I made a covenant with mine eyes,” is poetical, meaning that he solemnly resolved. A covenant is of a sacred and binding nature; and the strength of his resolution was as great as if he had made a solemn compact. A covenant or compact was usually made by slaying an animal in sacrifice, and the compact was ratified over the animal that was slain, by a kind of imprecation that if the compact was violated the same destruction might fall on the violators which fell on the head of the victim. This idea of cutting up a victim on occasion of making a covenant, is retained in most languages. So the Greek ὅρκια τέμνειν, πέμνἔιν σπονδάς horkia temnein, temnein spondas, and the Latin icere foedus - to strike a league, in allusion to the striking down, or slaying of an animal on the occasion. And so the Hebrew, as in the place before us, כרת ברית berı̂yth kârath - to cut a covenant, from cutting down, or cutting in pieces the victim over which the covenant was made; see this explained at length in the notes at Heb 9:16. By the language here, Job means that he had resolved, in the most solemn manner, that he would not allow his eyes or thoughts to endanger him by improperly contemplating a woman.
Why then should I think upon a maid - Upon a virgin - על־בתולה ‛al-bethûlâh; compare Pro 6:25, “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids;” see, also, the fearful and solemn declaration of the Saviour in Mat 5:28. There is much emphasis in the expression used here by Job. He does not merely say that he had not thought in that manner, but that the thing was morally impossible that he should have done it. Any charge of that kind, or any suspicion of it, he would repel with indignation. His purpose to lead a pure life, and to keep a pure heart, had been so settled, that it was impossible that he could have offended in that respect. His purpose, also, not to think on this subject, showed the extent of the restriction imposed on himself. It was not merely his intention to lead a chaste life, and to avoid open sin, but it was to maintain a pure heart, and not to suffer the mind to become corrupted by dwelling on impure images, or indulging in unholy desires. This strongly shows Job’s piety and purity of heart, and is a beautiful illustration of patriarchal religion. We may remark here, that if a man wishes to maintain purity of life, he must make just such a covenant as this with himself - one so sacred, so solemn, so firm, that he will not suffer his mind for a moment to harbor an improper thought. “The very passage of an impure thought through the mind leaves pollution behind it;” and the outbreaking crimes of life are just the result of allowing the imagination to dwell on impure images. As the eye is the great source of danger (compare Mat 5:28; 2Pe 2:14), there should be a solemn purpose that that should be pure, and that any sacrifice should be made rather than allow indulgence to a wanton gaze: compare Mar 9:47. No man was ever too much guarded on this subject; no one ever yet made too solemn a covenant with his eyes, and with his whole soul to be chaste.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv1–3I made. Job is compelled to proclaim his own…
I made. Job is compelled to proclaim his own praises, for his vindication, as St. Paul was, being at the same time convinced that he had only done his duty, Luke xvii. 10. This is the third part of his discourse. Having given a picture of his prosperous and of his miserable condition, he observes that the latter was not inflicted in consequence of any misconduct, since he had always been attentive to avoid (Calmet) the most remote danger of offending God, or his neighbour. (Haydock) --- That I. Hebrew, "for why should I think upon a virgin?" (Haydock) --- Why should I expose myself, (Calmet) by indiscreet looks, (Haydock) since the passage from the eye to the heart is so easy, Ecclesiastes ii. 10. (Menochius) --- In the warfare between the flesh and the spirit, Job deemed this precaution necessary, (Worthington) and was thus preserved from carnal thoughts. (St. Gregory xx. 2.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv2–4Had I let my senses tempt me to sin,…
Had I let my senses tempt me to sin, "what portion (would there have been to me, that is, must I have expected) from (literally, of) God above, and what inheritance from (literally, of) the Almighty," &c. [MAURER] (Job 20:29; Job 27:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Third division — JOB’S ASSEVERATION OF HIS INNOCENCE, UNDER…
Third division — JOB’S ASSEVERATION OF HIS INNOCENCE, UNDER THE MOST SOLEMN APPEALS TO GOD, chapter 31. First strophe, Job_31:1-8.
a. A preliminary declaration that he had prescribed terms to the most treacherous of the senses, and planted a guard over his entire being, and that, too, impelled by the highest considerations of regard for God, Job_31:1-4.
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1. With mine eyes — The eyes, says a Talmudic proverb, are “the procuresses of evil.” So intimately is this most delicate and precious of the senses related to the soul, that Pliny said of the mind. “it certainly dwells in the eyes.” Here the eye is singled out as a representative sense, as if he who had the mastery of this were lord of all. Job has “made a covenant” to (ל) or for his eyes — prescribed limitations with all the form and solemnity of a covenant, which, through the divine strength of grace, he has determined they shall not transgress.
Why then should I think — How then should I look, or gaze, look wistfully upon, אתבונן. Thus translated, there is a striking resemblance in this question to the saying of Christ, (Mat_5:28.) At a time when polygamy or some other form of concubinage almost universally prevailed, Job stands conspicuously forth as a high-toned moralist, who looked upon chastity of the heart as no less important than chastity of the life.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1, 2, 41. The “eye,” the lusts of which are frequently…
1. The “eye,” the lusts of which are frequently spoken of in scripture, is the great inlet through which that which is without affects the heart and stirs evil desire. Job made a “covenant” or agreement with his eyes, that they should obey his mind, or act always in harmony with his higher self.
why then should I think] Or, how then should I look? Under his contract with his eyes such sinful looking upon a woman (Mat_5:28) was impossible; comp. Rom_6:2, We that died to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?
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1–12. Job clears himself of cherishing or yielding to sensuous desires. This idea is pursued through a series of instances; (1) simple desire, excited by the eye, Job_31:1-4; (2) actual yielding to such desire in word or deed, Job_31:5-8; (3) the grossest form of sensual sin, Job_31:9-12.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–4(1) I made a covenant with mine eyes.—Job makes…
XXXI.
(1) I made a covenant with mine eyes.—Job makes one grand profession of innocence, rehearsing his manner of life from the first; and here he does not content himself with traversing the accusations of his friends, but professes his innocence also of sins less manifest to the observance of others, and affecting the secret conduct and the heart—namely, sensual transgression and idolatry. His object, therefore, is to show his friends that he has really been more upright than their standard demanded or than they supposed him to be, till his affliction made them suspect him; and this uprightness was the consequence of rigid and inflexible adherence to principle, for he made a covenant with his eyes, as the avenues of sinful desires. (Comp. Mat_5:28.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–4The conclusion of Job"s long speech (ch. 26-31) is…
The conclusion of Job"s long speech (ch. 26-31) is now reached. He winds it up by a solemn vindication of himself from all the charges of wicked conduct which have been alleged or insinuated against him. perhaps it may be said that he goes further, maintaining generally his moral rectitude in respect of all the principal duties which a man owes either to God (vers. 46, 24-28, 35-37) or to his fellows (vers. 1-3, 7-23, 29-34, 38-40). He protests that he is innocent of impure thoughts (vers. 1-4); of false seeming (vers. 5-8); of adultery (vers. 9-12); of injustice towards dependants (vers. 13-15); of hardness towards the poor and needy (vers. 16-23); of covetousness (vers. 24, 25); of idolatry (vers. 26-28); of malevolence (vers. 29, 30); of want of hospitality (vers. 31, 32); of hiding his transgressions (vers. 33, 34); and of injustice as a landlord (vers. 38-40). In conclusion, he once more makes a solemn appeal to God to pronounce judgment on his case (ver. 35), promising to give a complete account of every act in his life (ver. 37), and calmly to await his sentence. An accidental dislocation of the last three verses disturbs the order hero assumed to be the proper one. This will be further considered in the comment. I made a covenant with mine eyes; rather, for mine eyes. The covenant must have been with himself. Job means that be came to a fixed resolution, by which he thenceforth guided his conduct, not even to "look upon a woman to lust after her". (Mat_5:28) We must suppose this resolution come to in his early youth, when the passions are strongest, and when so many men go astray. How then should I look upon a maid! Having made such a resolution, how could I possibly break it by "looking upon a maid"? Job assumes that he could not be so weak as to break a solemn resolution.
Vers. 1-40. Job"s second parable: 4. A solemn protestation of innocence.
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I WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF CHASTITY. (Vers. 1-4)
1. The wickedness he eschewed. Not alone the crime of seduction, or the actual defilement of virginal innocence, but even the indulgence of so much as a lascivious desire in connection with an unmarried female, was an ungodliness which Job regarded with abhorrence and indignation. Job"s morality on this point, as also upon some others, is a remarkable anticipation of the sermon on the mount, which forbids the unchaste look, the unclean imagination, the impure desire, as well as the lewd and incontinent act. (Mat_5:28) Job"s interpretation of the Law of God is like St. Paul"s (Rom_7:14) the precepts of the Decalogue covered the entire realm of the inner no less than of the outer life.
2. The rule he observed. That he might the better guard against the uprise within his heart of any prurient desire or lustful imagination, Job "made a covenant with his eyes," as their lord and master prescribed for them a law that they should not" fixedly gaze upon a maiden." Considering bow much of evil enters by the eye, (e.g. the cases of Eve, Gen_3:6; of the wife of Lot, Gen_19:26; of Achan, Jos_7:21) the wisdom of Job"s resolution cannot be questioned. In particular the eye has often proved itself "the inlet of lust" (Robinson), of according to a Talmudic proverb, "the procuress of sin;" as, for instance, it did with Judah, (Gen_38:5) Samson, (Jud_1:16:1) David, (2Sa_11:1-5) Amnon. (2Sa_13:1-20) Few things are more dangerous to an unprincipled, or indeed a principled, mind, than the too ardent contemplation of female beauty, which, besides being a deceitful vanity in itself, (Pro_31:30) is prone to inflame the heart with unlawful passions. Hence the propriety of the royal preacher"s counsel, (Pro_6:25) the Hebrew psalmist"s prayer, (Psa_119:37) and the Divine Saviour"s warning. (Mat_18:9)
3. The motives he possessed. In thus habitually exercising self-restraint, gob was actuated by two considerations.
(1) Fear of the Divine power. "It was no fear of man, no dread of temporal consequences, no respect for public order and well-being, no pure and stately self-respect even, which made and kept him pure" (Cox). It was the calm, clear, deliberate conviction that such wickedness could hot escape the just and righteously allotted punishment of Eloah, and that sooner or later, if he should enter on such a course of impiety, he would find himself overwhelmed by some strange, startling, intolerable calamity; nay, that he should deserve to be so overwhelmed (vers. 2, 3). Job was manifestly no milk-and-water moralist, like some of the nineteenth century, who regard fornication and seduction as indiscretions, and uncleanness generally as an infirmity rather than a sin. Instead of being leniently judged and softly scolded, if not lovingly caressed, as, alas] is too frequently his portion and inheritance from modern society, the violator of virgin innocence, in Job"s estimation, was a monster of iniquity, who deserved to be castigated by some horrible and degrading punishment, and who, he believed, would ultimately get his deservings. Nor was Job too spiritual, on the other hand, to admit that this formed one of the arguments which drove him to strict watchfulness over his heart and eyes. He was afraid of t he just judgment of Almighty God upon them that committed such appalling wickedness; and accordingly he acted on the principle of resisting its first beginnings. So St. Paul, knowing the terror of the Lord, persuaded men; (2Co_5:11) and Christ counselled his apostles to fear him who could destroy both soul and body in hell. (Luk_12:5) If not the highest motive for leading a chaste and virtuous life, it is still a sound and good one, and the only one by which many are capable of being impressed.
(2) Respect for the Divine omniscience. Job knew that, though it might be possible to elude the utmost vigilance of man, he could not evade him who beheld all his ways, and counted all his steps (ver. 4). The Divine omniscience is not dependent on, but co-ordinate with, the Divine omnipresence. God"s minute and universal knowledge of mundane affairs, and in particular of all that enters into the complicated texture of a human life, frequently denied by the ungodly, (Job_22:13) and sometimes forgotten by the pious, (Isa_40:27) is emphatically asserted in Scripture, (1Ki_8:39 Psa_11:4 Psa_139:14) and nowhere more so than in this book.Rightly (Job_21:22 Job_23:10 Job_24:1, 23 28:24 34:21, 22, 25) viewed, it operates as a powerful deterrent from sin, not only by proving the certainty of detection, and therefore the impossibility of escaping punishment, but also by filling the mind with a constant sense of the Divine presence, forgetfulness of which is perhaps one of the most frequent causes of sin.
II WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF JUSTICE. (Vers. 5-8)
1. An explicit declaration. Hypothetical in form, Job"s language amounts to a vehement assertion that his life was as unimpeachable with regard to equity as with regard to chastity. With falsehood in every shape and guise he had lived at open war. With deceit and imposition in either word or deed he had had no dealings whatever. From the straight path of integrity he had never turned aside. Never once under the dominion of secret avarice had he suffered his heart to be beguiled into hankering alter his neighbour"s property, as Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth. (1Ki_21:2) Not so much as a speck of defilement cleaved to his palm after any transaction in which he had been engaged. No living man could accuse him of underhand dealings or extortionate practices. So Samuel called his countrymen, (1Sa_12:3) and St. Paul challenged the elders of Miletus, (Act_20:33-35) to attest his personal integrity. So are Christ"s people exhorted to renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, (2Co_4:2) to provide things honest in the sight of all men, (2Co_8:21) and to carefully maintain a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. (Heb_13:18)
2. A solemn invocation. So confident does Job feel that he has not swerved a hair"s breadth from the law of equity, that he does not hesitate to appeal to God, challenging Eloab, as few men besides would have done, (Psa_130:3) to weigh him in an even balance, literally, in the scales of righteousness, when his integrity, or moral perfection, would become apparent. If Job meant this absolutely, it was presumption and self-righteousness; but the probability is he understood, by preferring such a claim, no more than God himself did when he declared Job to be perfect and upright; though the vehemence with which he asserted and protested his blamelessness insensibly obscured his vision of the truth which he at other times acknowledged, that in God"s sight no flesh living could be justified.
3. A dreadful imprecation. Not content with calmly submitting the question of his innocence to the severe and impartial arbitrament of Heaven, he invokes upon himself a curse of extreme severity. If by legal chicanery or violent extortion he has robbed another of his land, the commonest and most valuable sort of property, then he desires that he himself may be made the victim of a like oppression, that he may sow and another reap, and that his "things which spring up," not his descendants or children, as elsewhere the word is employed, (Job_5:25 Job_21:8 Job_27:14) but, as the parallelism demands, the produce of his ground, his harvest, may be rooted up. God"s punishments are often similar in kind to the offences they follow. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap". (Gal_6:7)
III WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF MARRIAGE. (Vers. 9-12) Different from the opening section, which treated of seduction, the present stanza alludes to the sin of adultery. In the former instance it is an unmarried virgin, in the latter it is a wedded wife, that is sinned against. The adulterous enterprise, which Job for himself disavows, is described in detail.
1. By its origin. It takes its rise in a bewitched or befooled heart. "Out of the heart proceed adulteries". (Mat_15:19) Therefore "keep the heart with all diligence". (Pro_4:23) This beguilement of the heart may be deliberately effected by the adulterous woman displaying her charms so as to fascinate her lover"s eye; (Pro_7:10-21) or, as in the case of David, it may result from lascivious admiration of the married woman"s beauty.
2. By its practice. The adulterous lover, waiting for the twilight, disguiseth his face, and lieth in wait at his neighbour"s door, obviously a common crime in Job"s time, (Job_24:15) as it afterwards was in David"s and Solomon"s, (Psa_50:18 Pro_6:24-29 Pro_7:5-9) Jeremiah"s (Jer_5:8) and Ezekiel"s, (Eze_18:6) Christ"s (Joh_8:3-9) and the apostles". (1Co_6:9 2Pe_2:10)
3. By its criminality. Job stigmatizes it as an act of infamy, and an iniquity to be brought before the judges (ver. 11), meaning that, besides being a violation of the moral law, (Exo_20:17) it is likewise an offence falling within the penal code of the land. Punished by death under Moses, (Lev_20:10 Deu_22:22) in patriarchal times it was visited by burning. (Gen_38:24) Probably this was the penalty attached to it in the land of Uz (ver. 12). Most heathen nations of antiquity pronounced it a capital offence.
4. By its demerit. The sinner who defiled his neighbour"s wife deserved to have the same sorrow meted out to himself a thought euphemistically expressed in ver. 10 (vide Exposition). So David"s sin against Uriah"s wile was punished by Absalom"s wickedness in lying with his father"s concubines. (2Sa_16:22)
5. By its results. In addition to civil penalties and providential retributions, its ultimate issue is widespread sorrow, if not fatal ruin. Like a consuming fire, if persevered in, it has nothing but physical, moral, and eternal destruction for the perpetrator. (Pro_6:32 Pro_7:23, Pro_7:26, 27 1Co_6:18 Heb_13:4 Rev_21:8) Even a solitary act is like the taking of a hot coal into one"s bosom. (Pro_6:27-29) Not only does it demoralize the nature of him who commits it, but it spreads sorrow and desolation through the heart of her against whom it is committed. It breaks the peace of otherwise happy families. It awakens the demon of jealousy, even when it is not discovered. Detected or concealed, it is a secret fountain of death.
IV WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF MASTER AND SERVANT. (Vers. 13-15)
1. The case supposed. Job instances a state of matters that might readily have occurred in his household, viz. the existence of some ground of complaint against him, the master, on the part of his manservant or maidservant, i.e. his bondman or bondwoman. Such contendings and disputings between master and servant, which are not unusual in modern free society, were much more likely to arise in ancient times when servants were simply slaves.
2. The course pursued. In the event of any such charge or complaint being preferred against him, Job protests that he neither crushed it out by the strong hand of oppression nor tossed it aside with contemptuous indifference, but gave it the most kindly attention and the most patient, careful, and impartial examination. If his accusers proceeded to impeach him at a bar of justice, he did not deny them the right of public redress, as other masters might have done and as the Israelitish master was entitled by the Law to do. But counting them as persons, not as goods and chattels, he accorded to them equal rights in this matter with himself. Slavery in Job"s house, as also in Abraham"s, was a widely different thing from that practised in modern times.
3. The reasons allied.
(1) He was answerable to God for the treatment he accorded to his servants. He should tremble when God arose to judgment, arid be speechless when God came round as an Inspector, to examine into the controversy pending between him and his servants, unless he acted on the principles of strictest equity. That God will one day hold such a court of inquiry, in which masters and servants, rulers and ruled, will be judged, is announced in Scripture. (Psa_96:13 Ecc_11:9 Act_17:31 2Co_5:10) Hence masters are responsible for their treatment of servants; (Col_4:1) and this thought should deter them, as it did Job, from inflicting upon those who serve, or are dependent upon them, either injustice or severity. (Eph_6:9)
(2) His servants were possessed of the same human nature with himself. They had been fashioned by the same Divine power as himself. Both alike were God"s handiwork, (Job_34:19 Psa_33:15) God"s creatures, (Isa_45:12) God"s offspring. (Mal_2:10 Act_17:29) Both had been produced by the same human agency. Both had been curiously and secretly elaborated in a woman"s womb. (Psa_139:13) Both had been made of one blood. (Act_17:26) Hence both belonged to a common brotherhood. Physically, intellectually, morally, the slave is the fellow of his master, having on the ground of a common humanity equal rights with that master in the light of God and before men. The language of Job is a powerful condemnation of the modern kind of slavery.
V WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF KINDNESS. (Vers. 16-22).
1. The objects of Job"s compassionate regard. The poor and the needy, the hungry and the naked, the fatherless and the widow. The care of such persons is a dictate of nature, which, however, is frequently powerless to enforce obedience to its own precepts. Among heathen nations generally the helpless and the destitute have been neglected and left to perish, if not openly oppressed and destroyed. Religion, however, both natural and revealed, prescribes kindness to the poor and needy as one of its essential virtues. The Mosaic code provided special legislation for the poor, (Lev_19:10, 13 23:22 Exo_23:11 Deu_15:7-11 Deu_14:28, Deu_14:29) for the widow, (Exo_22:22 Deu_24:17 Deu_27:19) for the orphan. (Exo_22:22 Deu_10:18 Deu_14:29) In the Hebrew Church these were the objects of God"s peculiar care. (Psa_68:5 Psa_146:9 Jer_49:11 Mal_3:5) In the Christian Church they are regarded as Christ"s brethren. (Mat_25:40) The care of them a special duty of the pious. (Jam_1:27)
2. Job"s habitual behaviour towards the poor and needy. Previously described, (Job_29:11-17) it is here again set forth both negatively and positively.
(1) Negatively, by reciting the special acts of unkindness towards the poor which he was careful to avoid, such as
(a) withholding the poor from their desire (ver. 16), it might be from the wages for which they had toiled or the aims which they had craved;
(b) causing the eyes of the widow to fail, by denying her assistance or refusing her redress against her powerful oppressor; (Job_24:3)
(c) eating his morsel alone, "in misery and grudging seclusion," lest the fatherless should see it and require to be invited to partake (ver. 17);
(d) looking on with heartless unconcern while the naked shivered in their rags, and perished for want of clothes (ver. 19);
(e) shaking the hand, i.e. using a threatening gesture towards the orphan who sued him in a court of justice, the moment he recognized the judges to be his friends (ver. 21).
(2) Positively, by sketching the manner of life towards them which from his youth up he had pursued (ver. 18), and which in large measure had become a second nature to him; according to which Job had been a father to the orphan and a son to the widow (ver. 18), training up the one with paternal solicitude and comforting the other with filial devotion, while the bunny never failed to find a meal at his hospitable board (ver. 17), or the naked to exchange their rags for the warmest fleeces of his sheep (ver. 20), his own heart finding its truest joy and amplest reward in the happiness he conferred on others.
1. The Spirit that inspired Job in his charitable deeds. He was afraid of the Divine retribution, and he stood in awe of the Divine majesty. It was the fear, not of man, but of God, that deterred him; the apprehension, not of unpleasant consequences in time, if he acted otherwise, but of the all-devouring wrath of the Almighty in the future.
2. The proof that Job offered of his veracity in what he said. He invoked upon himself a curse if he had sinned in any of the ways above named, but more particularly if he had lifted up his hand against the orphan; he desired that his shoulder might fall from its shoulder-blade, and that his arm might be broken from its bone (ver. 22).
VI WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF WORSHIP. (Vers. 24-28)
1. The twofold idolatry from which Job had abstained.
(1) Mammonism, or the worship of money. Formerly possessed of great wealth, (Job_1:3 Job_22:24) Job had carefully avoided those particular sins which great wealth is prone to foster.
(a) He had not allowed his confidence for time or for eternity to rest in the abundance of his gold. Probably money, in consequence of the seeming almightiness which belongs to it, (Ecc_7:2 Ecc_10:19) is the most formidable rival God encounters in his demands upon the human heart, (Mat_6:24) which almost universally betrays a disposition to trust in uncertain riches rather than in the living God. (1Ti_6:17) But Job had never permitted his gold to usurp the throne el his affections, had never even esteemed it as the chief good, and certainly had not accorded it the homage due to the Supreme. The all-absorbing devotion of a human soul to the pursuit or possession of wealth is idolatry, (Eph_5:5 Col_3:5) is incompatible with true piety, (Mar_10:24 1Jn_2:15) and should be carefully eschewed by all followers of Christ.
(b) He had not exultingly rejoiced in the greatness of his wealth. A person might stop short of actually reposing his heart"s trust in his money, and yet be guilty of excessive delight therein. But not even of the common sin of setting too high an estimate upon his gold and silver, of looking on with inward gratification at the growing pile of his material goods, was Job guilty. Having the Almighty as his gold and his silver of strength, (Job_22:25) i.e. esteeming the Divine favour and fellowship as greater riches than any earthly treasures, it was impossible that the mere increase of material possessions could fill him with extravagant rejoicing. The most effectual way to prevent the soul from delighting in a creature is to teach it to delight in the Creator.
(c) He had not even arrogantly taken credit to himself for achieving his immense fortune. No doubt his personal industry and sagacity had contributed to the grand result, (Pro_10:4 Pro_13:4) but he piously refrained from saying. "My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth", (Deu_8:17) probably remembering, as the Israelites were counselled to do, (Deu_8:18) that it was the Divine blessing alone which enabled him to become rich. (Pro_10:22)
(2) Sabaeism, or the worship of the heavenly bodies. "The eldest and also comparatively the purest form of heathenism" (Delitzsch), the adoration of the stars, prevailed amongst the Chaldeans in the time of Abraham, Uruk, one of the early monumental kings of Babylonia, having found, it at Ura temple of the moon, at Larsa a temple of the sun, and at Erech a temple of Venus, called Bitanna, or the house of heaven ("Records of the Past" vol. 3. p. 9). It was practised by the ancient Arabians, who "adored the sun and the moon as Divine," ancient testimonies being witness. It was diffused throughout Syria in the time of Moses, so that the Israelites, prior to their occupation of Canaan, were specially warned against it. (Deu_4:19) Nevertheless, under the monarchy, Israel frequently relapsed into this abomination. (2Ki_23:5, 2Ki_23:11) In later Babylonia it was rampant, (Eze_8:16) as again the monuments attest, Nebuchadnezzar having erected in the centre el Babylon "a great temple of Ninharissi (wife of the sun)," "to the moon-god a large house of alabaster as his temple," and "to the sun a house of cement and brick" ("Records of the Past" vol. 5. p. 122). The customary method of paying homage to these stellar deities was by kissing the hand to them, (1Ki_19:18 Heb_13:2) which, it may be noticed, is the literal import of the English verb" to, adore." The early and widespread diffusion of this particular form of idolatry affords a striking testimony to man"s need of a God outside of himself. Perhaps also, in the absence of revelation, it is not surprising that the human heart, impressed with the brilliance of the sun, the great light, shining in meridian splendour, and the exceeding beauty of the moon, the solemn and majestic night-wanderer, should ascribe to them supernatural Power and dignity. Yet man"s position at the crown and summit of creation renders all devotion offered to the creatures not only sinful, but absurd. From such impiety Job declared that he had kept himself free.
2. The twofold argument by which Job had been deterred. Had Job been addicted to either of the above specified forms of idolatry, he would have been guilty
(1) of a punishable crime. Probably Job means that in his day sun-worship was an offence against the statute law of the land (vide on ver. 11), as under the Mosaic code in Israel it could be expiated only by death; (Deu_17:2-7) but possibly the phrase, "an iniquity for judges." may only signify a transgression deserving to be punished, in which case it will hold good of both forms of idolatry. Job shrank from making a god to himself out of either the gold and silver which he possessed, or the celestial luminaries which he beheld, because of the penal consequences to which he knew such a misdeed would lead. And also because he felt that he would be guilty
(2) of a detestable hypocrisy in professing to worship God while secretly he was adoring the sun and kissing hands to the moon. A noble testimony to Job"s spirituality of mind and sincerity of heart! He could easily have offered homage to the host of heaven without exposing himself to observation by his fellows; or if, wanting courage to risk detection, he had refrained from outward gestures of devotion, he might have inwardly with his heart acknowledged their supremacy. But Job understood that God could read the heart as well as interpret the outward act, and that only that was acceptable worship which was inwardly sincere as well as outwardly correct. Here, again, the doctrine of the sermon on the mount (Mat_6:6) and of the New Testament generally (Joh_4:23, Joh_4:24) has been marvellously anticipated.
VII WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF LOVE. (Vers. 29, 30) Job declares his manner of life in dealing with his enemies.
1. Their treatment of him. They hated him. Their enmity was in all likelihood excited and fostered by his piety. Good men seldom pass through the world without meeting adversaries and opponents. David did not. (Psa_38:19, Psa_38:20) St. Paul did not. (1Co_16:9) Even Christ did not. (Joh_15:18) Neither can Christ"s followers expect tolive without molestation. (Joh_15:20) They that will live godly shall suffer persecution. (2Ti_3:12)
2. His treatment of them. Not only did he not rejoice in their destruction when evil fortune overtook them (ver. 29), but he was conscious of never having wished that such evil fortune should overtake them (ver. 30). To exult in the downfall of an enemy, if natural to the sinful heart, is yet heathenish, fiendish, diabolic; (Mic_7:8) it was sorely punished in the case of Edom when she rejoiced over Judah; (Oba_1:12, Oba_1:13) it is explicitly condemned in the Old Testament; (Pro_24:17, Pro_24:18) and is directly antagonistic to the spirit of the Mosaic Law, (Exo_23:4 Lev_19:18) and much more to that of Christ"s gospel, (Mat_19:19 Rom_13:9 Gal_5:14 Jam_3:8) which enjoins not only a negative abstinence from wishing harm to one"s enemies, the virtue which Job claimed (ver. 30), but the positive bestowment on them of acts of kindness, (Mat_5:44 Rom_12:20) which also we may be sure Job practised. Job"s doctrine is here again a striking approximation towards the teaching of Christ, and Job"s conduct a lofty exhibition of the spirit of Christianity, which will only shine out with brighter lustre if the reading (ver. 31) be adopted which supposes Job was urged by the men of his tabernacle to avenge himself upon his adversary.
VIII WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY. (Vers. 31, 32) This also Job maintained he had observed:
1. With conspicuous publicity. So open-handed had been his beneficence that with triumphant confidence he appealed to the members of his vast household to give witness in his behalf. They could testify, he was certain, that they had never seen a poor man depart unsatisfied from his mansion gate, but rather that they had every day beheld the contrary. So Job allowed his light to shine before men.
2. With unrestricted liberality. So lavish had been his hospitality that his domestics could fairly ask Where was the man whom their master had not sumptuously entertained? His table had stood open for all comers for friends and relatives, as a matter of course, but also for strangers and travellers of every sort and degree. So did Abraham and Lot invite travellers and strangers to their tents; (Gen_18:1-4 Gen_19:1) so are Christians exhorted to be gives to hospitality. (Rom_12:13 Heb_13:2)
3. With unstinted generosity. Not simply had he practised hospitality, but he had done so with no niggard band. The stranger he had welcomed to a lodging in his house. To the hungry traveller by the way he had extended, not a crust of bread merely, but a full meal, yea, a rich feast. So are Christians commanded to use hospitality without grudging. (1Pe_4:9)
IX WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF SINCERITY. (Vers. 33-37) The Language may be understood as conveying:
1. An important admission. Job"s use of the phrase, "my transgressions," is by some (Canon Cook) regarded as tantamount to an acknowledgment that, notwithstanding his blameless character and life, he was not free from sin a statement which was certainly correct in itself, since "there is not a just man on earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not", (Ecc_7:20) and hopeful as an indication of the mind of Job, inasmuch as it proved he was not depending on his virtues for salvation, as well as comforting for those who should afterwards peruse the story of his life, and who but for this recognition of the fact of sin might be prone to think that Job"s morality was beyond their reach. Still, it is open to grave question whether Job really intended to make this admission, or whether he did not rather design to convey an opposite idea, viz. that, as he had perpetrated no open crime, so neither was he hiding any secret wickedness. In either case his words contain:
2. An emphatic protestation. He was not attempting, and never had attempted, to play the hypocrite by either denying his guiltiness in general, or concealing his wicked acts in particular. In all he had said to them about the manner of his life, as in all the approaches he had ever made to God, he had acted with transparent sincerity. There was no secret stain upon his soul which he had not confessed to God; there was no undivulged crime which he feared to make known to man. Preeminently Job claimed to be one in whose spirit there was no guile. (Psa_32:2) Job"s accents contain a ring of defiance, which seems to ask whether he was likely to be afraid of either the hootings of the mob or the contempt of the aristocratic families of the land, that he required to skulk within doors, and keep silent about anything that he had ever done. Doubtless Job was universally recognized as a man of courage; and, because it was so, he could appeal to that in proof of his sincerity. But beyond this his utterance, if really intended, exhibits:
3. An instructive comparison. The contrast which Job institutes between himself and Adam, if the translation of the Authorized Version be followed, is a valuable authentication of the biblical tradition of the Fall. It proves that the writer of the Book of Job, to whatever age he belonged, accepted the story in Genesis concerning Adam as historically correct. By putting the name Adam into the mouth of one who flourished in pre-Mosaic times, it also demonstrates that, in the judgment of the author at least, the contents of the Hebrew narrative were credited beyond the bounds of Palestine at a time when the First Book of Moses was probably not yet composed. And now, having strenuously asserted that he was guilty of no concealment, he adds, in authentication of his truthfulness:
4. A personal subscription. "Behold my signature!" he exclaims, alluding to the practice in ancient courts of law of submitting a defence in writing, attested by the signature or mark of the accused party, and meaning that, so far as he was concerned, so confident did he feel in his own integrity, and so well prepared was he to reply to any indictment that might be brought against him, that he was willing to see the case go to trial without delay. Nay, having tendered his defences, he closes with a shout of triumph, throwing out as his ultimatum:
5. A sublime proclamation" in which he challenges his unseen adversary, God, (Job_9:15 Job_16:9) to draw up an indictment against him (Carey" Cox), or, according to another interpretation (Delitzsch), in which he draws attention to the already prepared indictment of his opponents, viz. the three friends. In either case he offers, if only God will allow the matter to go to trial, not to shrink from the ordeal of examination, but binding the indictment (God"s or what of the friends) on his shoulder as a badge of distinction, "winding it around his head like a magnificent crown of diadems, (Delitzsch), to approach God with all the princely majesty of one who is conscious of innocence" and to lay bare before his searching gaze, with the most assured confidence of ultimate vindication, every step in his by-past career.
X WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF PROPERTY. (Vers. 38-40)
1. The crime which Job disowns. The fraudulent appropriation of land, by either withholding the stipulated rent or murdering the legal proprietor, was apparently not unknown in the days of the patriarch, as, alas I in our time it is both known and practised. But of any such iniquity Job"s hands were clear. For every rood of soil he cultivated be had honestly paid the market price; and, of course, he had never dreamt of killing his landlord to get his farm, as Jezebel dispatched Naboth to secure his vineyard.
2. The curse which Job invokes. Had Job been guilty of any such wickedness, not only would his fields have cried out against him, and the furrows which he ploughed have wept over his ungodliness, but he would have richly deserved that Heaven"s blight should descend upon his acres; and such a blight he prays to descend upon his broad domain if he has been guilty of any such wickedness as that which he has just disowned. "May thistles spring up instead of wheat, and darnel instead of barley!
Learn:
1. That the Law of God, i.e. the moral Law, or the law of holiness, has been the same from the beginning of the world until now.
2. That the spirituality of the Law el God is only concealed from them who make no attempt to keep it.
3. That the Law of God takes cognizance of man in every department of his being and every sphere of his life.
4. That the Law of God is as certain and severe in its penalties as it is stern and imperative in its requirements.
5. That the Law of God is the one absolute and invariable rule of life for men under the Christian as well as under the Mosaic or patriarchal dispensation, for the pardoned believer no less than for the unconverted sinner.
6. That the true gauge of a soul"s piety is the earnestness with which it endeavours to keep the Law of God in all its precepts.
7. That the loftiest incentive to such a keeping of the Law of God is a reverential regard for the Lawmaker, especially as he is seen in Christ.
8. That no mere man is able to keep the Law of God perfectly, even Job"s performances being not altogether unmixed with sin.
9. That the most dangerous thing a man can do with his transgressions of the Law of God is to cover them.
10. That that man is grossly deceived who imagines God could not indict him for violations of his Law, because he (the man) cannot indict himself.
11. That those who are advancing in holiness, or sincere keeping of the Law of God, should guard against being either too proud of, or too reliant on, their own attainments.
12. That the loftiest morality attainable on earth will not enable man to dispense with the services of a Daysman or Mediator.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-40. Solemn assurances of innocence.
Job can discover no connection between his present sufferings and those well-founded hopes of his former life to which he has been referring; but there remains the assumption of his guilt as an explanation. In his intense longing for redemption he is led, in conclusion, to affirm in the most solemn and sacred manner his innocence, invoking the sorest punishments upon himself if his words are untrue. Thus, in effect, he makes a final appeal to God as his Judge. In this solemn assurance of innocence, he begins with that which is the root and source of sin evil lust; he then touches on the sins proceeding from it, and explains the rule of life and the disposition of heart which rendered him incapable of the commission of such sins.
I LUST RESISTED: THE HEART GIVEN TO VIRTUE. (Vers. 1-4)
1. He had governed the eye and restrained its lust. He had guarded that noble organ, which may be either the avenue of purest pleasures or the tempter to most shameful vice. He had prescribed to the eye its conduct and its law. The eye seems almost as much the receptacle and scat of our passions, appetites, and inclinations as the mind itself; at least it is the outward portal to introduce them to the mind within, or rather the common thoroughfare to let our affections pass in and out. Love, anger, pride, avarice, all visibly move in those little orbs (Addison). It is not enough to watch over the heart, the inner citadel of the man, but all its avenues the eye, the ear, the hand, the foot must be guarded against the approach of sin.
2. He had referred himself in this to the judgment and the all-seeing eye of God. (compare Joseph, Gen_39:9; and Psa_139:2, sqq.) The thought of men"s knowledge is often a more powerful deterrent from actual crime; it is the thought of God which alone can sanctify and keep in safety the heart. Job rises above the mere commandments of the Law. Law forbids the desire of others" goods (Exo_20:17 Deu_5:21) a negative virtue; Christ carries us directly to God, and bids us be pure in heart that we may behold him. To live consciously in the eye of God is to have a pure and right direction for our own.
II FIRST PROTESTATION: EVIL DESIRES HAVE NOT BEEN YIELDED TO. (Vers. 5-8) He did not "go about with falsehood," nor did his foot hasten to deceit. May God, he says, pausing, weigh him in a just balance, and, instead of being found wanting like Belshazzar, (Dan_5:27) may his integrity be known and proved! Among the Greeks, Themis, or Dike, held the scales symbolical of judgment; the Arabs speak of judgment as the "balance of works." Every man"s work, every man"s character, shall finally be tried, proved, made known; and many that are last shall be first, and the first last. His steps had not turned out of the right way, the way marked out and appointed by God; no stain of ill-gotten wealth had cleaved to his hands. (Psa_101:5 Deu_13:17) Another imprecation, ratifying his assurances of innocence: "Then let me sow, and let another eat let another enjoy the fruit of his ill-spent, dishonest toil; (comp. Job_27:16, 17 Lev_26:16 Deu_28:33 Amo_5:11) and let his shoots the plants of the earth which he has set be rooted out!
III His PURE AND RIGHT CONDUCT IN DOMESTIC LIFE. (Vers. 9-15)
1. His chastity. (Vers. 9-12) He had not been befooled into any gross sin against the marriage-tie. He expresses the utmost detestation of such sin. "It would be a crime, and a sin before the judges." It would be as a devouring fire, resting not in its course until it had brought the criminal to the pit of hell, and all his property had been rooted out. (comp. Pro_6:27 Pro_7:26, 27 Jam_3:6)
2. His conduct towards his domestic slaves. He had not abused the rights of his menservants or maidservants. His relation to them was patriarchal, like that of Abraham to Eliezer of Damascus. (Gen_15:2 Gen_24:2, et seq.) He felt that he and they, masters and slaves, were of one blood, the children of one Father, offspring of one Creator; how could he, were he guilty of sin against them, face the dread tribunal of God? "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?". (Mal_2:10) Refer to St. Paul"s exhortation to masters. (Eph_6:9) The relations of masters and servants, employers and employed, have undergone vast changes since those ancient days. We all live under the equal protection of the laws of the land, and the general spirit of the law is to protect the weaker against the stronger, the poor against the encroachment of the rich. But in Christianity this relation receives a new meaning and sanctity by being brought under the great central relation in which we stand to Christ. And we have a beautiful example of the Christian treatment of the servant in St. Paul"s Epistle to Philemon. To set our servants good examples, and to care for their moral and spiritual welfare, is the duty of a Christian master or mistress.
IV HIS JUST AND COMPASSIONATE CONDUCT IN SOCIAL LIFE. (Vers. 16-23; comp. Job_29:12-17) He did not refuse his interiors their wishes when it was in his power to gratify them; did not withhold what he had the ability to give, nor shut up his compassions towards his poor brother; did not leave the widow to languish in longing expectation of help. He had not eaten alone in solitary greed a rich repast, like Dives; he had shared his bread with the orphan. All his life long he had been a father to the fatherless, a support to the widow, thus seeking to follow and imitate the all-compassionate God; to reproduce his heavenly pity in a gentle life on earth (Psa_68:5) He had clothed the neglected and the poor, and earned their thanks and blessing. In his capacity as ruler and judge he had not lifted up his hand with the purpose of violence; he had not perverted his great influence in the gate, or place of justice, to do them wrong. Forced to self-defence, he sets the seal of a most solemn imprecation upon his testimony concerning the past. And, further, he again sets forth the deep religious ground on which all his conduct to his neighbours was built. It was the fear of God, which is the beginning of all piety, the root of all morality, the great deterrent from sin. It was" therefore, morally impossible for him to have committed the sins laid to his charge (ver. 28). Here from the ancient patriarchal world shines out upon us a picture of those social virtues which are essentially the same in every age and every land. These are the primal duties which gleam aloft like stars, or adorn the earth like flowers. Our duties to our inferiors in wealth and status are an essential part of Christian piety. We are to do good when we can hope for nothing again. The poor cannot recompense us, but we shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. (Luk_14:14 Mat_25:36) Much converse with the weak and the lowly produces simplicity of heart, and chastens our feverish ambition to shine among our equals or superiors. "Far other aims our hearts will learn to prize, More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. Compare the whole picture of the village pastor in Goldsmith"s " Deserted Village." The contemplation of these pictures, in the poet"s description or in actual life, sweetens the heart, calms our thoughts; above all, we are thus led to dwell with still more delight on the sacred picture of him who went about doing good, the Divine Type of all compassion and condescension.
V JOB"S INWARD LIFE: THE FINER CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. (Vers. 24-40) He proceeds to mention several sins of a more depraved and base character, defending himself against the charge of complicity with them.
1. The lust of gold. (Vers. 24, 25) He had not put his trust in riches. The deadliness of the sin of covetousness has been among the lessons of all moralists, sacred and profane. The "accursed hunger for gold," the "root of all evil;" "Thy money perish with thee;" "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee;" "Take heed, and beware of covetousness;" are sayings that occur to us all. This is really the most fruitful source of all the darker crimes and sins, because there is no passion so unsocial, so antisocial. Men lose their souls to save their pelf. "Covetousness is the alpha and omega of the devil"s alphabet; the first vice in corrupt nature which moves, and the last which dies." It is an "immoderate desire and pursuit of even the lawful helps and supports of nature." "Holding fast all it can get in one hand, and reaching at all it can desire with the other." "It has enriched its thousands, and damned its ten thousands.
2. Idolatry and blind worship of power. (Ver. 26, et sec.) As he had kept his heart with all diligence in presence of the temptations of gold, so he had watched against the inducements of false religion. In presence of the glorious objects of nature, the worship of which so extensively prevailed in the East, and at one period probably over the whole world, he had refrained from throwing towards them the kiss which was the gesture of reverence. For his heart had been touched with true reverence for its alone worthy Object, the God who is a Spirit; and to have declined to these beggarly elements would have been a crime against conscience, a practical infidelity, a denial of the God above. If we have ever been taught and trained in a spiritual faith, we cannot lapse into mere formalism a confusion of the external symbol with the living reality without a denial of our spiritual conscience, a turning of the light within us into darkness. To bow before the mere power and beauty revealed in nature, ignoring God as the Author both of nature and of the moral law: or to make worship a mere sensuous enjoyment rather than a spiritual exercise; are subtle temptations of our time analogous to those of Job. Our view of Nature is only religious when we seek through her sensuous medium for the supersensuous, the moral, the Divine (compare Mozley"s noble sermon on "Nature").
3. Hatred of enemies. (Ver. 29, et seq.) He had lived in the light of a most lofty morality. The general principle of ancient morality was, "Love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy," among both Jews and Gentiles. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," was the maxim of the savage justice of the early times. Even the great Aristotle says, in his "Ethics," "They who are not enraged when they ought to be, seem to be weak creatures; to endure insults and neglect one"s friends is the part of a slave" ("Eth. Nic.," 4:5). "The first duty of justice," says Cicero, "is to injure no one, unless provoked by a wrong" ("Off.," 1:7). Let us contrast with this the gentle morality of Heaven. The Law of Moses ordained that if a man should meet his enemy"s ass or his ox going astray, he should surely bring it back to him again. (Exo_23:4) Men were not to avenge, nor bear any grudge against others, but to love their neighbours as themselves. (Lev_19:18) Especially do we find this doctrine preached in the Book of Proverbs, "Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he will save thee"; (Lev_20:22) "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth"; (Lev_24:17) "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink". (Lev_25:21) Job had not defiled his mouth with curses imprecating death upon his foes. Nor had his morality been negative merely, which is all that many seem able to conceive of one"s duties to one"s neighbours. He had been hospitable and generous (vers. 31, 32). The "people of his tent," the inmates of his dwelling, had never to complain of scant fare, of short commons, at his table. He did not leave the stranger to pass the night in the street, but opened his doors to the wanderer. "No surly porter stood in guilty state, To spurn imploring famine from the gate.... His house was known to all the vagrant train He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain.
Compare the stories of Abraham"s hospitality at Mature. Lot"s at Sodom, of the old man at Giheah. (Ge 18 Heb_13:2 Jud_1:19:15, et seq.) Among peoples who led an unsettled, wandering life, hospitality necessarily became one of the foremost of duties to one"s neighbour; and there are many Arab popular anecdotes of Divine punishment of the inhospitable. Wetstein says that while exploring the lake Ram, the fountain of the Jordan, the Bedouins asked him if he had not heard of the origin of the lake; and related that many centuries ago a flourishing village once stood there. One evening a poor traveller came while the men were sitting together in the open place of the village, and begged for a supper and lodging. They refused; and when he said he was starving, an old woman reached out to him a clod of earth, and drove him from the village. The man went to the village of Nimra hard by, where he was taken in. The next morning a lake was found where the neighbouring village had stood. The conditions of modern life are different. The place of hospitality in the scale of social duties is changed. But for all who have enough and to spare of this world"s goods, there remains open a wide field of Christian beneficence and of refined culture in the practice of a sincere and discriminating hospitality. The model lesson on this subject is in Luke
1. It is a deep lesson that no man is poorer for all the expense of love. It is the habit of needless hoarding that empties the heart. When the affections are centred on the granary, or the counting-house, or the bank, or the fields, the man"s wealth is imaginary, not real. Real wealth lies in the power of self-sufficiency for our outward condition, and of having something over for others. "Use hospitality without grudging;" "God loveth a cheerful giver." "The world teaches me that it is madness to leave what I may carry with me; Christianity teaches me that what I charitably give while I live I may carry with me after death; experience teaches me that what I leave behind I lose. I will carry with me by giving away that treasure which the worldling loses by keeping; and thus, while his corpse shall carry nothing but a winding-sheet to his grave, I shall be richer underground than I was above it" (Bishop Hall).
2. Hypocrisy and concealment of sins. (Vers. 33-40) The way of man (or of "Adam") is to hide guilt, and bear a hypocritical front. The motive of such concealment is suggested in ver. 34 the fear of the great multitude, or of the nobler families who were one"s equals and associates. So may a guilty conscience lay a weight upon the tongue; as in Plutarch"s story of Demosthenes, who, having taken a bribe, refused to speak in the assembly, appearing there with his throat muffled up, and complaining of a quinsy; whereupon one cried out," He is not suffering from a throat-quinsy but from a money-quinsy." "Garments once rent are liable to be torn on every nail and every brier, and glasses once cracked are soon broken; such is a good man"s name, once tainted with just reproach. Next to the approbation of God, and the testimony of my own conscience, I will seek for a good reputation among men; not by concealing faults lest they should be known to my shame, but by avoiding all sins that I may not deserve it. It is difficult to do good, unless we be reputed good" (Bishop Hall).
3. Renewed protestations. Would that he had one to hear this his assurance of innocence! He is thinking of God, and he desires his judicial interference in his favour. "Behold, there is my handwriting; let the Almighty answer me." As if he should say, "Here is the original of my justification, with my signature attached. This is my documentary defence; let the Almighty try it, and let his judgment be given" On the other hand, would that he had the accusation, the statement as it were of the prosecution against him (ver. 35). He here thinks of God as his Accuser, and longs to know what he has against him! Had he this document, he would bear it like a mark of honour upon his shoulder, (for the idea, comp. Isa_9:4 Isa_22:22) or like a diadem for his head. Such is the triumphant consciousness of innocence. He would declare to God the number of his steps would conceal nothing, but confess all to him. He would approach him like a prince, with stately step and unabashed port, as becomes one whose conscience is clear (ver. 37). Lastly, by some additional light of memory now flashing on his mind at the close of his protestation, he gives a special example of his freedom from the guilt of blood. His had been no life containing deeds like that of Ahab to Naboth. (1Ki_21:1) No such fearful crime was the cause of his sufferings. "If my land cries against me for revenge, because of some crime against a former possessor its furrows weep; if I have wasted its power, its fruit and produce, without payment, and blasted the life of its possessor," by violence, "instead of wheat let thorns spring forth, and instead of barley stinking weeds." That consciousness of God"s omniscience, which strikes terror into the secret sinner, is a comfort to the heart of the sincere child of God. The daybreak frightens the robber, but cheers the honest traveller. Thou that art sincere, God sees that sincerity in thee which others cannot discern; yea, he often sees more sincerity in thy heart than thou caner discern thyself, This may uphold the drooping spirits of a disconsolate soul when the black mouths of men, steeled with ignorance and prejudice, shall be opened in hard speeches against him. How severely, though blindly, do they judge of men"s hearts! But here the sincere soul may comfort itself when on the one hand it can reflect upon its own integrity, and on the other upon God"s infinite infallible knowledge, and say, "Indeed, men charge me with this and this, as false-hearted and a hypocrite, but my God knows otherwise" As Daniel, by trusting in God, was secure from the mouths of the lions, so thou, by having faith in and drawing comfort from God"s omniscience, mayest defy the more cruel mouths of thy persecutors. When a man is accused of treason to his prince, and knows that his prince is fully assured of his innocence, he will laugh all such accusations to scorn. It is thus with God and a sincere heart. In the midst of all slanders he will own thee for innocent, as he did Job, when his friends, with much specious piety, charged him with hypocrisy. Wherefore commit thy way to the all-seeing God to that God who is acquainted with all thy ways; who sees thy goings out and thy comings in, and continually goes in and out before thee, and will one day testify and set his seal to thine integrity. Comfort thyself in the consideration of his omniscience, from whence it is that God judgeth not as man judgeth, but judgeth righteous judgment; and hold fast thy integrity that lies secret in the heart, whose praise is of God, and not of man (South). J.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-40. The consciousness of integrity.
The Divine solution of the riddle of human life is being wrought out in this poem, although at times it seems as though the entanglement became more and more confused. The case, as put in these three chapters, is the condensation of all as far as it has gone. It still awaits the solution. Job was in riches, dignity, and honour; he is now cast down to ignominy and suffering. Yet he is righteous this, at least, is his own conviction; and in this chapter he makes his appeal to the facts of his history and invites scrutiny, and judgment if he be found guilty. This is the progress of the writing up to the present moment. His companions are baffled. They know of no other explanation of such suffering than deep and hidden sin. It will yet be proved that the godly suffer whom thou lovest is sick although the world will long wait for a verbal explanation; and even now does the cry never ascend to heaven, "Wherefore dealest thou thus with me?" Job"s appeal to the uprightness of his life and to his perfect integrity relates to the whole of his conduct, and to the various conditions in which he has been placed. The outward Divine testimony, he is "a perfect and an uptight man," has its echo in Job"s breast. Hence he makes his appeal
I TO HIS CHASTITY. He makes his appeal in the sight of the all-searching One to him who seeth "my ways" and counteth "all my steps.
II TO HIS TRUTHFULNESS AND JUSTNESS.
III TO HIS PURITY OF CONDUCT.
IV TO HIS FIDELITY.
V TO HIS EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE.
VI TO HIS UNFLINCHING RECTITUDE.
VII TO HIS CHARITY AND COMPASSION.
VIII TO HIS FREEDOM FROM UNDUE CONFIDENCE IN HIS WEALTH.
IX TO HIS FREEDOM FROM IDOLATRY.
X TO HIS FREEDOM FROM HATRED AND HARSH TREATMENT, EVEN OF HIS ENEMIES
XI TO HIS KINDNESS AND HOSPITALITY.
XII TO HIS EXEMPTION FROM COVERT OR OPEN SIN. He hid no iniquity in his bosom, and therefore feared not the presence of men. Hypocrisy was not his failing. He makes his final appeal to his honesty and uprightness of dealing even by a reference to his fidelity to the very fields which he owned. Well might such a man long for a true judgment for an open ear into which he could pour his complaint. Well may such a man commit himself to Jehovah"s judgment, knowing "the Almighty will answer for me." Thus does Job vindicate his integrity and make his appeal to the highest tribunal. R.G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v1I made a covenant with mine eyes.
Job_31:1-32
I made a covenant with mine eyes.
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Guard the senses
Set a strong guard about thy outward senses: these are Satans landing places, especially the eye and the ear. (W. Gurnall.)
Methods of moral life
Let us look at the kind of life Job says he lived, and in doing so let it be remarked that all the critics concur in saying that this chapter contains more jewels of illustration, of figure or metaphor, than probably any other chapter in the whole of the eloquent book. Job is therefore at his intellectual best. Let him tell us the kind of life he lived: whilst he boasts of it we may take warning by it; the very things he is clearest about may perhaps awaken our distrust. Job had tried a mechanical life--I made a covenant with mine eyes (verse 1). The meaning of a mechanical life is a life of regulation, penance, discipline; a life all marked out like a map; a kind of tabulated life, every hour having its duty, every day its peculiar form or expression of piety. Job smote himself; he set before his eyes a table of negations; he was not to do a hundred things. He kept himself well under control; when he burned with fire, he plunged into the snow; when his eyes wandered for a moment, he struck them both, and blinded himself in his pious indignation. He is claiming reward for this. Truly it would seem as if some reward were due. What can a man do more than write down upon plain paper what he will execute, or what he will forbear doing, during every day of the week? His first line tells what he will do, or not do, at the dawn; he will be up with the sun, and then he will perform such a duty, or crucify such and such a passion he will live a kind of military life; he will be a very soldier. Is this the true way of living? Or is there a more excellent way? Can we live from the outside? Can we live by chart, and map, and schedule, and printed regulation? Can the race be trained in its highest faculties and aspects within the shadow of Mount Sinai? Or is the life to be regulated from within? Is it the conduct that is to be refined, or the motive that is to be sanctified and inspired? Is life a washing of the hands, or a cleansing of the heart? The time for the answer is not now, for we are dealing with an historical instance, and the man in immediate question says that he tried a scheduled life. He wrote or printed with his own hand what he would do, and what he would not do, and he kept to it; and though he kept to it, some invisible hand struck him in the face, and lightning never dealt a deadlier blow. Job then says he tried to maintain a good reputation amongst men--If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out (verses 5-8). That was a public challenge. There were witnesses; let them stand forth: there was a public record kept; let it be read aloud. This man asks for no quarter; he simply says, read what I have done let the enemy himself read it, for even the tongue of malice cannot pervert the record of honesty. Will not this bring a sunny providence? Will not this tempt condescending heaven to be kind, and to give public coronation to so faithful a patron? Is there no peerage for a man who has done all this? Nay, is he to be displaced from the commonalty and thrust down, that he may be a brother to dragons and a companion to owls? All this has he done, and yet he says, My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep (Job_30:30-31). This is not what we have thought of Providence. We have said, Who lives best in the public eye will be by the public judgment most honourably and cordially esteemed: the public will take care of its servants; the public will stand up for the man who has done all he could in the interests of the public; slave, man or woman, will spring to the masters rescue, because of remembered kindnesses. Is Job quite sure of this? Certainly, or he would not have used such imprecations as flowed from his eloquent lips:--If I have done thus, and so, then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out: let my wife grind servilely unto another: let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. So then Job himself is speaking earnestly. Yet, he says, though I have done all this, I am cast into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes: though I have done all this, God is cruel unto me, and He does not hear me: I stand up, and He regardeth me not: with His strong hand He opposeth Himself against me: He has lifted me up to the wind, and He has driven me away with contempt: He has not given me time to swallow down my spittle: I, the model man of my day, have been crushed like a venomous beast. Job, therefore, does not modify the case against God. He misses nothing of the argument and withholds nothing of the tragic fact. He makes a long, minute, complete, and urgent statement. And this statement is found in the Bible! Actually found in a Book which is meant to assert eternal providence and justify the ways of God to man! It is something that the Bible could hold within its limits the Book of Job. It is like throwing ones arms around a furnace; it is as if a man should insist upon embracing some ravenous beast, and accounting him as a member of the household. These charges against Providence are not found in a book written in the interests of what is called infidelity or unbelief; this impeachment is part of Gods own book. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1Concludes his speeches by a solemn, particular, and extended…
JOB’S SELF-VINDICATION.—HIS SOLILOQUY CONTINUED
Concludes his speeches by a solemn, particular, and extended declaration of the purity and uprightness of his life. Especial reference to his private, as before to his public, conduct. Intended to silence his accusers and justify his complaints. Affords a picture of an outwardly and blameless character. A specimen, presented in beautiful language, of a pure morality accompanied with, and based upon, an ardent piety and genuine religion. Job asserts—
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I. His chastity. Job_31:1.—“I made a covenant with (or laid a solemn charge upon) mine eyes: why (or how) then should I look (or that I would not look) upon a maid” [to lust after her, as Mat_5:28]. Speaks especially as a married man, and with reference to the sin of adultery. Already beginning to prevail in that early period, particularly with the rich and powerful. Hence Abraham’s apprehension and temptation (Gen_12:11-15); and Isaac’s, (Gen_26:7-10). Observe—
1. The text the language of holy resolution. The soul to act as lord of the body. The body with its members, organs, and senses, to be kept in subjection (1Co_9:27). The avenues to temptation to be guarded. The eye the inlet of lust. Occasions and temptations to sin to be guarded against as well as sin itself. The neglect of Job’s resolution the occasion of David’s fall and broken bones (2Sa_11:2-4; Psa_51:8). The Saviour’s rule—“If thine eye offend thee”—prove a constant or frequent occasion of sin by awaking lust—“pluck it out”—remove the occasion of sin at whatever cost (Mat_5:28). Eve’s looking on the forbidden fruit the occasion of her own fall and the ruin of millions of her offspring. Lot’s wife looking back on Sodom the cause of her petrifaction into a pillar of salt. Dinah’s idle curiosity in visiting a heathen city to see its women, the loss of her own chastity. Achan’s looking on the golden wedge and Babylonish garments the loss of his life (Jos_7:21). Samson’s sleep on Delilah’s lap the loss of his locks (Jdg_16:19). “Look not on the wine when it is red” (Pro_23:31). David’s (or Daniel’s?) prayer: “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity” (Psa_119:37). Christian and Faithful in Vanity Fair refused even to look upon its wares. The contrast of the text in 2Pe_2:14, “Having eyes full of adultery.”
2. Job’s reasons for his resolution.
(1) His preference for a better portion. Job_31:2.—“For what portion of God is there [in such a case] from above? and what inheritance from the Almighty on high?” Job taught to distinguish between present pleasure and future bliss, and between the mere gratification of lust and the enjoyment of true happiness. No gratification of the senses to be compared to the enjoyment of God’s favour. A man must either forego the pleasures of sin or the joys of heaven. Nothing unclean admitted within the New Jerusalem. The gratification of sinful passion incompatible with the enjoyment of God’s presence. Observe—(i.) In order to the resisting of temptation and avoiding of sin, important to “have respect to the recompense of reward” (Heb_11:26). Thus Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season (Heb_11:25). Having this respect, Mary chose the good part, and turned her back on the world; not having it, the rich young man chose the world, and turned his back upon Christ. (ii.) Necessary to choose between the enjoyment of sin and the enjoyment of God, and between a portion in this world and one in the next. The whole tenour of a man’s life here, and the whole eternity of his experience hereaft er, determined by the choice he makes between the two. (iii.) God not only the Bestower of a believer’s portion, but the portion itself (Psa_16:5). Such portion to be desired in preference to all earthly and sensuous enjoyment, as—First: More excellent in itself, and more becoming man’s better nature as a moral and intellectual being. Second: More satisfying to such a being, and to one made capable, as man is, of enjoying his Maker’s friendship. Third: More enduring, the one terminating at the farthest with death, the other extending throughout eternity. Fourth: Attended with no remorse. Fifth: Followed by no penalty.
(2) His dread of the consequences of sin. Job_31:3—“Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment (a terrible calamity or ‘alienation’—viz., from God and all good) to the workers of iniquity?” Reference to the “terrors of the Lord” important in persuading ourselves, as well as others, to the avoidance of sin (2Co_5:11). Christ’s argument, “What shall a man be profited, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Better to enter into life with one eye or one foot, than having two eyes or two feet to be cast into hell. Better lose everything than lose heaven. Every loss light compared with the loss of the soul. Observe—(i.) Destruction certain to the wicked and impenitent. The wicked turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God (Psa_9:17). (ii) No earthly calamity equal to that which must one day overtake the unqodly. The destruction of the Old World by water, and that of Sodom and Gomorrha by fire, only a foreshadowing of the destruction of the impenitent at the final judgment. Inconceivable terrors involved in the sentence: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Mat_25:41). “Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (2Th_1:9). Such destruction the righteous penalty of wilful transgression of the Divine law, rebellion against the Divine government, and refusal of the Divine mercy. Natural that whatsoever a man soweth that he should also reap. Destruction and misery the flower and fruit of sin. Sin is misery in the seed; misery is only sin in the bloom.
(3) The recollections of God’s constant inspection. (Job_31:4)—“Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?” (or actions,—every separate act or passage in my course on earth) Omniscience a necessary attribute of godhead. An open eye the Egyptian hieroglyphic for deity. “Thou God seest me,” the guardian of Job’s life. Not easy to sin under the gaze of the broad eye of the Almighty. Few so hardy as to break the Queen’s commands with the Queen herself looking on. The practice of sin the result of forgetfulness of God. The language of the heart if not of the lips of the ungodly,—No eye shall see me (ch. Job_24:15). To walk before God the easy and natural way to be perfect and upright (Gen_17:1).
II. His honesty, uprightness, and freedom from covetousness (Job_31:5-8). “If I have walked with vanity (lived in the practice of falsehood and hypocrisy), or if my food hath hasted to deceit (to the commission of a fraud); let me be weighed (Heb., ‘let him—or any one—weigh me’) in an even balance (Heb. ‘in the balances of righteousness,’) that God may know my integrity (should there be any doubt in the matter, which however is impossible). If my step hath turned out of the way (the straight way, or way of truth and uprightness, the only way that men should walk in), and mine heart walked after mine eyes—(gone out in covetous desire after the possession of what I have seen, as Ahab’s heart went after Naboth’s vineyard,—the eye being the inlet of covetousness as well as of lust), and if any blot (or stain of wrong doing, unjust gain, or bribe for the perversion of justice) hath cleaved to my hands (in the transaction of any business with my fellow-men, or in the discharge of my duty as a magistrate and a judge); then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring (or my produce) be rooted out.” The language—
1. Of conscious innocence and integrity. Job able unhesitatingly to appeal to his neighbours and to God Himself in the declaration of his honesty and uprightness both in private and public life. So Samuel at Gilgal (1Sa_12:3; and Paul at Miletus (Act_20:18-20; Act_20:33-35). Job’s character as here given by himself only that already given him by God.
2. Of, in some degree at least, self-ignorance and pride. Job apparently still too confident in his own righteousness. Though upright in his external dealings, and blameless in the eyes of men, yet, weighed “in the balances of righteousness,” even Job found wanting (Rom_3:9-10; Rom_3:19; Rom_3:23). Much self-knowledge yet to be gained by him. Job yet to take the place of the publican—“God be merciful to me a sinner” (chap. Job_40:4; Job_42:5-6).
3. Of sincerity. A mark of uprightness, when we are not only willing but wishful, if we have done wrong, to suffer for it. David’s case (Psa_7:3-5. Paul’s Act_25:11).
Job’s imprecation suggests that, in the providence of God, punishment in this world is often according to the nature of the sin. Cruelty and wrong done to others often punished by the same being experienced by ourselves. Injustice in our gains punished by a blight on our substance. Same principle acknowledged in the next sin specified.
III. His freedom from adulterous desires and practices. Job_31:9-12.—“If mine heart hath been deceived by (or enticed towards) a woman (especially one married—temptation from a maid spoken of already, Job_31:1); or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door (watching the opportunity of his absence); then let my wife (my own wife) grind (become an abject slave; Exo_11:5; Isa_47:2; and concubine) to another, and let others bow down upon her.”
Adultery apparently prevalent in the time of Job and the writer of the book (chap. Job_24:15). Job declares his freedom from the sin as an exceptional thing among the great men of his time and country. A sin to which his riches and power afforded, as in David’s case, a strong temptation. Not uncommon in patriarchal times for the great to take another man’s wife, though at the expense of her husband’s life. Hence Abraham’s and Isaac’s fear for their wives’ chastity and their own lives—the one in Egypt, and both in Gerar (Gen_12:12; Gen_20:2; Gen_26:7). One of the ten commandments in the Decalogue expressly directed against this sin. Its commission punished with death (Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22). The sin apparently prevalent in the time of David and Solomon (Psa_50:18; Pro_6:24-29; Pro_7:5-9; and of the later prophets, Jer_5:8; Jer_9:2; Eze_18:6). Common among the Jews in the time of the Saviour (Joh_8:3-9). The Pharisees and Rabbis themselves said to have been notoriously guilty of it (Rom_2:22). The destruction of Jerusalem and the Great Captivity under the Romans ascribed by the Talmud to its prevalence for forty years previous to that event.
Job’s reasons for abstaining from this sin. Job_31:11.—
1. The heinousness of the crime itself: “For this is an heinous crime.” Sin to be avoided on account of its heinousness and malignity, apart from its consequences (Jer_44:4). Adultery the most heinous form of covetousness and theft. The most aggravated wrong that can be done to another. Inflicts the deepest wound and in the tenderest part. Robs him of honour and home. Covers his family with shame. Defilement of a man’s wife worse to endure than her death. Adultery a species of murder. The ruin of the injured man’s peace, and often leading to bloodshed and death.
2. Its consequences. These were—
(1) Civil and judicial. “It is an iniquity to be punished by the judges”—probably authoritative umpires or arbitrators in the case of any serious charge between man and man, with power to inflict appropriate penalty—usually the elders of the people (Deu_21:2; Jos_20:4). Adultery a capital crime, not only among the Jews but other nations of antiquity. The magistrate appointed by God to be a terror to evil doers (Rom_13:1-4). Some sins only cognizable by God; others punishable by man. A special heinousness in a crime punishable by the civil magistrate.
(2) Natural and providential. “For it is a fire that consumeth unto destruction, and would root out all mine increase.” Sin in general, and sins like adultery in particular, a “fire taken into the bosom” (Pro_6:27). Its tendency to destroy comfort, health, reputation, family, estate; and ultimately the soul itself in endless perdition. One single act brought constant trouble into David’s house and lasting sorrow into his heart. Sin destructive in its own nature; and some sins naturally more destructive than others. Many, if not all, sins carry with them their own punishment.
The imprecation in the text strongly declarative of Job’s innocence. The evil imprecated, the very last a man would wish to himself. The penalty invoked in accordance with the nature of the offence. “By what a man sins by that is he punished.”—Jewish Proverb. David’s adultery with Bathsheba is punished with incest between his son and daughter, and the defilement of his concubines by his own son. His murder of Uriah is punished by the murder of his incestuous son by the hand of his own brother (2Sa_13:16).
IV. His justice and humanity to his servants or slaves. Job_31:13.—“If I did despise the cause (or rights) of my manservant, or of my maidservant (my bondman or my bondwoman, my male or female slave), when they contended (had any controversy) with me.” In the East, masters viewed as having absolute right over their servants or slaves. These considered a portion of the master’s property. Were not permitted to appear in a court of justice against him. Might therefore be the object of any oppression without human redress. Job’s conduct towards his slaves the opposite of that of an oppressor. Probably exceptional, and just such as became a professed servant of the true God. His slaves treated by him, in the case of any complaint, as having rights equal with his own.
The grounds of this treatment of his slaves or servants:—
1. The consideration that for his conduct towards them he was amenable to God. Job_31:14.—“What then should I do when God riseth up? (to examine into my conduct, or to execute judgment on me as a transgressor, or finally, to plead the cause of the oppressed slave), and when he visiteth (for the examination of conduct or the punishment of offences) what should I answer him” (for such conduct, so as to escape His anger)? Observe—
(1) The fear of God an effectual restraint on Job and all good men. Joseph’s case: “How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” The principle of Nehemiah’s upright and disinterested conduct (Neh_5:15).
(2) A day coming in which God makes inquisition into the conduct both of masters and servants, rulers and ruled. The highest as well as the lowest amenable to His tribunal.
(3) God viewed by the natural conscience as a righteous and impartial judge.
(4) Justice even in respect to the most outcast, a duly written on the conscience of mankind.
(5) Men helpless against God’s determination to punish the transgressor. The most powerful tyrant feebler than the puniest insect before Him.
2. As having the same Creator, and mode of creation. Job_31:15.—“Did not he that made me in the womb make him?” Master and servant the similar work of the same Creator, and therefore both equally valued and cared for by Him, and to be treated on equal terms by each other.
3. As having the same nature. “Did not one fashion us in the womb” (or, “did not He fashion us in one and the same womb—one by similarity, not numerically). Both formed in the same manner and possessed of the same human nature. A woman’s womb the origin of both (Mal_2:10). The fundamental equality of mankind thus strongly asserted. The sentiment confirmed by the Apostle—“God hath made of one blood all nations of men,” &c. (Act_17:26). The Negro and the Papuan with the same essential features of humanity as the European. The slave possessed of the same faculties and powers, both moral and intellectual, as his master. The points in which men naturally differ from each other small and few compared with those in which all are alike. Men in a proper sense brethren, of whatever nation or class in society. The language of Job strikes at the root of slavery as justified by inferiority of race. Equality between master and servant, in the eyes of God, the teaching of the New Testament. Slavery not expressly forbidden, but principles inculcated which necessarily lead to its overthrow as Christianity advances. The views expressed by Job, in respect to man, of an advanced character for that period of the world. Only even now becoming universally acknowledged and acted upon by the Christian Church. Sentiments and practice of an opposite kind till very lately prevalent in a large portion of the Christian world. Even Christians justified the poet’s satire—
“Man finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not coloured like his own; and having power
To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.”
V. His benevolence and kindness to the poor. Job_31:16-17.—“If I have withheld the poor from their desire (their due wages, or rather the perquisites for which they looked as something belonging to them), or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail [by long withholding from her the expected help or redress]; or have eaten my morsel (or bread) alone, and the fatherless have not eaten thereof.” Claims of the poor constantly recognized in the law of Moses. Perquisites appointed for them in the harvest and in the vintage (Lev_19:9; Lev_23:22); in every seventh year (Exo_23:11); and in every third year’s tithes (Deu_14:28-29). Kindness and readiness to help the poor strictly enjoined (Deu_15:7-11). Their wages to be promptly paid them (Lev_19:13). Observe—Help as well as justice to the poor to be not only rendered, but rendered promptly. He gives twice who gives at once.—Latin Proverb. Job’s conduct the opposite of that of the unjust judge in the parable (Luk_18:2, &c).—Provision made by the Mosaic law for the widow in common with the poor in general. Their perquisites the same (Deu_19:21). Her raiment not to be taken to pledge (Deu_24:17). Herself not to be harrassed or afflicted (Exo_22:22). A curse pronounced on those who should wrong her or “pervert her judgment” (Deu_27:19). Job, probably long before the law was given, careful to afford the poor and the widow their just rights, and to fulfil their reasonable expectations. The law from Sinai a Divine sanction to duties already performed by many without it, through the law written on the conscience, and the principle of grace infused by the Holy Spirit.—Kindness to and care of the fatherless also strictly enjoined by the Divine law. These objects of sympathy and compassion usually joined with the poor and the widow. Job’s table open to the poor and needy. Common in the East to admit poor persons and strangers to their table or to send them portions from it. Hospitality a cardinal virtue among the Arabs. To he cultivated as a Christian grace (Rom_12:13; Heb_13:2). Enjoined as a Christian duty (Luk_14:13). “Ready to distribute,” a New Testament precept (1Ti_6:18). The section suggestive of the duty of
Kindness to the poor
Reasons and motives for its exercise—
1. The desire to relieve suffering and extend happiness.
2. The claim the poor have upon us as fellow-creatures and partakers of our common humanity. A Divine principle that where there is lack on the part of any member of the great family, it should be supplied out of the abundance of others (2Co_8:13-15). All living creatures, according to their nature, claim our help in suffering circumstances. Still more those of our own flesh. Kindness and benevolence to the poor and destitute allied to justice. Love a debt we owe to all our brethren. Kindness to the poor only one form of that love (Rom_13:8-10).
3. The principle that we should do to others as we would that they should do to us in similar circumstances (Luk_6:31).
4. The will and authority of our common Maker and Parent.
5. The example of the heavenly Father (Luk_6:35-36).
6. The special example of Christ, who “for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might become rich” (2Co_8:9). His life a going about doing good.
7. The manner in which God has identified the cause of the poor with His own, and in which Christ has done that of His disciples (Pro_19:17; Mat_25:40; Mat_25:45).
8. Active kindness to the poor a fruit of the Spirit, and an instinct of the new nature created in a believer after the image of God, (Gal_5:22; Col_3:10-12).
Lower and less worthy considerations—
1. The pleasure in the exercise of the benevolent affections, in relieving the sufferings and contributing to the happiness of others. The luxury of doing good.
2. The remembrance of our own liability to poverty and suffering, and our possible need of the help and sympathy of others.
3. The reward in an approving conscience and the “blessing of those who were ready to perish” (chap. Job_29:13.)
The exercise of kindness and benevolence marred by the introduction of selfish elements.
Kindness to the poor and needy to be—
1. Free and spontaneous.
2. Disinterested and pure from selfish motives.
3. Sincere and undissembled.
4. Prompt and seasonable.
5. Unwearied and persevering.
6. Self-denying as far as is necessary.
7. Impartial and general.
8. Up to our ability and opportunity.
9. Judicious and discriminating. Help given to the poor, without judgment and discretion, may be more injurious than beneficial. Our charity, like God’s, to be directed by “wisdom and prudence” (Eph_1:8). Relief not only to be given, but given to the proper objects and in the proper form.
10. Hearty and cheerful. Kind deeds to be accompanied with kind words and kind looks (Rom_12:8). The manner of the deed often as important as the deed itself.
Job’s reason for his assertion, with stronger affirmation of it. Job_31:18.—“For from my youth, he (the fatherless) was brought up with me as with a father, and I have guided (helped or comforted) her (the widow) from my mother’s womb” (a strong hyperbole, meaning, “from my earliest years”). To assert more strongly his benevolence, he assigns a reason for it, and adds something in regard to its exercise. With him the practice was nothing new. Benevolence was his natural disposition. Speaks of it as something born with him. Kindness to the widow and fatherless had been practised by him from his earliest years. Had grown with him into a habit or second nature. Much of this habit probably due to the character, and care of his parents. Neither the name of his father nor mother mentioned; but their eulogy unintentionally written in these words. His home a pious one, and his up-bringing according to godliness. Care early bestowed by his parents on his moral training. Observe, in respect to—
Early moral training—
1. Some born with dispositions naturally more benevolent than others. Such a disposition a favour from the Author of our being. Responsibility connected with its cultivation and exercise. Natural disposition to benevolence not necessarily followed by the wise, persevering, and self-denying practice of it. In Job’s case, the disposition fostered by his parents, and improved by himself through the constant exercise of kindness to the poor and needy. All probably born with more or less of such a disposition to begin with. A fragment of the Divine image imparted in creation. The least of it capable of increase through cultivation and practice. Its introduction in early life possible, and to be expected under the Christian economy and the dispensation of the Spirit. The natural disposition of children often an inheritance from their parents.
2. Children capable of being trained to the exercise of the benevolent affections. To be trained to “minister” and to show kindness to the poor and suffering, one of the most important parts of a child’s education. Such education more especially devolving upon the parents, and particularly the mother. Under the parents’ careful and constant attention, habits of good-doing capable of being formed in early life.
3. Early habits of benevolence, among the principal means of forming the character in after years. A child trained to such habits may become, in a greater or less degree, a Howard or an Elizabeth Fry. A Nero only the development of a child allowed to take pleasure in torturing a bird, or sticking a pin through a fly. The child the father to the man.
Job resumes the declaration of his humanity and benevolence, and asserts it in respect to clothing as well as feeding the poor. Job_31:19-20.—“If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering (by night or by day); if his loins have not blessed me (in gratitude for my clothing them), and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep” (or lambs, woven into cloth to serve him for a garment by day and a coverlet by night). Clothing the poor a needful form of benevolence in Arabia as well as in Britain. The cold of winter at times severe, all the more sensible after the extreme heat of summer. The nights often as cold as the days are hot. Clothing especially manufactured from the wool of sheep; a coarser kind from the hair of the camels. The earliest kind of clothing the skins of animals (Gen_3:21). The next step a garment made of the wool woven into cloth. Sheep chiefly valuable in the East on this account. The wool not only a beneficent provision for the animal itself, but for man who was to be its keeper. One of the sons of Adam, and the first martyr, a keeper of sheep (Gen_4:2).
Clothing the poor repeatedly mentioned in Scripture as one of the duties of charity. One of the forms of loving service rehearsed by Christ from the judgment-seat, as having been performed by the righteous on Himself in the person of His followers. (Mat_25:36). The duty enjoined by the Baptist as a proof of true repentance—“He that hath two coats let him give to him that hath none.” The name of Dorcas now a household word, from her kindness in clothing the poor. Perhaps as many perish for want of clothing as for want of bread. To be feared that garments lie in the chest, or hang in the wardrobe, which ought to clothe the “loins” of the poor. “The boards of my floor can well want carpets while so many of the poor around me want clothes to their backs” (Fenelon).
Declares, further, his humanity negatively. Had never used intimidation or violence in regard to the fatherless, nor used his influence in court to their disadvantage. Job_31:21.—“If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless (either to threaten or oppress him,—to ‘smite with the fist of wickedness,’ Isa_58:4), when I saw my help (or advantage, or those who were ready to support me) in the gate” (or court of justice, where a controversy was pending between us). Observe:—
1. Humanity exercised as well in what we refrain from doing as in what we do.
2. A strong temptation to the rich and powerful to take advantage of their position in a dispute with the poor. Cases of complaint against injury usually decided in the east by the opinion of the judge or Kadi, or by the voice of the majority of elders. A man of power and influence easily able to carry a case in his favour against the weak and defenceless. Such cases of complaint probably not infrequent where one man possessed such numerous flocks and herds, and carried on so extensive a husbandry. The greatest man in the land of Uz might easily have used his power and influence in such a oase, but had ever refrained from doing so.
3. As much principle often required to abstain from taking advantage of our position and influence in a dispute with others, as to bestow a positive benefit. Jezebel’s wickedness displayed in her counting upon her power with the elders and nobles in the court to obtain the vineyard of Naboth (1Ki_21:7-13).
Closes the declaration of his humanity to the poor with an imprecation in case of guilt. Job_31:22.—“Then let mine arm (the upper arm, from the elbow upwards) fall from the shoulder blade, and mine arm (the fore-arm, between the wrist and the elbow) be broken from the bone” (or upper arm to which it is attached). Reference to the whole of the preceding declaration in regard to his humanity to the poor, but more especially to the last-mentioned particular—“If I have lifted,” &c. The punishment imprecated always corresponding with the offence supposed to have been committed. On the same principle, Cranmer held his right hand over the burning pile to be first consumed, as the member which had signed the recantation made against his conscience and against the truth. The penalty conceived justly to fall especially on the member or organ which was more especially concerned in the offence, Men convicted of theft among the Copts not unfrequently found with their hands cut off.
Adds a reason for his declared conduct, Job_31:23.—“For destruction from God was a terror unto me, and by reason of his highness, I could not endure” (either to commit the sin or meet His wrath). Similar sentiment expressed in Job_31:3; Job_31:14. The reason given with reference to all the particulars of his conduct just mentioned, but more especially to the last. Observe—
The fear of God a good man’s preservative against sin. Seen in the case of Joseph and Nehemiah as well as of Job. The consideration of God’s displeasure against the sinner and the punishment threatened against the sin, one motive for resisting temptation and practising good, though not the highest. Rather the last source of defence against temptation when others fail. Better to abstain from sin and practice good, from hatred to sin itself and from love to God and good-doing, than from fear of His wrath. In Gospel exhortations to resist temptation and to do good, appeals rather made to the believer’s gratitude for mercies received, to his position and privileges in Christ, and to the example of his Divine Master and Father, than to his fears of punishment and the Divine anger. Fear a right and important motive, but rather for the servant than the child. “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry: Abba, Father” (Rom_8:15). Yet a loving and right-minded child will fear to offend a father, even more than a servant fears to offend a master. Love a more powerful principle than fear; yet fear may be called in to help when love is not sufficiently strong in itself.
V. Declares his freedom from idolatry both in its spiritual and external form, both secret and open, in heart and in life (Job_31:24-28). Specifies the two leading forms of idolatry—Mammonism and Sabæism—the trust in and love of riches, and the worship of idols in the ordinary sense of the word; here that of the sun and moon. The one the idolatry of the heart, the other that of the outward act. Job clears himself from both.
1. From Mammonism, or the trust in and love of riches. Job_31:24-25.—“If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, thou art my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much.” (Note—the language of idolatry,—“Mine hand had gotten,” instead of—“the Lord had given”—the language of a servant of God). Job abjures as forms of
Heart-idolatry
1. Trust in riches. Riches naturally and easily trusted in by an unrenewed heart. Money a defence (Ecc_7:12). Answereth all things (Ecc_10:19). Trust apt to be placed in riches for happiness in general. More particularly—
(1) For acquisition of the means of life and sources of enjoyment.
(2) For defence against suffering and the assaults of others.
(3) For power and position in the world. Trust in money a common form of idolatry. “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease,” &c. Trust in Himself required by God from His intelligent creatures. That trust transferred to any other person or thing, in God’s sight idolatry. Trust in riches contrasted in the Scriptures with trust in God (Psa_52:7; 1Ti_6:17). The former characteristic of the ungodly; the latter, of the righteous. Believers cautioned not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God (1Ti_6:17). Trust in riches incompatible with entrance into the kingdom of God (Mar_10:24). The rich man not to glory in his riches, but in the Lord (Jer_9:23-24; 1Co_1:31). God and not riches to be trusted in for our daily bread. Hence the petition: “Give us this day,” &c. Man’s life not in the abundance of the things he possesses. Liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God (Mat_4:4). Riches not given to be trusted in, but to be employed by us as stewards, in the service of the Master and for the benefit of others as well as ourselves, in obedience to His will and in dependence on His blessing.
To trust in riches instead of God not only wicked but foolish, as—
(1) Riches are uncertain, and may soon and suddenly cease to be ours.
(2) They are unable to render us either safe or happy even while we possess them.
(3) They fail to meet the most important exigences of our nature as moral and responsible creatures.
(4) They are unable to accompany us into another world.
The possession of riches to be distinguished from trust in them. Money well employed, a blessing; when allowed to usurp the place of God as our trust and confidence, a curse. The young man in the Gospel an example of trust in riches, notwithstanding a great appearance of piety and morality. Unable to give them up to follow Christ, because looking to them to make him happy rather than to God. A test as to whether we are trusting in riches—Am I ready cheerfully to give them up at God’s will and for God’s service? And, What proportion of my substance do I give for the extension of His kingdom, and the promotion of His cause in the world?
2. Love of riches. Job neither trusted in his wealth nor rejoiced in it. Riches a good, but not the chief good. If riches increase, the heart not therefore to be set upon them (Psa_62:10). Observe—
(1) Not money, but the love of it, the root of all evil (1Ti_6:10). A lawful, as well as an unlawful, rejoicing in our possessions (Deu_12:7; Ecc_2:7; Ecc_4:16). Lawfully rejoiced in, when viewed not as what our own hand has gotten, but as what God has given; and not as given for our own exclusive enjoyment, but also for the benefit of others and the Master’s service. Riches loved and idolized—(i.) When their acquisition and enjoyment afford us more pleasure and delight than the possession and enjoyment of God. (ii.) When we are more concerned about the acquisition and increase of them than about the enjoyment of God’s favour and the advancement of His cause. (iii.) When we find it difficult to give up any considerable portion of them at God’s will and for the promotion of His glory in the world.
(2) The love of money incompatible with the love of God (Mat_6:24; 1Jn_2:15). Hence covetousness, or the love of riches, idolatry (Col_3:5; Eph_5:5). Supreme love to God as the All-good, required of His intelligent creatures, as truly as as undivided trust in Him as the Almighty.
(3) Love of riches distinct from a proper appreciation of them. Riches as merely possessed by us, a blessing; a curse, when they possess us. As a mere possession, they are worthless; as a means of doing good and glorifying God, invaluable.
Job’s wealth not taken from him either for his trust in it or his fondness of it, any more than for his unlawful acquisition of it, or any evil use which he made of it.
Job taught by the Holy Spirit as well as by the light of nature, to view heart-idolatry, or the worship of riches, as heiuous in God’s sight as outward idolatry, or the worship of sun and moon. The view confirmed in the New Testament (Eph_5:5).
2. Job equally abjures the second form of idolatry, the worship of fictitious divinities, or of idols in the ordinary sense of the word,—here, that of the heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon. Job_31:26-27.—“If I beheld the sun (Heb. ‘light,’—a poetic name for the sun, which from its luminous atmosphere has been constituted a fountain of light to the earth and other planets), when it shined [in its glorious effulgence], or the moon walking in brightness (advancing like an orb of burnished silver in her course through the heavens); and my heart (the seat of the affections, and required in worship) hath been secretly [while I have outwardly been a worshipper of the only true God, and because afraid of the consequences of open idolatry,] enticed [by their appearance of majesty, glory, and beauty, and by the false views already beginning to be entertained regarding their divinity], or my mouth hath kissed my hand” [in token of my adoration of these luminaries (1Ki_19:5; Hos_13:2)]; (Heb., “My hand hath kissed my mouth”—the heart leading in the sin, and the hand following; inward affections being manifested by outward actions). The idolatry here indicated known as Sabæism, from the Hebrew word Saba, “a host,” denoting the worship of the “host of heaven,” or the heavenly bodies (Deu_17:3; 2Ch_33:3). Originally the worship of “light” or fire, and afterwards connected with that of the sun, moon, and stars, as its great reservoirs and sources as well as symbols. The heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon, among the earliest objects of idolatrous worship. This form of idolatry especially prevalent in Chaldæa, where probably it had its origin. Babylon called the mother of harlots. The worship of the sun and moon an early form of Arabian idolatry. The moon the great divinity of the ancient Arabians. Still an object of great veneration with Mahommedans. Hence the symbol of the Crescent. The Caaba at Mecca originally a temple dedicated to the moon. Abraham’s relatives and neighbours in Chaldæa addicted to this form of idolatry. His place of residence—“Ur of the Chaldees,” probably so called from Ur, “fire;” or from Or, “light”. At Mugheir, believed by some to be its modern representative, the ruins have been discovered of a temple dedicated to the moon, and resembling that of the sun at Babylon.
These luminaries worshipped originally as representatives of deity, then as deities themselves. Viewed as the great prolific powers in the universe, and the bestowers of all earthly blessings.
The worship of the sun and moon ultimately that of almost the whole known world. Prevalent among our own ancestors. The names of the first and second days of the week, monuments of its existence among the Anglo-Saxons. Temples of Apollo or the sun, and of Diana or the moon, formerly stood in London, the one on the site of Westminster Abbey, the other on that of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The object of Jehovah in making Israel his elect nation to preserve them from the practice of this idolatry, and thus to have witnesses for Himself and His truth in the world (Deu_4:19). The practice of it in Israel’s degeneracy the cause of their captivity in Babylon (Eze_8:16; 2Ki_23:5; 2Ki_23:11)”. Observe—
(1) Fallen humanity prone to put the creature in the place of the Creator. Early lost the true idea and knowledge of God through departure from and alienation to Him. “Did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Rom_1:28). Hence objects remarkable either for majesty, beauty or utility, worshipped in His stead. The source and essence of idolatry (Rom_1:25).
(2) Difficult for fallen human nature to use the creature without abusing it. Objects of nature to be viewed, not with idolatrous fondness or admiration of the creature, but with admiration, love, and praise to the Creator. Nature to lead up to nature’s God, not away from Him. Indication of idolatry in man, when
“The landscape has his praise, but not its Author”.
(3) A mark of advanced enlightenment, that Job mentions with the same breath, trust in and love of riches, with the worship of the heavenly bodies, as equally idolatrous and offensive in the sight of God.
(4) In Job’s time the knowledge and worship of the true God greatly on the decrease; yet His faithful worshippers still to be found. “Left not himself without witness” (Act_14:17).
Jobs reason for abstaining from idolatry either in its spiritual or external forms. Job_31:28.—“This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge (or, ‘a judicial iniquity;’ idolatry still in Job’s days considered a punishable crime; afterwards, by the law of Moses, to be punished with death, Deu_17:2-7); for I should have denied (‘lied to’ or against) the God that is above” (in place, power, dignity, and excellence). Observe—
1. The heinousness of a sin to be a principal reason for its avoidance.
2. That heinousness to be especially seen in its relation to God.
3. Trust in and love of riches, as well as the external worship of a created object or image, a denial of the true God. All idolatry a denial of God.
(1) In the boundless excellence of His being.
(2) In the spirituality of His nature.
(3) In His infinity and omnipresence.
(4) In His moral as well as natural perfections.
(5) In His sufficiency for our happiness and safety.
(6) In His sole right to the trust, love, and worship of His intelligent creatures.
4. God not only denied by our words, but by our works.
5. Alt trust in and worship of the creature, a lie against God. A lie in the right hand of every idol-worshipper, whether of man, money, or of the sun and moon (Isa_44:20).
VI. Denies all vindictiveness in reference to enemies. Job_31:29-30.—“If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself (in exultation or insult) when evil found him; neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul” (or, by asking for his life, i.e., the removal of it in an imprecation). Observe—
1. Even a good man not without enemies. Hatred from the world promised by Christ to His disciples (Mat_10:22). A blessing pronounced on those who, for His sake, experience it (Luk_6:22). A woe on those of whom all men speak well (Luk_6:26). Hatred from the world a consequence of not being of it (Joh_15:19). Christ Himself the great object of the world’s hatred (Joh_15:18). The ground of that hatred his testimony against its works (Joh_7:7). Those spared the world’s hatred who partake of its character (Joh_7:7). “They that forsake the law, praise the wicked; but such as keep the law, contend with him” (Pro_28:4). Hence the enmity of the wicked against the good. This enmity experienced by Job.
2. A good man known by his conduct towards his enemies. The mark of an un-regenerate heart to cherish ill-will against an enemy or to take pleasure in his misfortune. Hatred of a foe the prompting of fallen nature and the spirit of heathenism. “Revenge is sweet,”—the language of the Great Murderer. To rejoice in the fall of an enemy, the sin of the Edomites in relation to Israel and the cause of their punishment (Oba_1:12-13). The sin forbidden in Pro_24:17. The contrary disposition enjoined both in the Old and New Testanments (Pro_25:21; Rom_12:20). Christ’s command to his followers, not only not to rejoice in the evil that overtakes an enemy, but to pray for and promote his welfare (Mat_5:44). Noble minds rejoice in the opportunity of befriending a foe. Instances recorded even of the heathen returning kindness for insult. Pericles having been followed to his door by one who had been railing against him, offered him his servant to light him home. Augustus invited to supper the poet Catullus after he had been railing against him. Nothing more common among men than vindictiveness, and nothing more contemptible. Our best revenge on an enemy is to forgive him and treat him kindly. To wish evil to him who hates us makes us as bad, or worse, than himself. The New Testament rule in such cases.—“Overcome evil with good” (Rom_12:21). In accordance with His own precept, Christ prayed for his murderers (Luk_23:34). Commissioned His heralds of mercy to begin with those who had clamoured for His blood (Luk_24:47). His spirit and conduct imitated by His followers. The first Christian martyr died with a prayer on his lips for those who were stoning him to death (Act_7:60). Job’s religion afterwards embodied in the Gospel. Though living in the patriarchal age, Job exemplified the spirit of Christianity. The new commandment only a new edition of the old. An advance however in the moral teaching of the New Testament as compared with that of the Old. Job instructed not to hate an enemy; the Christian taught to love him. Christianity teaches not only not to wish a curse to an enemy, but to pray for a blessing to him.
3. The teaching of God’s Spirit and the character of God’s children always essentially the same. That teaching and character a transcript of His own nature. God’s example that of forgiveness and kindness to enemies. The carnal mind enmity to God. Mankind enemies to God in their mind by wicked works (Rom_8:7; Col_1:21).
4. Special guard to be placed upon the mouth. A sinful thought or feeling not to be allowed utterance. To be suppressed instead of being expressed. An aggravation of sin in the heart to give it expression with the lips. Bodily organs not to be employed as the instruments of sin.
VII. Job declares his humanity as a householder (Job_31:31-32).
1. In his kindness to his domestics and inmates. Job_31:31—“If the men of my tabernacle (those residing under his roof, whether as domestics, retainers, or other inmates.) said not, Oh, that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied” (or, “Who is there that was was not satisfied with his flesh?”—i.e., with his hospitality, 1Sa_25:11; or, according to some ancient versions, “If they said, Who will give us of his flesh, that we may be satisfied,” as complaining of not having sufficient food, or longing for the better supplies on his own table). Job able to appeal to his own domestics and the inmates of his dwelling for evidence of his humanity, more especially of his bounty to them and his liberality to others. No niggard in his own house. Treated his servants not only with justice, but kindness. Gave them not only food, but of the best kind, and plenty of it. Made them sharers of the best that was on his own table. Had no feast but they partook of it. Observe—
(1) A good man will be kind and liberal to his domestics (Col_4:1).
(2) Well when, as masters, we can appeal to our servants for our character, and when they can bear an honest testimony in our favour. Servants and inmates of our house, likely to be the best judges of our character and conduct.
(3) Good to make our house a home for others as well as ourselves. A Christian duty to “bring the poor that are cast out to our house” (Isa_58:7). “I was a stranger and ye took me in” (Mat_25:35). Job’s house never without the objects of his charity. The widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the destitute, frequent guests at his table. Note—Customary for wealthy Arabs to slaughter sheep or camels for the supply of their household. “Broad dishes” the glory of an Arab chief, as necessary for the entertainment of his guests.
2. In his hospitality to travellers. Job_31:32—“The stranger did not lodge in the street (for want of a house to receive him, it being difficult to obtain accommodation in Oriental towns and villages then, as it is still, except with the sheikh or a Christian); but I opened my doors to the traveller” (or, as margin, “to the way,” as if to invite and welcome the traveller passing by). Pleasing picture of Oriental manners, corresponding with those of patriarchal times (Gen_18:1-4; Gen_19:1, &c). Job an example of the New Testament precept—“Use hospitality without grudging” (1Pe_4:9). “Given to hospitality,” more than merely “showing” it (Rom_12:13). “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers,”—not merely your relatives or acquaintances (Heb_13:2).
VIII. Clears himself from secret and concealed transgressions. Job_31:33-34.—“If I covered my transgressions as Adam (in allusion to Gen_3:8; or, ‘like men,’ as Hos_6:7—as men are wont to do after the example of their first father), by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom (from impenitence or hypocrisy, or both): Did I fear a great multitude (or, ‘because I feared,’ &c.; or as an imprecation—‘Then let me fear,’ &c.), or did the contempt of families (or tribes) terrify me (so as to conceal my sin or neglect my duty to the stranger; or, ‘because the contempt, &c., terrified me;’ or, ‘let the contempt, &c., terrify or crush me’), that I kept silence [instead of acknowledging my transgression, or opening my mouth in behalf of the oppressed stranger,—like Lot, Gen_19:6-8, or the old man of Gibeah, Jdg_19:22-24], and went not out of the door?” (for fear of detection, or to avoid the danger and self-denial connected with my duty to the stranger; or, as continuing the imprecation, “let me be silent,” &c.). Observe—
1. The best not free from transgressions, both against God and men. Job a perfect man, yet acknowledges transgressions. “Not a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not” Ecc_7:20).
2. Natural to men to conceal their transgressions. Adam’s conduct imitated by all his children (Gen_3:8).
3. Men with much outward morality and religion may still be guilty of secret sins. The case with the Scribes and Pharisees in the days of the Saviour. Job more than suspected of it by his friends. Hence his concern now to clear himself of such hypocrisy.
4. The fear of man often more powerful in leading men to conceal their guilt, than the fear of God in leading them to confess it. The ungodly more afraid of man’s shame than of God’s wrath.
5. Just that secret crimes should be followed by popular contempt and ignominy as their penalty. A day coming when secret transgressors, who have successfully covered their crimes in this life, will awake to “shame and everlasting contempt” in the next (Dan_12:3).
6. A good man has no need either to fear the populace or shun the public eye. A good conscience a man’s best armour. “Be just and fear not”.
7. A good man more afraid of God’s displeasure than of man’s contempt. The sin of men, that they are more afraid of man and the “multitude” than of their Maker. “Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of man that shall be made as grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker?” (Isa_51:12-13). “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Mat_10:23).
8. The part of an honest and sincere heart, to confess transgressions both before God, and, when necessary, before man. A Christian’s first duty, to confess his transgressions to God; his next, to confess them to man if he has injured or offended him. “Confess your faults one to another,” a New Testament precept (Jas_5:16). Confession to God necessary to forgiveness from God (Pro_28:13; 1Jn_1:8-9; Psa_32:3-5). Frank confession a mark of true repentance. Examples: Zaccheus (Luk_19:8); the penitent thief (Luk_23:41); the converts of Ephesus (Act_19:18-19).
9. A good man not deterred from duty, either by the fear of numbers or the contempt of neighbours. Example: Lot in Sodom (Genesis 19). Milton’s famous picture of the Seraph Abdiel—
“Faithful found
Among the faithless, faithful only he;
Among innumerable false, unmov’d,
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified.
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;
Nor number, nor example, with him wrought
To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,
Though single”.
VIII. Job’s final desire and challenge. Job_31:35-37.—“O that one would hear me! (or ‘O that I had one to hear me!’—an impartial judge or umpire in the controversy between the Almighty and himself, so that his case might be fairly tried and decided upon). Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me (or, ‘here is my mark’ or signature, i.e., to the declaration he made of his innocence—‘let the Almighty answer me,’ and prove me guilty if He can); and that my adversary had written a book (or, ‘and let mine adversary write a book’ or bill of indictment against me, as in courts of law; or, ‘and [O that I had] the book [or indictment which] mine adversary has written against me!) Surely I would take it upon my shoulder (as a thing of which I was not ashamed, but which I was willing that every one should see and know), and bind it as a crown to me (as a thing in which I rather gloried as my honour and ornament, being persuaded that all the charges contained in it would be found to be groundless). I would declare unto him (viz., the umpire or judge) the number of my steps (all the various passages of my life); as a prince—(with the boldness and confidence of an innocent man assured of coming off victorious, instead of the faltering step and downcast look of a culprit) would I go near unto him” (instead of avoiding him like Adam in the garden, as conscious of guilt).
This lofty passage is, perhaps, the strongest declaration of his innocence that Job had yet made, probably intended as the finale of his pleadings, and the climax of his protestations. The three following verses, with the exception of the last clause, probably standing originally somewhere before the present passage; or, what is less likely, as a still farther vindication of his character.
The passage stands as a proof of his conscious integrity. Expresses his continued desire to have a fair and impartial hearing of his case, with the conviction that he would be declared free from the sins which were either openly or by implication charged upon him, and from any such transgressions as to merit his present sufferings. The adversary with whom he wishes to contest the matter, mainly God himself who seemed to treat him as a guilty person. His three friends also his adversaries, but only as taking up the view of his character which God himself seemed to take from the way in which He was now dealing with him. God seemed to have charges against him of which he was entirely unconscious. His friends declared that such charges must exist. Job denied there there was any ground for them. Hence his great desire that the matter may be fairly examined into and decided.
This desire of Job, now soon about to be granted, and that in his favour. Not however to be done till he has been taught some necessary and important lessons. Though having the truth on his side in the controversy, his spirit and language not always what they ought to have been. His error in declaring his innocence in too decided a manner, and in carrying his declaration almost, if not altogether, to the point of self-confident glorying and self-righteous pride. At times not only bitter in his spirit and language towards his three friends, but petulant and irreverent towards God. The present winding up of his speeches sounded like a declaration that he was righteous, whatever God might be in the matter; in other words, that he was more righteous than God. Too much overlooked the fact—
(1) That he, in common with all mankind, was guilty before God, and had given sufficient occasion to be visited with stripes even more severe than those from which he was now suffering;
(2) That God is infinitely holy, just, and good, and would do nothing with any of His creatures but what was perfectly right;
(3) That God might have wise objects in view in dealing with him as He did, which, though now hidden from him, He in His own time would show—as, for example, his own purification, God employing his sufferings as the goldsmith does the furnace for purifying the gold;
(4) That God, as Creator, has the right to do with His creatures as He pleases without doing anything either unjust or unkind, and that it is the creature’s part to be passive and submissive in His hand—Job’s actual conduct at the beginning of his trials.
The steps between this last speech of Job’s and the declaration of his integrity on the part of the Almighty, occupied in correcting these errors, and in bringing him to a juster view of himself, and to a better state of mind in regard to God. Observe:—
1. No flesh allowed to glory in God’s presence—(1Co_1:29). One of the great objects of the Bible to teach men this truth. The proper place for fallen man before God, even at his best, is the dust. Tendency to pride in the best. Imperfection stamped on all human excellence. Like Moses, Job speaks unadvisedly with his lips. Utters what is rash before God, which he afterwards repents in dust and ashes. Not yet the perfect man who “offendeth not in word” (Jas_3:2).
2. Only one way of going near to God as our judge with boldness and confidence. Not that of Job, as in ourselves righteous and innocent; but as sinners, accepting of and trustiug in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ as the only ground of our acceptance before God (Heb_10:22.) “Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness. In him shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory” (Isa_45:24-25).
IX. Job finally clears himself of injustice in his business transactions with his fellow-men. (Job_31:38-40).—“If my land (probably the land which, like Isaac, he rented and cultivated for his own use) cry against me (as dishonestly acquired or oppressively cultivated,—like Abel’s innocent blood shed by his brother’s hand (Gen_4:10), or that the furrows likewise thereof complain (Hebrew, ‘weep together,’ as in sympathy with one another, and with the owners whom I have wronged by occupying their land without paying duly for its use, or with the labourers whom I have oppressed by employing them without a fair remuneration for their work;—a beautiful and bold personification to increase the effect): if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money (in payment either to the proprietor for the occupancy of his land, or to the labourer for his work in cultivating it), or have caused the owners thereof to lose their lives (either directly by violent means in order to obtain their property, or indirectly by withholding the just payment for its occupancy): let thistles (or thorns) grow instead of wheat, and cockle (or noxious weeds) instead of barley”. Observe—
1. One of the most testing points in reference to a man’s character, how he curries on his business and conducts his transactions with his fellow-men. Constant temptation to over-reach and take advantage. Tendency in fallen human nature both to withhold from others their just due, and to exact more than our own. The business principles of the world often the reverse of those of the Bible. That of “Buy cheap and sell dear,” liable to be carried out to the extent of fraud and extortion. Christianity and sound morality teach us to give every man a fair price for his labour or his goods, and to ask no more than a fair price for our own. The maxim, “Business is business,” sinful if understood as meaning that business is exempted from the same rules of morality as are applied to other branches of conduct. Defectiveness in commercial morality one of the sins of the day In the race for riches, men tempted, even in a Christian land, to commit the sins which Job here solemnly abjures—receiving labour, goods, or money, without giving a just equivalent. The temptation not always resisted to sell articles that are something different from what they are represented to be. The severe reproof of the Almighty, directed in the Bible against those who oppress the hireling of their wages (Mal_3:5; Jas_5:4). A woe pronounced on him “who buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work,” (Jer_22:13).
2. Even professedly religious men tempted to follow the world in untruthful and unfair modes of conducting basiness. The practice of overreaching and extortion apparently prevalent in Job’s time and country. Extortion on the part of rulers, proprietors, and dealers in the East, notorious. The practice of a Turk or Arab in demanding an exorbitant price for his goods, as common as that of the governor or employer in giving the merest pittance for the labourer’s work. Extortion and excess among the prevailing sins of the Pharisees in the days of the Saviour (Mat_23:25). Job careful to resist the temptation to a common sin. Renounced filthy gain. No canker in his gold and silver. No rust on his money to witness against him either here or hereafter, and to eat his flesh as it were fire (Jas_5:3). Had neither sought to buy cheaper nor sell dearer than justice and humanity demanded.
3. Dishonesty found on the side of buyers as well as of sellers.
(1). In not paying duly for goods delivered;
(2). In depreciating and cheapening down an article, in order to get a bargain, or to obtain it at a price below its value. “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth” (Pro_20:14).
4. The mark of a true servant of God, to be “faithful in that which is least”.
5. The part of a follower of Christ, to commend his Master’s religion by exhibiting a, sterling morality in his daily life. “What soever things are true, honest, just, lovely, and of good report,” &c. (Php_4:8).
6. Murder committed in more ways than one. Indirect as well as direct murder. The life-blood of the poor may be drained by oppressive work and inadequate remuneration. Hearts broken by fraud and oppression in civil, as well as by inhumanity and cruelty in domestic life.
7. Wrong done to another often recompensed by loss incurred by ourselves. A curse imprecated by Job on his land as the righteous penalty of wrong, if done by him either in acquiring or cultivating it. Another example of the maxim: As the sin, so the punishment. Job probably reminded of the curse pronounced on the ground, first for Adam’s sin and then for Cain’s (Gen_3:17-18; Gen_4:11-12). Suggests another evidence that Job was well acquainted with Genesis.
“The words of Job are ended”. Probably followed the final protestation of his innocence in Job_31:37. Job’s “words” spoken partly by the flesh and partly by the spirit. Were partly those of an enlightened and sanctified believer, and partly those of a yet unhumbled sinner. Were at last partly commended and partly reproved by the Almighty. Have been recorded for our instruction and comfort, but not all of them for our imitation. Began with justifying and speaking well of God; ended by speaking well of himself. Contain some of the most elevated sentiments and glorious truths ever conceived by human mind or uttered by human lips. Viewed in connection with his extraordinary sufferings, and the circumstances in which they were uttered, they exhibit a marvel of Divine grace, in enabling the sufferer to possess his soul in patience, and “to glorify God in the fires.” Afford the picture of a man as perfect as fallen nature admitted of in the ages previous to the advent of Christ and the dispensation of the Spirit. Observe—Words ended in their utterance not ended in their effect. By these words of Job, he “being dead yet speaketh”. The effect of words, for good or evil, often experienced for generations and centuries after they have been spoken or written.
“Nothing is lost: the drop of dew,
That trembles on the leaf or flower,
Is but exhaled to fall anew,
In summer’s thunder shower;
Perchance to shine within the bow,
That fronts the sun at fall of day;
Perchance to sparkle in the flow
Of fountains far away.
So with our words; or harsh or kind,
Utter’d, they are not all forgot;
But leave some trace upon the mind,
Pass on, yet perish not.”
J. Critchley Prince.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1Job Protests the Innocence of his Past Life
Job Protests the Innocence of his Past Life
Job's virtues are those of a great Arab prince, such as are admired still: namely, blameless family life, consideration for the poor and weak, charity, modesty, and generosity concerning wealth, pure religion (according to his creed), the absence of vindictive feelings, hospitality to strangers, fearless honesty and just dealings.
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1-12. Sensual sins.
1. I made a covenant with mine eyes] Job resolved to keep a guard over them that they should not transgress. Why then should I think?] RV 'How then should I look?'
2a. RM 'What portion should I have of God? 'i.e. How would God visit such sin?
3. Is not] RV 'Is it not.'
6. Even balance] i.e. balances of justice. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead the soul is represented as being weighed in the balance before Osiris at the judgment.
10. To grind at the mill is a menial task, the work of slaves.
12. The evil results of lust: cp. Pro_6:24-35.
13-23. Sins of oppression.
14. Riseth up] i.e. to judge.
18. He] the fatherless. Her] the widow.
21. When I saw my help in the gate] Job could have counted on the judges supporting his side of the question. Gate] see on Job_29:7.
22. Bone] i.e. collar-bone.
23. The thought of God's displeasure checked him, and a sense of His majesty kept him from sinning.
26-28. A reference to the worship of the heavenly bodies (cp. 2Ki_21:3-5; Jer_44:17. Eze_8:16.
27. My mouth hath kissed my hand] a form of idolatrous worship: cp. 1Ki_19:18.
29f. The high moral tone is very significant: cp. Mat_5:44; Rom_12:19-21.
31. Render, 'If the men in my tent have not said, Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his flesh?': i.e. Job had more than satisfied his servants.
33a. Render, 'If I hid my fault like a common man': i.e. as men usually do.
34. Did I fear] RV 'Because I feared.' Job declares that he had nothing to hide in his conduct and did not fear enquiry.
35-37. Job breaks off: and does not complete the sentence begun in Job_31:33. For his whole soul is moved by the words he has just uttered, and with the proud assertion of his innocence he challenges God to answer him, to give him the writing which contained the charges against him. Proudly, even with God's stigma upon him, he would, enter God's presence, the certainty of his rectitude changing the disgrace into distinction. Most scholars feel that the addition of Job_31:38-40 spoils the effect of this splendid conclusion.
35. RV 'Oh that I had one to hear me! (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me!) And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!' Job puts his signature to the declaration of his innocence. The adversary is God.
37. Conscious of his integrity, Job would lay bare every act of his life to God.
38-40. The grand challenge thrown down by Job in Job_31:35-37 seems to form such a suitable conclusion to his speeches that most scholars hold that Job_31:38-40 stood originally in an earlier part of the c, e.g. after Job_31:8 or 25.
40. Cockles] RM 'noisome weeds.' Job for the last time has maintained the integrity of his past life, and expressed his readiness to answer all charges of guilt brought against him. The third and final series of his speeches comes to an end. It cannot be said that any explanation of the ways of Providence has been put forward so far, but the popular theories that suffering must always imply previous sin, and that compensation according to conduct is invariably meted out to both good and bad in this world, have been refuted. Moreover, we see the noble spectacle of a good man in adversity clinging in spite of all his trials to his uprightness. Job has been able to find no foothold in the thought that God would revive him, or that the life beyond the grave will restore him to blessed fellowship with God. Nor has he gained any hope that the government of the world will become more righteous. But he has reached the assurance that God will vindicate his innocence, and that he shall be permitted to know of this vindication.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v11. My chastity and righteousness (Job 31:1-12)
CHAPTER 31
1. My chastity and righteousness (Job 31:1-12)
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2. My philanthropy (Job 31:13-23)
3. My integrity and hospitality (Job 31:24-34)
4. Let God and man disprove me (Job 31:35-40)
Job 31:1-12. His final word is the final word in his self-righteous vindication. He gives Eliphaz the lie. He gives a review of his life to prove that he is clean in the sight of God and of man. Even if after this outburst his friends would have an inclination to answer him they could not have done so. He silenced them for good. But what are his declarations after all? Nothing else but the filthy rags of his own righteousness, the vain boastings of a good, moral man, such as we hear on all sides. He shows that in his character he was morally pure. The gross sins of the flesh he had avoided. He had even abstained from a look which might stir his passion. He knew that God watched him and therefore the sin of adultery was shunned by him; he did not sin against a neighbour’s wife. If he had ever done that, then let the sanctity of his home and his own wife be violated. Then he enumerates his great philanthropy. He had respect of the widow; he shared his bread with orphans; those who were naked he had clothed.
Job 31:24-34. He was not a worshipper of gold, a covetous man, nor had he worshipped like others about him, the sun and the moon, or what sun-worshippers did, kissing the hand and wafting it towards the sun. He was a hospitable, a kind hearted man; nor did he cover his transgressions as Adam did, nor did he hide his iniquity in his bosom. His was a walk in integrity.
Job 31:35-40. “Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer.” I sign my name to all I have said; I swear to it. Let mine enemy also bring forth his accusations and sign them also. He challengeth God and man. And even to the land he appeals that all his transactions were just. Job’s words are ended. One feels like saying, “Thank God!”
His final word may be condensed in one sentence: “I am clean.” The next time he speaks and opens his lips, he says, “Behold I am vile.” How he came to this the rest of the book will teach us.
IV. THE TESTIMONY OF ELIHU
If the book of Job were now ended the last word would be Job’s. Furthermore the enigma of suffering would remain unexplained and God’s character would stand impeached. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. But suddenly another appears on the scene. Nothing is said how he came to be there; yet he must have listened to the controversy, for he sizeth up the whole situation and boils down the whole matter in a few terse statements. Critics and most expositors have spoken rather slightingly of Elihu. We heard some years ago a prominent Bible teacher speak of him as “a young theologian who has just been ordained and who thinks he has a lot of knowledge.” Others call him “a conceited young philosopher” and that his babbling should be treated with silent contempt. Such statements only prove that the men who make them have not gone deep into the meaning of this book and that they lack in spiritual discernment. Just such a one, sent by God, is needed to exercise a mediatorial function and to prepare the way for the Lord Himself to come upon the scene. It is generally pointed out that God rebukes him in the words of Job 38:2. But God speaks to Job who applies it to himself. The vindication of Elihu from such criticism of man is found in the last chapter.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1Job Recounts his Blameless Conduct
Job Recounts his Blameless Conduct
v. 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes, prescribing to his organs of vision their conduct; why, then, should I think upon a maid, casting lustful, adulterous looks upon a person of the opposite sex?
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v. 2. For what portion of God is there from above? What dispensation would come from Him, namely, in the form of punishment for such a sinful thought? And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? What would His portion have been in punishing him for such a transgression, God surely would not let such sins go without just retribution.
v. 3. Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Misfortune and calamity are the consequence of sins against the Sixth Commandment.
v. 4. Doth not He see my ways and count all my steps? It was the consciousness of God’s omniscience and righteousness which caused Job to avoid even lustful glances and sinful desires.
v. 5. If I have walked with vanity, making falsehood and duplicity his companions, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, eager to make use of its cheating appearance,
v. 6. let me be weighed in an even balance, in a balance of justice, Cf Dan 5:25, that God may know mine integrity, for a careful weighing of the evidence against him would establish the truth of his utterances.
v. 7. If my step hath turned out of the way, namely, from the right way as prescribed by God, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, yielding to the lust which often takes hold of the eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands, any spot of unchaste, immoral actions,
v. 8. then let me sow and let another eat, enjoying the fruit of his hard labors; yea, let my offspring be rooted out, the products of the soil as planted by him be destroyed. Cf Lev 26:16; Amo 9:14; Psa 128:2. Thus Job protested that he had always avoided all sinful lust.
v. 9. If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, enticed into adulterous relations with another man’s wife, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door, Cf Pro 7:7-8,
v. 10. then let my wife grind unto another, in the position of the lowest secondary wife, who had to attend to the grinding of the household flour on the hand-mill, and let others bow down upon her, in lustful, forbidden intercourse.
v. 11. For this is an heinous crime, his yielding to adultery would be an infamous act; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, worthy of the severest punishment. Cf Mat 5:21.
v. 12. For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, such an adulterous passion on Job’s part would merit for him the devouring punishment of the abyss of hell, and would root out all mine increase, destroying all the fruit of his labor, all his prosperity, Job thus rejecting also this possible accusation against his life. He next touches upon his conduct toward his house-slaves.
v. 13. If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, treating them as though they had no rights, when they contended with me, ruthlessly trampling on that which they had a right to expect,
v. 14. what, then, shall I do when God riseth up, if He arose in judgment upon such behavior? And when He visiteth, what shall I answer Him? If Job had been guilty as here outlined, then, indeed, would the Lord have had the right to lay the heaviest judgments upon him.
v. 15. Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One, that is, one and the same God, fashion us in the womb? God is the Creator of the slave as well as of the master, and there is for that reason no respect of persons with Him, Eph 6:9. From the case of his servants Job now turns to that of all the poor and neglected everywhere.
v. 16. If I have withheld the poor from their desire, refusing them what they needed to sustain their lives, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, since they became weak and lost their power to see on account of their unfulfilled yearning for help,
v. 17. or have eaten my morsel myself alone and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof, if selfishness had caused him to withhold food or assistance from the needy;
v. 18. (for, or, nay, rather, from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, such consideration the orphan received from him, and I have guided her, namely, the widow, from my mother’s womb, the strong expression being intended to show that Job’s humane and friendly treatment of widows and orphans had been his practice from his earliest youth;)
v. 19. if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, some poor, forsaken soul without so much as a garment to cover his nakedness, or any poor without covering, in the condition of the greatest extremity;
v. 20. if his loins, covered by the bounty of Job, have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, namely, in the form of substantial, warm clothing;
v. 21. if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, shaking his fist at the orphan in a violent and threatening manner, when I saw my help in the gate, believing that he could readily bribe the judges who might try a case of such violence:
v. 22. then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, being severed from the joint which held it, and mine arm be broken from the bone, literally, "the pipe," from the hollow, pipelike bones to which it was attached.
v. 23. For destruction from God was a terror to me, Job’s fear of God’s vengeance had always kept him from wicked acts of this kind, and by reason of His highness I could not endure, being powerless before the majesty of God, a fact which made it morally impossible for him to become guilty of merciless conduct.
v. 24. If I have made gold my hope, putting his trust in it, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
v. 25. if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much, had accumulated large amounts, great riches, all this being equal to his making money his god;
v. 26. if I beheld the sun when it shined, his light being worshiped by the Chaldeans as an emanation from God, or the moon walking in brightness, wandering her course in solemn majesty,
v. 27. and my heart hath been secretly enticed, namely, away from the true God to the foolishness of idolatry, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, literally, "so that I touched my hand to my mouth," in throwing to the sun and the moon, as heathen divinities, a kiss, as a sign of adoration:
v. 28. this also, as a form of gross idolatry, were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above, acting falsely, becoming guilty of denial.
v. 29. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, in vindictive hate and malice, or lifted up myself when evil found him, in joyful excitement over any misfortune which might strike him, for the love of enemies was required even in the Old Testament;
v. 30. neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul, his palate, as an instrument of speech, he did not wish for the death of his enemy, he had not been guilty of such vindictive hatred.
v. 31. If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh, that we had of his flesh! We cannot be satisfied, literally, "If the people of my tent," that is, his household associates and servants, "had not been obliged to say, Where could one be found, who had not been satisfied with his flesh?" Job had freely distributed of the flesh of his slaughtered cattle to such as were in need, as his servants would readily testify.
v. 32. The stranger did not lodge in the street, for want of hospitality on Job’s part, but I opened my doors to the traveler, so that everyone who passed by was made welcome, according to Oriental custom.
v. 33. If I covered my transgressions as Adam, covering his wickedness after the manner of men, after the ways of the world in general, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, trying to conceal it from men and God:
v. 34. did I fear a great multitude, because he feared the contempt of the multitude, the nobler families, from the intercourse with which he might have been excluded, or did the contempt of families terrify me that I kept silence and went not out of the door, lest his iniquity become evident to all? Thus Job protested that he practiced what was right and good in all his relations toward God and men and abstained from that which was wrong in God’s sight.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 3General Information:
General Information:
Job continues speaking.
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I have made a covenant with my eyes
Job speaks of making a promise about what he would look at as though his eyes were a person and he made a covenant with them. AT: "I have made a firm promise about what I will look at" (See: Metaphor and Personification)
I have made a covenant with my eyes
What job promised can be stated clearly. AT: "I made a promise that I will not look lustfully on a virgin" or "I promised that I will not look lustfully on a virgin" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
how then should I look with desire on a virgin?
Job uses this question to emphasize that he would never break his promise. AT: "So I certainly will not look with lust at a virgin." (See: Rhetorical Question)
For what is the portion from God above, the inheritance from the Almighty on high?
Job speaks of God's response to people's behavior as if it were the portion of an inheritance that God gives. AT: "For how will God above respond to me? What will the Almighty on high do?" (See: Metaphor and Parallelism)
For what is the portion from God above, the inheritance from the Almighty on high?
Possible meanings are Job uses this question to emphasize 1) that God will not bless bad behavior. AT: "For if I look lustfully on a woman, God Almighty on high will not bless me." or 2) that God will punish bad behavior. AT: "For if I look lustfully on a woman, God Almighty on high will certainly punish me." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v131:1-40 Job called down curses on himself if he…
31:1-40 Job called down curses on himself if he were guilty of the accusations made against him. Except for his mention of idolatry (31:26-27), Job addressed his fidelity to God in terms of the second half of the Ten Commandments, summarized by the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18; Rom 13:9).
31:1 Job’s covenant with his eyes included a self-cursing oath (cp. Matt 5:28-29). Perhaps lust of the eyes was at the head of Job’s list because the eye is the first instrument of sin (Gen 3:6). • To look with lust at a young woman violates the spirit of the seventh (Deut 5:18, see Matt 5:27-28), and potentially the tenth (Deut 5:21), commandment.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Would not God then have punished me?
Would not God then have punished me?
I kept my eyes from all wanton looks.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes;…
Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
Ver. 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes] This chapter, since it is one of the largest in all the book, so it is elegant, various, and very full of matter; for it shows us, as in a mirror, both what we should do and what we should not do. Good Melancthon, about the beginning of the Reformation, mournfully complained, Quos fugiamus habemus; quos sequamur non intelligimus, We have whom to flee from (meaning the Papists), but whom to follow, we yet understand not (by reason of the many divisions among Protestants). But here we may be at a better certainty; by treading in Job’s footsteps, and striving to express him to the world; who against all the cavils and calumnies of his foe friends, makes it out here, that he is no hypocrite or flagitious person as they falsely charged him, but a man fearing God and eschewing evil, Job 1:1. Let therefore as many as would be perfect be thus minded and thus mannered; propounding to themselves the highest pitch and the best patterns; resolving to resemble them as much as may be. Here we have Job’s holy care to flee fornication as a deadly evil; by avoiding the occasion, by taking bonds of his senses, and by doing all be could to be out of the way when the temptation came. Austin thanks God that the temptation and his heart met not. Job would prevent that mischief by laying laws upon his eyes, those windows of wickedness and loop holes of lust, the very door and bait of all evil concupiscence, Mat 5:29 1Jn 2:16, that flesh pleaslng lust, that nest egg of the devil (as one wittily calleth it), that eldest child of old Adam’s strength, bearing name of the mother, which is called in general, lust, or concupiscence. Now that Job might not lust, he would not look on a forbidden object; for he knew that wanton glances cause contemplative wickedness; such as will soon break out into foul practices; as ill humours in the body do into sores and blotches, εκ του οραν γινεταιτο εραν, Ut vidi, ut perii! - oculi sunt in amore duces.
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Why then should I think upon a maid?] Contemplarer in virginem, Lustfully consider her beauty, till my heart be hot as an oven with lawless lusts, and my body wollows in the mire of that abominable filth. For unbridled lust, like the wild fig, will soon mount over the wall; and those base, vain, wanton, capering thoughts will break out, if not timely suppressed; if we handle them not roughly at the door (as Elisha said), their master’s feet will not be far behind them. Quell them therefore and crush them in the egg; it is not safe being at Satan’s meal, though our spoon be never so long; remember, that of looking comes thinking; and of thinking, worse. Look upon the woeful chain of David’s lust, and remember how many have died of the wound in the eye. The basilisk slayeth with his sight. Circe {In Greek and Latin mythology the name of an enchantress who dwelt in the island of Aea, and transformed all who drank of her cup into swine; often used allusively.} will enchant all that behold her. Irregular glancing, or inordinate gazing, is that which metamorphoseth a man into a beast, and makes him a prey to his own brutish affections. Hence David prayeth, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity," Psa 119:37. Job here steppeth one degree further, from a prayer to a vow; yea, from a vow to an imprecation, Job 31:7. That his eyes should be eyes of adamant, that will turn only to one point; that he would not look but where he might lawfully like. Saints have a single eye (and contrariwise the wicked, Hos 3:1), like that Persian lady, who being at the marriage of Cyrus, and afterwards asked how she liked the bridegroom? How? said she, I know not; I saw no one but my husband. Charles V used to clap to his casement; and the young Lord Harrington to pull his hat over his eyes when fair ladies passed along.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–4 So far have I been from wallowing in the…
So far have I been from wallowing in the mire of uncleanness, or any gross wickedness, wherewith you charge me, that I have abstained even from the least occasions and appearances of evil, having made a solemn resolution within myself, and a solemn covenant and promise to God, that I would not wantonly or lustfully fix mine eyes or gaze upon a maid, lest mine eyes should affect my heart, and stir me up to further filthiness. Hereby we plainly see that that command of Christ. Mat 5:29, was no new command peculiar to the gospel, as some would have it, but the very same which the law of God revealed in his word, and written in men’s hearts by nature, imposed upon men in the times of the Old Testament. See also 2Pe 2:14; 1Jo 2:16. Should I think upon, i.e. indulge myself in filthy and lustful thoughts? Seeing I was obliged, and accordingly took care, to guard mine eyes, I was upon the same reason obliged to restrain my imagination. Or, why then should I consider, or contemplate, or look curiously, or thoughtfully, or diligently? Since I had made such a covenant, why should I not keep it? A maid; which is emphatically added, to show that that circumstance which provokes the lust of others had no such power over him, and that he restrained himself from the very thoughts and desires of filthiness with such persons, wherewith the generality of men allowed themselves to commit gross fornication, as deeming it to be either none, or but a very little sin. Withal he insinuates with how much more caution he kept himself from uncleanness with any married person.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 The lusts of the flesh, and the love of…
The lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world, are the two fatal rocks on which multitudes split; against these Job protests he was always careful to stand upon his guard.
I. Against the lusts of the flesh. He not only kept himself clear from adultery, from defiling his neighbour's wives (Job 31:9), but from all lewdness with any women whatsoever. He kept no concubine, no mistress, but was inviolably faithful to the marriage bed, though his wife was none of the wisest, best, or kindest. From the beginning it was so, that a man should have but one wife and cleave to her only; and Job kept closely to that institution and abhorred the thought of transgressing it; for, though his greatness might tempt him to it, his goodness kept him from it. Job was now in pain and sickness of body, and under that affliction it is in a particular manner comfortable if our consciences can witness for us that we have been careful to preserve our bodies in chastity and to possess those vessels in sanctification and honour, pure from the lusts of uncleanness. Now observe here,
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1. What the resolutions were which, in this matter, he kept to (Job 31:1): I made a covenant with my eyes, that is, "I watched against the occasions of the sin; why then should I think upon a maid?" that is, "by that means, through the grace of God, I kept myself from the very first step towards it." So far was he from wanton dalliances, or any act of lasciviousness, that, (1.) He would not so much as admit a wanton look. He made a covenant with his eyes, made this bargain with them, that he would allow them the pleasure of beholding the light of the sun and the glory of God shining in the visible creation, provided they would never fasten upon any object that might occasion any impure imaginations, much less any impure desires, in his mind; and under this penalty, that, if they did, they must smart for it in penitential tears. Note, Those that would keep their hearts pure must guard their eyes, which are both the outlets and inlets of uncleanness. Hence we read of wanton eyes (Isa 3:16) and eyes full of adultery, Pe2 2:14. The first sin began in the eye, Gen 3:6. What we must not meddle with we must not lust after; and what we must not lust after we must not look at; not the forbidden wealth (Pro 23:5), not the forbidden wine (Pro 23:31), not the forbidden woman, Mat 5:28. (2.) He would not so much as allow a wanton thought: "Why then should I think upon a maid with any unchaste fancy or desire towards her?" Shame and sense of honour might restrain him from soliciting the chastity of a beautiful virgin, but only grace and the fear of God would restrain him from so much as thinking of it. Those are not chaste that are not so in spirit as well as body, Co1 7:34. See how Christ's exposition of the seventh commandment agrees with the ancient sense of it, and how much better Job understood it than the Pharisees, though they sat in Moses's chair.
2. What the reasons were which, in this matter, he was governed by. It was not for fear of reproach among men, though that is to be considered (Pro 6:33), but for fear of the wrath and curse of God. He knew very well, (1.) That uncleanness is a sin that forfeits all good, and shuts us out from the hope of it (Job 31:2): What portion of God is there from above? What blessing can such impure sinners expect from the pure and holy God, or what token of his favour? What inheritance of the Almighty can they look for from on high? There is no portion, no inheritance, no true happiness, for a soul, but what is in God, in the Almighty, and what comes from above, from on high. Those that wallow in uncleanness render themselves utterly unfit for communion with God, either in grace here or in glory hereafter, and become allied to unclean spirits, which are for ever separated from him; and then what portion, what inheritance, can they have with God? No unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem, that holy city. (2.) It is a sin that incurs divine vengeance, Job 31:3. It will certainly be the sinner's ruin if it be not repented of in time. Is not destruction, a swift and sure destruction, to those wicked people, and a strange punishment to the workers of this iniquity? Fools make a mock at this sin, make a jest of it; it is with them a peccadillo, a trick of youth. But they deceive themselves with vain words, for because of these things, how light soever they make of them, the wrath of God, the unsupportable wrath of the eternal God, comes upon the children of disobedience, Eph 5:6. There are some sinners whom God sometimes out of the common road of Providence to meet with; such are these. The destruction of Sodom is a strange punishment. Is there not alienation (so some read it) to the workers of iniquity? This is the sinfulness of the sin that it alienates the mind from God (Eph 4:18, Eph 4:19), and this is the punishment of the sinners that they shall be eternally set at a distance from him, Rev 22:15. (3.) It cannot be hidden from the all-seeing God. A wanton thought cannot be so close, nor a wanton look so quick, as to escape his cognizance, much less any act of uncleanness so secretly done as to be out of his sight. If Job was at any time tempted to this sin, he restrained himself from it, and all approaches to it, with this pertinent thought (Job 31:4), Doth not he see my ways; as Joseph did (Gen 39:9), How can I do it, and sin against God? Two things Job had an eye to: - [1.] God's omniscience. It is a great truth that God's eyes are upon all the ways of men (Pro 5:20, Pro 5:21); but Job here mentions it with application to himself and his own actions: Doth not he see my ways? O God! thou hast searched me and known me. God sees what rule we walk by, what company w walk with, what end we walk towards, and therefore what ways we walk in. [2.] His observance. "He not only sees, but takes notice; he counts all my steps, all my false steps in the way of duty, all my by-steps into the way of sin." He not only sees our ways in general, but takes cognizance of our particular steps in these ways, every action, every motion. He keeps account of all, because he will call us to account, will bring every work into judgment. God takes a more exact notice of us than we do of ourselves; for who ever counted his own steps? yet God counts them. Let us therefore walk circumspectly.
II. He stood upon his guard against the love of the world, and carefully avoided all sinful indirect means of getting wealth. He dreaded all forbidden profit as much as all forbidden pleasure. Let us see,
1. What his protestation is. In general, he had been honest and just in all his dealings, and never, to his knowledge, did any body any wrong. (1.) He never walked with vanity (Job 31:5), that is, he never durst tell a lie to get a good bargain. It was never his way to banter, or equivocate, or make many words in his dealings. Some men's constant walk is a constant cheat. They either make what they have more than it is, that they may be trusted, or less than it is, that nothing may be expected from them. But Job was a different man. His wealth was not acquired by vanity, though now diminished, Pro 13:11. (2.) He never hasted to deceit. Those that deceive must be quick and sharp, but Job's quickness and sharpness were never turned that way. He never made haste to be rich by deceit, but always acted cautiously, lest, through inconsideration, he should do an unjust thing. Note, What we have in the world may be either used with comfort or lost with comfort if it was honestly obtained. (3.) His steps never turned out of the way, the way of justice and fair dealing; from that he never deviated, Job 31:7. He not only took care not to walk in a constant course and way of deceit, but he did not so much as take one step out of the way of honesty. In every particular action and affair we must closely tie ourselves up to the rules of righteousness. (4.) His heart did not walk after his eyes, that is, he did not covet what he saw that was another's, nor wish it his own. Covetousness is called the lust of the eye, Jo1 2:16. Achan saw, and then took, the accursed thing. That heart must needs wander that walks after the eyes; for then it looks no further than the things that are seen, whereas it ought to be in heaven whither the eyes cannot reach: it should follow the dictates of religion and right reason: if it follow the eye, it will be misled to that for which God will bring men into judgment, Ecc 11:9. (5.) That no blot had cleaved to his hands, that is, he was not chargeable with getting any thing dishonestly, or keeping that which was another's, whenever it appeared to be so. Injustice is a blot, a blot to the estate, a blot to the owner; it spoils the beauty of both, and therefore is to be dreaded. Those that deal much in the world may perhaps have a blot come upon their hands, but they must wash it off again by repentance and restitution, and not let it cleave to their hands. See Isa 33:15.
2. How he ratifies his protestation. So confident is he of his own honesty that, (1.) He is willing to have his goods searched (Job 31:6): Let me be weighed in an even balance, that is, "Let what I have got be enquired into and it will be found to weigh well" - a sign that it was not obtained by vanity, for then Tekel would have been written on it - weighed in the balance and found too light. An honest man is so far from dreading a trial that he desires it rather, being well assured that God knows his integrity and will approve it, and that the trial of it will be to his praise and honour. (2.) He is willing to forfeit the whole cargo if there be found any prohibited or contraband goods, any thing but what he came honestly by (Job 31:8): "Let me sow, and let another eat," which was already agreed to be the doom of oppressors (Job 5:5), "and let my offspring, all the trees that I have planted, be rooted out." This intimates that he believed the sin did deserve this punishment, that usually it is thus punished, but that though now his estate was ruined (and at such a time, if ever, his conscience would have brought his sin to his mind), yet he knew himself innocent and would venture all the poor remains of his estate upon the issue of the trial.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–4 I made a covenant with mine eyes,.... Not to…
I made a covenant with mine eyes,.... Not to look upon a woman, and wantonly gaze at her beauty, lest his heart should be drawn thereby to lust after her; for the eyes are inlets to many sins, and particularly to uncleanness, of which there have been instances, both in bad men and good men, Gen 34:2; so the poet (t) represents the eye as the way through which the beauty of a woman passes swifter than an arrow into the hearts of men, and makes impressions there; see Pe2 2:14; hence Zaleucus ordered adulterers to be punished, by plucking out the eyes of the adulterer (u); wherefore Job, to prevent this, entered into a solemn engagement with himself, laid himself under a strong obligation, as if he had bound himself by a covenant, made a resolution in the strength of divine grace, not to employ his eyes in looking on objects that might ensnare his heart, and lead him to the commission of sin; he made use of all ways and means, and took every precaution to guard against it; and particularly this, to shut or turn his eyes from beholding what might be alluring and enticing to him: it is said (x) of Democritus, that he put out his eyes because he could not look upon a woman without lusting after her:
why then should I think upon a maid; of corrupting and defiling her, since he had made a covenant with his eyes, and this would be a breach of that covenant: and therefore, besides the sin of lusting after her, or of corrupting her, he would be a covenant breaker, and so his sin would be an aggravated one: or he made a covenant with his eyes, to prevent any impure thoughts, desires, and inclinations in him; for the eye affects the heart, and stirs up lust in it, and excites unclean thoughts and unchaste desires: this shows that the thought of sin is sin; that fornication was reckoned a sin before the law of Moses; and that Job better understood the spirituality of the law than the Pharisees did in the time of Christ, and had the same notion of lust in the heart being fornication and adultery as he had; and that good men are not without temptation to sin, both from within and from without; and therefore should carefully shun all appearances of evil, and whatsoever leads unto it, and take every necessary precaution to guard against it.
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(t) Musaeus de Heron. & Leand. v. 92, &c. (u) Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 13. c. 24. (x) Tertullian. Apolog. c. 46.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Job's protestation of his innocence, with regard to wantonness,…
Job's protestation of his innocence, with regard to wantonness, ver. 1-4. Fraud and injustice, ver. 5-8. Adultery, ver. 9-12. Haughtiness and severity toward his servants, ver. 13-15. Unmercifulness to the poor, ver. 16-23. Confidence in his wealth, ver. 24, 25. Idolatry, ver. 26-28. Revenge, ver. 29-31. Neglect of poor strangers, ver. 32 Hypocrisy, or not reproving others, ver. 33, 34. He wishes God would answer and that his words might be recorded, ver. 35-37. Protests his innocence, as to oppression, ver. 38-40.
I made - So far have I been from any gross wickedness, that I have abstained from the least occasions and appearances of evil.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Job makes a solemn protestation of his chastity and…
CHAPTER XXXI
Job makes a solemn protestation of his chastity and integrity,
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1-12;
of his humanity, 13-16;
of his charity and mercy, 17-23;
of his abhorrence of covetousness and idolatry, 24-32;
and of his readiness to acknowledge his errors, 33, 34;
and wishes for a full investigation of his case, being
confident that this would issue in the full manifestation
of his innocence, 36-40.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI
Verse 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes] ברית כרתי לעיני berith carats leeynai: "I have cut" or divided "the covenant sacrifice with my eyes." My conscience and my eyes are the contracting parties; God is the Judge; and I am therefore bound not to look upon any thing with a delighted or covetous eye, by which my conscience may be defiled, or my God dishonoured.
Why then should I think upon a maid?] ומה אתבונן על בתולה umah ethbonen al bethulah. And why should I set myself to contemplate, or think upon, Bethulah? That Bethulah may here signify an idol, is very likely. Sanchoniatho observes, that Ouranos first introduced Baithulia when he erected animated stones, or rather, as Bochart observes, ANOINTED stones, which became representatives of some deity. I suppose that Job purges himself here from this species of idolatry. Probably the Baithulia were at first emblems only of the tabernacle; בית אלוה beith Eloah, "the house of God;" or of that pillar set up by Jacob, Ge 28:18, which he called בית אלהים beith Elohim, or Bethalim; for idolatry always supposes a pure and holy worship, of which it is the counterfeit. For more on the subject of the Baithulia, See Clarke on Ge 28:19.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Job 31:1. I made a covenant with mine eyes,…
Job 31:1. I made a covenant with mine eyes, &c. — So far have I been from any gross wickedness, that I have abstained from the least occasions and appearances of evil. It was possible Job’s friends might make quite another use than he intended of the relation which he had made of his miserable condition in the foregoing chapter. And, therefore, lest it should confirm them in their old error, and they should take what he had said to be an argument of his guilt, he gives, in this chapter, a large and particular account of his integrity, which, in general, he had so often asserted; laying his very soul, and the most secret inclinations of it, open before them; together with the actions of his whole life in his private capacity, (for of his public he had spoken before, chap. 29.,) both in respect of his neighbours of all sorts, and in respect of God, to whom he again most solemnly appeals, in the conclusion of this discourse, for the truth of what he here asserts. Why then should I think upon a maid? — This is generally understood to mean the great care and circumspection which Job had used to avoid all temptations and occasions of sin; and he subjoins, in the following verses, the very high and reasonable motives which had urged him, and should urge every man, to such a circumspection; namely, to avoid destruction, the sure consequence of it. Which is a further proof that his prospects were to another life; for, had he spoken of a temporal destruction, it would have been the very thing which his antagonists had repeated over and over to him, and had urged as an argument of his guilt that he was thus miserably destroyed. When Job, therefore, says the same thing, namely, that a sure destruction attends the wicked; it is their portion, an inheritance from God; it is plain he must understand it in another sense than his antagonists did; namely, of their final retribution in a future state. See Peters, and the note on Job 31:13; Job 31:23.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–4 I made a covenant with mine eyes - The…
I made a covenant with mine eyes - The first virtue of his private life to which Job refers is chastity. Such was his sense of the importance of this, and of the danger to which man was exposed, that he had solemnly resolved not to think upon a young female. The phrase here, “I made a covenant with mine eyes,” is poetical, meaning that he solemnly resolved. A covenant is of a sacred and binding nature; and the strength of his resolution was as great as if he had made a solemn compact. A covenant or compact was usually made by slaying an animal in sacrifice, and the compact was ratified over the animal that was slain, by a kind of imprecation that if the compact was violated the same destruction might fall on the violators which fell on the head of the victim. This idea of cutting up a victim on occasion of making a covenant, is retained in most languages. So the Greek ὅρκια τέμνειν, πέμνἔιν σπονδάς horkia temnein, temnein spondas, and the Latin icere foedus - to strike a league, in allusion to the striking down, or slaying of an animal on the occasion. And so the Hebrew, as in the place before us, כרת ברית berı̂yth kârath - to cut a covenant, from cutting down, or cutting in pieces the victim over which the covenant was made; see this explained at length in the notes at Heb 9:16. By the language here, Job means that he had resolved, in the most solemn manner, that he would not allow his eyes or thoughts to endanger him by improperly contemplating a woman.
Why then should I think upon a maid - Upon a virgin - על־בתולה ‛al-bethûlâh; compare Pro 6:25, “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids;” see, also, the fearful and solemn declaration of the Saviour in Mat 5:28. There is much emphasis in the expression used here by Job. He does not merely say that he had not thought in that manner, but that the thing was morally impossible that he should have done it. Any charge of that kind, or any suspicion of it, he would repel with indignation. His purpose to lead a pure life, and to keep a pure heart, had been so settled, that it was impossible that he could have offended in that respect. His purpose, also, not to think on this subject, showed the extent of the restriction imposed on himself. It was not merely his intention to lead a chaste life, and to avoid open sin, but it was to maintain a pure heart, and not to suffer the mind to become corrupted by dwelling on impure images, or indulging in unholy desires. This strongly shows Job’s piety and purity of heart, and is a beautiful illustration of patriarchal religion. We may remark here, that if a man wishes to maintain purity of life, he must make just such a covenant as this with himself - one so sacred, so solemn, so firm, that he will not suffer his mind for a moment to harbor an improper thought. “The very passage of an impure thought through the mind leaves pollution behind it;” and the outbreaking crimes of life are just the result of allowing the imagination to dwell on impure images. As the eye is the great source of danger (compare Mat 5:28; 2Pe 2:14), there should be a solemn purpose that that should be pure, and that any sacrifice should be made rather than allow indulgence to a wanton gaze: compare Mar 9:47. No man was ever too much guarded on this subject; no one ever yet made too solemn a covenant with his eyes, and with his whole soul to be chaste.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–3 I made. Job is compelled to proclaim his own…
I made. Job is compelled to proclaim his own praises, for his vindication, as St. Paul was, being at the same time convinced that he had only done his duty, Luke xvii. 10. This is the third part of his discourse. Having given a picture of his prosperous and of his miserable condition, he observes that the latter was not inflicted in consequence of any misconduct, since he had always been attentive to avoid (Calmet) the most remote danger of offending God, or his neighbour. (Haydock) --- That I. Hebrew, "for why should I think upon a virgin?" (Haydock) --- Why should I expose myself, (Calmet) by indiscreet looks, (Haydock) since the passage from the eye to the heart is so easy, Ecclesiastes ii. 10. (Menochius) --- In the warfare between the flesh and the spirit, Job deemed this precaution necessary, (Worthington) and was thus preserved from carnal thoughts. (St. Gregory xx. 2.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Had I let my senses tempt me to sin,…
Had I let my senses tempt me to sin, "what portion (would there have been to me, that is, must I have expected) from (literally, of) God above, and what inheritance from (literally, of) the Almighty," &c. [MAURER] (Job 20:29; Job 27:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Third division — JOB’S ASSEVERATION OF HIS INNOCENCE, UNDER…
Third division — JOB’S ASSEVERATION OF HIS INNOCENCE, UNDER THE MOST SOLEMN APPEALS TO GOD, chapter 31. First strophe, Job_31:1-8.
a. A preliminary declaration that he had prescribed terms to the most treacherous of the senses, and planted a guard over his entire being, and that, too, impelled by the highest considerations of regard for God, Job_31:1-4.
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1. With mine eyes — The eyes, says a Talmudic proverb, are “the procuresses of evil.” So intimately is this most delicate and precious of the senses related to the soul, that Pliny said of the mind. “it certainly dwells in the eyes.” Here the eye is singled out as a representative sense, as if he who had the mastery of this were lord of all. Job has “made a covenant” to (ל) or for his eyes — prescribed limitations with all the form and solemnity of a covenant, which, through the divine strength of grace, he has determined they shall not transgress.
Why then should I think — How then should I look, or gaze, look wistfully upon, אתבונן. Thus translated, there is a striking resemblance in this question to the saying of Christ, (Mat_5:28.) At a time when polygamy or some other form of concubinage almost universally prevailed, Job stands conspicuously forth as a high-toned moralist, who looked upon chastity of the heart as no less important than chastity of the life.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4 1. The “eye,” the lusts of which are frequently…
1. The “eye,” the lusts of which are frequently spoken of in scripture, is the great inlet through which that which is without affects the heart and stirs evil desire. Job made a “covenant” or agreement with his eyes, that they should obey his mind, or act always in harmony with his higher self.
why then should I think] Or, how then should I look? Under his contract with his eyes such sinful looking upon a woman (Mat_5:28) was impossible; comp. Rom_6:2, We that died to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?
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1–12. Job clears himself of cherishing or yielding to sensuous desires. This idea is pursued through a series of instances; (1) simple desire, excited by the eye, Job_31:1-4; (2) actual yielding to such desire in word or deed, Job_31:5-8; (3) the grossest form of sensual sin, Job_31:9-12.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 (1) I made a covenant with mine eyes.—Job makes…
XXXI.
(1) I made a covenant with mine eyes.—Job makes one grand profession of innocence, rehearsing his manner of life from the first; and here he does not content himself with traversing the accusations of his friends, but professes his innocence also of sins less manifest to the observance of others, and affecting the secret conduct and the heart—namely, sensual transgression and idolatry. His object, therefore, is to show his friends that he has really been more upright than their standard demanded or than they supposed him to be, till his affliction made them suspect him; and this uprightness was the consequence of rigid and inflexible adherence to principle, for he made a covenant with his eyes, as the avenues of sinful desires. (Comp. Mat_5:28.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–4 The conclusion of Job"s long speech (ch. 26-31) is…
The conclusion of Job"s long speech (ch. 26-31) is now reached. He winds it up by a solemn vindication of himself from all the charges of wicked conduct which have been alleged or insinuated against him. perhaps it may be said that he goes further, maintaining generally his moral rectitude in respect of all the principal duties which a man owes either to God (vers. 46, 24-28, 35-37) or to his fellows (vers. 1-3, 7-23, 29-34, 38-40). He protests that he is innocent of impure thoughts (vers. 1-4); of false seeming (vers. 5-8); of adultery (vers. 9-12); of injustice towards dependants (vers. 13-15); of hardness towards the poor and needy (vers. 16-23); of covetousness (vers. 24, 25); of idolatry (vers. 26-28); of malevolence (vers. 29, 30); of want of hospitality (vers. 31, 32); of hiding his transgressions (vers. 33, 34); and of injustice as a landlord (vers. 38-40). In conclusion, he once more makes a solemn appeal to God to pronounce judgment on his case (ver. 35), promising to give a complete account of every act in his life (ver. 37), and calmly to await his sentence. An accidental dislocation of the last three verses disturbs the order hero assumed to be the proper one. This will be further considered in the comment. I made a covenant with mine eyes; rather, for mine eyes. The covenant must have been with himself. Job means that be came to a fixed resolution, by which he thenceforth guided his conduct, not even to "look upon a woman to lust after her". (Mat_5:28) We must suppose this resolution come to in his early youth, when the passions are strongest, and when so many men go astray. How then should I look upon a maid! Having made such a resolution, how could I possibly break it by "looking upon a maid"? Job assumes that he could not be so weak as to break a solemn resolution.
Vers. 1-40. Job"s second parable: 4. A solemn protestation of innocence.
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I WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF CHASTITY. (Vers. 1-4)
1. The wickedness he eschewed. Not alone the crime of seduction, or the actual defilement of virginal innocence, but even the indulgence of so much as a lascivious desire in connection with an unmarried female, was an ungodliness which Job regarded with abhorrence and indignation. Job"s morality on this point, as also upon some others, is a remarkable anticipation of the sermon on the mount, which forbids the unchaste look, the unclean imagination, the impure desire, as well as the lewd and incontinent act. (Mat_5:28) Job"s interpretation of the Law of God is like St. Paul"s (Rom_7:14) the precepts of the Decalogue covered the entire realm of the inner no less than of the outer life.
2. The rule he observed. That he might the better guard against the uprise within his heart of any prurient desire or lustful imagination, Job "made a covenant with his eyes," as their lord and master prescribed for them a law that they should not" fixedly gaze upon a maiden." Considering bow much of evil enters by the eye, (e.g. the cases of Eve, Gen_3:6; of the wife of Lot, Gen_19:26; of Achan, Jos_7:21) the wisdom of Job"s resolution cannot be questioned. In particular the eye has often proved itself "the inlet of lust" (Robinson), of according to a Talmudic proverb, "the procuress of sin;" as, for instance, it did with Judah, (Gen_38:5) Samson, (Jud_1:16:1) David, (2Sa_11:1-5) Amnon. (2Sa_13:1-20) Few things are more dangerous to an unprincipled, or indeed a principled, mind, than the too ardent contemplation of female beauty, which, besides being a deceitful vanity in itself, (Pro_31:30) is prone to inflame the heart with unlawful passions. Hence the propriety of the royal preacher"s counsel, (Pro_6:25) the Hebrew psalmist"s prayer, (Psa_119:37) and the Divine Saviour"s warning. (Mat_18:9)
3. The motives he possessed. In thus habitually exercising self-restraint, gob was actuated by two considerations.
(1) Fear of the Divine power. "It was no fear of man, no dread of temporal consequences, no respect for public order and well-being, no pure and stately self-respect even, which made and kept him pure" (Cox). It was the calm, clear, deliberate conviction that such wickedness could hot escape the just and righteously allotted punishment of Eloah, and that sooner or later, if he should enter on such a course of impiety, he would find himself overwhelmed by some strange, startling, intolerable calamity; nay, that he should deserve to be so overwhelmed (vers. 2, 3). Job was manifestly no milk-and-water moralist, like some of the nineteenth century, who regard fornication and seduction as indiscretions, and uncleanness generally as an infirmity rather than a sin. Instead of being leniently judged and softly scolded, if not lovingly caressed, as, alas] is too frequently his portion and inheritance from modern society, the violator of virgin innocence, in Job"s estimation, was a monster of iniquity, who deserved to be castigated by some horrible and degrading punishment, and who, he believed, would ultimately get his deservings. Nor was Job too spiritual, on the other hand, to admit that this formed one of the arguments which drove him to strict watchfulness over his heart and eyes. He was afraid of t he just judgment of Almighty God upon them that committed such appalling wickedness; and accordingly he acted on the principle of resisting its first beginnings. So St. Paul, knowing the terror of the Lord, persuaded men; (2Co_5:11) and Christ counselled his apostles to fear him who could destroy both soul and body in hell. (Luk_12:5) If not the highest motive for leading a chaste and virtuous life, it is still a sound and good one, and the only one by which many are capable of being impressed.
(2) Respect for the Divine omniscience. Job knew that, though it might be possible to elude the utmost vigilance of man, he could not evade him who beheld all his ways, and counted all his steps (ver. 4). The Divine omniscience is not dependent on, but co-ordinate with, the Divine omnipresence. God"s minute and universal knowledge of mundane affairs, and in particular of all that enters into the complicated texture of a human life, frequently denied by the ungodly, (Job_22:13) and sometimes forgotten by the pious, (Isa_40:27) is emphatically asserted in Scripture, (1Ki_8:39 Psa_11:4 Psa_139:14) and nowhere more so than in this book.Rightly (Job_21:22 Job_23:10 Job_24:1, 23 28:24 34:21, 22, 25) viewed, it operates as a powerful deterrent from sin, not only by proving the certainty of detection, and therefore the impossibility of escaping punishment, but also by filling the mind with a constant sense of the Divine presence, forgetfulness of which is perhaps one of the most frequent causes of sin.
II WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF JUSTICE. (Vers. 5-8)
1. An explicit declaration. Hypothetical in form, Job"s language amounts to a vehement assertion that his life was as unimpeachable with regard to equity as with regard to chastity. With falsehood in every shape and guise he had lived at open war. With deceit and imposition in either word or deed he had had no dealings whatever. From the straight path of integrity he had never turned aside. Never once under the dominion of secret avarice had he suffered his heart to be beguiled into hankering alter his neighbour"s property, as Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth. (1Ki_21:2) Not so much as a speck of defilement cleaved to his palm after any transaction in which he had been engaged. No living man could accuse him of underhand dealings or extortionate practices. So Samuel called his countrymen, (1Sa_12:3) and St. Paul challenged the elders of Miletus, (Act_20:33-35) to attest his personal integrity. So are Christ"s people exhorted to renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, (2Co_4:2) to provide things honest in the sight of all men, (2Co_8:21) and to carefully maintain a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. (Heb_13:18)
2. A solemn invocation. So confident does Job feel that he has not swerved a hair"s breadth from the law of equity, that he does not hesitate to appeal to God, challenging Eloab, as few men besides would have done, (Psa_130:3) to weigh him in an even balance, literally, in the scales of righteousness, when his integrity, or moral perfection, would become apparent. If Job meant this absolutely, it was presumption and self-righteousness; but the probability is he understood, by preferring such a claim, no more than God himself did when he declared Job to be perfect and upright; though the vehemence with which he asserted and protested his blamelessness insensibly obscured his vision of the truth which he at other times acknowledged, that in God"s sight no flesh living could be justified.
3. A dreadful imprecation. Not content with calmly submitting the question of his innocence to the severe and impartial arbitrament of Heaven, he invokes upon himself a curse of extreme severity. If by legal chicanery or violent extortion he has robbed another of his land, the commonest and most valuable sort of property, then he desires that he himself may be made the victim of a like oppression, that he may sow and another reap, and that his "things which spring up," not his descendants or children, as elsewhere the word is employed, (Job_5:25 Job_21:8 Job_27:14) but, as the parallelism demands, the produce of his ground, his harvest, may be rooted up. God"s punishments are often similar in kind to the offences they follow. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap". (Gal_6:7)
III WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF MARRIAGE. (Vers. 9-12) Different from the opening section, which treated of seduction, the present stanza alludes to the sin of adultery. In the former instance it is an unmarried virgin, in the latter it is a wedded wife, that is sinned against. The adulterous enterprise, which Job for himself disavows, is described in detail.
1. By its origin. It takes its rise in a bewitched or befooled heart. "Out of the heart proceed adulteries". (Mat_15:19) Therefore "keep the heart with all diligence". (Pro_4:23) This beguilement of the heart may be deliberately effected by the adulterous woman displaying her charms so as to fascinate her lover"s eye; (Pro_7:10-21) or, as in the case of David, it may result from lascivious admiration of the married woman"s beauty.
2. By its practice. The adulterous lover, waiting for the twilight, disguiseth his face, and lieth in wait at his neighbour"s door, obviously a common crime in Job"s time, (Job_24:15) as it afterwards was in David"s and Solomon"s, (Psa_50:18 Pro_6:24-29 Pro_7:5-9) Jeremiah"s (Jer_5:8) and Ezekiel"s, (Eze_18:6) Christ"s (Joh_8:3-9) and the apostles". (1Co_6:9 2Pe_2:10)
3. By its criminality. Job stigmatizes it as an act of infamy, and an iniquity to be brought before the judges (ver. 11), meaning that, besides being a violation of the moral law, (Exo_20:17) it is likewise an offence falling within the penal code of the land. Punished by death under Moses, (Lev_20:10 Deu_22:22) in patriarchal times it was visited by burning. (Gen_38:24) Probably this was the penalty attached to it in the land of Uz (ver. 12). Most heathen nations of antiquity pronounced it a capital offence.
4. By its demerit. The sinner who defiled his neighbour"s wife deserved to have the same sorrow meted out to himself a thought euphemistically expressed in ver. 10 (vide Exposition). So David"s sin against Uriah"s wile was punished by Absalom"s wickedness in lying with his father"s concubines. (2Sa_16:22)
5. By its results. In addition to civil penalties and providential retributions, its ultimate issue is widespread sorrow, if not fatal ruin. Like a consuming fire, if persevered in, it has nothing but physical, moral, and eternal destruction for the perpetrator. (Pro_6:32 Pro_7:23, Pro_7:26, 27 1Co_6:18 Heb_13:4 Rev_21:8) Even a solitary act is like the taking of a hot coal into one"s bosom. (Pro_6:27-29) Not only does it demoralize the nature of him who commits it, but it spreads sorrow and desolation through the heart of her against whom it is committed. It breaks the peace of otherwise happy families. It awakens the demon of jealousy, even when it is not discovered. Detected or concealed, it is a secret fountain of death.
IV WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF MASTER AND SERVANT. (Vers. 13-15)
1. The case supposed. Job instances a state of matters that might readily have occurred in his household, viz. the existence of some ground of complaint against him, the master, on the part of his manservant or maidservant, i.e. his bondman or bondwoman. Such contendings and disputings between master and servant, which are not unusual in modern free society, were much more likely to arise in ancient times when servants were simply slaves.
2. The course pursued. In the event of any such charge or complaint being preferred against him, Job protests that he neither crushed it out by the strong hand of oppression nor tossed it aside with contemptuous indifference, but gave it the most kindly attention and the most patient, careful, and impartial examination. If his accusers proceeded to impeach him at a bar of justice, he did not deny them the right of public redress, as other masters might have done and as the Israelitish master was entitled by the Law to do. But counting them as persons, not as goods and chattels, he accorded to them equal rights in this matter with himself. Slavery in Job"s house, as also in Abraham"s, was a widely different thing from that practised in modern times.
3. The reasons allied.
(1) He was answerable to God for the treatment he accorded to his servants. He should tremble when God arose to judgment, arid be speechless when God came round as an Inspector, to examine into the controversy pending between him and his servants, unless he acted on the principles of strictest equity. That God will one day hold such a court of inquiry, in which masters and servants, rulers and ruled, will be judged, is announced in Scripture. (Psa_96:13 Ecc_11:9 Act_17:31 2Co_5:10) Hence masters are responsible for their treatment of servants; (Col_4:1) and this thought should deter them, as it did Job, from inflicting upon those who serve, or are dependent upon them, either injustice or severity. (Eph_6:9)
(2) His servants were possessed of the same human nature with himself. They had been fashioned by the same Divine power as himself. Both alike were God"s handiwork, (Job_34:19 Psa_33:15) God"s creatures, (Isa_45:12) God"s offspring. (Mal_2:10 Act_17:29) Both had been produced by the same human agency. Both had been curiously and secretly elaborated in a woman"s womb. (Psa_139:13) Both had been made of one blood. (Act_17:26) Hence both belonged to a common brotherhood. Physically, intellectually, morally, the slave is the fellow of his master, having on the ground of a common humanity equal rights with that master in the light of God and before men. The language of Job is a powerful condemnation of the modern kind of slavery.
V WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF KINDNESS. (Vers. 16-22).
1. The objects of Job"s compassionate regard. The poor and the needy, the hungry and the naked, the fatherless and the widow. The care of such persons is a dictate of nature, which, however, is frequently powerless to enforce obedience to its own precepts. Among heathen nations generally the helpless and the destitute have been neglected and left to perish, if not openly oppressed and destroyed. Religion, however, both natural and revealed, prescribes kindness to the poor and needy as one of its essential virtues. The Mosaic code provided special legislation for the poor, (Lev_19:10, 13 23:22 Exo_23:11 Deu_15:7-11 Deu_14:28, Deu_14:29) for the widow, (Exo_22:22 Deu_24:17 Deu_27:19) for the orphan. (Exo_22:22 Deu_10:18 Deu_14:29) In the Hebrew Church these were the objects of God"s peculiar care. (Psa_68:5 Psa_146:9 Jer_49:11 Mal_3:5) In the Christian Church they are regarded as Christ"s brethren. (Mat_25:40) The care of them a special duty of the pious. (Jam_1:27)
2. Job"s habitual behaviour towards the poor and needy. Previously described, (Job_29:11-17) it is here again set forth both negatively and positively.
(1) Negatively, by reciting the special acts of unkindness towards the poor which he was careful to avoid, such as
(a) withholding the poor from their desire (ver. 16), it might be from the wages for which they had toiled or the aims which they had craved;
(b) causing the eyes of the widow to fail, by denying her assistance or refusing her redress against her powerful oppressor; (Job_24:3)
(c) eating his morsel alone, "in misery and grudging seclusion," lest the fatherless should see it and require to be invited to partake (ver. 17);
(d) looking on with heartless unconcern while the naked shivered in their rags, and perished for want of clothes (ver. 19);
(e) shaking the hand, i.e. using a threatening gesture towards the orphan who sued him in a court of justice, the moment he recognized the judges to be his friends (ver. 21).
(2) Positively, by sketching the manner of life towards them which from his youth up he had pursued (ver. 18), and which in large measure had become a second nature to him; according to which Job had been a father to the orphan and a son to the widow (ver. 18), training up the one with paternal solicitude and comforting the other with filial devotion, while the bunny never failed to find a meal at his hospitable board (ver. 17), or the naked to exchange their rags for the warmest fleeces of his sheep (ver. 20), his own heart finding its truest joy and amplest reward in the happiness he conferred on others.
1. The Spirit that inspired Job in his charitable deeds. He was afraid of the Divine retribution, and he stood in awe of the Divine majesty. It was the fear, not of man, but of God, that deterred him; the apprehension, not of unpleasant consequences in time, if he acted otherwise, but of the all-devouring wrath of the Almighty in the future.
2. The proof that Job offered of his veracity in what he said. He invoked upon himself a curse if he had sinned in any of the ways above named, but more particularly if he had lifted up his hand against the orphan; he desired that his shoulder might fall from its shoulder-blade, and that his arm might be broken from its bone (ver. 22).
VI WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF WORSHIP. (Vers. 24-28)
1. The twofold idolatry from which Job had abstained.
(1) Mammonism, or the worship of money. Formerly possessed of great wealth, (Job_1:3 Job_22:24) Job had carefully avoided those particular sins which great wealth is prone to foster.
(a) He had not allowed his confidence for time or for eternity to rest in the abundance of his gold. Probably money, in consequence of the seeming almightiness which belongs to it, (Ecc_7:2 Ecc_10:19) is the most formidable rival God encounters in his demands upon the human heart, (Mat_6:24) which almost universally betrays a disposition to trust in uncertain riches rather than in the living God. (1Ti_6:17) But Job had never permitted his gold to usurp the throne el his affections, had never even esteemed it as the chief good, and certainly had not accorded it the homage due to the Supreme. The all-absorbing devotion of a human soul to the pursuit or possession of wealth is idolatry, (Eph_5:5 Col_3:5) is incompatible with true piety, (Mar_10:24 1Jn_2:15) and should be carefully eschewed by all followers of Christ.
(b) He had not exultingly rejoiced in the greatness of his wealth. A person might stop short of actually reposing his heart"s trust in his money, and yet be guilty of excessive delight therein. But not even of the common sin of setting too high an estimate upon his gold and silver, of looking on with inward gratification at the growing pile of his material goods, was Job guilty. Having the Almighty as his gold and his silver of strength, (Job_22:25) i.e. esteeming the Divine favour and fellowship as greater riches than any earthly treasures, it was impossible that the mere increase of material possessions could fill him with extravagant rejoicing. The most effectual way to prevent the soul from delighting in a creature is to teach it to delight in the Creator.
(c) He had not even arrogantly taken credit to himself for achieving his immense fortune. No doubt his personal industry and sagacity had contributed to the grand result, (Pro_10:4 Pro_13:4) but he piously refrained from saying. "My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth", (Deu_8:17) probably remembering, as the Israelites were counselled to do, (Deu_8:18) that it was the Divine blessing alone which enabled him to become rich. (Pro_10:22)
(2) Sabaeism, or the worship of the heavenly bodies. "The eldest and also comparatively the purest form of heathenism" (Delitzsch), the adoration of the stars, prevailed amongst the Chaldeans in the time of Abraham, Uruk, one of the early monumental kings of Babylonia, having found, it at Ura temple of the moon, at Larsa a temple of the sun, and at Erech a temple of Venus, called Bitanna, or the house of heaven ("Records of the Past" vol. 3. p. 9). It was practised by the ancient Arabians, who "adored the sun and the moon as Divine," ancient testimonies being witness. It was diffused throughout Syria in the time of Moses, so that the Israelites, prior to their occupation of Canaan, were specially warned against it. (Deu_4:19) Nevertheless, under the monarchy, Israel frequently relapsed into this abomination. (2Ki_23:5, 2Ki_23:11) In later Babylonia it was rampant, (Eze_8:16) as again the monuments attest, Nebuchadnezzar having erected in the centre el Babylon "a great temple of Ninharissi (wife of the sun)," "to the moon-god a large house of alabaster as his temple," and "to the sun a house of cement and brick" ("Records of the Past" vol. 5. p. 122). The customary method of paying homage to these stellar deities was by kissing the hand to them, (1Ki_19:18 Heb_13:2) which, it may be noticed, is the literal import of the English verb" to, adore." The early and widespread diffusion of this particular form of idolatry affords a striking testimony to man"s need of a God outside of himself. Perhaps also, in the absence of revelation, it is not surprising that the human heart, impressed with the brilliance of the sun, the great light, shining in meridian splendour, and the exceeding beauty of the moon, the solemn and majestic night-wanderer, should ascribe to them supernatural Power and dignity. Yet man"s position at the crown and summit of creation renders all devotion offered to the creatures not only sinful, but absurd. From such impiety Job declared that he had kept himself free.
2. The twofold argument by which Job had been deterred. Had Job been addicted to either of the above specified forms of idolatry, he would have been guilty
(1) of a punishable crime. Probably Job means that in his day sun-worship was an offence against the statute law of the land (vide on ver. 11), as under the Mosaic code in Israel it could be expiated only by death; (Deu_17:2-7) but possibly the phrase, "an iniquity for judges." may only signify a transgression deserving to be punished, in which case it will hold good of both forms of idolatry. Job shrank from making a god to himself out of either the gold and silver which he possessed, or the celestial luminaries which he beheld, because of the penal consequences to which he knew such a misdeed would lead. And also because he felt that he would be guilty
(2) of a detestable hypocrisy in professing to worship God while secretly he was adoring the sun and kissing hands to the moon. A noble testimony to Job"s spirituality of mind and sincerity of heart! He could easily have offered homage to the host of heaven without exposing himself to observation by his fellows; or if, wanting courage to risk detection, he had refrained from outward gestures of devotion, he might have inwardly with his heart acknowledged their supremacy. But Job understood that God could read the heart as well as interpret the outward act, and that only that was acceptable worship which was inwardly sincere as well as outwardly correct. Here, again, the doctrine of the sermon on the mount (Mat_6:6) and of the New Testament generally (Joh_4:23, Joh_4:24) has been marvellously anticipated.
VII WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF LOVE. (Vers. 29, 30) Job declares his manner of life in dealing with his enemies.
1. Their treatment of him. They hated him. Their enmity was in all likelihood excited and fostered by his piety. Good men seldom pass through the world without meeting adversaries and opponents. David did not. (Psa_38:19, Psa_38:20) St. Paul did not. (1Co_16:9) Even Christ did not. (Joh_15:18) Neither can Christ"s followers expect tolive without molestation. (Joh_15:20) They that will live godly shall suffer persecution. (2Ti_3:12)
2. His treatment of them. Not only did he not rejoice in their destruction when evil fortune overtook them (ver. 29), but he was conscious of never having wished that such evil fortune should overtake them (ver. 30). To exult in the downfall of an enemy, if natural to the sinful heart, is yet heathenish, fiendish, diabolic; (Mic_7:8) it was sorely punished in the case of Edom when she rejoiced over Judah; (Oba_1:12, Oba_1:13) it is explicitly condemned in the Old Testament; (Pro_24:17, Pro_24:18) and is directly antagonistic to the spirit of the Mosaic Law, (Exo_23:4 Lev_19:18) and much more to that of Christ"s gospel, (Mat_19:19 Rom_13:9 Gal_5:14 Jam_3:8) which enjoins not only a negative abstinence from wishing harm to one"s enemies, the virtue which Job claimed (ver. 30), but the positive bestowment on them of acts of kindness, (Mat_5:44 Rom_12:20) which also we may be sure Job practised. Job"s doctrine is here again a striking approximation towards the teaching of Christ, and Job"s conduct a lofty exhibition of the spirit of Christianity, which will only shine out with brighter lustre if the reading (ver. 31) be adopted which supposes Job was urged by the men of his tabernacle to avenge himself upon his adversary.
VIII WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY. (Vers. 31, 32) This also Job maintained he had observed:
1. With conspicuous publicity. So open-handed had been his beneficence that with triumphant confidence he appealed to the members of his vast household to give witness in his behalf. They could testify, he was certain, that they had never seen a poor man depart unsatisfied from his mansion gate, but rather that they had every day beheld the contrary. So Job allowed his light to shine before men.
2. With unrestricted liberality. So lavish had been his hospitality that his domestics could fairly ask Where was the man whom their master had not sumptuously entertained? His table had stood open for all comers for friends and relatives, as a matter of course, but also for strangers and travellers of every sort and degree. So did Abraham and Lot invite travellers and strangers to their tents; (Gen_18:1-4 Gen_19:1) so are Christians exhorted to be gives to hospitality. (Rom_12:13 Heb_13:2)
3. With unstinted generosity. Not simply had he practised hospitality, but he had done so with no niggard band. The stranger he had welcomed to a lodging in his house. To the hungry traveller by the way he had extended, not a crust of bread merely, but a full meal, yea, a rich feast. So are Christians commanded to use hospitality without grudging. (1Pe_4:9)
IX WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF SINCERITY. (Vers. 33-37) The Language may be understood as conveying:
1. An important admission. Job"s use of the phrase, "my transgressions," is by some (Canon Cook) regarded as tantamount to an acknowledgment that, notwithstanding his blameless character and life, he was not free from sin a statement which was certainly correct in itself, since "there is not a just man on earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not", (Ecc_7:20) and hopeful as an indication of the mind of Job, inasmuch as it proved he was not depending on his virtues for salvation, as well as comforting for those who should afterwards peruse the story of his life, and who but for this recognition of the fact of sin might be prone to think that Job"s morality was beyond their reach. Still, it is open to grave question whether Job really intended to make this admission, or whether he did not rather design to convey an opposite idea, viz. that, as he had perpetrated no open crime, so neither was he hiding any secret wickedness. In either case his words contain:
2. An emphatic protestation. He was not attempting, and never had attempted, to play the hypocrite by either denying his guiltiness in general, or concealing his wicked acts in particular. In all he had said to them about the manner of his life, as in all the approaches he had ever made to God, he had acted with transparent sincerity. There was no secret stain upon his soul which he had not confessed to God; there was no undivulged crime which he feared to make known to man. Preeminently Job claimed to be one in whose spirit there was no guile. (Psa_32:2) Job"s accents contain a ring of defiance, which seems to ask whether he was likely to be afraid of either the hootings of the mob or the contempt of the aristocratic families of the land, that he required to skulk within doors, and keep silent about anything that he had ever done. Doubtless Job was universally recognized as a man of courage; and, because it was so, he could appeal to that in proof of his sincerity. But beyond this his utterance, if really intended, exhibits:
3. An instructive comparison. The contrast which Job institutes between himself and Adam, if the translation of the Authorized Version be followed, is a valuable authentication of the biblical tradition of the Fall. It proves that the writer of the Book of Job, to whatever age he belonged, accepted the story in Genesis concerning Adam as historically correct. By putting the name Adam into the mouth of one who flourished in pre-Mosaic times, it also demonstrates that, in the judgment of the author at least, the contents of the Hebrew narrative were credited beyond the bounds of Palestine at a time when the First Book of Moses was probably not yet composed. And now, having strenuously asserted that he was guilty of no concealment, he adds, in authentication of his truthfulness:
4. A personal subscription. "Behold my signature!" he exclaims, alluding to the practice in ancient courts of law of submitting a defence in writing, attested by the signature or mark of the accused party, and meaning that, so far as he was concerned, so confident did he feel in his own integrity, and so well prepared was he to reply to any indictment that might be brought against him, that he was willing to see the case go to trial without delay. Nay, having tendered his defences, he closes with a shout of triumph, throwing out as his ultimatum:
5. A sublime proclamation" in which he challenges his unseen adversary, God, (Job_9:15 Job_16:9) to draw up an indictment against him (Carey" Cox), or, according to another interpretation (Delitzsch), in which he draws attention to the already prepared indictment of his opponents, viz. the three friends. In either case he offers, if only God will allow the matter to go to trial, not to shrink from the ordeal of examination, but binding the indictment (God"s or what of the friends) on his shoulder as a badge of distinction, "winding it around his head like a magnificent crown of diadems, (Delitzsch), to approach God with all the princely majesty of one who is conscious of innocence" and to lay bare before his searching gaze, with the most assured confidence of ultimate vindication, every step in his by-past career.
X WITH RESPECT TO THE LAW OF PROPERTY. (Vers. 38-40)
1. The crime which Job disowns. The fraudulent appropriation of land, by either withholding the stipulated rent or murdering the legal proprietor, was apparently not unknown in the days of the patriarch, as, alas I in our time it is both known and practised. But of any such iniquity Job"s hands were clear. For every rood of soil he cultivated be had honestly paid the market price; and, of course, he had never dreamt of killing his landlord to get his farm, as Jezebel dispatched Naboth to secure his vineyard.
2. The curse which Job invokes. Had Job been guilty of any such wickedness, not only would his fields have cried out against him, and the furrows which he ploughed have wept over his ungodliness, but he would have richly deserved that Heaven"s blight should descend upon his acres; and such a blight he prays to descend upon his broad domain if he has been guilty of any such wickedness as that which he has just disowned. "May thistles spring up instead of wheat, and darnel instead of barley!
Learn:
1. That the Law of God, i.e. the moral Law, or the law of holiness, has been the same from the beginning of the world until now.
2. That the spirituality of the Law el God is only concealed from them who make no attempt to keep it.
3. That the Law of God takes cognizance of man in every department of his being and every sphere of his life.
4. That the Law of God is as certain and severe in its penalties as it is stern and imperative in its requirements.
5. That the Law of God is the one absolute and invariable rule of life for men under the Christian as well as under the Mosaic or patriarchal dispensation, for the pardoned believer no less than for the unconverted sinner.
6. That the true gauge of a soul"s piety is the earnestness with which it endeavours to keep the Law of God in all its precepts.
7. That the loftiest incentive to such a keeping of the Law of God is a reverential regard for the Lawmaker, especially as he is seen in Christ.
8. That no mere man is able to keep the Law of God perfectly, even Job"s performances being not altogether unmixed with sin.
9. That the most dangerous thing a man can do with his transgressions of the Law of God is to cover them.
10. That that man is grossly deceived who imagines God could not indict him for violations of his Law, because he (the man) cannot indict himself.
11. That those who are advancing in holiness, or sincere keeping of the Law of God, should guard against being either too proud of, or too reliant on, their own attainments.
12. That the loftiest morality attainable on earth will not enable man to dispense with the services of a Daysman or Mediator.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-40. Solemn assurances of innocence.
Job can discover no connection between his present sufferings and those well-founded hopes of his former life to which he has been referring; but there remains the assumption of his guilt as an explanation. In his intense longing for redemption he is led, in conclusion, to affirm in the most solemn and sacred manner his innocence, invoking the sorest punishments upon himself if his words are untrue. Thus, in effect, he makes a final appeal to God as his Judge. In this solemn assurance of innocence, he begins with that which is the root and source of sin evil lust; he then touches on the sins proceeding from it, and explains the rule of life and the disposition of heart which rendered him incapable of the commission of such sins.
I LUST RESISTED: THE HEART GIVEN TO VIRTUE. (Vers. 1-4)
1. He had governed the eye and restrained its lust. He had guarded that noble organ, which may be either the avenue of purest pleasures or the tempter to most shameful vice. He had prescribed to the eye its conduct and its law. The eye seems almost as much the receptacle and scat of our passions, appetites, and inclinations as the mind itself; at least it is the outward portal to introduce them to the mind within, or rather the common thoroughfare to let our affections pass in and out. Love, anger, pride, avarice, all visibly move in those little orbs (Addison). It is not enough to watch over the heart, the inner citadel of the man, but all its avenues the eye, the ear, the hand, the foot must be guarded against the approach of sin.
2. He had referred himself in this to the judgment and the all-seeing eye of God. (compare Joseph, Gen_39:9; and Psa_139:2, sqq.) The thought of men"s knowledge is often a more powerful deterrent from actual crime; it is the thought of God which alone can sanctify and keep in safety the heart. Job rises above the mere commandments of the Law. Law forbids the desire of others" goods (Exo_20:17 Deu_5:21) a negative virtue; Christ carries us directly to God, and bids us be pure in heart that we may behold him. To live consciously in the eye of God is to have a pure and right direction for our own.
II FIRST PROTESTATION: EVIL DESIRES HAVE NOT BEEN YIELDED TO. (Vers. 5-8) He did not "go about with falsehood," nor did his foot hasten to deceit. May God, he says, pausing, weigh him in a just balance, and, instead of being found wanting like Belshazzar, (Dan_5:27) may his integrity be known and proved! Among the Greeks, Themis, or Dike, held the scales symbolical of judgment; the Arabs speak of judgment as the "balance of works." Every man"s work, every man"s character, shall finally be tried, proved, made known; and many that are last shall be first, and the first last. His steps had not turned out of the right way, the way marked out and appointed by God; no stain of ill-gotten wealth had cleaved to his hands. (Psa_101:5 Deu_13:17) Another imprecation, ratifying his assurances of innocence: "Then let me sow, and let another eat let another enjoy the fruit of his ill-spent, dishonest toil; (comp. Job_27:16, 17 Lev_26:16 Deu_28:33 Amo_5:11) and let his shoots the plants of the earth which he has set be rooted out!
III His PURE AND RIGHT CONDUCT IN DOMESTIC LIFE. (Vers. 9-15)
1. His chastity. (Vers. 9-12) He had not been befooled into any gross sin against the marriage-tie. He expresses the utmost detestation of such sin. "It would be a crime, and a sin before the judges." It would be as a devouring fire, resting not in its course until it had brought the criminal to the pit of hell, and all his property had been rooted out. (comp. Pro_6:27 Pro_7:26, 27 Jam_3:6)
2. His conduct towards his domestic slaves. He had not abused the rights of his menservants or maidservants. His relation to them was patriarchal, like that of Abraham to Eliezer of Damascus. (Gen_15:2 Gen_24:2, et seq.) He felt that he and they, masters and slaves, were of one blood, the children of one Father, offspring of one Creator; how could he, were he guilty of sin against them, face the dread tribunal of God? "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?". (Mal_2:10) Refer to St. Paul"s exhortation to masters. (Eph_6:9) The relations of masters and servants, employers and employed, have undergone vast changes since those ancient days. We all live under the equal protection of the laws of the land, and the general spirit of the law is to protect the weaker against the stronger, the poor against the encroachment of the rich. But in Christianity this relation receives a new meaning and sanctity by being brought under the great central relation in which we stand to Christ. And we have a beautiful example of the Christian treatment of the servant in St. Paul"s Epistle to Philemon. To set our servants good examples, and to care for their moral and spiritual welfare, is the duty of a Christian master or mistress.
IV HIS JUST AND COMPASSIONATE CONDUCT IN SOCIAL LIFE. (Vers. 16-23; comp. Job_29:12-17) He did not refuse his interiors their wishes when it was in his power to gratify them; did not withhold what he had the ability to give, nor shut up his compassions towards his poor brother; did not leave the widow to languish in longing expectation of help. He had not eaten alone in solitary greed a rich repast, like Dives; he had shared his bread with the orphan. All his life long he had been a father to the fatherless, a support to the widow, thus seeking to follow and imitate the all-compassionate God; to reproduce his heavenly pity in a gentle life on earth (Psa_68:5) He had clothed the neglected and the poor, and earned their thanks and blessing. In his capacity as ruler and judge he had not lifted up his hand with the purpose of violence; he had not perverted his great influence in the gate, or place of justice, to do them wrong. Forced to self-defence, he sets the seal of a most solemn imprecation upon his testimony concerning the past. And, further, he again sets forth the deep religious ground on which all his conduct to his neighbours was built. It was the fear of God, which is the beginning of all piety, the root of all morality, the great deterrent from sin. It was" therefore, morally impossible for him to have committed the sins laid to his charge (ver. 28). Here from the ancient patriarchal world shines out upon us a picture of those social virtues which are essentially the same in every age and every land. These are the primal duties which gleam aloft like stars, or adorn the earth like flowers. Our duties to our inferiors in wealth and status are an essential part of Christian piety. We are to do good when we can hope for nothing again. The poor cannot recompense us, but we shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. (Luk_14:14 Mat_25:36) Much converse with the weak and the lowly produces simplicity of heart, and chastens our feverish ambition to shine among our equals or superiors. "Far other aims our hearts will learn to prize, More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. Compare the whole picture of the village pastor in Goldsmith"s " Deserted Village." The contemplation of these pictures, in the poet"s description or in actual life, sweetens the heart, calms our thoughts; above all, we are thus led to dwell with still more delight on the sacred picture of him who went about doing good, the Divine Type of all compassion and condescension.
V JOB"S INWARD LIFE: THE FINER CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. (Vers. 24-40) He proceeds to mention several sins of a more depraved and base character, defending himself against the charge of complicity with them.
1. The lust of gold. (Vers. 24, 25) He had not put his trust in riches. The deadliness of the sin of covetousness has been among the lessons of all moralists, sacred and profane. The "accursed hunger for gold," the "root of all evil;" "Thy money perish with thee;" "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee;" "Take heed, and beware of covetousness;" are sayings that occur to us all. This is really the most fruitful source of all the darker crimes and sins, because there is no passion so unsocial, so antisocial. Men lose their souls to save their pelf. "Covetousness is the alpha and omega of the devil"s alphabet; the first vice in corrupt nature which moves, and the last which dies." It is an "immoderate desire and pursuit of even the lawful helps and supports of nature." "Holding fast all it can get in one hand, and reaching at all it can desire with the other." "It has enriched its thousands, and damned its ten thousands.
2. Idolatry and blind worship of power. (Ver. 26, et sec.) As he had kept his heart with all diligence in presence of the temptations of gold, so he had watched against the inducements of false religion. In presence of the glorious objects of nature, the worship of which so extensively prevailed in the East, and at one period probably over the whole world, he had refrained from throwing towards them the kiss which was the gesture of reverence. For his heart had been touched with true reverence for its alone worthy Object, the God who is a Spirit; and to have declined to these beggarly elements would have been a crime against conscience, a practical infidelity, a denial of the God above. If we have ever been taught and trained in a spiritual faith, we cannot lapse into mere formalism a confusion of the external symbol with the living reality without a denial of our spiritual conscience, a turning of the light within us into darkness. To bow before the mere power and beauty revealed in nature, ignoring God as the Author both of nature and of the moral law: or to make worship a mere sensuous enjoyment rather than a spiritual exercise; are subtle temptations of our time analogous to those of Job. Our view of Nature is only religious when we seek through her sensuous medium for the supersensuous, the moral, the Divine (compare Mozley"s noble sermon on "Nature").
3. Hatred of enemies. (Ver. 29, et seq.) He had lived in the light of a most lofty morality. The general principle of ancient morality was, "Love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy," among both Jews and Gentiles. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," was the maxim of the savage justice of the early times. Even the great Aristotle says, in his "Ethics," "They who are not enraged when they ought to be, seem to be weak creatures; to endure insults and neglect one"s friends is the part of a slave" ("Eth. Nic.," 4:5). "The first duty of justice," says Cicero, "is to injure no one, unless provoked by a wrong" ("Off.," 1:7). Let us contrast with this the gentle morality of Heaven. The Law of Moses ordained that if a man should meet his enemy"s ass or his ox going astray, he should surely bring it back to him again. (Exo_23:4) Men were not to avenge, nor bear any grudge against others, but to love their neighbours as themselves. (Lev_19:18) Especially do we find this doctrine preached in the Book of Proverbs, "Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he will save thee"; (Lev_20:22) "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth"; (Lev_24:17) "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink". (Lev_25:21) Job had not defiled his mouth with curses imprecating death upon his foes. Nor had his morality been negative merely, which is all that many seem able to conceive of one"s duties to one"s neighbours. He had been hospitable and generous (vers. 31, 32). The "people of his tent," the inmates of his dwelling, had never to complain of scant fare, of short commons, at his table. He did not leave the stranger to pass the night in the street, but opened his doors to the wanderer. "No surly porter stood in guilty state, To spurn imploring famine from the gate.... His house was known to all the vagrant train He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain.
Compare the stories of Abraham"s hospitality at Mature. Lot"s at Sodom, of the old man at Giheah. (Ge 18 Heb_13:2 Jud_1:19:15, et seq.) Among peoples who led an unsettled, wandering life, hospitality necessarily became one of the foremost of duties to one"s neighbour; and there are many Arab popular anecdotes of Divine punishment of the inhospitable. Wetstein says that while exploring the lake Ram, the fountain of the Jordan, the Bedouins asked him if he had not heard of the origin of the lake; and related that many centuries ago a flourishing village once stood there. One evening a poor traveller came while the men were sitting together in the open place of the village, and begged for a supper and lodging. They refused; and when he said he was starving, an old woman reached out to him a clod of earth, and drove him from the village. The man went to the village of Nimra hard by, where he was taken in. The next morning a lake was found where the neighbouring village had stood. The conditions of modern life are different. The place of hospitality in the scale of social duties is changed. But for all who have enough and to spare of this world"s goods, there remains open a wide field of Christian beneficence and of refined culture in the practice of a sincere and discriminating hospitality. The model lesson on this subject is in Luke
1. It is a deep lesson that no man is poorer for all the expense of love. It is the habit of needless hoarding that empties the heart. When the affections are centred on the granary, or the counting-house, or the bank, or the fields, the man"s wealth is imaginary, not real. Real wealth lies in the power of self-sufficiency for our outward condition, and of having something over for others. "Use hospitality without grudging;" "God loveth a cheerful giver." "The world teaches me that it is madness to leave what I may carry with me; Christianity teaches me that what I charitably give while I live I may carry with me after death; experience teaches me that what I leave behind I lose. I will carry with me by giving away that treasure which the worldling loses by keeping; and thus, while his corpse shall carry nothing but a winding-sheet to his grave, I shall be richer underground than I was above it" (Bishop Hall).
2. Hypocrisy and concealment of sins. (Vers. 33-40) The way of man (or of "Adam") is to hide guilt, and bear a hypocritical front. The motive of such concealment is suggested in ver. 34 the fear of the great multitude, or of the nobler families who were one"s equals and associates. So may a guilty conscience lay a weight upon the tongue; as in Plutarch"s story of Demosthenes, who, having taken a bribe, refused to speak in the assembly, appearing there with his throat muffled up, and complaining of a quinsy; whereupon one cried out," He is not suffering from a throat-quinsy but from a money-quinsy." "Garments once rent are liable to be torn on every nail and every brier, and glasses once cracked are soon broken; such is a good man"s name, once tainted with just reproach. Next to the approbation of God, and the testimony of my own conscience, I will seek for a good reputation among men; not by concealing faults lest they should be known to my shame, but by avoiding all sins that I may not deserve it. It is difficult to do good, unless we be reputed good" (Bishop Hall).
3. Renewed protestations. Would that he had one to hear this his assurance of innocence! He is thinking of God, and he desires his judicial interference in his favour. "Behold, there is my handwriting; let the Almighty answer me." As if he should say, "Here is the original of my justification, with my signature attached. This is my documentary defence; let the Almighty try it, and let his judgment be given" On the other hand, would that he had the accusation, the statement as it were of the prosecution against him (ver. 35). He here thinks of God as his Accuser, and longs to know what he has against him! Had he this document, he would bear it like a mark of honour upon his shoulder, (for the idea, comp. Isa_9:4 Isa_22:22) or like a diadem for his head. Such is the triumphant consciousness of innocence. He would declare to God the number of his steps would conceal nothing, but confess all to him. He would approach him like a prince, with stately step and unabashed port, as becomes one whose conscience is clear (ver. 37). Lastly, by some additional light of memory now flashing on his mind at the close of his protestation, he gives a special example of his freedom from the guilt of blood. His had been no life containing deeds like that of Ahab to Naboth. (1Ki_21:1) No such fearful crime was the cause of his sufferings. "If my land cries against me for revenge, because of some crime against a former possessor its furrows weep; if I have wasted its power, its fruit and produce, without payment, and blasted the life of its possessor," by violence, "instead of wheat let thorns spring forth, and instead of barley stinking weeds." That consciousness of God"s omniscience, which strikes terror into the secret sinner, is a comfort to the heart of the sincere child of God. The daybreak frightens the robber, but cheers the honest traveller. Thou that art sincere, God sees that sincerity in thee which others cannot discern; yea, he often sees more sincerity in thy heart than thou caner discern thyself, This may uphold the drooping spirits of a disconsolate soul when the black mouths of men, steeled with ignorance and prejudice, shall be opened in hard speeches against him. How severely, though blindly, do they judge of men"s hearts! But here the sincere soul may comfort itself when on the one hand it can reflect upon its own integrity, and on the other upon God"s infinite infallible knowledge, and say, "Indeed, men charge me with this and this, as false-hearted and a hypocrite, but my God knows otherwise" As Daniel, by trusting in God, was secure from the mouths of the lions, so thou, by having faith in and drawing comfort from God"s omniscience, mayest defy the more cruel mouths of thy persecutors. When a man is accused of treason to his prince, and knows that his prince is fully assured of his innocence, he will laugh all such accusations to scorn. It is thus with God and a sincere heart. In the midst of all slanders he will own thee for innocent, as he did Job, when his friends, with much specious piety, charged him with hypocrisy. Wherefore commit thy way to the all-seeing God to that God who is acquainted with all thy ways; who sees thy goings out and thy comings in, and continually goes in and out before thee, and will one day testify and set his seal to thine integrity. Comfort thyself in the consideration of his omniscience, from whence it is that God judgeth not as man judgeth, but judgeth righteous judgment; and hold fast thy integrity that lies secret in the heart, whose praise is of God, and not of man (South). J.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-40. The consciousness of integrity.
The Divine solution of the riddle of human life is being wrought out in this poem, although at times it seems as though the entanglement became more and more confused. The case, as put in these three chapters, is the condensation of all as far as it has gone. It still awaits the solution. Job was in riches, dignity, and honour; he is now cast down to ignominy and suffering. Yet he is righteous this, at least, is his own conviction; and in this chapter he makes his appeal to the facts of his history and invites scrutiny, and judgment if he be found guilty. This is the progress of the writing up to the present moment. His companions are baffled. They know of no other explanation of such suffering than deep and hidden sin. It will yet be proved that the godly suffer whom thou lovest is sick although the world will long wait for a verbal explanation; and even now does the cry never ascend to heaven, "Wherefore dealest thou thus with me?" Job"s appeal to the uprightness of his life and to his perfect integrity relates to the whole of his conduct, and to the various conditions in which he has been placed. The outward Divine testimony, he is "a perfect and an uptight man," has its echo in Job"s breast. Hence he makes his appeal
I TO HIS CHASTITY. He makes his appeal in the sight of the all-searching One to him who seeth "my ways" and counteth "all my steps.
II TO HIS TRUTHFULNESS AND JUSTNESS.
III TO HIS PURITY OF CONDUCT.
IV TO HIS FIDELITY.
V TO HIS EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE.
VI TO HIS UNFLINCHING RECTITUDE.
VII TO HIS CHARITY AND COMPASSION.
VIII TO HIS FREEDOM FROM UNDUE CONFIDENCE IN HIS WEALTH.
IX TO HIS FREEDOM FROM IDOLATRY.
X TO HIS FREEDOM FROM HATRED AND HARSH TREATMENT, EVEN OF HIS ENEMIES
XI TO HIS KINDNESS AND HOSPITALITY.
XII TO HIS EXEMPTION FROM COVERT OR OPEN SIN. He hid no iniquity in his bosom, and therefore feared not the presence of men. Hypocrisy was not his failing. He makes his final appeal to his honesty and uprightness of dealing even by a reference to his fidelity to the very fields which he owned. Well might such a man long for a true judgment for an open ear into which he could pour his complaint. Well may such a man commit himself to Jehovah"s judgment, knowing "the Almighty will answer for me." Thus does Job vindicate his integrity and make his appeal to the highest tribunal. R.G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 I made a covenant with mine eyes.
Job_31:1-32
I made a covenant with mine eyes.
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Guard the senses
Set a strong guard about thy outward senses: these are Satans landing places, especially the eye and the ear. (W. Gurnall.)
Methods of moral life
Let us look at the kind of life Job says he lived, and in doing so let it be remarked that all the critics concur in saying that this chapter contains more jewels of illustration, of figure or metaphor, than probably any other chapter in the whole of the eloquent book. Job is therefore at his intellectual best. Let him tell us the kind of life he lived: whilst he boasts of it we may take warning by it; the very things he is clearest about may perhaps awaken our distrust. Job had tried a mechanical life--I made a covenant with mine eyes (verse 1). The meaning of a mechanical life is a life of regulation, penance, discipline; a life all marked out like a map; a kind of tabulated life, every hour having its duty, every day its peculiar form or expression of piety. Job smote himself; he set before his eyes a table of negations; he was not to do a hundred things. He kept himself well under control; when he burned with fire, he plunged into the snow; when his eyes wandered for a moment, he struck them both, and blinded himself in his pious indignation. He is claiming reward for this. Truly it would seem as if some reward were due. What can a man do more than write down upon plain paper what he will execute, or what he will forbear doing, during every day of the week? His first line tells what he will do, or not do, at the dawn; he will be up with the sun, and then he will perform such a duty, or crucify such and such a passion he will live a kind of military life; he will be a very soldier. Is this the true way of living? Or is there a more excellent way? Can we live from the outside? Can we live by chart, and map, and schedule, and printed regulation? Can the race be trained in its highest faculties and aspects within the shadow of Mount Sinai? Or is the life to be regulated from within? Is it the conduct that is to be refined, or the motive that is to be sanctified and inspired? Is life a washing of the hands, or a cleansing of the heart? The time for the answer is not now, for we are dealing with an historical instance, and the man in immediate question says that he tried a scheduled life. He wrote or printed with his own hand what he would do, and what he would not do, and he kept to it; and though he kept to it, some invisible hand struck him in the face, and lightning never dealt a deadlier blow. Job then says he tried to maintain a good reputation amongst men--If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out (verses 5-8). That was a public challenge. There were witnesses; let them stand forth: there was a public record kept; let it be read aloud. This man asks for no quarter; he simply says, read what I have done let the enemy himself read it, for even the tongue of malice cannot pervert the record of honesty. Will not this bring a sunny providence? Will not this tempt condescending heaven to be kind, and to give public coronation to so faithful a patron? Is there no peerage for a man who has done all this? Nay, is he to be displaced from the commonalty and thrust down, that he may be a brother to dragons and a companion to owls? All this has he done, and yet he says, My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep (Job_30:30-31). This is not what we have thought of Providence. We have said, Who lives best in the public eye will be by the public judgment most honourably and cordially esteemed: the public will take care of its servants; the public will stand up for the man who has done all he could in the interests of the public; slave, man or woman, will spring to the masters rescue, because of remembered kindnesses. Is Job quite sure of this? Certainly, or he would not have used such imprecations as flowed from his eloquent lips:--If I have done thus, and so, then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out: let my wife grind servilely unto another: let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. So then Job himself is speaking earnestly. Yet, he says, though I have done all this, I am cast into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes: though I have done all this, God is cruel unto me, and He does not hear me: I stand up, and He regardeth me not: with His strong hand He opposeth Himself against me: He has lifted me up to the wind, and He has driven me away with contempt: He has not given me time to swallow down my spittle: I, the model man of my day, have been crushed like a venomous beast. Job, therefore, does not modify the case against God. He misses nothing of the argument and withholds nothing of the tragic fact. He makes a long, minute, complete, and urgent statement. And this statement is found in the Bible! Actually found in a Book which is meant to assert eternal providence and justify the ways of God to man! It is something that the Bible could hold within its limits the Book of Job. It is like throwing ones arms around a furnace; it is as if a man should insist upon embracing some ravenous beast, and accounting him as a member of the household. These charges against Providence are not found in a book written in the interests of what is called infidelity or unbelief; this impeachment is part of Gods own book. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Concludes his speeches by a solemn, particular, and extended…
JOB’S SELF-VINDICATION.—HIS SOLILOQUY CONTINUED
Concludes his speeches by a solemn, particular, and extended declaration of the purity and uprightness of his life. Especial reference to his private, as before to his public, conduct. Intended to silence his accusers and justify his complaints. Affords a picture of an outwardly and blameless character. A specimen, presented in beautiful language, of a pure morality accompanied with, and based upon, an ardent piety and genuine religion. Job asserts—
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I. His chastity. Job_31:1.—“I made a covenant with (or laid a solemn charge upon) mine eyes: why (or how) then should I look (or that I would not look) upon a maid” [to lust after her, as Mat_5:28]. Speaks especially as a married man, and with reference to the sin of adultery. Already beginning to prevail in that early period, particularly with the rich and powerful. Hence Abraham’s apprehension and temptation (Gen_12:11-15); and Isaac’s, (Gen_26:7-10). Observe—
1. The text the language of holy resolution. The soul to act as lord of the body. The body with its members, organs, and senses, to be kept in subjection (1Co_9:27). The avenues to temptation to be guarded. The eye the inlet of lust. Occasions and temptations to sin to be guarded against as well as sin itself. The neglect of Job’s resolution the occasion of David’s fall and broken bones (2Sa_11:2-4; Psa_51:8). The Saviour’s rule—“If thine eye offend thee”—prove a constant or frequent occasion of sin by awaking lust—“pluck it out”—remove the occasion of sin at whatever cost (Mat_5:28). Eve’s looking on the forbidden fruit the occasion of her own fall and the ruin of millions of her offspring. Lot’s wife looking back on Sodom the cause of her petrifaction into a pillar of salt. Dinah’s idle curiosity in visiting a heathen city to see its women, the loss of her own chastity. Achan’s looking on the golden wedge and Babylonish garments the loss of his life (Jos_7:21). Samson’s sleep on Delilah’s lap the loss of his locks (Jdg_16:19). “Look not on the wine when it is red” (Pro_23:31). David’s (or Daniel’s?) prayer: “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity” (Psa_119:37). Christian and Faithful in Vanity Fair refused even to look upon its wares. The contrast of the text in 2Pe_2:14, “Having eyes full of adultery.”
2. Job’s reasons for his resolution.
(1) His preference for a better portion. Job_31:2.—“For what portion of God is there [in such a case] from above? and what inheritance from the Almighty on high?” Job taught to distinguish between present pleasure and future bliss, and between the mere gratification of lust and the enjoyment of true happiness. No gratification of the senses to be compared to the enjoyment of God’s favour. A man must either forego the pleasures of sin or the joys of heaven. Nothing unclean admitted within the New Jerusalem. The gratification of sinful passion incompatible with the enjoyment of God’s presence. Observe—(i.) In order to the resisting of temptation and avoiding of sin, important to “have respect to the recompense of reward” (Heb_11:26). Thus Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season (Heb_11:25). Having this respect, Mary chose the good part, and turned her back on the world; not having it, the rich young man chose the world, and turned his back upon Christ. (ii.) Necessary to choose between the enjoyment of sin and the enjoyment of God, and between a portion in this world and one in the next. The whole tenour of a man’s life here, and the whole eternity of his experience hereaft er, determined by the choice he makes between the two. (iii.) God not only the Bestower of a believer’s portion, but the portion itself (Psa_16:5). Such portion to be desired in preference to all earthly and sensuous enjoyment, as—First: More excellent in itself, and more becoming man’s better nature as a moral and intellectual being. Second: More satisfying to such a being, and to one made capable, as man is, of enjoying his Maker’s friendship. Third: More enduring, the one terminating at the farthest with death, the other extending throughout eternity. Fourth: Attended with no remorse. Fifth: Followed by no penalty.
(2) His dread of the consequences of sin. Job_31:3—“Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment (a terrible calamity or ‘alienation’—viz., from God and all good) to the workers of iniquity?” Reference to the “terrors of the Lord” important in persuading ourselves, as well as others, to the avoidance of sin (2Co_5:11). Christ’s argument, “What shall a man be profited, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Better to enter into life with one eye or one foot, than having two eyes or two feet to be cast into hell. Better lose everything than lose heaven. Every loss light compared with the loss of the soul. Observe—(i.) Destruction certain to the wicked and impenitent. The wicked turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God (Psa_9:17). (ii) No earthly calamity equal to that which must one day overtake the unqodly. The destruction of the Old World by water, and that of Sodom and Gomorrha by fire, only a foreshadowing of the destruction of the impenitent at the final judgment. Inconceivable terrors involved in the sentence: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Mat_25:41). “Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (2Th_1:9). Such destruction the righteous penalty of wilful transgression of the Divine law, rebellion against the Divine government, and refusal of the Divine mercy. Natural that whatsoever a man soweth that he should also reap. Destruction and misery the flower and fruit of sin. Sin is misery in the seed; misery is only sin in the bloom.
(3) The recollections of God’s constant inspection. (Job_31:4)—“Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?” (or actions,—every separate act or passage in my course on earth) Omniscience a necessary attribute of godhead. An open eye the Egyptian hieroglyphic for deity. “Thou God seest me,” the guardian of Job’s life. Not easy to sin under the gaze of the broad eye of the Almighty. Few so hardy as to break the Queen’s commands with the Queen herself looking on. The practice of sin the result of forgetfulness of God. The language of the heart if not of the lips of the ungodly,—No eye shall see me (ch. Job_24:15). To walk before God the easy and natural way to be perfect and upright (Gen_17:1).
II. His honesty, uprightness, and freedom from covetousness (Job_31:5-8). “If I have walked with vanity (lived in the practice of falsehood and hypocrisy), or if my food hath hasted to deceit (to the commission of a fraud); let me be weighed (Heb., ‘let him—or any one—weigh me’) in an even balance (Heb. ‘in the balances of righteousness,’) that God may know my integrity (should there be any doubt in the matter, which however is impossible). If my step hath turned out of the way (the straight way, or way of truth and uprightness, the only way that men should walk in), and mine heart walked after mine eyes—(gone out in covetous desire after the possession of what I have seen, as Ahab’s heart went after Naboth’s vineyard,—the eye being the inlet of covetousness as well as of lust), and if any blot (or stain of wrong doing, unjust gain, or bribe for the perversion of justice) hath cleaved to my hands (in the transaction of any business with my fellow-men, or in the discharge of my duty as a magistrate and a judge); then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring (or my produce) be rooted out.” The language—
1. Of conscious innocence and integrity. Job able unhesitatingly to appeal to his neighbours and to God Himself in the declaration of his honesty and uprightness both in private and public life. So Samuel at Gilgal (1Sa_12:3; and Paul at Miletus (Act_20:18-20; Act_20:33-35). Job’s character as here given by himself only that already given him by God.
2. Of, in some degree at least, self-ignorance and pride. Job apparently still too confident in his own righteousness. Though upright in his external dealings, and blameless in the eyes of men, yet, weighed “in the balances of righteousness,” even Job found wanting (Rom_3:9-10; Rom_3:19; Rom_3:23). Much self-knowledge yet to be gained by him. Job yet to take the place of the publican—“God be merciful to me a sinner” (chap. Job_40:4; Job_42:5-6).
3. Of sincerity. A mark of uprightness, when we are not only willing but wishful, if we have done wrong, to suffer for it. David’s case (Psa_7:3-5. Paul’s Act_25:11).
Job’s imprecation suggests that, in the providence of God, punishment in this world is often according to the nature of the sin. Cruelty and wrong done to others often punished by the same being experienced by ourselves. Injustice in our gains punished by a blight on our substance. Same principle acknowledged in the next sin specified.
III. His freedom from adulterous desires and practices. Job_31:9-12.—“If mine heart hath been deceived by (or enticed towards) a woman (especially one married—temptation from a maid spoken of already, Job_31:1); or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door (watching the opportunity of his absence); then let my wife (my own wife) grind (become an abject slave; Exo_11:5; Isa_47:2; and concubine) to another, and let others bow down upon her.”
Adultery apparently prevalent in the time of Job and the writer of the book (chap. Job_24:15). Job declares his freedom from the sin as an exceptional thing among the great men of his time and country. A sin to which his riches and power afforded, as in David’s case, a strong temptation. Not uncommon in patriarchal times for the great to take another man’s wife, though at the expense of her husband’s life. Hence Abraham’s and Isaac’s fear for their wives’ chastity and their own lives—the one in Egypt, and both in Gerar (Gen_12:12; Gen_20:2; Gen_26:7). One of the ten commandments in the Decalogue expressly directed against this sin. Its commission punished with death (Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22). The sin apparently prevalent in the time of David and Solomon (Psa_50:18; Pro_6:24-29; Pro_7:5-9; and of the later prophets, Jer_5:8; Jer_9:2; Eze_18:6). Common among the Jews in the time of the Saviour (Joh_8:3-9). The Pharisees and Rabbis themselves said to have been notoriously guilty of it (Rom_2:22). The destruction of Jerusalem and the Great Captivity under the Romans ascribed by the Talmud to its prevalence for forty years previous to that event.
Job’s reasons for abstaining from this sin. Job_31:11.—
1. The heinousness of the crime itself: “For this is an heinous crime.” Sin to be avoided on account of its heinousness and malignity, apart from its consequences (Jer_44:4). Adultery the most heinous form of covetousness and theft. The most aggravated wrong that can be done to another. Inflicts the deepest wound and in the tenderest part. Robs him of honour and home. Covers his family with shame. Defilement of a man’s wife worse to endure than her death. Adultery a species of murder. The ruin of the injured man’s peace, and often leading to bloodshed and death.
2. Its consequences. These were—
(1) Civil and judicial. “It is an iniquity to be punished by the judges”—probably authoritative umpires or arbitrators in the case of any serious charge between man and man, with power to inflict appropriate penalty—usually the elders of the people (Deu_21:2; Jos_20:4). Adultery a capital crime, not only among the Jews but other nations of antiquity. The magistrate appointed by God to be a terror to evil doers (Rom_13:1-4). Some sins only cognizable by God; others punishable by man. A special heinousness in a crime punishable by the civil magistrate.
(2) Natural and providential. “For it is a fire that consumeth unto destruction, and would root out all mine increase.” Sin in general, and sins like adultery in particular, a “fire taken into the bosom” (Pro_6:27). Its tendency to destroy comfort, health, reputation, family, estate; and ultimately the soul itself in endless perdition. One single act brought constant trouble into David’s house and lasting sorrow into his heart. Sin destructive in its own nature; and some sins naturally more destructive than others. Many, if not all, sins carry with them their own punishment.
The imprecation in the text strongly declarative of Job’s innocence. The evil imprecated, the very last a man would wish to himself. The penalty invoked in accordance with the nature of the offence. “By what a man sins by that is he punished.”—Jewish Proverb. David’s adultery with Bathsheba is punished with incest between his son and daughter, and the defilement of his concubines by his own son. His murder of Uriah is punished by the murder of his incestuous son by the hand of his own brother (2Sa_13:16).
IV. His justice and humanity to his servants or slaves. Job_31:13.—“If I did despise the cause (or rights) of my manservant, or of my maidservant (my bondman or my bondwoman, my male or female slave), when they contended (had any controversy) with me.” In the East, masters viewed as having absolute right over their servants or slaves. These considered a portion of the master’s property. Were not permitted to appear in a court of justice against him. Might therefore be the object of any oppression without human redress. Job’s conduct towards his slaves the opposite of that of an oppressor. Probably exceptional, and just such as became a professed servant of the true God. His slaves treated by him, in the case of any complaint, as having rights equal with his own.
The grounds of this treatment of his slaves or servants:—
1. The consideration that for his conduct towards them he was amenable to God. Job_31:14.—“What then should I do when God riseth up? (to examine into my conduct, or to execute judgment on me as a transgressor, or finally, to plead the cause of the oppressed slave), and when he visiteth (for the examination of conduct or the punishment of offences) what should I answer him” (for such conduct, so as to escape His anger)? Observe—
(1) The fear of God an effectual restraint on Job and all good men. Joseph’s case: “How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” The principle of Nehemiah’s upright and disinterested conduct (Neh_5:15).
(2) A day coming in which God makes inquisition into the conduct both of masters and servants, rulers and ruled. The highest as well as the lowest amenable to His tribunal.
(3) God viewed by the natural conscience as a righteous and impartial judge.
(4) Justice even in respect to the most outcast, a duly written on the conscience of mankind.
(5) Men helpless against God’s determination to punish the transgressor. The most powerful tyrant feebler than the puniest insect before Him.
2. As having the same Creator, and mode of creation. Job_31:15.—“Did not he that made me in the womb make him?” Master and servant the similar work of the same Creator, and therefore both equally valued and cared for by Him, and to be treated on equal terms by each other.
3. As having the same nature. “Did not one fashion us in the womb” (or, “did not He fashion us in one and the same womb—one by similarity, not numerically). Both formed in the same manner and possessed of the same human nature. A woman’s womb the origin of both (Mal_2:10). The fundamental equality of mankind thus strongly asserted. The sentiment confirmed by the Apostle—“God hath made of one blood all nations of men,” &c. (Act_17:26). The Negro and the Papuan with the same essential features of humanity as the European. The slave possessed of the same faculties and powers, both moral and intellectual, as his master. The points in which men naturally differ from each other small and few compared with those in which all are alike. Men in a proper sense brethren, of whatever nation or class in society. The language of Job strikes at the root of slavery as justified by inferiority of race. Equality between master and servant, in the eyes of God, the teaching of the New Testament. Slavery not expressly forbidden, but principles inculcated which necessarily lead to its overthrow as Christianity advances. The views expressed by Job, in respect to man, of an advanced character for that period of the world. Only even now becoming universally acknowledged and acted upon by the Christian Church. Sentiments and practice of an opposite kind till very lately prevalent in a large portion of the Christian world. Even Christians justified the poet’s satire—
“Man finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not coloured like his own; and having power
To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.”
V. His benevolence and kindness to the poor. Job_31:16-17.—“If I have withheld the poor from their desire (their due wages, or rather the perquisites for which they looked as something belonging to them), or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail [by long withholding from her the expected help or redress]; or have eaten my morsel (or bread) alone, and the fatherless have not eaten thereof.” Claims of the poor constantly recognized in the law of Moses. Perquisites appointed for them in the harvest and in the vintage (Lev_19:9; Lev_23:22); in every seventh year (Exo_23:11); and in every third year’s tithes (Deu_14:28-29). Kindness and readiness to help the poor strictly enjoined (Deu_15:7-11). Their wages to be promptly paid them (Lev_19:13). Observe—Help as well as justice to the poor to be not only rendered, but rendered promptly. He gives twice who gives at once.—Latin Proverb. Job’s conduct the opposite of that of the unjust judge in the parable (Luk_18:2, &c).—Provision made by the Mosaic law for the widow in common with the poor in general. Their perquisites the same (Deu_19:21). Her raiment not to be taken to pledge (Deu_24:17). Herself not to be harrassed or afflicted (Exo_22:22). A curse pronounced on those who should wrong her or “pervert her judgment” (Deu_27:19). Job, probably long before the law was given, careful to afford the poor and the widow their just rights, and to fulfil their reasonable expectations. The law from Sinai a Divine sanction to duties already performed by many without it, through the law written on the conscience, and the principle of grace infused by the Holy Spirit.—Kindness to and care of the fatherless also strictly enjoined by the Divine law. These objects of sympathy and compassion usually joined with the poor and the widow. Job’s table open to the poor and needy. Common in the East to admit poor persons and strangers to their table or to send them portions from it. Hospitality a cardinal virtue among the Arabs. To he cultivated as a Christian grace (Rom_12:13; Heb_13:2). Enjoined as a Christian duty (Luk_14:13). “Ready to distribute,” a New Testament precept (1Ti_6:18). The section suggestive of the duty of
Kindness to the poor
Reasons and motives for its exercise—
1. The desire to relieve suffering and extend happiness.
2. The claim the poor have upon us as fellow-creatures and partakers of our common humanity. A Divine principle that where there is lack on the part of any member of the great family, it should be supplied out of the abundance of others (2Co_8:13-15). All living creatures, according to their nature, claim our help in suffering circumstances. Still more those of our own flesh. Kindness and benevolence to the poor and destitute allied to justice. Love a debt we owe to all our brethren. Kindness to the poor only one form of that love (Rom_13:8-10).
3. The principle that we should do to others as we would that they should do to us in similar circumstances (Luk_6:31).
4. The will and authority of our common Maker and Parent.
5. The example of the heavenly Father (Luk_6:35-36).
6. The special example of Christ, who “for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might become rich” (2Co_8:9). His life a going about doing good.
7. The manner in which God has identified the cause of the poor with His own, and in which Christ has done that of His disciples (Pro_19:17; Mat_25:40; Mat_25:45).
8. Active kindness to the poor a fruit of the Spirit, and an instinct of the new nature created in a believer after the image of God, (Gal_5:22; Col_3:10-12).
Lower and less worthy considerations—
1. The pleasure in the exercise of the benevolent affections, in relieving the sufferings and contributing to the happiness of others. The luxury of doing good.
2. The remembrance of our own liability to poverty and suffering, and our possible need of the help and sympathy of others.
3. The reward in an approving conscience and the “blessing of those who were ready to perish” (chap. Job_29:13.)
The exercise of kindness and benevolence marred by the introduction of selfish elements.
Kindness to the poor and needy to be—
1. Free and spontaneous.
2. Disinterested and pure from selfish motives.
3. Sincere and undissembled.
4. Prompt and seasonable.
5. Unwearied and persevering.
6. Self-denying as far as is necessary.
7. Impartial and general.
8. Up to our ability and opportunity.
9. Judicious and discriminating. Help given to the poor, without judgment and discretion, may be more injurious than beneficial. Our charity, like God’s, to be directed by “wisdom and prudence” (Eph_1:8). Relief not only to be given, but given to the proper objects and in the proper form.
10. Hearty and cheerful. Kind deeds to be accompanied with kind words and kind looks (Rom_12:8). The manner of the deed often as important as the deed itself.
Job’s reason for his assertion, with stronger affirmation of it. Job_31:18.—“For from my youth, he (the fatherless) was brought up with me as with a father, and I have guided (helped or comforted) her (the widow) from my mother’s womb” (a strong hyperbole, meaning, “from my earliest years”). To assert more strongly his benevolence, he assigns a reason for it, and adds something in regard to its exercise. With him the practice was nothing new. Benevolence was his natural disposition. Speaks of it as something born with him. Kindness to the widow and fatherless had been practised by him from his earliest years. Had grown with him into a habit or second nature. Much of this habit probably due to the character, and care of his parents. Neither the name of his father nor mother mentioned; but their eulogy unintentionally written in these words. His home a pious one, and his up-bringing according to godliness. Care early bestowed by his parents on his moral training. Observe, in respect to—
Early moral training—
1. Some born with dispositions naturally more benevolent than others. Such a disposition a favour from the Author of our being. Responsibility connected with its cultivation and exercise. Natural disposition to benevolence not necessarily followed by the wise, persevering, and self-denying practice of it. In Job’s case, the disposition fostered by his parents, and improved by himself through the constant exercise of kindness to the poor and needy. All probably born with more or less of such a disposition to begin with. A fragment of the Divine image imparted in creation. The least of it capable of increase through cultivation and practice. Its introduction in early life possible, and to be expected under the Christian economy and the dispensation of the Spirit. The natural disposition of children often an inheritance from their parents.
2. Children capable of being trained to the exercise of the benevolent affections. To be trained to “minister” and to show kindness to the poor and suffering, one of the most important parts of a child’s education. Such education more especially devolving upon the parents, and particularly the mother. Under the parents’ careful and constant attention, habits of good-doing capable of being formed in early life.
3. Early habits of benevolence, among the principal means of forming the character in after years. A child trained to such habits may become, in a greater or less degree, a Howard or an Elizabeth Fry. A Nero only the development of a child allowed to take pleasure in torturing a bird, or sticking a pin through a fly. The child the father to the man.
Job resumes the declaration of his humanity and benevolence, and asserts it in respect to clothing as well as feeding the poor. Job_31:19-20.—“If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering (by night or by day); if his loins have not blessed me (in gratitude for my clothing them), and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep” (or lambs, woven into cloth to serve him for a garment by day and a coverlet by night). Clothing the poor a needful form of benevolence in Arabia as well as in Britain. The cold of winter at times severe, all the more sensible after the extreme heat of summer. The nights often as cold as the days are hot. Clothing especially manufactured from the wool of sheep; a coarser kind from the hair of the camels. The earliest kind of clothing the skins of animals (Gen_3:21). The next step a garment made of the wool woven into cloth. Sheep chiefly valuable in the East on this account. The wool not only a beneficent provision for the animal itself, but for man who was to be its keeper. One of the sons of Adam, and the first martyr, a keeper of sheep (Gen_4:2).
Clothing the poor repeatedly mentioned in Scripture as one of the duties of charity. One of the forms of loving service rehearsed by Christ from the judgment-seat, as having been performed by the righteous on Himself in the person of His followers. (Mat_25:36). The duty enjoined by the Baptist as a proof of true repentance—“He that hath two coats let him give to him that hath none.” The name of Dorcas now a household word, from her kindness in clothing the poor. Perhaps as many perish for want of clothing as for want of bread. To be feared that garments lie in the chest, or hang in the wardrobe, which ought to clothe the “loins” of the poor. “The boards of my floor can well want carpets while so many of the poor around me want clothes to their backs” (Fenelon).
Declares, further, his humanity negatively. Had never used intimidation or violence in regard to the fatherless, nor used his influence in court to their disadvantage. Job_31:21.—“If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless (either to threaten or oppress him,—to ‘smite with the fist of wickedness,’ Isa_58:4), when I saw my help (or advantage, or those who were ready to support me) in the gate” (or court of justice, where a controversy was pending between us). Observe:—
1. Humanity exercised as well in what we refrain from doing as in what we do.
2. A strong temptation to the rich and powerful to take advantage of their position in a dispute with the poor. Cases of complaint against injury usually decided in the east by the opinion of the judge or Kadi, or by the voice of the majority of elders. A man of power and influence easily able to carry a case in his favour against the weak and defenceless. Such cases of complaint probably not infrequent where one man possessed such numerous flocks and herds, and carried on so extensive a husbandry. The greatest man in the land of Uz might easily have used his power and influence in such a oase, but had ever refrained from doing so.
3. As much principle often required to abstain from taking advantage of our position and influence in a dispute with others, as to bestow a positive benefit. Jezebel’s wickedness displayed in her counting upon her power with the elders and nobles in the court to obtain the vineyard of Naboth (1Ki_21:7-13).
Closes the declaration of his humanity to the poor with an imprecation in case of guilt. Job_31:22.—“Then let mine arm (the upper arm, from the elbow upwards) fall from the shoulder blade, and mine arm (the fore-arm, between the wrist and the elbow) be broken from the bone” (or upper arm to which it is attached). Reference to the whole of the preceding declaration in regard to his humanity to the poor, but more especially to the last-mentioned particular—“If I have lifted,” &c. The punishment imprecated always corresponding with the offence supposed to have been committed. On the same principle, Cranmer held his right hand over the burning pile to be first consumed, as the member which had signed the recantation made against his conscience and against the truth. The penalty conceived justly to fall especially on the member or organ which was more especially concerned in the offence, Men convicted of theft among the Copts not unfrequently found with their hands cut off.
Adds a reason for his declared conduct, Job_31:23.—“For destruction from God was a terror unto me, and by reason of his highness, I could not endure” (either to commit the sin or meet His wrath). Similar sentiment expressed in Job_31:3; Job_31:14. The reason given with reference to all the particulars of his conduct just mentioned, but more especially to the last. Observe—
The fear of God a good man’s preservative against sin. Seen in the case of Joseph and Nehemiah as well as of Job. The consideration of God’s displeasure against the sinner and the punishment threatened against the sin, one motive for resisting temptation and practising good, though not the highest. Rather the last source of defence against temptation when others fail. Better to abstain from sin and practice good, from hatred to sin itself and from love to God and good-doing, than from fear of His wrath. In Gospel exhortations to resist temptation and to do good, appeals rather made to the believer’s gratitude for mercies received, to his position and privileges in Christ, and to the example of his Divine Master and Father, than to his fears of punishment and the Divine anger. Fear a right and important motive, but rather for the servant than the child. “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry: Abba, Father” (Rom_8:15). Yet a loving and right-minded child will fear to offend a father, even more than a servant fears to offend a master. Love a more powerful principle than fear; yet fear may be called in to help when love is not sufficiently strong in itself.
V. Declares his freedom from idolatry both in its spiritual and external form, both secret and open, in heart and in life (Job_31:24-28). Specifies the two leading forms of idolatry—Mammonism and Sabæism—the trust in and love of riches, and the worship of idols in the ordinary sense of the word; here that of the sun and moon. The one the idolatry of the heart, the other that of the outward act. Job clears himself from both.
1. From Mammonism, or the trust in and love of riches. Job_31:24-25.—“If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, thou art my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much.” (Note—the language of idolatry,—“Mine hand had gotten,” instead of—“the Lord had given”—the language of a servant of God). Job abjures as forms of
Heart-idolatry
1. Trust in riches. Riches naturally and easily trusted in by an unrenewed heart. Money a defence (Ecc_7:12). Answereth all things (Ecc_10:19). Trust apt to be placed in riches for happiness in general. More particularly—
(1) For acquisition of the means of life and sources of enjoyment.
(2) For defence against suffering and the assaults of others.
(3) For power and position in the world. Trust in money a common form of idolatry. “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease,” &c. Trust in Himself required by God from His intelligent creatures. That trust transferred to any other person or thing, in God’s sight idolatry. Trust in riches contrasted in the Scriptures with trust in God (Psa_52:7; 1Ti_6:17). The former characteristic of the ungodly; the latter, of the righteous. Believers cautioned not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God (1Ti_6:17). Trust in riches incompatible with entrance into the kingdom of God (Mar_10:24). The rich man not to glory in his riches, but in the Lord (Jer_9:23-24; 1Co_1:31). God and not riches to be trusted in for our daily bread. Hence the petition: “Give us this day,” &c. Man’s life not in the abundance of the things he possesses. Liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God (Mat_4:4). Riches not given to be trusted in, but to be employed by us as stewards, in the service of the Master and for the benefit of others as well as ourselves, in obedience to His will and in dependence on His blessing.
To trust in riches instead of God not only wicked but foolish, as—
(1) Riches are uncertain, and may soon and suddenly cease to be ours.
(2) They are unable to render us either safe or happy even while we possess them.
(3) They fail to meet the most important exigences of our nature as moral and responsible creatures.
(4) They are unable to accompany us into another world.
The possession of riches to be distinguished from trust in them. Money well employed, a blessing; when allowed to usurp the place of God as our trust and confidence, a curse. The young man in the Gospel an example of trust in riches, notwithstanding a great appearance of piety and morality. Unable to give them up to follow Christ, because looking to them to make him happy rather than to God. A test as to whether we are trusting in riches—Am I ready cheerfully to give them up at God’s will and for God’s service? And, What proportion of my substance do I give for the extension of His kingdom, and the promotion of His cause in the world?
2. Love of riches. Job neither trusted in his wealth nor rejoiced in it. Riches a good, but not the chief good. If riches increase, the heart not therefore to be set upon them (Psa_62:10). Observe—
(1) Not money, but the love of it, the root of all evil (1Ti_6:10). A lawful, as well as an unlawful, rejoicing in our possessions (Deu_12:7; Ecc_2:7; Ecc_4:16). Lawfully rejoiced in, when viewed not as what our own hand has gotten, but as what God has given; and not as given for our own exclusive enjoyment, but also for the benefit of others and the Master’s service. Riches loved and idolized—(i.) When their acquisition and enjoyment afford us more pleasure and delight than the possession and enjoyment of God. (ii.) When we are more concerned about the acquisition and increase of them than about the enjoyment of God’s favour and the advancement of His cause. (iii.) When we find it difficult to give up any considerable portion of them at God’s will and for the promotion of His glory in the world.
(2) The love of money incompatible with the love of God (Mat_6:24; 1Jn_2:15). Hence covetousness, or the love of riches, idolatry (Col_3:5; Eph_5:5). Supreme love to God as the All-good, required of His intelligent creatures, as truly as as undivided trust in Him as the Almighty.
(3) Love of riches distinct from a proper appreciation of them. Riches as merely possessed by us, a blessing; a curse, when they possess us. As a mere possession, they are worthless; as a means of doing good and glorifying God, invaluable.
Job’s wealth not taken from him either for his trust in it or his fondness of it, any more than for his unlawful acquisition of it, or any evil use which he made of it.
Job taught by the Holy Spirit as well as by the light of nature, to view heart-idolatry, or the worship of riches, as heiuous in God’s sight as outward idolatry, or the worship of sun and moon. The view confirmed in the New Testament (Eph_5:5).
2. Job equally abjures the second form of idolatry, the worship of fictitious divinities, or of idols in the ordinary sense of the word,—here, that of the heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon. Job_31:26-27.—“If I beheld the sun (Heb. ‘light,’—a poetic name for the sun, which from its luminous atmosphere has been constituted a fountain of light to the earth and other planets), when it shined [in its glorious effulgence], or the moon walking in brightness (advancing like an orb of burnished silver in her course through the heavens); and my heart (the seat of the affections, and required in worship) hath been secretly [while I have outwardly been a worshipper of the only true God, and because afraid of the consequences of open idolatry,] enticed [by their appearance of majesty, glory, and beauty, and by the false views already beginning to be entertained regarding their divinity], or my mouth hath kissed my hand” [in token of my adoration of these luminaries (1Ki_19:5; Hos_13:2)]; (Heb., “My hand hath kissed my mouth”—the heart leading in the sin, and the hand following; inward affections being manifested by outward actions). The idolatry here indicated known as Sabæism, from the Hebrew word Saba, “a host,” denoting the worship of the “host of heaven,” or the heavenly bodies (Deu_17:3; 2Ch_33:3). Originally the worship of “light” or fire, and afterwards connected with that of the sun, moon, and stars, as its great reservoirs and sources as well as symbols. The heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon, among the earliest objects of idolatrous worship. This form of idolatry especially prevalent in Chaldæa, where probably it had its origin. Babylon called the mother of harlots. The worship of the sun and moon an early form of Arabian idolatry. The moon the great divinity of the ancient Arabians. Still an object of great veneration with Mahommedans. Hence the symbol of the Crescent. The Caaba at Mecca originally a temple dedicated to the moon. Abraham’s relatives and neighbours in Chaldæa addicted to this form of idolatry. His place of residence—“Ur of the Chaldees,” probably so called from Ur, “fire;” or from Or, “light”. At Mugheir, believed by some to be its modern representative, the ruins have been discovered of a temple dedicated to the moon, and resembling that of the sun at Babylon.
These luminaries worshipped originally as representatives of deity, then as deities themselves. Viewed as the great prolific powers in the universe, and the bestowers of all earthly blessings.
The worship of the sun and moon ultimately that of almost the whole known world. Prevalent among our own ancestors. The names of the first and second days of the week, monuments of its existence among the Anglo-Saxons. Temples of Apollo or the sun, and of Diana or the moon, formerly stood in London, the one on the site of Westminster Abbey, the other on that of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The object of Jehovah in making Israel his elect nation to preserve them from the practice of this idolatry, and thus to have witnesses for Himself and His truth in the world (Deu_4:19). The practice of it in Israel’s degeneracy the cause of their captivity in Babylon (Eze_8:16; 2Ki_23:5; 2Ki_23:11)”. Observe—
(1) Fallen humanity prone to put the creature in the place of the Creator. Early lost the true idea and knowledge of God through departure from and alienation to Him. “Did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Rom_1:28). Hence objects remarkable either for majesty, beauty or utility, worshipped in His stead. The source and essence of idolatry (Rom_1:25).
(2) Difficult for fallen human nature to use the creature without abusing it. Objects of nature to be viewed, not with idolatrous fondness or admiration of the creature, but with admiration, love, and praise to the Creator. Nature to lead up to nature’s God, not away from Him. Indication of idolatry in man, when
“The landscape has his praise, but not its Author”.
(3) A mark of advanced enlightenment, that Job mentions with the same breath, trust in and love of riches, with the worship of the heavenly bodies, as equally idolatrous and offensive in the sight of God.
(4) In Job’s time the knowledge and worship of the true God greatly on the decrease; yet His faithful worshippers still to be found. “Left not himself without witness” (Act_14:17).
Jobs reason for abstaining from idolatry either in its spiritual or external forms. Job_31:28.—“This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge (or, ‘a judicial iniquity;’ idolatry still in Job’s days considered a punishable crime; afterwards, by the law of Moses, to be punished with death, Deu_17:2-7); for I should have denied (‘lied to’ or against) the God that is above” (in place, power, dignity, and excellence). Observe—
1. The heinousness of a sin to be a principal reason for its avoidance.
2. That heinousness to be especially seen in its relation to God.
3. Trust in and love of riches, as well as the external worship of a created object or image, a denial of the true God. All idolatry a denial of God.
(1) In the boundless excellence of His being.
(2) In the spirituality of His nature.
(3) In His infinity and omnipresence.
(4) In His moral as well as natural perfections.
(5) In His sufficiency for our happiness and safety.
(6) In His sole right to the trust, love, and worship of His intelligent creatures.
4. God not only denied by our words, but by our works.
5. Alt trust in and worship of the creature, a lie against God. A lie in the right hand of every idol-worshipper, whether of man, money, or of the sun and moon (Isa_44:20).
VI. Denies all vindictiveness in reference to enemies. Job_31:29-30.—“If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself (in exultation or insult) when evil found him; neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul” (or, by asking for his life, i.e., the removal of it in an imprecation). Observe—
1. Even a good man not without enemies. Hatred from the world promised by Christ to His disciples (Mat_10:22). A blessing pronounced on those who, for His sake, experience it (Luk_6:22). A woe on those of whom all men speak well (Luk_6:26). Hatred from the world a consequence of not being of it (Joh_15:19). Christ Himself the great object of the world’s hatred (Joh_15:18). The ground of that hatred his testimony against its works (Joh_7:7). Those spared the world’s hatred who partake of its character (Joh_7:7). “They that forsake the law, praise the wicked; but such as keep the law, contend with him” (Pro_28:4). Hence the enmity of the wicked against the good. This enmity experienced by Job.
2. A good man known by his conduct towards his enemies. The mark of an un-regenerate heart to cherish ill-will against an enemy or to take pleasure in his misfortune. Hatred of a foe the prompting of fallen nature and the spirit of heathenism. “Revenge is sweet,”—the language of the Great Murderer. To rejoice in the fall of an enemy, the sin of the Edomites in relation to Israel and the cause of their punishment (Oba_1:12-13). The sin forbidden in Pro_24:17. The contrary disposition enjoined both in the Old and New Testanments (Pro_25:21; Rom_12:20). Christ’s command to his followers, not only not to rejoice in the evil that overtakes an enemy, but to pray for and promote his welfare (Mat_5:44). Noble minds rejoice in the opportunity of befriending a foe. Instances recorded even of the heathen returning kindness for insult. Pericles having been followed to his door by one who had been railing against him, offered him his servant to light him home. Augustus invited to supper the poet Catullus after he had been railing against him. Nothing more common among men than vindictiveness, and nothing more contemptible. Our best revenge on an enemy is to forgive him and treat him kindly. To wish evil to him who hates us makes us as bad, or worse, than himself. The New Testament rule in such cases.—“Overcome evil with good” (Rom_12:21). In accordance with His own precept, Christ prayed for his murderers (Luk_23:34). Commissioned His heralds of mercy to begin with those who had clamoured for His blood (Luk_24:47). His spirit and conduct imitated by His followers. The first Christian martyr died with a prayer on his lips for those who were stoning him to death (Act_7:60). Job’s religion afterwards embodied in the Gospel. Though living in the patriarchal age, Job exemplified the spirit of Christianity. The new commandment only a new edition of the old. An advance however in the moral teaching of the New Testament as compared with that of the Old. Job instructed not to hate an enemy; the Christian taught to love him. Christianity teaches not only not to wish a curse to an enemy, but to pray for a blessing to him.
3. The teaching of God’s Spirit and the character of God’s children always essentially the same. That teaching and character a transcript of His own nature. God’s example that of forgiveness and kindness to enemies. The carnal mind enmity to God. Mankind enemies to God in their mind by wicked works (Rom_8:7; Col_1:21).
4. Special guard to be placed upon the mouth. A sinful thought or feeling not to be allowed utterance. To be suppressed instead of being expressed. An aggravation of sin in the heart to give it expression with the lips. Bodily organs not to be employed as the instruments of sin.
VII. Job declares his humanity as a householder (Job_31:31-32).
1. In his kindness to his domestics and inmates. Job_31:31—“If the men of my tabernacle (those residing under his roof, whether as domestics, retainers, or other inmates.) said not, Oh, that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied” (or, “Who is there that was was not satisfied with his flesh?”—i.e., with his hospitality, 1Sa_25:11; or, according to some ancient versions, “If they said, Who will give us of his flesh, that we may be satisfied,” as complaining of not having sufficient food, or longing for the better supplies on his own table). Job able to appeal to his own domestics and the inmates of his dwelling for evidence of his humanity, more especially of his bounty to them and his liberality to others. No niggard in his own house. Treated his servants not only with justice, but kindness. Gave them not only food, but of the best kind, and plenty of it. Made them sharers of the best that was on his own table. Had no feast but they partook of it. Observe—
(1) A good man will be kind and liberal to his domestics (Col_4:1).
(2) Well when, as masters, we can appeal to our servants for our character, and when they can bear an honest testimony in our favour. Servants and inmates of our house, likely to be the best judges of our character and conduct.
(3) Good to make our house a home for others as well as ourselves. A Christian duty to “bring the poor that are cast out to our house” (Isa_58:7). “I was a stranger and ye took me in” (Mat_25:35). Job’s house never without the objects of his charity. The widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the destitute, frequent guests at his table. Note—Customary for wealthy Arabs to slaughter sheep or camels for the supply of their household. “Broad dishes” the glory of an Arab chief, as necessary for the entertainment of his guests.
2. In his hospitality to travellers. Job_31:32—“The stranger did not lodge in the street (for want of a house to receive him, it being difficult to obtain accommodation in Oriental towns and villages then, as it is still, except with the sheikh or a Christian); but I opened my doors to the traveller” (or, as margin, “to the way,” as if to invite and welcome the traveller passing by). Pleasing picture of Oriental manners, corresponding with those of patriarchal times (Gen_18:1-4; Gen_19:1, &c). Job an example of the New Testament precept—“Use hospitality without grudging” (1Pe_4:9). “Given to hospitality,” more than merely “showing” it (Rom_12:13). “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers,”—not merely your relatives or acquaintances (Heb_13:2).
VIII. Clears himself from secret and concealed transgressions. Job_31:33-34.—“If I covered my transgressions as Adam (in allusion to Gen_3:8; or, ‘like men,’ as Hos_6:7—as men are wont to do after the example of their first father), by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom (from impenitence or hypocrisy, or both): Did I fear a great multitude (or, ‘because I feared,’ &c.; or as an imprecation—‘Then let me fear,’ &c.), or did the contempt of families (or tribes) terrify me (so as to conceal my sin or neglect my duty to the stranger; or, ‘because the contempt, &c., terrified me;’ or, ‘let the contempt, &c., terrify or crush me’), that I kept silence [instead of acknowledging my transgression, or opening my mouth in behalf of the oppressed stranger,—like Lot, Gen_19:6-8, or the old man of Gibeah, Jdg_19:22-24], and went not out of the door?” (for fear of detection, or to avoid the danger and self-denial connected with my duty to the stranger; or, as continuing the imprecation, “let me be silent,” &c.). Observe—
1. The best not free from transgressions, both against God and men. Job a perfect man, yet acknowledges transgressions. “Not a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not” Ecc_7:20).
2. Natural to men to conceal their transgressions. Adam’s conduct imitated by all his children (Gen_3:8).
3. Men with much outward morality and religion may still be guilty of secret sins. The case with the Scribes and Pharisees in the days of the Saviour. Job more than suspected of it by his friends. Hence his concern now to clear himself of such hypocrisy.
4. The fear of man often more powerful in leading men to conceal their guilt, than the fear of God in leading them to confess it. The ungodly more afraid of man’s shame than of God’s wrath.
5. Just that secret crimes should be followed by popular contempt and ignominy as their penalty. A day coming when secret transgressors, who have successfully covered their crimes in this life, will awake to “shame and everlasting contempt” in the next (Dan_12:3).
6. A good man has no need either to fear the populace or shun the public eye. A good conscience a man’s best armour. “Be just and fear not”.
7. A good man more afraid of God’s displeasure than of man’s contempt. The sin of men, that they are more afraid of man and the “multitude” than of their Maker. “Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of man that shall be made as grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker?” (Isa_51:12-13). “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Mat_10:23).
8. The part of an honest and sincere heart, to confess transgressions both before God, and, when necessary, before man. A Christian’s first duty, to confess his transgressions to God; his next, to confess them to man if he has injured or offended him. “Confess your faults one to another,” a New Testament precept (Jas_5:16). Confession to God necessary to forgiveness from God (Pro_28:13; 1Jn_1:8-9; Psa_32:3-5). Frank confession a mark of true repentance. Examples: Zaccheus (Luk_19:8); the penitent thief (Luk_23:41); the converts of Ephesus (Act_19:18-19).
9. A good man not deterred from duty, either by the fear of numbers or the contempt of neighbours. Example: Lot in Sodom (Genesis 19). Milton’s famous picture of the Seraph Abdiel—
“Faithful found
Among the faithless, faithful only he;
Among innumerable false, unmov’d,
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified.
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;
Nor number, nor example, with him wrought
To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,
Though single”.
VIII. Job’s final desire and challenge. Job_31:35-37.—“O that one would hear me! (or ‘O that I had one to hear me!’—an impartial judge or umpire in the controversy between the Almighty and himself, so that his case might be fairly tried and decided upon). Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me (or, ‘here is my mark’ or signature, i.e., to the declaration he made of his innocence—‘let the Almighty answer me,’ and prove me guilty if He can); and that my adversary had written a book (or, ‘and let mine adversary write a book’ or bill of indictment against me, as in courts of law; or, ‘and [O that I had] the book [or indictment which] mine adversary has written against me!) Surely I would take it upon my shoulder (as a thing of which I was not ashamed, but which I was willing that every one should see and know), and bind it as a crown to me (as a thing in which I rather gloried as my honour and ornament, being persuaded that all the charges contained in it would be found to be groundless). I would declare unto him (viz., the umpire or judge) the number of my steps (all the various passages of my life); as a prince—(with the boldness and confidence of an innocent man assured of coming off victorious, instead of the faltering step and downcast look of a culprit) would I go near unto him” (instead of avoiding him like Adam in the garden, as conscious of guilt).
This lofty passage is, perhaps, the strongest declaration of his innocence that Job had yet made, probably intended as the finale of his pleadings, and the climax of his protestations. The three following verses, with the exception of the last clause, probably standing originally somewhere before the present passage; or, what is less likely, as a still farther vindication of his character.
The passage stands as a proof of his conscious integrity. Expresses his continued desire to have a fair and impartial hearing of his case, with the conviction that he would be declared free from the sins which were either openly or by implication charged upon him, and from any such transgressions as to merit his present sufferings. The adversary with whom he wishes to contest the matter, mainly God himself who seemed to treat him as a guilty person. His three friends also his adversaries, but only as taking up the view of his character which God himself seemed to take from the way in which He was now dealing with him. God seemed to have charges against him of which he was entirely unconscious. His friends declared that such charges must exist. Job denied there there was any ground for them. Hence his great desire that the matter may be fairly examined into and decided.
This desire of Job, now soon about to be granted, and that in his favour. Not however to be done till he has been taught some necessary and important lessons. Though having the truth on his side in the controversy, his spirit and language not always what they ought to have been. His error in declaring his innocence in too decided a manner, and in carrying his declaration almost, if not altogether, to the point of self-confident glorying and self-righteous pride. At times not only bitter in his spirit and language towards his three friends, but petulant and irreverent towards God. The present winding up of his speeches sounded like a declaration that he was righteous, whatever God might be in the matter; in other words, that he was more righteous than God. Too much overlooked the fact—
(1) That he, in common with all mankind, was guilty before God, and had given sufficient occasion to be visited with stripes even more severe than those from which he was now suffering;
(2) That God is infinitely holy, just, and good, and would do nothing with any of His creatures but what was perfectly right;
(3) That God might have wise objects in view in dealing with him as He did, which, though now hidden from him, He in His own time would show—as, for example, his own purification, God employing his sufferings as the goldsmith does the furnace for purifying the gold;
(4) That God, as Creator, has the right to do with His creatures as He pleases without doing anything either unjust or unkind, and that it is the creature’s part to be passive and submissive in His hand—Job’s actual conduct at the beginning of his trials.
The steps between this last speech of Job’s and the declaration of his integrity on the part of the Almighty, occupied in correcting these errors, and in bringing him to a juster view of himself, and to a better state of mind in regard to God. Observe:—
1. No flesh allowed to glory in God’s presence—(1Co_1:29). One of the great objects of the Bible to teach men this truth. The proper place for fallen man before God, even at his best, is the dust. Tendency to pride in the best. Imperfection stamped on all human excellence. Like Moses, Job speaks unadvisedly with his lips. Utters what is rash before God, which he afterwards repents in dust and ashes. Not yet the perfect man who “offendeth not in word” (Jas_3:2).
2. Only one way of going near to God as our judge with boldness and confidence. Not that of Job, as in ourselves righteous and innocent; but as sinners, accepting of and trustiug in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ as the only ground of our acceptance before God (Heb_10:22.) “Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness. In him shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory” (Isa_45:24-25).
IX. Job finally clears himself of injustice in his business transactions with his fellow-men. (Job_31:38-40).—“If my land (probably the land which, like Isaac, he rented and cultivated for his own use) cry against me (as dishonestly acquired or oppressively cultivated,—like Abel’s innocent blood shed by his brother’s hand (Gen_4:10), or that the furrows likewise thereof complain (Hebrew, ‘weep together,’ as in sympathy with one another, and with the owners whom I have wronged by occupying their land without paying duly for its use, or with the labourers whom I have oppressed by employing them without a fair remuneration for their work;—a beautiful and bold personification to increase the effect): if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money (in payment either to the proprietor for the occupancy of his land, or to the labourer for his work in cultivating it), or have caused the owners thereof to lose their lives (either directly by violent means in order to obtain their property, or indirectly by withholding the just payment for its occupancy): let thistles (or thorns) grow instead of wheat, and cockle (or noxious weeds) instead of barley”. Observe—
1. One of the most testing points in reference to a man’s character, how he curries on his business and conducts his transactions with his fellow-men. Constant temptation to over-reach and take advantage. Tendency in fallen human nature both to withhold from others their just due, and to exact more than our own. The business principles of the world often the reverse of those of the Bible. That of “Buy cheap and sell dear,” liable to be carried out to the extent of fraud and extortion. Christianity and sound morality teach us to give every man a fair price for his labour or his goods, and to ask no more than a fair price for our own. The maxim, “Business is business,” sinful if understood as meaning that business is exempted from the same rules of morality as are applied to other branches of conduct. Defectiveness in commercial morality one of the sins of the day In the race for riches, men tempted, even in a Christian land, to commit the sins which Job here solemnly abjures—receiving labour, goods, or money, without giving a just equivalent. The temptation not always resisted to sell articles that are something different from what they are represented to be. The severe reproof of the Almighty, directed in the Bible against those who oppress the hireling of their wages (Mal_3:5; Jas_5:4). A woe pronounced on him “who buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work,” (Jer_22:13).
2. Even professedly religious men tempted to follow the world in untruthful and unfair modes of conducting basiness. The practice of overreaching and extortion apparently prevalent in Job’s time and country. Extortion on the part of rulers, proprietors, and dealers in the East, notorious. The practice of a Turk or Arab in demanding an exorbitant price for his goods, as common as that of the governor or employer in giving the merest pittance for the labourer’s work. Extortion and excess among the prevailing sins of the Pharisees in the days of the Saviour (Mat_23:25). Job careful to resist the temptation to a common sin. Renounced filthy gain. No canker in his gold and silver. No rust on his money to witness against him either here or hereafter, and to eat his flesh as it were fire (Jas_5:3). Had neither sought to buy cheaper nor sell dearer than justice and humanity demanded.
3. Dishonesty found on the side of buyers as well as of sellers.
(1). In not paying duly for goods delivered;
(2). In depreciating and cheapening down an article, in order to get a bargain, or to obtain it at a price below its value. “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth” (Pro_20:14).
4. The mark of a true servant of God, to be “faithful in that which is least”.
5. The part of a follower of Christ, to commend his Master’s religion by exhibiting a, sterling morality in his daily life. “What soever things are true, honest, just, lovely, and of good report,” &c. (Php_4:8).
6. Murder committed in more ways than one. Indirect as well as direct murder. The life-blood of the poor may be drained by oppressive work and inadequate remuneration. Hearts broken by fraud and oppression in civil, as well as by inhumanity and cruelty in domestic life.
7. Wrong done to another often recompensed by loss incurred by ourselves. A curse imprecated by Job on his land as the righteous penalty of wrong, if done by him either in acquiring or cultivating it. Another example of the maxim: As the sin, so the punishment. Job probably reminded of the curse pronounced on the ground, first for Adam’s sin and then for Cain’s (Gen_3:17-18; Gen_4:11-12). Suggests another evidence that Job was well acquainted with Genesis.
“The words of Job are ended”. Probably followed the final protestation of his innocence in Job_31:37. Job’s “words” spoken partly by the flesh and partly by the spirit. Were partly those of an enlightened and sanctified believer, and partly those of a yet unhumbled sinner. Were at last partly commended and partly reproved by the Almighty. Have been recorded for our instruction and comfort, but not all of them for our imitation. Began with justifying and speaking well of God; ended by speaking well of himself. Contain some of the most elevated sentiments and glorious truths ever conceived by human mind or uttered by human lips. Viewed in connection with his extraordinary sufferings, and the circumstances in which they were uttered, they exhibit a marvel of Divine grace, in enabling the sufferer to possess his soul in patience, and “to glorify God in the fires.” Afford the picture of a man as perfect as fallen nature admitted of in the ages previous to the advent of Christ and the dispensation of the Spirit. Observe—Words ended in their utterance not ended in their effect. By these words of Job, he “being dead yet speaketh”. The effect of words, for good or evil, often experienced for generations and centuries after they have been spoken or written.
“Nothing is lost: the drop of dew,
That trembles on the leaf or flower,
Is but exhaled to fall anew,
In summer’s thunder shower;
Perchance to shine within the bow,
That fronts the sun at fall of day;
Perchance to sparkle in the flow
Of fountains far away.
So with our words; or harsh or kind,
Utter’d, they are not all forgot;
But leave some trace upon the mind,
Pass on, yet perish not.”
J. Critchley Prince.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Job Protests the Innocence of his Past Life
Job Protests the Innocence of his Past Life
Job's virtues are those of a great Arab prince, such as are admired still: namely, blameless family life, consideration for the poor and weak, charity, modesty, and generosity concerning wealth, pure religion (according to his creed), the absence of vindictive feelings, hospitality to strangers, fearless honesty and just dealings.
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1-12. Sensual sins.
1. I made a covenant with mine eyes] Job resolved to keep a guard over them that they should not transgress. Why then should I think?] RV 'How then should I look?'
2a. RM 'What portion should I have of God? 'i.e. How would God visit such sin?
3. Is not] RV 'Is it not.'
6. Even balance] i.e. balances of justice. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead the soul is represented as being weighed in the balance before Osiris at the judgment.
10. To grind at the mill is a menial task, the work of slaves.
12. The evil results of lust: cp. Pro_6:24-35.
13-23. Sins of oppression.
14. Riseth up] i.e. to judge.
18. He] the fatherless. Her] the widow.
21. When I saw my help in the gate] Job could have counted on the judges supporting his side of the question. Gate] see on Job_29:7.
22. Bone] i.e. collar-bone.
23. The thought of God's displeasure checked him, and a sense of His majesty kept him from sinning.
26-28. A reference to the worship of the heavenly bodies (cp. 2Ki_21:3-5; Jer_44:17. Eze_8:16.
27. My mouth hath kissed my hand] a form of idolatrous worship: cp. 1Ki_19:18.
29f. The high moral tone is very significant: cp. Mat_5:44; Rom_12:19-21.
31. Render, 'If the men in my tent have not said, Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his flesh?': i.e. Job had more than satisfied his servants.
33a. Render, 'If I hid my fault like a common man': i.e. as men usually do.
34. Did I fear] RV 'Because I feared.' Job declares that he had nothing to hide in his conduct and did not fear enquiry.
35-37. Job breaks off: and does not complete the sentence begun in Job_31:33. For his whole soul is moved by the words he has just uttered, and with the proud assertion of his innocence he challenges God to answer him, to give him the writing which contained the charges against him. Proudly, even with God's stigma upon him, he would, enter God's presence, the certainty of his rectitude changing the disgrace into distinction. Most scholars feel that the addition of Job_31:38-40 spoils the effect of this splendid conclusion.
35. RV 'Oh that I had one to hear me! (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me!) And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!' Job puts his signature to the declaration of his innocence. The adversary is God.
37. Conscious of his integrity, Job would lay bare every act of his life to God.
38-40. The grand challenge thrown down by Job in Job_31:35-37 seems to form such a suitable conclusion to his speeches that most scholars hold that Job_31:38-40 stood originally in an earlier part of the c, e.g. after Job_31:8 or 25.
40. Cockles] RM 'noisome weeds.' Job for the last time has maintained the integrity of his past life, and expressed his readiness to answer all charges of guilt brought against him. The third and final series of his speeches comes to an end. It cannot be said that any explanation of the ways of Providence has been put forward so far, but the popular theories that suffering must always imply previous sin, and that compensation according to conduct is invariably meted out to both good and bad in this world, have been refuted. Moreover, we see the noble spectacle of a good man in adversity clinging in spite of all his trials to his uprightness. Job has been able to find no foothold in the thought that God would revive him, or that the life beyond the grave will restore him to blessed fellowship with God. Nor has he gained any hope that the government of the world will become more righteous. But he has reached the assurance that God will vindicate his innocence, and that he shall be permitted to know of this vindication.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. My chastity and righteousness (Job 31:1-12)
CHAPTER 31
1. My chastity and righteousness (Job 31:1-12)
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2. My philanthropy (Job 31:13-23)
3. My integrity and hospitality (Job 31:24-34)
4. Let God and man disprove me (Job 31:35-40)
Job 31:1-12. His final word is the final word in his self-righteous vindication. He gives Eliphaz the lie. He gives a review of his life to prove that he is clean in the sight of God and of man. Even if after this outburst his friends would have an inclination to answer him they could not have done so. He silenced them for good. But what are his declarations after all? Nothing else but the filthy rags of his own righteousness, the vain boastings of a good, moral man, such as we hear on all sides. He shows that in his character he was morally pure. The gross sins of the flesh he had avoided. He had even abstained from a look which might stir his passion. He knew that God watched him and therefore the sin of adultery was shunned by him; he did not sin against a neighbour’s wife. If he had ever done that, then let the sanctity of his home and his own wife be violated. Then he enumerates his great philanthropy. He had respect of the widow; he shared his bread with orphans; those who were naked he had clothed.
Job 31:24-34. He was not a worshipper of gold, a covetous man, nor had he worshipped like others about him, the sun and the moon, or what sun-worshippers did, kissing the hand and wafting it towards the sun. He was a hospitable, a kind hearted man; nor did he cover his transgressions as Adam did, nor did he hide his iniquity in his bosom. His was a walk in integrity.
Job 31:35-40. “Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer.” I sign my name to all I have said; I swear to it. Let mine enemy also bring forth his accusations and sign them also. He challengeth God and man. And even to the land he appeals that all his transactions were just. Job’s words are ended. One feels like saying, “Thank God!”
His final word may be condensed in one sentence: “I am clean.” The next time he speaks and opens his lips, he says, “Behold I am vile.” How he came to this the rest of the book will teach us.
IV. THE TESTIMONY OF ELIHU
If the book of Job were now ended the last word would be Job’s. Furthermore the enigma of suffering would remain unexplained and God’s character would stand impeached. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. But suddenly another appears on the scene. Nothing is said how he came to be there; yet he must have listened to the controversy, for he sizeth up the whole situation and boils down the whole matter in a few terse statements. Critics and most expositors have spoken rather slightingly of Elihu. We heard some years ago a prominent Bible teacher speak of him as “a young theologian who has just been ordained and who thinks he has a lot of knowledge.” Others call him “a conceited young philosopher” and that his babbling should be treated with silent contempt. Such statements only prove that the men who make them have not gone deep into the meaning of this book and that they lack in spiritual discernment. Just such a one, sent by God, is needed to exercise a mediatorial function and to prepare the way for the Lord Himself to come upon the scene. It is generally pointed out that God rebukes him in the words of Job 38:2. But God speaks to Job who applies it to himself. The vindication of Elihu from such criticism of man is found in the last chapter.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Job Recounts his Blameless Conduct
Job Recounts his Blameless Conduct
v. 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes, prescribing to his organs of vision their conduct; why, then, should I think upon a maid, casting lustful, adulterous looks upon a person of the opposite sex?
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v. 2. For what portion of God is there from above? What dispensation would come from Him, namely, in the form of punishment for such a sinful thought? And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? What would His portion have been in punishing him for such a transgression, God surely would not let such sins go without just retribution.
v. 3. Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Misfortune and calamity are the consequence of sins against the Sixth Commandment.
v. 4. Doth not He see my ways and count all my steps? It was the consciousness of God’s omniscience and righteousness which caused Job to avoid even lustful glances and sinful desires.
v. 5. If I have walked with vanity, making falsehood and duplicity his companions, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, eager to make use of its cheating appearance,
v. 6. let me be weighed in an even balance, in a balance of justice, Cf Dan 5:25, that God may know mine integrity, for a careful weighing of the evidence against him would establish the truth of his utterances.
v. 7. If my step hath turned out of the way, namely, from the right way as prescribed by God, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, yielding to the lust which often takes hold of the eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands, any spot of unchaste, immoral actions,
v. 8. then let me sow and let another eat, enjoying the fruit of his hard labors; yea, let my offspring be rooted out, the products of the soil as planted by him be destroyed. Cf Lev 26:16; Amo 9:14; Psa 128:2. Thus Job protested that he had always avoided all sinful lust.
v. 9. If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, enticed into adulterous relations with another man’s wife, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door, Cf Pro 7:7-8,
v. 10. then let my wife grind unto another, in the position of the lowest secondary wife, who had to attend to the grinding of the household flour on the hand-mill, and let others bow down upon her, in lustful, forbidden intercourse.
v. 11. For this is an heinous crime, his yielding to adultery would be an infamous act; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, worthy of the severest punishment. Cf Mat 5:21.
v. 12. For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, such an adulterous passion on Job’s part would merit for him the devouring punishment of the abyss of hell, and would root out all mine increase, destroying all the fruit of his labor, all his prosperity, Job thus rejecting also this possible accusation against his life. He next touches upon his conduct toward his house-slaves.
v. 13. If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, treating them as though they had no rights, when they contended with me, ruthlessly trampling on that which they had a right to expect,
v. 14. what, then, shall I do when God riseth up, if He arose in judgment upon such behavior? And when He visiteth, what shall I answer Him? If Job had been guilty as here outlined, then, indeed, would the Lord have had the right to lay the heaviest judgments upon him.
v. 15. Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One, that is, one and the same God, fashion us in the womb? God is the Creator of the slave as well as of the master, and there is for that reason no respect of persons with Him, Eph 6:9. From the case of his servants Job now turns to that of all the poor and neglected everywhere.
v. 16. If I have withheld the poor from their desire, refusing them what they needed to sustain their lives, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, since they became weak and lost their power to see on account of their unfulfilled yearning for help,
v. 17. or have eaten my morsel myself alone and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof, if selfishness had caused him to withhold food or assistance from the needy;
v. 18. (for, or, nay, rather, from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, such consideration the orphan received from him, and I have guided her, namely, the widow, from my mother’s womb, the strong expression being intended to show that Job’s humane and friendly treatment of widows and orphans had been his practice from his earliest youth;)
v. 19. if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, some poor, forsaken soul without so much as a garment to cover his nakedness, or any poor without covering, in the condition of the greatest extremity;
v. 20. if his loins, covered by the bounty of Job, have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, namely, in the form of substantial, warm clothing;
v. 21. if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, shaking his fist at the orphan in a violent and threatening manner, when I saw my help in the gate, believing that he could readily bribe the judges who might try a case of such violence:
v. 22. then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, being severed from the joint which held it, and mine arm be broken from the bone, literally, "the pipe," from the hollow, pipelike bones to which it was attached.
v. 23. For destruction from God was a terror to me, Job’s fear of God’s vengeance had always kept him from wicked acts of this kind, and by reason of His highness I could not endure, being powerless before the majesty of God, a fact which made it morally impossible for him to become guilty of merciless conduct.
v. 24. If I have made gold my hope, putting his trust in it, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
v. 25. if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much, had accumulated large amounts, great riches, all this being equal to his making money his god;
v. 26. if I beheld the sun when it shined, his light being worshiped by the Chaldeans as an emanation from God, or the moon walking in brightness, wandering her course in solemn majesty,
v. 27. and my heart hath been secretly enticed, namely, away from the true God to the foolishness of idolatry, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, literally, "so that I touched my hand to my mouth," in throwing to the sun and the moon, as heathen divinities, a kiss, as a sign of adoration:
v. 28. this also, as a form of gross idolatry, were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above, acting falsely, becoming guilty of denial.
v. 29. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, in vindictive hate and malice, or lifted up myself when evil found him, in joyful excitement over any misfortune which might strike him, for the love of enemies was required even in the Old Testament;
v. 30. neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul, his palate, as an instrument of speech, he did not wish for the death of his enemy, he had not been guilty of such vindictive hatred.
v. 31. If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh, that we had of his flesh! We cannot be satisfied, literally, "If the people of my tent," that is, his household associates and servants, "had not been obliged to say, Where could one be found, who had not been satisfied with his flesh?" Job had freely distributed of the flesh of his slaughtered cattle to such as were in need, as his servants would readily testify.
v. 32. The stranger did not lodge in the street, for want of hospitality on Job’s part, but I opened my doors to the traveler, so that everyone who passed by was made welcome, according to Oriental custom.
v. 33. If I covered my transgressions as Adam, covering his wickedness after the manner of men, after the ways of the world in general, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, trying to conceal it from men and God:
v. 34. did I fear a great multitude, because he feared the contempt of the multitude, the nobler families, from the intercourse with which he might have been excluded, or did the contempt of families terrify me that I kept silence and went not out of the door, lest his iniquity become evident to all? Thus Job protested that he practiced what was right and good in all his relations toward God and men and abstained from that which was wrong in God’s sight.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
Job continues speaking.
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I have made a covenant with my eyes
Job speaks of making a promise about what he would look at as though his eyes were a person and he made a covenant with them. AT: "I have made a firm promise about what I will look at" (See: Metaphor and Personification)
I have made a covenant with my eyes
What job promised can be stated clearly. AT: "I made a promise that I will not look lustfully on a virgin" or "I promised that I will not look lustfully on a virgin" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
how then should I look with desire on a virgin?
Job uses this question to emphasize that he would never break his promise. AT: "So I certainly will not look with lust at a virgin." (See: Rhetorical Question)
For what is the portion from God above, the inheritance from the Almighty on high?
Job speaks of God's response to people's behavior as if it were the portion of an inheritance that God gives. AT: "For how will God above respond to me? What will the Almighty on high do?" (See: Metaphor and Parallelism)
For what is the portion from God above, the inheritance from the Almighty on high?
Possible meanings are Job uses this question to emphasize 1) that God will not bless bad behavior. AT: "For if I look lustfully on a woman, God Almighty on high will not bless me." or 2) that God will punish bad behavior. AT: "For if I look lustfully on a woman, God Almighty on high will certainly punish me." (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
covenant
virgin
God
inherit
Almighty
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 31:1-40 Job called down curses on himself if he…
31:1-40 Job called down curses on himself if he were guilty of the accusations made against him. Except for his mention of idolatry (31:26-27), Job addressed his fidelity to God in terms of the second half of the Ten Commandments, summarized by the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18; Rom 13:9).
31:1 Job’s covenant with his eyes included a self-cursing oath (cp. Matt 5:28-29). Perhaps lust of the eyes was at the head of Job’s list because the eye is the first instrument of sin (Gen 3:6). • To look with lust at a young woman violates the spirit of the seventh (Deut 5:18, see Matt 5:27-28), and potentially the tenth (Deut 5:21), commandment.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.