Job 31

Job 31:1-40.

1. Job proceeds to prove that he deserved a better lot. As in the

twenty-ninth chapter, he showed his uprightness as an emir, or

magistrate in public life, so in this chapter he vindicates his

character in private life.

1-4. He asserts his guarding against being allured to sin by his

senses.

think--rather, "cast a (lustful) look." He not merely did not

so, but put it out of the question by covenanting with his eyes against

leading him into temptation

(Pr 6:25;

Mt 5:28).

2. 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; 27:13).

3. Answer to the question in

Job 31:2.

strange--extraordinary.

4. Doth not he see? &c.--Knowing this, I could only have expected

"destruction"

(Job 31:3),

had I committed this sin

(Pr 5:21).

5. Job's abstinence from evil deeds.

vanity--that is, falsehood

(Ps 12:2).

6. Parenthetical. Translate: "Oh, that God would weigh me . . .

then would He know," &c.

7. Connected with

Job 31:6.

the way--of God

(Job 23:11;

Jer 5:5).

A godly life.

heart . . . after . . . eyes--if my heart coveted, what my eyes

beheld

(Ec 11:9;

Jos 7:21).

hands--

(Ps 24:4).

8. Apodosis to

Job 31:5, 7;

the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things

(Le 26:16;

Am 9:14;

Ps 128:2).

offspring--rather, "what I plant," my harvests.

9-12. Job asserts his innocence of adultery.

deceived--hath let itself be seduced

(Pr 7:8;

Ge 39:7-12).

laid wait--until the husband went out.

10. grind--turn the handmill. Be the most abject slave and

concubine

(Isa 47:2;

2Sa 12:11).

11. In the earliest times punished with death

(Ge 38:24).

So in later times

(De 22:22).

Heretofore he had spoken only of sins against conscience; now, one

against the community, needing the cognizance of the judge.

12.

(Pr 6:27-35; 8:6-23, 26, 27).

No crime more provokes God to send destruction as a consuming

fire; none so desolates the soul.

13-23. Job affirms his freedom from unfairness towards his

servants, from harshness and oppression towards the needy.

despise the cause--refused to do them justice.

14, 15. Parenthetical; the reason why Job did not despise the cause

of his servants. Translate: What then (had I done so) could I have

done, when God arose (to call me to account); and when He visited

(came to enquire), what could I have answered Him?

15. Slaveholders try to defend themselves by maintaining the

original inferiority of the slave. But

Mal 2:10;

Ac 17:26;

Eph 6:9

make the common origin of masters and servants the argument for

brotherly love being shown by the former to the latter.

16. fail--in the vain expectation of relief

(Job 11:20).

17. Arabian rules of hospitality require the stranger to be helped

first, and to the best.

18. Parenthetical: asserting that he did the contrary to the things

in

Job 31:16, 17.

he--the orphan.

guided her--namely, the widow, by advice and protection. On this

and "a father," see

Job 29:16.

19. perish--that is, ready to perish

(Job 29:13).

20. loins--The parts of the body benefited by Job are poetically

described as thanking him; the loins before naked, when clad by me,

wished me every blessing.

21. when--that is, "because."

I saw--that I might calculate on the "help" of a powerful party in

the court of justice--("gate"), if I should be summoned by the injured

fatherless.

22. Apodosis to

Job 31:13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21.

If I had done those crimes, I should have made a bad use of my

influence ("my arm," figuratively,

Job 31:21):

therefore, if I have done them let my arm (literally) suffer. Job

alludes to Eliphaz' charge

(Job 22:9).

The first "arm" is rather the shoulder. The second "arm" is the

forearm.

from the bone--literally, "a reed"; hence the upper arm, above the

elbow.

23. For--that is, the reason why Job guarded against such sins.

Fear of God, though he could escape man's judgment

(Ge 39:9).

UMBREIT more spiritedly translates, Yea,

destruction and terror from God might have befallen me (had I done so):

mere fear not being the motive.

highness--majestic might.

endure--I could have availed nothing against it.

24, 25. Job asserts his freedom from trust in money

(1Ti 6:17).

Here he turns to his duty towards God, as before he had spoken of his

duty towards himself and his neighbor. Covetousness is covert

idolatry, as it transfers the heart from the Creator to the creature

(Col 3:5).

In

Job 31:26, 27

he passes to overt idolatry.

26. If I looked unto the sun (as an object of worship) because he

shined; or to the moon because she walked, &c. Sabaism (from

tsaba, "the heavenly hosts") was the earliest form of false worship.

God is hence called in contradistinction, "Lord of Sabaoth." The sun,

moon, and stars, the brightest objects in nature, and seen everywhere,

were supposed to be visible representatives of the invisible God. They

had no temples, but were worshipped on high places and roofs of houses

(Eze 8:16;

De 4:19;

2Ki 23:5, 11).

The Hebrew here for "sun" is light. Probably light was

worshipped as the emanation from God, before its embodiments, the sun,

&c. This worship prevailed in Chaldea; wherefore Job's exemption from

the idolatry of his neighbors was the more exemplary. Our "Sun-day,"

"Mon-day," or Moon-day, bear traces of Sabaism.

27. enticed--away from God to idolatry.

kissed . . . hand--"adoration," literally means this. In worshipping

they used to kiss the hand, and then throw the kiss, as it were,

towards the object of worship

(1Ki 19:18;

Ho 13:2).

28. The Mosaic law embodied subsequently the feeling of the godly

from the earliest times against idolatry, as deserving judicial

penalties: being treason against the Supreme King

(De 13:9; 17:2-7;

Eze 8:14-18).

This passage therefore does not prove Job to have been subsequent to

Moses.

29. lifted up myself--in malicious triumph

(Pr 17:5; 24:17;

Ps 7:4).

30. mouth--literally, "palate."

(See on

Job 6:30).

wishing--literally, "so as to demand his (my enemy's) soul," that

is, "life by a curse." This verse parenthetically confirms

Job 31:30.

Job in the patriarchal age of the promise, anterior to the law,

realizes the Gospel spirit, which was the end of the law (compare

Le 19:18;

De 23:6,

with Mt 5:43, 44).

31. That is, Job's household said, Oh, that we had Job's enemy to

devour, we cannot rest satisfied till we have! But Job refrained from

even wishing revenge

(1Sa 26:8;

2Sa 16:9, 10).

So Jesus Christ

(Lu 9:54, 55).

But, better (see

Job 31:32),

translated, "Who can show (literally, give) the man who was not

satisfied with the flesh (meat) provided by Job?" He never let a poor

man leave his gate without giving him enough to eat.

32. traveller--literally, "way," that is, wayfarers; so expressed

to include all of every kind

(2Sa 12:4).

33. Adam--translated by UMBREIT,

"as men do"

(Ho 6:7,

where see Margin). But English Version is more natural.

The very same word for "hiding" is used in

Ge 3:8, 10,

of Adam hiding himself from God. Job elsewhere alludes to the

flood. So he might easily know of the fall, through the two links which

connect Adam and Abraham (about Job's time), namely, Methuselah and

Shem. Adam is representative of fallen man's propensity to concealment

(Pr 28:13).

It was from God that Job did not "hide his iniquity in his

bosom," as on the contrary it was from God that "Adam" hid in his

lurking-place. This disproves the translation, "as men"; for it is

from their fellow men that "men" are chiefly anxious to hide

their real character as guilty. MAGEE, to make

the comparison with Adam more exact, for my "bosom" translates,

"lurking-place."

34. Rather, the apodosis to

Job 31:33,

"Then let me be fear-stricken before a great multitude, let the

contempt, &c., let me keep silence (the greatest disgrace to a patriot,

heretofore so prominent in assemblies), and not go out," &c. A just

retribution that he who hides his sin from God, should have it exposed

before man

(2Sa 12:12).

But Job had not been so exposed, but on the contrary was esteemed in

the assemblies of the "tribes"--("families"); a proof, he implies, that

God does not hold him guilty of hiding sin

(Job 24:16,

contrast with

Job 29:21-25).

35. Job returns to his wish

(Job 13:22; 19:23).

Omit "is"; "Behold my sign," that is, my mark of subscription to

the statements just given in my defense: the mark of signature

was originally a cross; and hence the letter Tau or T.

Translate, also "Oh, that the Almighty," &c. He marks "God" as

the "One" meant in the first clause.

adversary--that is, he who contends with me, refers also to God.

The vagueness is designed to express "whoever it be that judicially

opposes me"--the Almighty if it be He.

had written a book--rather, "would write down his charge."

36. So far from hiding the adversary's "answer" or "charge" through

fear,

I would take it on my shoulders--as a public honor

(Isa 9:6).

a crown--not a mark of shame, but of distinction

(Isa 62:3).

37. A good conscience imparts a princely dignity before man and

free assurance in approaching God. This can be realized, not in Job's

way

(Job 42:5, 6);

but only through Jesus Christ

(Heb 10:22).

38. Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted

proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves

(Job 31:20;

Ge 4:10;

Hab 2:11).

If I have unjustly acquired lands

(Job 24:2;

Isa 5:8).

furrows--The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in

this, "If I paid not the laborer for tillage"; as

Job 31:39,

"If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits." Thus of the four

clauses in

Job 31:38, 39,

the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is

connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare

Jas 5:4,

which plainly alludes to this passage: compare "Lord of Sabaoth" with

Job 31:26

here.

39. lose . . . life--not literally, but "harassed to

death"; until he gave me up his land gratis [MAURER]; as in

Jud 16:16;

"suffered him to languish" by taking away his means of living [UMBREIT]

(1Ki 21:19).

40. thistles--or brambles, thorns.

cockle--literally, "noxious weeds."

The words . . . ended--that is, in the controversy with the

friends. He spoke in the book afterwards, but not to them. At

Job 31:37

would be the regular conclusion in strict art. But

Job 31:38-40

are naturally added by one whose mind in agitation recurs to its sense

of innocence, even after it has come to the usual stopping point; this

takes away the appearance of rhetorical artifice. Hence the

transposition by EICHORN of

Job 31:38-40

to follow

Job 31:25

is quite unwarranted.