Bible Commentaries
JFB Critical & Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Job 31
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.
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 (Proverbs 6:25; Matthew 5:28).
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,” etc. [Maurer] (Job 20:29; Job 27:13).
Doth not he see? etc. — Knowing this, I could only have expected “destruction” (Job 31:3), had I committed this sin (Proverbs 5:21).
Connected with Job 31:6.
the way — of God (Job 23:11; Jeremiah 5:5). A godly life.
heart … after … eyes — if my heart coveted, what my eyes beheld (Ecclesiastes 11:9; Joshua 7:21).
hands — (Psalm 24:4).
Apodosis to Job 31:5, Job 31:7; the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things (Leviticus 26:16; Amos 9:14; Psalm 128:2).
offspring — rather, “what I plant,” my harvests.
Job asserts his innocence of adultery.
deceived — hath let itself be seduced (Proverbs 7:8; Genesis 39:7-12).
laid wait — until the husband went out.
grind — turn the handmill. Be the most abject slave and concubine (Isaiah 47:2; 2 Samuel 12:11).
In the earliest times punished with death (Genesis 38:24). So in later times (Deuteronomy 22:22). Heretofore he had spoken only of sins against conscience; now, one against the community, needing the cognizance of the judge.
(Proverbs 6:27-35; Proverbs 8:6-23, Proverbs 8:26, Proverbs 8:27). No crime more provokes God to send destruction as a consuming fire; none so desolates the soul.
Job affirms his freedom from unfairness towards his servants, from harshness and oppression towards the needy.
despise the cause — refused to do them justice.
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?
Slaveholders try to defend themselves by maintaining the original inferiority of the slave. But Malachi 2:10; Acts 17:26; Ephesians 6:9 make the common origin of masters and servants the argument for brotherly love being shown by the former to the latter.
Parenthetical: asserting that he did the contrary to the things in Job 31:16, Job 31:17.
he — the orphan.
guided her — namely, the widow, by advice and protection. On this and “a father,” see Job 29:16.
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.
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.
Apodosis to Job 31:13, Job 31:16, Job 31:17, Job 31:19, Job 31:20, Job 31:21. 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.
For — that is, the reason why Job guarded against such sins. Fear of God, though he could escape man‘s judgment (Genesis 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.
Job asserts his freedom from trust in money (1 Timothy 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 (Colossians 3:5). In Job 31:26, Job 31:27 he passes to overt idolatry.
If I looked unto the sun (as an object of worship) because he shined; or to the moon because she walked, etc. 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 (Ezekiel 8:16; Deuteronomy 4:19; 2 Kings 23:5, 2 Kings 23:11). The Hebrew here for “sun” is light. Probably light was worshipped as the emanation from God, before its embodiments, the sun, etc. 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.
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 (1 Kings 19:18; Hosea 13:2).
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 (Deuteronomy 13:9; Deuteronomy 17:2-7; Ezekiel 8:14-18). This passage therefore does not prove Job to have been subsequent to Moses.
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 Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 23:6, with Matthew 5:43, Matthew 5:44).
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 (1 Samuel 26:8; 2 Samuel 16:9, 2 Samuel 16:10). So Jesus Christ (Luke 9:54, Luke 9:55). 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.
traveler — literally, “way,” that is, wayfarers; so expressed to include all of every kind (2 Samuel 12:4).
Adam — translated by Umbreit, “as men do” (Hosea 6:7, where see Margin). But English Version is more natural. The very same word for “hiding” is used in Genesis 3:8, Genesis 3:10, 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 (Proverbs 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.”
Rather, the apodosis to Job 31:33, “Then let me be fear-stricken before a great multitude, let the contempt, etc., let me keep silence (the greatest disgrace to a patriot, heretofore so prominent in assemblies), and not go out,” etc. A just retribution that he who hides his sin from God, should have it exposed before man (2 Samuel 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).
Job returns to his wish (Job 13:22; Job 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,” etc. 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.”
So far from hiding the adversary‘s “answer” or “charge” through fear,
I would take it on my shoulders — as a public honor (Isaiah 9:6).
a crown — not a mark of shame, but of distinction (Isaiah 62:3).
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, Job 42:6); but only through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:22).
Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (Job 31:20; Genesis 4:10; Habakkuk 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (Job 24:2; Isaiah 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, Job 31:39, the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare James 5:4, which plainly alludes to this passage: compare “Lord of Sabaoth” with Job 31:26 here.
life — not literally, but “harassed to death”; until he gave me up his land gratis [Maurer]; as in Judges 16:16; “suffered him to languish” by taking away his means of living [Umbreit] (1 Kings 21:19).
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.
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