I made a covenant with mine eyes. Job 31:1-32 Guard the senses Set a strong guard about thy outward senses: these are Satan's landing places, especially the eye and the ear. ( W. Gurnall. . ) Methods of moral life Joseph Parker, D. D. 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" (ver. 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" (vers. 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 master's 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 one's 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 God's own book. ( Joseph Parker, D. D. ) What then shall I do when God riseth up? Job 31:14 The great question George Fish, LL. B. 1. Job's mind was deeply impressed with a sense of his own responsibility. There is a natural inclination in the mind of man to diminish the sense of responsibility. In most transactions of life men frequently evince a desire to escape as much as possible from personal responsibility. There are responsibilities arising out of the very conformation of the society in which we live, that cannot be avoided. It never can be a matter of choice with us, whether we shall be responsible to God, and in the sight of God. The very nature of our relation to God implies responsibility, and the very character of God, in reference to that relationship, also implies responsibility. The responsibility of man to God reaches to the whole of man's moral being. 2. Job's conviction that there is a day coming in which God will arise. As a Sovereign, making inquisition, and holding a grand assize in which the universe should be concerned. And God will "visit." That term is often used in the sense of visitation for the purpose of punishment. God will arise as the legislator of the universe — as the promulgator of a law which has been universally violated, and which has not exercised its restraining influence upon the hearts of men because their allegiance had departed. Of necessity there must be vindication. Either the justice of God must fail, or there must be a vindication. As the law of God reaches to the minutest details of human existence and of human conduct, the vindication must reach every personal interest, the details of every individual life. And the Lord must visit as an avenger; for vindication implies vengeance. The God whose own arm hath brought salvation, shall be the God who shall visit in the way of vengeance. Job asks, "When He visiteth, what shall I answer Him?" Should not we ask the same question? What will the man of this world, of pleasure, and of gain, answer? Realise the necessity for finding some answer. There is but one answer. There is nothing to do but to cling to the Cross of Jesus. ( George Fish, LL. B. ) The great account John W. Reeve, M. A. The subject brought before us here is our personal responsibility; that everyone must give account of himself to God. Nothing is hid from the all-seeing eye of Jehovah, that searcheth the heart and the reins, and looketh at the motive, the object, the spirit, in which the man acts. I. MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY. We must all give account to God, not merely masters, but servants also; and we must give account in all the transactions of everyday life. Every man has time, talents, opportunities, gifts; every man has a certain station, every man has a certain amount of influence; and we are all responsible for the right use before God. Not one of you can help this influence going forth upon those around you; not one of you can avoid the things you do, telling, in one way or another, upon those with whom you have intercourse. You must do good, or you must do evil. This responsibility "we need to face, for it is one that presses always. II. THE WAY OF MEETING THIS RESPONSIBILITY. Two things are spoken of here. 1. What shall we do? Regarding ourselves as responsible to God, what shall we do when He rises in judgment? Shall we not fear to face a holy God? Shall we hide ourselves from God, in order to elude His searching eye? That surely is a vain consideration. Shall we resist His summons? Surely that too is vain. 2. What shall we answer? Shall we say that we have not broken one of God's commandments? Shall we, like the Pharisee, compare ourselves with others? Shall we "begin to make excuse"? Shall we plead God's mercy? The careless cannot meet God. Nor can the formalist; nor the hypocrite and pretender. The two great things we require to be experimentally acquainted with, are repentance and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," and you are delivered at once from the power of the law, and all the accusations of Satan, because Jesus has conquered him, and you also win the victory through faith in Him. ( John W. Reeve, M. A. ) The final judgment and ground of acquittal Adam Gun, A. M. I. THE CERTAINTY OF A DAY OF VISITATION AND RECKONING. 1. This is indicated by the testimony of conscience. Conscience is the vicegerent of the Almighty. It discriminates between virtue and vice, attaching to either their respective awards. 2. By a reference to the moral economy of man, or the economy of God's dealings towards man. 3. The certainty of a day of visitation is fully unfolded in the Book of God. II. THE GROUND UPON WHICH AN ANSWER IS TO BE PREPARED TO THE QUESTION IN OUR TEXT. Classify the Christian community into four compartments. 1. There are some who have no answer prepared. This is a fact of undoubted certainty. 2. Others prepare an answer on a self-righteous principle. They plead obedience to the requirements of God's law. 3. Others confide in the uncovenanted mercy of God. 4. But some take higher ground, and are preparing their answer in reference to the righteousness of Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the only plea which will bear inspection, the only foundation for the exercise of mercy. ( Adam Gun, A. M. ) The day of visitation F. Close, A. M. Although Job appears to have taken an undue estimate of his own righteousness, and certainly adhered to his own integrity with a blamable tenacity, yet his scrupulous conscientiousness is greatly to be admired. The smallest act of injustice or oppression, nay, even of neglect, towards the meanest slave or household servant, was viewed by Job as a sin against God, and one for which God would hereafter call him to account! I. THE OCCASION CONTEMPLATED. "When God will rise up, and when He will visit" in judgment. 1. He appears now, as it were, indifferent to the affairs of men. 2. A day is coming when He will arise and visit. It is the day of death. It is the day of punishment. It is the day of judgment. 3. The certainty of its approach. Accountability seems almost an instinct in man. The day of judgment must come — there is no escape from it. 4. Yet most persons believe and act as if they believed it not. How surprising is the indifference of professed believers! II. THE IMPORTANT INQUIRY RESPECTING THIS SOLEMN EVENT. "When He visiteth, what shall I answer Him?" 1. There is individuality in this question; it is the soul's soliloquy. Not what shall this man do; but what shall I do? 2. It is, what shall I do? But the time for action is then over. Can I escape and hide myself? Can I evade or deceive? Can I contend with Him? 3. It is, what shall I answer? Various are the excuses with which men satisfy their consciences now, but they will avail nothing then. The following will have nothing to answer, — vicious men and dissipated. Men who have neglected their souls. Self-satisfied formalists. The spiritual professor who has not departed from secret sin. There will be one who can answer — the poor, penitent, humble, believing disciple of Jesus. ( F. Close, A. M. ) Did not He that made me in the womb make him? Job 31:15 God the universal Creator Homilist. I. ILLUSTRATE THE DOCTRINE HERE CONVEYED. Both high and low, rich and poor, all sorts and conditions of men, have one common Creator. 1. The unity of creation, Men's tastes, habits, abodes, and appearances differ, but men are one family. 2. The high position of the Divine Being. There are none to divide His praise, none to claim His position. 3. The harmony of God's providential dealings. He can cause one event to fit in with another, one person to assist and help his fellow, and out of the apparently diverse elements to make one perfect,, harmonious, and beautiful whole. II. APPLY THE SUBJECT TO OUR OWN IMPROVEMENT. We are taught from the fact stated by Job. If we see another sin, our language should be, "Did not He that made me make him?" And we should bear with him tenderly. If we see another in want or poverty our thoughts should be, "Did not He that made me make him?" And we should afford our best relief. 1. Some suggestions for our duty towards God. He is our Creator. As our supreme Benefactor and Maker we should manifest our sense of His authority over us and our dependence on His care. 2. Some reflections on our duty one to another. ( Homilist. ) Man's common rights Albert Barnes. Had we not one and the same Creator, and have we not consequently the same nature? We may observe in regard to this sentiment — 1. That it indicates a very advanced state of view in regard to man. The attempt has been always made by those who wish to tyrannise over others, or who aim to make slaves of others, to show that they are of a different race, and that in the design for which they were made, they are wholly inferior. Arguments have been derived from their complexion, from their supposed inferiority of intellect, and the deep degradation of their condition, often little above that of brutes, to prove that they were originally inferior to the rest of mankind. On this the plea has been often urged, and oftener felt than urged, that it is right to reduce them to slavery. Since this feeling so early existed, and since there is so much that may be plausibly said in defence of it, it shows that Job had derived his views from something more than the speculations of men and the desire of power, when he says that he regarded all men as originally equal, and as having the same Creator. It is, in fact, a sentiment which men have been practically very reluctant to believe, and which works its way very slowly even yet on the earth. 2. This sentiment, if fairly embraced and carried out, would soon destroy slavery everywhere. If men felt that they were reducing to bondage those who were originally on a level with themselves, — made by the same God, with the same faculties, and for the same end; if they felt that in their very origin, in their nature, there was that which could not be made mere property, it would soon abolish the whole system. It is kept up only where men endeavour to convince themselves that there is some original inferiority in the slave which makes it proper that he should be reduced to servitude, and be held as property. But as soon as there can be diffused abroad the sentiment of Paul, that" God hath made of one blood all nations of men," that moment the shackles of the slave will fall, and he will be free. ( Albert Barnes. ) If I have seen any perish for want of clothing. Job 31:19 A good man's righteousness John Hartcliffe, B. D. These words do in general set forth the practice of a good man in the acts of mercy and righteousness, which do, above all others, declare him a follower of our blessed Lord. But chiefly they do imply something concerning the nature, manner, and object of those acts. In vulgar practice indeed men care not much for any acquaintance with the needy, and are all for doing kindnesses to them whose fortunes do not require it, or who can return the same again; but the good man's behaviour is like that of Job. If we care not to approve ourselves to God, by doing all the good we can to our brethren, we are so far sunk into the miserable state of hell. To prevent this misery we must be watchful over our minds, that they do not fall into a covetous humour, which is a stain to the soul, that can hardly be got out. Covetousness ever presses upon the sinner, and leaves no room for a sober or a relenting thought. Mankind seem to be distinguished into higher and lower ranks by Divine wisdom and providence, in order to the exercise of an universal charity. Such a charity as sweetens men's spirits, and from being rough and sour, makes them kind and affable to the meanest person, ready to oblige everyone with a gentle and humble compliance. Such a charity as envies no man, but is pleased at the prosperity of others, is made better by their health, and rejoices at seeing them cheerful. Such a charity as never domineers, but scorns that usual insolence which is the spring of many dis. orders, and of much contempt of the poor. Such a charity as doth never demean itself haughtily or with reproach in words or gestures, but calmly debates all matters, that it may not behave itself unseemly. In fine, such a charity as thinks nothing too great to undertake, or too hard to undergo, for the good of mankind. Now if this kind of charity did but get ground in the world, it would very much better the condition and the manners of it. A thorough reformation must be expected only from them who make others better, by their counsel, and by their example. The best arguments for our giving of alms are, that it is the only course we can take. 1. To be like our blessed Saviour. 2. To do services acceptable to God. 3. To save our souls forever. Wherefore, if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. ( John Hartcliffe, B. D. ) The poor man's plea heeded Some one expressed surprise to Eveillon, Canon and Archdeacon of Angers, that none of his rooms were carpeted. He answered, "When I enter my house in wintertime the floors do not tell me that they are cold; but the poor, who are trembling at my gate, tell me they want clothes." If I have made gold my hope. Job 31:24-28 On the love of money T. Chalmers, D. D. How universal is it among those who are in pursuit of wealth to make gold their hope; and, among those who are in possession of wealth, to make fine gold their confidence! Yet we are here told that this is virtually as complete a renunciation of God as to practise some of the worst charms of idolatry. We recoil from an idolater as from one who labours under a great moral derangement, in suffering his regards to be carried away from the true God to an idol. But is it not just the same derangement, on the part of man, that he should love any created good, and in the enjoyment of it lose sight of the Creator — that, thoroughly absorbed with the present and the sensible gratification, there should be no room left for the movements of duty, or regard to the Being who furnished him with the materials, and endowed him with the organs of every gratification? There is an important distinction between the love of money, and the love of what money purchases. Either of these affections may equally displace God from the heart. But there is a malignity and an inveteracy of atheism in the former which does not belong to the latter, and in virtue of which it may be seen that the love of money is, indeed, the root of all evil. A man differs from an animal in being something more than a sensitive being. He is also a reflective being. He has the power of thought, and inference, and anticipation. And yet it will be found, in the case of every natural man, that the exercise of those powers, so far from having carried him nearer, has only widened his departure from God, and given a more deliberate and wilful character to his atheism than if he had been without them altogether. In virtue of the powers of mind which belong to him, he can carry his thoughts beyond the present desires and the present gratification. He can calculate on the visitations of future desire, and on the means of its gratification. But the reason of man, and the retrospective power of man, still fail to carry him, by an ascending process, to the first cause. He stops at the instrumental cause, which, by his own wisdom and his own power, he has put into operation. In a word, the man's understanding is overrun with atheism, as well as his desires. To look no further than to fortune as the dispenser of all the enjoyments which money can purchase, is to make that fortune stand in the place of God. It is to make sense shut out faith. We have the authority of that Word which has been pronounced a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, that it cannot have two masters, or that there is not in it room for two great and ascendant affections. Covetousness offers a more daring and positive aggression on the right and territory of the Godhead, than even infidelity. The latter would only desolate the sanctuary of heaven; the former would set up an abomination in the midst of it. When the liking and the confidence of men are toward money, there is no direct intercourse, either by the one or the other of these affections towards God; and in proportion as he sends forth his desires, and rests his security on the former, in that very proportion does he renounce God as his hope, and God as his dependence. ( T. Chalmers, D. D. ) The worship of wealth Canon Liddon. What is the true idea of property — something to be left behind when we die, or something which may be interwoven with our immortal nature, and so will last us for eternity? Money, jewels, lands, houses, books, decorations of all sorts and kinds, must be taken leave of at the bed of death. But there are things that last. Habits are wrought into the intellect and will — the love of God and of man, sincerity, purity, disinterestedness, these things live, and are really property, for death cannot touch them. Most men regard civilisation as mere material progress; but true human improvement must be an improvement of the man himself. And man himself is not what he owns and can handle, nor even his bodily frame, but he is a spirit clothed in a bodily form. His real improvement consists in that which secures the freedom and the supremacy of the noblest part of his nature. A true civilisation is that which shall promote this upon a great scale in human society. What do we see every year as the London season draws near, but a bevy of mothers, like generals, set out on a campaign, prepared to undergo any amount of fatigue if only they can marry their daughters, not necessarily to high-souled, virtuous men, but in any ease to a fortune! What do we see but a group of young men, thinking, after perhaps a career of dissipation, that the time has arrived for settling respectably in life, and looking, each one of them, not for a girl who has the graces and character which will make her husband and children happy, but for somebody who has a sufficient dowry to enable him to keep up a large establishment! Who can wonder, when the most sacred of all human relations, the union of hearts for time and for eternity, is thus prostituted to the brutal level of an affair of cash, that such transactions are quickly followed by months or years of misery — misery which, after seething long in private, is at last paraded before the eyes of the wondering world amid the unspeakable shame and degradation of the Divorce Court! ( Canon Liddon. ) If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom. Job 31:33 Hiding and confessing sin Joseph Caryl To cover and hide sin is sin: it is the adding of sin to sin. Sin is the disease of the soul, and there is no such way to increase and make a disease desperate as to conceal it. Silence feeds and cherishes the diseases of the body; and so it doth the diseases of our souls. Sin increaseth two ways, by concealment or hiding. 1. In the guilt of it. The obligation to punishment takes stronger hold upon the soul, and every man is bound the faster with those chains of darkness by how much the more he labours to keep his sins in the dark. The longer a sin remains upon the conscience unpardoned, the more doth the guilt of it increase. Now all the while sin is hid, all the while sin is artificially and intentionally covered, it remains unpardoned; and therefore the guilt of it must needs increase upon the soul. 2. Sin being thus covered, increaseth in the filth and contagion of it, in the strength and power of it, it gains more upon the soul, it grows more master and more masterly; lust begins to rage, rave, it commands and carries all before it, while we are so foolish as to keep it close and covered. If any say, Surely it is not so sinful to cover and hide sin, for doth not Scripture condemn those that did not hide it? I answer, that there is a two-fold not hiding of sin.(1) There is a not hiding which proceeds from repentance.(2) And there is a not hiding which proceeds from impudence. Or there is a not hiding of sin which proceeds from a broken heart, and there is a not hiding of sin which proceeds from a brazen face, from a brow of brass. As Job in speaking this, would deny the hiding and covering of his sin, so he affirms the confession of it. So that here is more intended than expressed; when he saith he did "not cover," his meaning is, he discovered his sin; when he saith he did not hide it, his meaning is, he did disclose it. A godly man doth not only "not hide," but is ready to confess his sin. He makes confession that he may be freed from condemnation. The holy confession of sin, which is opposed to the covering or hiding of sin, hath three things in it. 1. A confession of the fact, or the thing done ( Joshua 7:19 ). 2. A confession of the fault; that is, that in doing so we have done amiss, or done sinfully and foolishly. 3. There is in confession not only an acknowledgment of the fact and fault, but a submission to the punishment. Confession is a judging of ourselves worthy of death. True confession is a submitting to the sentence of the Judge, yea, a judging of ourselves, and a justifying of God in all, even in His sharpest and severest dispensations. Some may say, Is there a necessity to make such a confession of sin, seeing that God is already acquainted with and knows our sins, with all the circumstances and aggravations of them? But we do not confess to inform God of what He knows not, but to give glory to God in that which He knows. We are also called to an acknowledgment and confession of our sins to God, that we ourselves may be more deeply affected with them. The knowledge which God hath of sin in and by Himself may be a terror to sinners, His knowing of them by us is only a ground of comfort; God hath nowhere promised to pardon sin because He knows it, but He hath if we make it known. Nothing is known properly to God in that capacity as He pardons and forgives, but that which is acknowledged by us. The acknowledgment of sin is — (1) The confession of all sin. (2) Of our special sins in a special manner. (3) And it takes in all the several circumstances and aggravations of it.Sin should be confessed feelingly, sincerely, with self-abhorrence, and believingly. ( Joseph Caryl ) The words of Job are ended. Job 31:40 Job's final position Dean Bradley. Running like a golden thread through all this vehement and passionate language, we have seen a vein of thought which has given this half-rebellious questioner a claim upon our sympathy, and which even had the book ended here, would have prevented thoughtful men from joining his opponents, and from abandoning the solitary and tortured sufferer to the reproaches of his friends, and to the condemnation of the future readers of this great controversy. His soul, ripened by the hot blast of cruel affliction, is being prepared for a step, a long step forward, in that progressive revelation of God Himself to man, given us in Holy Scripture. He sickens at the sight and sense of wrong, and clinging to the conviction that, in spite of all appearances, God must be just — juster than his friends, or his own creed, or his own experience have declared Him to be — he struggles to be true, at once to himself, to his conscience, and his God. He yearns for a clearer sight of, and a nearer approach to the Divine Being against whom, as seen in the insufficient light given him, he has launched so vehement an indictment, so terrible a flood of fervid and poetic wrath. And while he has no sure and certain hope of a life beyond the grave, such as was revealed to the world in Christ, yet his pathetic moans at the finality of death give place, once to a dim aspiration, and once and again to a more loud assertion of his conviction — bursting forth like a flash of light from his darkest mood — that even if he is to die, die in his misery and desolation, God will yet be his Goel, his Vindicator; that somehow, he knows not how, he shall even after the shock of death have sight of God, and have his wrongs redressed; and therefore that he who has once been so dear to Him, and who has fallen so low in this life, will not be left to be "of all men most miserable." And we have noticed how, in his description of his early life, he moves in a serene and lofty atmosphere, puts before us a moral standard of practice and even of thought which a Christian might be thankful to attain and realise And now, he and his friends are alike silent, silent but unconvinced. Neither the one side nor the other have won the adhesion of those against whom they argue. They cannot point to any guilt on Job's part. He cannot convince them of his innocence. Neither one side nor the other have, we cannot but feel, laid their hands upon the whole truth. Yet each has exhausted his store of arguments, shot his arrows, and emptied his quiver. And deep as is the hold which Job has gained upon our interest and sympathy, yet "the light and shade has been so graduated that those sympathies are not entirely confined to one side." ( Dean Bradley. ).

Benson Commentary Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? 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 . Job 31:2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Job 31:2 . For what portion of God is there, &c. — What recompense may be expected from God for those who do otherwise? From above — How secretly soever unchaste persons carry the matter, so that men cannot reprove them, yet there is one who stands upon a higher place, whence he seeth in what manner they act. Job 31:3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Job 31:3-4 . Is not destruction to the wicked? — Destruction is their portion. And a strange punishment — Some extraordinary and dreadful judgment, which of right belongs to them. Hebrew, ???? , venecher, an alienation, or estrangement, namely, from God and his favour: had I been such a one, I neither should nor could have expected any kindness or mercy from God in a future world, as now I do. Doth not he see my ways? — That is, all my counsels and courses. This was another reason why he was so circumspect and exact in restraining his thoughts, and senses, and whole man from sinful practices, because he knew that God would discern them, and therefore punish them, as he said, Job 31:3 . Job 31:4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? Job 31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; Job 31:5-6 . If I have walked with vanity — Conversed in the world, or dealt with men, with lying, falsehood, or hypocrisy, as the word vanity is often used; or if my foot hath hasted to deceit — If, when I had an opportunity of enriching myself by wronging others, I have readily and greedily complied with it. Let me be weighed, &c. — I desire nothing more than to have my heart and life weighed in just balances, and searched out by the all-seeing God. That God may know — Or, and he will know (upon search he will find out: which is spoken of God after the manner of men) mine integrity — So this is an appeal to God to be witness of his sincerity. Job 31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. Job 31:7 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; Job 31:7-8 . If my step hath turned out of the way — If I have knowingly and willingly swerved from the way of truth and justice, which God hath prescribed to me; and my heart walked after mine eyes — A strong and beautiful expression, signifying, if my eyes have seduced my heart. If I have let my heart loose to desire forbidden objects, which my eyes have seen. Commonly sin enters by the eye into the heart: thus David, letting his heart walk after his eyes, was led into the sin, first, of adultery, and then, of murder. How careful then ought we to be, how deeply should this be fixed in our minds, not to let our heart walk after our eyes. It is a maxim which deserves to be written, we will not say in letters of gold, but, what is of more importance, on the table of every heart! And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands — Any unjust gain. If I have had or have in my hands, or possession, any goods, gotten from others by fraud or violence, which would be a great scandal and a blot to my reputation: Then let me sow, and let another eat — Let strangers enjoy the fruit of my labours. Yea, let my offspring be rooted out — Or, rather, my increase; all my plants, and fruits, and improvements, as the word ????? , tzeetzaai, properly signifies. Indeed, Job had not now any children to be rooted out. Job 31:8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. Job 31:9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; Job 31:9-10 . If my heart have been deceived by a woman — Namely, by a strange woman, or rather, by my neighbour’s wife, as the next words limit the clause; for of a maid he had spoken before. If I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door — Watching for his absence, or some fair opportunity to enter his house and defile his bed. Then let my wife grind unto another — Let another take away my wife from me, make her the vilest slave, and use her at his pleasure. Not as if Job desired this, but that if God should give up his wife to such wickedness, he would acknowledge his justice in it. Job 31:10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. Job 31:11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. Job 31:11-12 . For this is a heinous crime — Namely, adultery, whether committed by choice and design, or by the solicitation of a woman; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished, &c. — Hebrew, an iniquity of the judges; which it belongs to them to take cognizance of, and to punish, even with death; and that not only by the law of Moses, but even by the law of nature, as appears from the known laws and customs of the heathen nations. For it is a fire that consumeth, &c. — Lust is a fire in the soul; it consumes all that is good there, convictions of sin, desires after God, devout affections, pious resolutions, holy comforts, and lays the conscience waste. The sin of adultery, or fornication, consumes the body, the reputation, the substance, rooting out all the increase: it kindles the fire of God’s wrath, which, if not quenched by the blood of Christ, in consequence of repentance and faith in him, will burn to the lowest hell. Job 31:12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. Job 31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; Job 31:13-15 . If I did despise the cause of my man-servant — If I used my power over him to overthrow him and his just rights; when they contended with me — Either for requiring more work from them than they could perform, or for not providing for them those supports which their nature and necessity required, or for any other plausible cause. I heard them patiently, considered the matters complained of impartially, and did them right even against myself, if through any misinformation, or fancied provocation, I had done them an injury. What then shall I do when God riseth up? — Namely, to plead the cause of the oppressed against the oppressor, and to execute judgment. I used my servant like one who knew that I myself also was a servant, and had a master in heaven, to whom I was to give an account of my conduct toward my servant and all men. And when he visiteth — That is, when he shall call me to his tribunal, and strictly examine all my actions, and particularly the cause between me and my servant; what shall I answer him? — What apology shall I make for myself? Did not he that made me, &c. — I considered that, though he was my servant, he was my fellow-creature, made by the same God, and therefore one of God’s subjects, whom I could not injure without injustice to the supreme Lord. And did not one fashion us, &c. — With a body and soul of the same nature and quality, a rational and immortal creature, and made after God’s image no less than myself, to whom therefore I owed some respect for God’s sake. Job 31:14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? Job 31:16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Job 31:16-17 . If I have withheld the poor, &c. — If I have denied them what they desired of me, either in justice or from necessity; for he was under no obligation to grant their vain or inordinate desires. Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail — With tedious expectation of my justice or charity. I durst neither deny nor delay my help, when they needed or required it. Or have eaten my morsel alone — Without communicating part of my provisions or property to the poor, as it follows; and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof — This one kind of necessitous persons is put for all the rest. Job is most large upon these heads of doing justice to the widows and fatherless, and relieving the poor, because Eliphaz had most particularly accused him in these respects. Job 31:17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; Job 31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) Job 31:18 . For from my youth — As soon as I was capable of managing my own affairs, and doing good to others; he was brought up with me as with a father — Under my care and protection, with all the diligence and tenderness of a father. And I have guided her — The widow, mentioned Job 31:16 ; from my mother’s womb — From my tender years; ever since I was capable of discerning good from evil, I have made conscience of this duty. Job 31:19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; Job 31:19-22 . If I have seen any perish — When it was in my power to help them. If his loins have not blessed me — That is, if my covering his loins hath not given him occasion to bless me, and to pray to God to bless me; the loins being put for the whole body. If he were not warmed, &c. — With clothing made of my wool. If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless — An expression signifying an act of power and hostility. If I have ever beaten or ill used him; if I have brought him to the judgment- seat, that, under the colour of justice, I might take away his right, or any ways to threaten, injure, or crush him; when I saw my help in the gate — When I saw myself superior in the gate, Houbigant. That is, superior in authority. When I understood my advantage against him, and that I could influence the judges to do what I pleased. Then let mine arm fall, &c. — I am contented that that arm which hath been so wickedly employed, may either rot off or fall out of joint, and so be useless and burdensome to me. Job 31:20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; Job 31:21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Job 31:22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. Job 31:23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. Job 31:23 . For destruction, &c. — I stood in awe of God, and his justice and wrath, and therefore made it my care and business to shun sin, and to please him. And by reason of his highness — His excellence or majesty, which is most glorious and terrible; I could not endure — I knew myself unable, either to oppose his power, or to bear his wrath, and therefore I did not dare to provoke him by any impiety or injustice. Even good men have need to restrain themselves from sin, with the fear of destruction from God. Even when salvation from God is a comfort to us, yet destruction from God should be a terror to us. Adam, in innocence, was awed by a threatening. Job 31:24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; Job 31:24 . If I have made gold my hope — That is, the matter of my hope and trust, expecting safety and happiness from it, and placing my chief joy in the increase of my riches. Job 31:25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; Job 31:25 . If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great — Esteeming myself happy in the possession of it, though without God’s love and favour; because my hand had gotten much — Ascribing my acquisition of it to my own skill or industry, rather than to God’s goodness and mercy. And these sins Job the rather mentions, partly for his own vindication, lest it should be thought that God took away his property because he had abused it to pride, or luxury, or the oppression of others; and partly for the instruction of mankind in succeeding generations, that they might take notice of the evil of such practices, though by most men they are reputed laudable or harmless, or, at the worst, but light and trivial instances of misconduct. Job 31:26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; Job 31:26-27 . If I beheld the sun when it shined — Namely, in its full strength and glory; when it most affected men’s minds and hearts with admiration of its beauty, and of the benefits which it is instrumental in communicating to the world, and thereby moved them to worship it; or the moon walking in brightness — When it shined most clearly, or was at the full, at which time especially the idolaters worshipped it. Job, in this passage, evidently speaks of the worship of the host of heaven, and especially of the sun and moon, the most eminent and glorious of that number, which was the most ancient kind of idolatry, and most frequent in the eastern countries. And my heart hath been enticed — Or seduced, or deceived, by their plausible and glorious appearances, to believe that there was something of a divinity in them, and so should be induced to worship them, and that secretly, or inwardly, in my thoughts or affections, while I professed outwardly to adhere to God and the true religion. This emphatical expression, enticed, seems to be used here with a design to teach the world this necessary and important truth: that no mistake, or error of mind, would excuse the practice of idolatry. My mouth hath kissed my hand — In token of worship, whereof this was a sign. Job 31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: Job 31:28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above. Job 31:28 . This also were an iniquity — No less than the other fore- mentioned sins of adultery, oppression, &c. to be punished by the judge — The civil magistrate; who, being advanced and protected by God, is obliged to maintain and vindicate his honour, and consequently to punish idolatry. For I should have denied God — Not directly, but by consequence, because this was to rob God of his prerogative, by giving to the creature that worship which is peculiar to God. Job 31:29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: Job 31:29-30 . If I rejoiced, &c. — I was so far from being malicious toward, and from revenging myself on, an enemy, which is the common and allowed practice of ungodly men, that I did not so much as delight in his ruin, when it was brought upon him by other hands. By this, and other passages of the Old Testament, (see Exodus 23:4 ; Proverbs 24:17-18 ,) we see that to love, forgive, and do good to our enemies, is not a duty peculiar to Christianity, but a part of that charity which now is, and ever was, by the law of nature, of indispensable obligation upon all men. Or lifted up myself when evil found him — Hebrew, ??????? , hithgnorarti, stirred up himself, to rejoice and insult over his misery. Neither have I suffered my mouth — Hebrew, ??? , chicchi, my palate, which, being one of the instruments of speech, is put for all the rest; to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. The sense is, if any desire of his hurt did arise in me, I forthwith suppressed it, and did not suffer it to break forth in my uttering an imprecation against him. Job 31:30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. Job 31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. Job 31:31-32 . If the men of my tabernacle — My domestics and familiar friends; said not, O that we had of his flesh! — Heath and Schultens read the words, Who can show the man that hath not filled himself with his victuals? And many commentators understand Job as asserting here, that it was a common thing among those who lived in his family, on beholding his boundless beneficence, to cry out, “Who is there that has not eaten of his flesh?” That is, who has not tasted of his generosity? Others consider it as an exclamation of gratitude, uttered by those who were sustained by Job; as if he had said, O that we had wherewithal to support ourselves, that we might not thus be a burden to this generous man; that we might not be obliged thus to feed upon his flesh or substance! But the connection of the words with the preceding seems most apparent if we understand them as an amplification, and further confirmation, of Job’s charitable disposition toward his enemies. Although his cause was so just, and the malice of his enemies so notorious and unreasonable, that all who were daily conversant with him, and were witnesses of his and their carriage, were so zealous in his quarrel, that they protested they could eat their very flesh; yet he restrained both them and himself from executing vengeance upon them. The stranger — Or traveller, as it follows; did not lodge in the street — But in my house, according to the laws of hospitality; see Genesis 18:3 ; Genesis 19:2 . Job 31:32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller. Job 31:33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: Job 31:33 . If I covered my transgressions as Adam — As Adam did in paradise. By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom — In my own breast, and from the sight of all men; or, in secret, as R. Levi renders ???? , bechobbi. Job alludes to Adam’s hiding himself among the trees of the garden, and palliating his sin; a circumstance in the history of the fall, recorded by Moses, Genesis 3:7 , and doubtless imparted by the godly patriarchs to their children before Moses’s time, and therefore well known to Job, who here says he did not act thus, but was ever ready to acknowledge his errors. The allusion is quite proper and apposite: but if we should render the passage, agreeably to the marginal reading, after the manner of men, it becomes an accusation of others; and the vindication of himself has a mixture of pride in it, which does not suit the character of the speaker. See Sherlock on Prophecy, p. 212. Job 31:34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? Job 31:34 . Did I fear a great multitude? — No: all that knew Job, knew him to be a man of resolution, that boldly appeared, spoke, and acted, in defence of religion and justice. He durst not keep silence, or stay within, when called to speak or act for God. He was not deterred by the number, or quality, or insults of the injurious, from reproving them, and doing justice to the injured. Job 31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. Job 31:35 . O that one would hear me! — O that I might have my cause heard by any just and impartial judge! Behold, my desires, &c. — So the Vulgate and the Targum understand ??? , tavi, here, deriving it from ??? , ivvah, he desired, he coveted. Some, however, deriving it from ??? , tivvah, to mark, to design, to define, render the clause, Lo, here is my sign, mark, or pledge, namely, that I will stand the trial. But the former seems to be the true sense, and is approved by A. Ezra and R. Levi. That the Almighty would answer me — Answer my desire herein, either by hearing me himself, or by appointing some impartial person to judge whether I be such a hypocrite as my friends make me, or an upright person. And that mine adversary — Whosoever he be that shall contend with, or accuse me; had written a book — Had put down in writing the charges he has against me, and brought them in. He alludes to what is usual in judicial proceedings. This shows that letters were in use in Job’s time. Job 31:36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. Job 31:36 . Surely I would take it — The book, or writing, containing the charges against me; upon my shoulder — As a trophy, or badge of honour; and bind it as a crown to me — I would be so far from being ashamed or terrified, that I would glory, and rejoice, and triumph in it, nay, and openly expose it to be read by all, well knowing that so groundless and impotent an accusation would only serve the more to clear my innocence. Job 31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. Job 31:37 . I would declare to him — To the Almighty, my judge; the number of my steps — The whole course of my life and actions, step by step, as far as I could remember: as a prince would I go near him — That is, with courage and confidence of success: I would stand before him with a look as upright and assured as that of a prince. Nothing can be plainer than that the book, or libel, here supposed to be written by Job’s adversary, cannot be meant of one drawn up by God. For how was it possible for him to triumph in this? If it were a bill of accusation, coming from the God of truth, he had more reason to tremble, certainly, than to triumph. We must therefore conclude that by the adversary must be meant one or all of Job’s friends, who were his only accusers that we know of: and God is here appealed to as a hearer or judge between them. In this it is that Job, with reason, rejoices and triumphs as being conscious of his integrity before God, and his sincere desire and endeavour to know and do his will in all things. See Peters and Dodd. Job 31:38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; Job 31:38-40 . If my land cry against me — To wit, to God, for revenge, (as the like phrase signifies, Genesis 4:10 ; Habakkuk 2:11 ,) because I have gotten it from the right owners by fraud or violence, as my friends accuse me. If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money — Either without paying the price required by the right owner of the land, or by defrauding the workmen of the wages of their labours. Or have caused the owners to lose their life — Killing them, that I might have undisturbed possession of it, as Ahab did Naboth. The words of Job are ended — To wit, in answer to his friends: for he speaks but little afterward, and that is to God. Job 31:39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: Job 31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? XXIV. AS A PRINCE BEFORE THE KING Job 29:1-25 ; Job 30:1-31 ; Job 31:1-40 Job SPEAKS FROM the pain and desolation to which he has become inured as a pitiable second state of existence, Job looks back to the years of prosperity and health which in long succession he once enjoyed. This parable or review of the past ends his contention. Honour and blessedness are apparently denied him forever. With what has been he compares his present misery and proceeds to a bold and noble vindication of his character alike from secret and from flagrant sins. In the whole circle of Job’s lamentations this chant is perhaps the most affecting. The language is very beautiful, in the finest style of the poet, and the minor cadences of the music are such as many of us can sympathise with. When the years of youth go by and strength wanes, the Eden we once dwelt in seems passing fair. Of those beyond middle life there are few who do not set their early memories in sharp contrast to the ways they now travel, looking back to a happy valley and long bright summers that are left behind. And even in opening manhood and womanhood the troubles of life often fall, as we may think, prematurely, coming between the mind and the remembered joy of burdenless existence. How changed are they!-how changed am I! The early spring of life is gone, Gone is each youthful vanity, - But what with years, oh what is won? I know not-but while standing now Where opened first the heart of youth, I recollect how high would glow Its thoughts of Glory, Faith, and Truth- "How full it was of good and great, How true to heaven, how warm to men. Alas! I scarce forbear to hate The colder breast I bring again." First in the years past Job sees by the light of memory the blessedness he had when the Almighty was felt to be his preserver and his strength. Though now God appears to have become an enemy he will not deny that once he had a very different experience. Then nature was friendly, no harm came to him; he was not afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor the destruction that wasteth at noon day, for the Almighty was his refuge and fortress. To refuse this tribute of gratitude is far from the mind of Job, and the expression of it is a sign that now at length he is come to a better mind. He seems on the way fully to recover his trust. The elements of his former happiness are recounted in detail. God watched over him with constant care, the lamp of Divine love shone on high and lighted up the darkness, so that even in the night he could travel by a way he knew not and feel secure. Days of strength and pleasure were those when the secret of God, the sense of intimate fellowship with God, was on his tent, when his children were about him, that beautiful band of sons and daughters who were his pride. Then his steps were bathed in abundance, butter provided by innumerable kine, rivers of oil which seemed to flow from the rock, where terrace above terrace the olives grew luxuriantly and yielded their fruit without fail. Chiefly Job remembers with gratitude to God the esteem in which he was held by all about him. Nature was friendly and not less friendly were men. When he went into the city and took his seat in the "broad place" within the gate, he was acknowledged chief of the council and court of judgment. The young men withdrew and stood aside, yea the elders, already seated in the place of assembly, stood up to receive him as their superior in position and wisdom. Discussion was suspended that he might hear and decide. And the reasons for this respect are given. In the society thus with idyllic touches represented, two qualities were highly esteemed-regard for the poor and wisdom in counsel. Then, as now, the problem of poverty caused great concern to the elders of cities. Though the population of an Arabian town could not be great, there were many widows and fatherless children, families reduced to beggary by disease or the failure of their poor means of livelihood, blind and lame persons utterly dependent on charity, besides wandering strangers and the vagrants of the desert. By his princely munificence to these Job had earned the gratitude of the whole region. Need was met poverty relieved, justice done in every case. He recounts what he did, not in boastfulness, but as one who rejoiced in the ability God had given him to aid suffering fellow creatures. Those were indeed royal times for the generous-hearted man. Full of public spirit, his ear and hand always open, giving freely out of his abundance, he commended himself to the affectionate regard of the whole valley. The ready way of almsgiving was that alone by which relief was provided for the destitute, and Job was never appealed to in vain. "The ear that heard me blessed me, The eye that saw bare witness to me, Because I delivered the poor that cried, And the fatherless who had no helper. The blessing of him that was ready to die came upon me, And I caused the widow’s heart to sing with joy." So far Job rejoices in the recollection of what he had been able to do for the distressed and needy in those days when the lamp of God shone over him. He proceeds to speak of his service as magistrate or judge. "I put on righteousness and it indued itself with me, My justice was as a robe and a diadem; I was eyes to the blind And feet was I to the lame." With righteousness in his heart so that all he said and did revealed it and wearing judgment as a turban, he sat and administered justice among the people. Those who had lost their sight and were unable to find the men that had wronged them came to him and he was as eyes to them, following up every clue to the crime that had been committed. The lame who could not pursue their enemies appealed to him and he took up their cause. The poor, suffering under oppression, found him a protector, father. Yea, "the cause of him that I knew not I searched out." On behalf of total strangers as well as of neighbours he set in motion the machinery of justice. "And I brake the jaws of the wicked And plucked the spoil from his teeth." None were so formidable, so daring and lion-like, but he faced them, brought them to judgment, and compelled them to give up what they had taken by fraud and violence. In those days, Job confesses, he had the dream that as he was prosperous, powerful, helpful to others by the grace of God, so he would continue. Why should any trouble fall on one who used power conscientiously for his neighbours? Would not Eloah sustain the man who was as a god to others? "Then I said, I shall die in my nest, And I shall multiply my days as the Phoenix; My root shall spread out by the waters, And the dew shall be all night on my branch: My glory shall be fresh in me, And my bow shall be renewed in my hand." A fine touch of the dream life which ran on from year to year, bright and blessed as if it would flow forever. Death and disaster were far away. He would renew his life like the Phoenix, attain to the age of the antediluvian fathers, and have his glory or life strong in him for uncounted years. So illusion flattered him, the very image he uses pointing to the futility of the hope. The closing strophe of the chapter proceeds with even stronger touch and more abundant colour to represent his dignity. Men listened to him and waited. Like a refreshing rain upon thirsty ground-and how thirsty the desert could be!-his counsel fell on their ears. He smiled upon them when they had no confidence, laughed away their trouble, the light of his countenance never dimmed by their apprehensions. Even when all about him were in dismay his hearty hopeful outlook was unclouded. Trusting God, he knew his own strength and gave freely of it. "I chose out their way, and sat as a chief, And dwelt as a king in the crowd, As one that comforteth the mourners." Looked up to with this great esteem, acknowledged leader in virtue of his overflowing goodness and cheerfulness, he seemed to make sunshine for the whole community. Such was the past. All that had been is gone, apparently forever. How inexpressibly strange that power so splendid, mental, physical, and moral strength used in the service of less favoured men should be destroyed by Eloah! It is like blotting out the sun from heaven and leaving a world in darkness. And most strange of all is the way in which low men assist the ruin that has been wrought. The thirtieth chapter begins with this. Job is derided by the miserable and base whose fathers he would have disdained to set with the dogs of his flock. He paints these people, gaunt with hunger and vice, herding in the wilderness where alone they are suffered to exist, plucking mallows or salt wort among the bushes and digging up the roots of broom for food. Men hunted them into the desert, crying after them as thieves, and they dwelt in the clefts of the wadies, in caves and amongst rocks. Like wild asses they brayed in the scrub and flung themselves down among the nettles. Children they were of fools, base-born, men who had dishonoured their humanity and been whipped out of the land. Such are they whose song and by word Job is now become. These, even these abhor him and spit in his face. He makes the contrast deep and dreadful as to his own experience and the moral confusion that has followed Eloah’s strange work. For good there is evil, for light and order there is darkness. Does God desire this, ordain it? One is inclined to ask whether the abounding compassion and humaneness of the Book of Job fail at this point. These wretched creatures who make their lair like wild beasts among the nettles, outcasts, branded as thieves, a wandering base-born race, are still men. Their fathers may have fallen into the vices of abject poverty. But why should Job say that he would have disdained to set them with the dogs of his flock? In a previous speech (chapter 24) he described victims of oppression who had no covering in the cold and were drenched with the rain of the mountains, clinging to the rock for shelter; and of them he spoke gently, sympathetically. But here he seems to go beyond compassion. Perhaps one might say the tone he takes now is pardonable, or almost pardonable, because these wretched beings, whom he may have treated kindly once, have seized the occasion of his misery and disease to insult him to his face. While the words appear hard, the uselessness of the pariah may be the mare point. Yet a little of the pride of birth clings to Job. In this respect he is not perfect; here his prosperous life needs a check. The Almighty must speak to him out of the tempest that he may feel himself and find "the blessedness of being little." These outcasts throw off all restraint and behave with disgraceful rudeness in his presence. Upon my right hand rise the low brood, They push away my feet, And cast up against me their ways of destruction; They mar my path, And force on my calamity- They who have no helper. They come in as through a wide breach, In the desolation they roll themselves upon me. The various images, of a besieging army, of those who wantonly break up paths made with difficulty, of a breach in the embankment of a river, are to show that Job is now accounted one of the meanest, whom any man may treat with in dignity. He was once the idol of the populace; "now none so poor to do him reverence." And this persecution by base men is only a sign of deeper abasement. As a horde of terrors sent by God he feels the reproaches and sorrows of his state. "Terrors are turned upon me; They chase away mine honour as the wind. And my welfare passeth as a cloud. And now my soul is poured out in me The days of affliction have taken hold upon me." Thought shifts naturally to the awful disease which has caused his body to swell and to become black as with dust and ashes. And this leads him to his final vehement complaint against Eloah. How can He so abase and destroy His servant? I cry unto Thee and Thou dost not hear me; I stand up, and Thou lookest at me. Thou art turned to be cruel unto me: With the might of Thine hand Thou persecutest me. Thou liftest me up to the wind, Thou causest me to ride on it; And Thou dissolvest me in the storm. For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living. Yet in overthrow doth not one stretch out his hand? In destruction, doth he not because of this utter a cry? Standing up in his wretchedness he is fully visible to the Divine eye, still no prayer moves Eloah the terrible from His purpose. It seems to be finally appointed that in dishonour Job shall die. Yet, destined to this fate, his hope a mockery, shall he not stretch out his hand, cry aloud as life falls to the grave in ruin? How differently is God treating him from the way in which he treated those who were in trouble! He is asking in vain that pity which he himself had often shown. Why should this be? How can it be, and Eloah remain the Just and Living One? Pained without and within, unable to refrain from crying out when people gather about him, a brother to jackals whose howlings are heard all night, a companion to the grieving ostrich, his bones burned by raging fever, his harp turned to wailing and his lute into the voice of them that weep, he can scarce believe himself the same man that once walked in honour and gladness in the sight of earth and heaven. Thus the full measure of complaint is again poured out, unchecked by thought that dignity of life comes more with suffering patiently endured than with pleasure. Job does not know that out of trouble like his a man may rise more human, more noble, his harp furnished with new strings of deeper feeling, a finer light of sympathy shining in his soul. Consistently, throughout, the author keeps this thought in the background, showing hopeless sorrow, affliction, unrelieved by any sense of spiritual gain, pressing with heaviest and most weary weight upon a good man’s life. The only help Job has is the consciousness of virtue, and that does not check his complaint. The antinomies of life, the past as compared with the present, Divine favour exchanged for cruel persecution, well doing followed by most grievous pain and dishonour, are to stand at the last full in view. Then He who has justice in His keeping shall appear. God Himself shall declare and claim His supremacy and His design. This purpose of the author achieved, the last passage of Job’s address-chapter 31-rings bold and clear like the chant of a victor, not serene indeed in the presence of death, for this is not the Hebrew temper and cannot be ascribed by the writer to his hero, yet with firm ground beneath his feet, a clear conscience of truth lighting up his soul. The language is that of an innocent man before his accusers and his judge, yea of a prince in presence of the King. Out of the darkness into which he has been cast by false arguments and accusations, out of the trouble into which his own doubt has brought him, Job seems to rise with a new sense of moral strength and even of restored physical power. No more in reckless challenge of heaven and earth to do their worst, but with a fine strain of earnest desire to be clear with men and God, he takes up and denies one by one every possible charge of secret and open sin. Is the language he uses more emphatic than any man has a right to employ? If he speaks the truth, why should his words be thought too bold? The Almighty Judge desires no man falsely to accuse himself, will have no man leave an unfounded suspicion resting upon his character. It is not evangelical meekness to plead guilty to sins never committed. Job feels it part of his integrity to maintain his integrity; and here he vindicates himself not in general terms but in detail, with a decision which cannot be mistaken. Afterwards, when the Almighty has spoken, he acknowledges the ignorance and error which have entered into his judgment, making the confession we must all make even after years of faith. I. From the taint of lustful and base desire he first clears himself. He has been pure in life, innocent even of wandering looks which might have drawn him into uncleanness. He has made a covenant with his eyes and kept it. Sin of this kind, he knew, always brings retribution, and no indulgence of his ever caused sorrow and dishonour. Regarding the particular form of evil in question he asks:- "For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage of the Almighty from on high? Is it not calamity to the unrighteous And disaster to them that work iniquity?" Grouped along with this "lust of the flesh" is the "lust of the eyes," covetous desire. The itching palm to which money clings, false dealing for the sake of gain, crafty intrigues for the acquisition of a plot of ground or some animal-such things were far from him. He claims to be weighed in a strict balance, and pledges himself that as to this he will not be found wanting. So thoroughly is he occupied with this defence that he speaks as if still able to sow a crop and look for the harvest. He would expect to have the produce snatched from his hand if the vanity of greed and getting had led him astray. Returning then to the more offensive suspicion that he had laid wait treacherously at his neighbour’s door, he uses the most vigorous words to show at once his detestation of such offence and the result he believes it always to have. It is an enormity, a nefarious thing to be punished by the judges. More than that, it is a fire that consumes to Abaddon, wasting a man’s strength and substance so that they are swallowed as by the devouring abyss. As to this, Job’s reading of life is perfectly sound. Wherever society exists at all, custom and justice are made to bear as heavily as possible on those who invade the foundation of society and the rights of other men. Yet the keenness with which immorality of the particular kind is watched fans the flame of lust. Nature appears to be engaged against itself; it may be charged with the offence, it certainly joins in bringing the punishment. II. Another possible imputation was that as a master or employer he had been harsh to his underlings. Common enough it was for those in power to treat their dependants with cruelty. Servants were often slaves; their rights as men and women were denied. Regarding this, the words put into the mouth of Job are finely humane, even prophetic:- "If I despised the cause of my man-servant or maid When they contended with me What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when He visiteth what shall I answer Him? Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One fashion us in the womb?" The rights of those who toiled for him were sacred, not as created by any human law which for so many hours’ service might compel so much stipulated hire, but as conferred by God. Job’s servants were men and women with an indefeasible claim to just and considerate treatment. It was accidental, so to speak, that Job was rich and they poor, that he was master and they under him. Their bodies were fashioned like his, their minds had the same capacity of thought, of emotion, of pleasure and pain. At this point there is no hardness of tone or pride of birth and place. These are well doing people to whom as head of the clan Job stands in place of a father. And his principle, to treat them as their inheritance of the same life from the same Creator gave them a right to be dealt with, is prophetic, setting forth the duties of all who have power to those who toil for them. Men are often used like beasts of burden. No tyranny on earth is so hateful as many employers, driving on their huge concerns at the utmost speed, dare to exercise through representatives or underlings. The simple patriarchal life which brought employer and employed into direct personal relations knew little of the antagonism of class interests and the bitterness of feeling which often menaces revolution. None of this will cease till simplicity be resumed and the customs which keep men in touch with each other, even though they fail to acknowledge themselves members of the one family of God. When the servant who has done his best is, after years of exhausting labour, dismissed without a hearing by some subordinate set there to consider what are called the "interests" of the employer-is the latter free from blame? The question of Job, "What then shall I do when God riseth up, and when He visiteth what shall I answer Him?" strikes a note of equity and brotherliness many so-called Christians seem never to have heard. III. To the poor, the widow, the fatherless, the perishing, Job next refers. Beyond the circle of his own servants there were needy persons whom he had been charged with neglecting and even oppressing. He has already made ample defence under this head. If he has lifted his hand against the fatherless, having good reason to presume that the judges would be on his side-then may his shoulder fall from the shoulder blade and his arm from the collar bone. Calamity from God was a terror to Job, and recognising the glorious authority which enforces the law of brotherly help he could not have lived in proud enjoyment and selfish contempt. IV. Next he repudiates the idolatry of wealth and the sin of adoring the creature instead of the Creator. Rich as he was, he can affirm that he never thought too much of his wealth, nor secretly vaunted himself in what he had gathered. His fields brought forth plentifully, but he never said to his soul, Thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. He was but a steward, holding all at the will of God. Not as if abundance of possessions could give him any real worth, but with constant gratitude to his Divine Friend, he used the world as not abusing it. And for his religion: true to those spiritual ideas which raised him far above superstition and idolatry, even when the rising sun seemed to claim homage as a fit emblem of the unseen Creator, or when the full moon shining in a clear sky seemed a very goddess of purity and peace, he had never, as others were wont to do, carried his hand to his lips. He had seen the worship of Baal and Ishtar, and there might have come to him, as to whole nations, the impulses of wonder, of delight, of religious reverence. But he can fearlessly say that he never yielded to the temptation to adore anything in heaven or earth. It would have been to deny Eloah the Supreme. Dr. Davidson reminds us here of a legend embodied in the Koran for the purpose of impressing the lesson that worship should be paid to the Lord of all creatures, "whose shall be the kingdom on the day whereon the trumpet shall be sounded." The Almighty says: "Thus did we show unto Abraham the kingdom of heaven and earth, that he might become of those who firmly believe. And when the night overshadowed him he saw a star, and he said, This is my Lord; but when it set he said, I like not those that set. And when he saw the moon rising he said, This is my Lord; but when he saw it set he said, Verily, if my Lord direct me not, I shall become one of the people who go astray. And when he saw the rising sun he said, This is my Lord; this is the greatest; but when it set he said, O my people, verily I am clear of that which ye associate with God; I direct my face unto Him who hath created the heavens and the earth." Thus from very early times to that of Mohammed monotheism was in conflict with the form of idolatry that naturally allured the inhabitants of Arabia. Job confesses the attraction, denies the sin. He speaks as if the laws of his people were strongly against sun worship, whatever might be done elsewhere. V. He proceeds to declare that he has never rejoiced over a fallen enemy nor sought the life of any one with a curse. He distinguishes himself very sharply from those who in the common Oriental way dealt curses without great provocation, and those even who kept them for deadly enemies. So far was this rancorous spirit from him that friends and enemies alike were welcome to his hospitality and help. Job 31:31 means that his servants could boast of being unable to find a single stranger who had not sat at his table. Their business was to furnish it every day with guests. Nor will Job allow that after the manner of men he skilfully covered transgressions. "If, guilty of some base thing, I concealed it, as men often do, because I was afraid of losing caste, afraid lest the great families would despise me" Such a thought or fear never presented itself to him. He could not thus have lived a double life. All had been above board, in the clear light of day, ruled by one law. In connection with this it is that he comes with princely appeal to the King. "Oh that I had one to hear me!- Behold my signature-let the Almighty answer me. And oh that I had my Opponent’s charge! Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, I would bind it unto me as a crown. I would declare unto Him the number of my steps, As a prince would I go near unto Him." The words are to be defended only on the ground that the Eloah to whom a challenge is here addressed is God misunderstood, God charged falsely with making unfounded accusations against His servant and punishing him as a criminal. The Almighty has not been doing so. The vicious reasoning of the friends, the mistaken creed of the age make it appear as if He had. Men say to Job, You suffer because God has found evil in you. He is requiting you according to your iniquity. They maintain that for no other reason could calamities have come upon him. So God is made to appear as the man’s adversary; and Job is forced to the demonstration that he has been unjustly condemned. "Behold my signature," he says: I state my innocence; I set to my mark; I stand by my claim: I can do nothing else. Let the Almighty prove me at fault. God, you say, has a book in which His charges against me are written out. I wish I had that book! I would fasten it upon my shoulder as a badge of honour; yea, I would wear it as a crown. I would show Eloah all I have done, every step I have taken through life by day and night. I would evade nothing. In the assurance of integrity I would go to the King; as a prince I would stand in His presence. There face to face with Him whom I know to be just and righteous I would justify myself as His servant, faithful in His house. Is it audacity, impiety? The writer of the book does not mean it to be so understood. There is not the slightest hint that he gives up his hero. Every claim made is true. Yet there is ignorance of God, and that ignorance puts Job in fault so far. He does not know God’s action though he knows his own. He ought to reason from the misunderstanding of himself and see that he may fail to understand Eloah. When he begins to see this he will believe that his sufferings have complete justification in the purpose of the Most High. The ignorance of Job represents the ignorance of the old world. Notwithstanding the tenor of his prologue the writer is without a theory of human affliction applicable to every case, or even to the experience of Job. He can only say and repeat, God is supremely wise and righteous, and for the glory of His wisdom and righteousness He ordains all that befalls men. The problem is not solved till we see Christ, the Captain of our salvation, made perfect by suffering, and know that our earthly affliction "which is for the moment worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." The last verses of the chapter may seem out of place. Job speaks as a landowner who has not encroached on the fields of others but honestly acquired his estate, and as a farmer who has tilled it well. This seems a trifling matter compared with others that have been considered. Yet, as a kind of afterthought, completing the review of his life, the detail is natural. "If my land cry out against me, And the furrows thereof weep together, If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, Or have caused the owners to lose their life: Let thistles grow instead of wheat And cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended." A farmer of the right kind would have great shame if poor crops or wet furrows cried against him, or if he could otherwise be accused of treating the land ill. The touch is realistic and forcible. Still it is plain at the close that the character of Job is idealised. Much may he received as matter of veritable history; but on the whole the life is too fine, pure, saintly for even an extraordinary man. The picture is clearly typical. And it is so for the best reason. An actual life would not have set the problem fully in view. The writer’s aim is to rouse thought by throwing the contradictions of human experience so vividly upon a prepared canvas that all may see. Why do the righteous suffer? What does the Almighty mean? The urgent questions of the race are made as insistent as art and passion, ideal truth and sincerity, can make them. Job lying in the grime of misery, yet claiming his innocence as a prince before the Eternal King, demands on behalf of humanity the vindication of providence, the meaning of the world scheme. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.