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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Esther';
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Title = 'The Book of Job';
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<p id="Chapter31" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 31
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<p id="Job31_1"><a onclick="return mV('Job',31,'1-40');">Job 31:1-40</a>.
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<p><b>1.</b> 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 <i>public</i> life, so in this chapter he vindicates his character in <i>private</i> life.
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<p><b>1-4.</b> He asserts his guarding against being allured to sin by his senses.
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<br><br><b>think</b>—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 (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',6,25);">Pro 6:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',5,28);">Mat 5:28</a>).
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<p id="Job31_2"><b>2.</b> 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] (<a onclick="return mV('Job',20,29);">Job 20:29</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',27,13);">27:13</a>).
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<p id="Job31_3"><b>3.</b> Answer to the question in <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,2);">Job 31:2</a>.
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<br><br><b>strange</b>—extraordinary.
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<p id="Job31_4"><b>4. Doth not he see?</b> etc.—Knowing this, I could only have expected "destruction" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',31,3);">Job 31:3</a>), had I committed this sin (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',5,21);">Pro 5:21</a>).
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<p id="Job31_5"><b>5.</b> Job's abstinence from evil deeds.
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<br><br><b>vanity</b>—that is, falsehood (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',12,2);">Psa 12:2</a>).
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<p id="Job31_6"><b>6.</b> Parenthetical. Translate: "Oh, that God would weigh me ...<i>then</i> would He know," etc.
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<p id="Job31_7"><b>7.</b> Connected with <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,6);">Job 31:6</a>.
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<br><br><b>the way</b>—of God (<a onclick="return mV('Job',23,11);">Job 23:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',5,5);">Jer 5:5</a>). A godly life.
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<br><br><b>heart...after...eyes</b>—if my heart coveted, what my eyes beheld (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',11,9);">Ecc 11:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jos',7,21);">Jos 7:21</a>).
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<br><br><b>hands</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',24,4);">Psa 24:4</a>).
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<p id="Job31_8"><b>8.</b> Apodosis to <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,5,7);">Job 31:5, 7</a>; the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',26,16);">Lev 26:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',9,14);">Amo 9:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',128,2);">Psa 128:2</a>).
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<br><br><b>offspring</b>—rather, "what I plant," my harvests.
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<p id="Job31_9"><b>9-12.</b> Job asserts his innocence of adultery.
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<br><br><b>deceived</b>—hath let itself be seduced (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',7,8);">Pro 7:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',39,'7-12');">Gen 39:7-12</a>).
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<br><br><b>laid wait</b>—until the husband went out.
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<p id="Job31_10"><b>10. grind</b>—turn the handmill. Be the most abject slave and concubine (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',47,2);">Isa 47:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Sa',12,11);">2Sa 12:11</a>).
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<p id="Job31_11"><b>11.</b> In the earliest times punished with death (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',38,24);">Gen 38:24</a>). So in later times (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',22,22);">Deu 22:22</a>). Heretofore he had spoken only of sins against conscience; now, one against the community, needing the cognizance of the judge.
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<p id="Job31_12"><b>12.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',6,'27-35');">Pro 6:27-35</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',8,'6-23',26,27);">8:6-23, 26-27</a>). No crime more provokes God to send <i>destruction as a consuming fire;</i> none so desolates the soul.
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<p id="Job31_13"><b>13-23.</b> Job affirms his freedom from unfairness towards his servants, from harshness and oppression towards the needy.
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<br><br><b>despise the cause</b>—refused to do them justice.
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<p id="Job31_14"><b>14, 15.</b> 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?
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<p id="Job31_15"><b>15.</b> Slaveholders try to defend themselves by maintaining the <i>original</i> inferiority of the slave. But <a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,10);">Mal 2:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',17,26);">Act 17:26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',6,9);">Eph 6:9</a> make the common origin of masters and servants the argument for brotherly love being shown by the former to the latter.
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<p id="Job31_16"><b>16. fail</b>—in the vain expectation of relief (<a onclick="return mV('Job',11,20);">Job 11:20</a>).
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<p id="Job31_17"><b>17.</b> Arabian rules of hospitality require the stranger to be helped first, and to the best.
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<p id="Job31_18"><b>18.</b> Parenthetical: asserting that he did the contrary to the things in <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,16,17);">Job 31:16-17</a>.
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<br><br><b>he</b>—the orphan.
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<br><br><b>guided her</b>—namely, the widow, by advice and protection. On this and "a father," see <a onclick="return mV('Job',29,16);">Job 29:16</a>.
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<p id="Job31_19"><b>19. perish</b>—that is, ready to perish (<a onclick="return mV('Job',29,13);">Job 29:13</a>).
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<p id="Job31_20"><b>20. loins</b>—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.
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<p id="Job31_21"><b>21. when</b>—that is, "because."
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<br><br><b>I saw</b>—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.
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<p id="Job31_22"><b>22.</b> Apodosis to <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,13,16,17,'19-21');">Job 31:13, 16-17, 19-21</a>. If I had done those crimes, I should have made a bad use of my influence ("my arm," figuratively, <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,21);">Job 31:21</a>): therefore, if I have done them let my arm (literally) suffer. Job alludes to Eliphaz' charge (<a onclick="return mV('Job',22,9);">Job 22:9</a>). The first "arm" is rather the <i>shoulder.</i> The second "arm" is the <i>forearm.</i>
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<br><br><b>from the bone</b>—literally, "a reed"; hence the upper arm, above the elbow.
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<p id="Job31_23"><b>23. For</b>—that is, the reason why Job guarded against such sins. <i>Fear of God,</i> though he could escape man's judgment (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',39,9);">Gen 39:9</a>). UMBREIT more spiritedly translates, Yea, destruction and terror from God might have befallen me (had I done so): mere <i>fear</i> not being the motive.
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<br><br><b>highness</b>—majestic might.
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<br><br><b>endure</b>—I could have availed nothing against it.
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<p id="Job31_24"><b>24, 25.</b> Job asserts his freedom from trust in money (<a onclick="return mV('1Ti',6,17);">1Ti 6:17</a>). Here he turns to his duty towards God, as before he had spoken of his duty towards <i>himself</i> and his <i>neighbor.</i> Covetousness is covert idolatry, as it transfers the heart from the Creator to the creature (<a onclick="return mV('Col',3,5);">Col 3:5</a>). In <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,26,27);">Job 31:26-27</a> he passes to overt idolatry.
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<p id="Job31_25"></a>
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<p id="Job31_26"><b>26.</b> If I looked unto the sun (as an object of worship) <i>because</i> he shined; or to the moon <i>because</i> she walked, etc. Sabaism (from <i>tsaba,</i> "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 (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',8,16);">Eze 8:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',4,19);">Deu 4:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',23,5,11);">2Ki 23:5, 11</a>). The <i>Hebrew</i> here for "sun" is <i>light.</i> 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.
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<p id="Job31_27"><b>27. enticed</b>—away from God to idolatry.
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<br><br><b>kissed...hand</b>—"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 (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',19,18);">1Ki 19:18</a> <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',13,2);">Hsa 13:2</a>).
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<p id="Job31_28"><b>28.</b> 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 (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',13,9);">Deu 13:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',17,'2-7');">17:2-7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',8,'14-18');">Eze 8:14-18</a>). This passage therefore does not prove Job to have been subsequent to Moses.
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<p id="Job31_29"><b>29. lifted up myself</b>—in malicious triumph (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',17,5);">Pro 17:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',24,17);">24:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',7,4);">Psa 7:4</a>).
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<p id="Job31_30"><b>30. mouth</b>—literally, "palate." (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Job/Job006.html#Job6_30">Job 6:30</a>).
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<br><br><b>wishing</b>—literally, "so as to demand his (my enemy's) soul," that is, "life by a curse." This verse parenthetically confirms <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,30);">Job 31:30</a>. Job in the patriarchal age of the promise, anterior to the law, realizes the Gospel spirit, which was the end of the law (compare <a onclick="return mV('Lev',19,18);">Lev 19:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',23,6);">Deu 23:6</a>, with <a onclick="return mV('Mat',5,43,44);">Mat 5:43-44</a>).
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<p id="Job31_31"><b>31.</b> 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 (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',26,8);">1Sa 26:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Sa',16,9,10);">2Sa 16:9-10</a>). So Jesus Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',9,54,55);">Luk 9:54-55</a>). But, better (see <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,32);">Job 31:32</a>), 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.
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<p id="Job31_32"><b>32. traveller</b>—literally, "way," that is, wayfarers; so expressed to include all of every kind (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa',12,4);">2Sa 12:4</a>).
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<p id="Job31_33"><b>33. Adam</b>—translated by UMBREIT, "as men do" (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',6,7);">Hsa 6:7</a>, where see <i>Margin</i>). But <i>English Version</i> is more natural. The very same word for "hiding" is used in <a onclick="return mV('Gen',3,8,10);">Gen 3:8, 10</a>, of Adam <i>hiding</i> 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 (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',28,13);">Pro 28:13</a>). It was <i>from God</i> 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 <i>from their fellow men</i> 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."
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<p id="Job31_34"><b>34.</b> Rather, the apodosis to <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,33);">Job 31:33</a>, "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 (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa',12,12);">2Sa 12:12</a>). 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 (<a onclick="return mV('Job',24,16);">Job 24:16</a>, contrast with <a onclick="return mV('Job',29,'21-25');">Job 29:21-25</a>).
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<p id="Job31_35"><b>35.</b> Job returns to his wish (<a onclick="return mV('Job',13,22);">Job 13:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,23);">19:23</a>). Omit "is"; "Behold my <i>sign,</i>" that is, my mark of subscription to the statements just given in my defense: the <i>mark</i> of signature was originally a <i>cross;</i> and hence the letter Tau or T. Translate, also "Oh, <i>that</i> the Almighty," etc. He marks "God" as the "One" meant in the first <i>clause.</i>
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<br><br><b>adversary</b>—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.
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<br><br><b>had written a book</b>—rather, "would write down his charge."
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<p id="Job31_36"><b>36.</b> So far from hiding the adversary's "answer" or "charge" through fear,
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<br><br><b>I would take it on my shoulders</b>—as a public honor (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',9,6);">Isa 9:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>a crown</b>—not a mark of shame, but of distinction (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',62,3);">Isa 62:3</a>).
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<p id="Job31_37"><b>37.</b> A good conscience imparts a princely dignity before man and free assurance in approaching God. This can be realized, not in Job's way (<a onclick="return mV('Job',42,5,6);">Job 42:5-6</a>); but only through Jesus Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',10,22);">Hbr 10:22</a>).
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<p id="Job31_38"><b>38.</b> Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (<a onclick="return mV('Job',31,20);">Job 31:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',4,10);">Gen 4:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hab',2,11);">Hab 2:11</a>). If I have unjustly acquired lands (<a onclick="return mV('Job',24,2);">Job 24:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',5,8);">Isa 5:8</a>).
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<br><br><b>furrows</b>—The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in this, "If I paid not the laborer for <i>tillage</i>"; as <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,39);">Job 31:39</a>, "If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits." Thus of the four clauses in <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,38,39);">Job 31:38-39</a>, the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare <a onclick="return mV('Jam',5,4);">Jam 5:4</a>, which plainly alludes to this passage: compare "Lord of Sabaoth" with <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,26);">Job 31:26</a> here.
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<p id="Job31_39"><b>39. lose...life</b>—not literally, but "harassed to death"; until he gave me up his land gratis [MAURER]; as in <a onclick="return mV('Jdg',16,16);">Jdg 16:16</a>; "suffered him to languish" by taking away his means of living [UMBREIT] (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',21,19);">1Ki 21:19</a>).
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<p id="Job31_40"><b>40. thistles</b>—or brambles, thorns.
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<br><br><b>cockle</b>—literally, "noxious weeds."
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<br><br><b>The words...ended</b>—that is, in the controversy with the friends. He spoke in the book afterwards, but not to <i>them.</i> At <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,37);">Job 31:37</a> would be the regular conclusion in strict art. But <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,'38-40');">Job 31:38-40</a> 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 <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,'38-40');">Job 31:38-40</a> to follow <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,25);">Job 31:25</a> is quite unwarranted.
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