_I MADE A COVENANT WITH MINE EYES; WHY THEN SHOULD I THINK UPON A MAID?_ Job 31:1. Job proceeds to prove that he deserved a better lot. As in Job 29:1 he showed his uprightness as an emir, or magistrate, in public life, so in this chapter be vindicates his character in private life.... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR WHAT PORTION OF GOD IS THERE FROM ABOVE? AND WHAT INHERITANCE OF THE ALMIGHTY FROM ON HIGH?_ He asserts his guarding against being allured to sin by his senses. Verse 1. THINK - cast a (lustful) look х_ 'ETBOWNEEN_ (H995)]. He not merely did not so, but put it out of the question, by covenanti... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I HAVE WALKED WITH VANITY, OR IF MY FOOT HATH HASTED TO DECEIT;_ Job's abstinence from evil deeds. VANITY - i:e., falsehood (Psalms 12:2).... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET ME BE WEIGHED IN AN EVEN BALANCE, THAT GOD MAY KNOW MINE INTEGRITY._ Parenthetical. Translate, 'O that God would weigh me in a balance of justice, then would He know my integrity.'... [ Continue Reading ]
_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;_ Connected with Job 31:6. THE WAY - of God (Job 23:11; Jeremiah 5:5). A godly life. HEART WALKED AFTER ... EYES - if my heart coveted what my eyes beheld (Ecclesiastes 11:9;... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEN LET ME SOW, AND LET ANOTHER EAT; YEA, LET MY OFFSPRING BE ROOTED OUT._ Apodosis to Job 31:5; Job 31:7: the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things (Leviticus 26:16; contrast Amos 9:14; Psalms 128:2). OFFSPRING - rather, what I plant; my harvests.... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF MINE HEART HAVE BEEN DECEIVED BY A WOMAN, OR IF I HAVE LAID WAIT AT MY NEIGHBOUR'S DOOR;_ Job asserts his innocence of adultery. DECEIVED - hath let itself be seduced (Proverbs 7:8, etc.; Genesis 39:7). LAID WAIT - until the husband went out. Verse 10. GRIND - turn the handmill. Be the mos... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I DID DESPISE THE CAUSE OF MY MANSERVANT OR OF MY MAIDSERVANT, WHEN THEY CONTENDED WITH ME;_ Job affirms his freedom from unfairness toward his servants: from harshness and oppression toward the needy. DESPISE THE CAUSE - refused to do them justice. Verse 14,15. Parenthetical; the reason why... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I HAVE MADE GOLD MY HOPE, OR HAVE SAID TO THE FINE GOLD, THOU ART MY CONFIDENCE;_ Job asserts his freedom from trust in money (1 Timothy 6:17). Here he turns to his duty toward God, as before be had spoken of his duty toward himself and his neighbour. Covetousness in covert idolatry, as it tran... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I BEHELD THE SUN WHEN IT SHINED, OR THE MOON WALKING IN BRIGHTNESS;_ If I looked unto the Sun (as an object of worship), because he shined; or to the Moon, because she walked (moved majestically), etc. Sabaism (from _ TSAABAA'_ (H6635), the heavenly hosts) was the earliest form of false worship.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND MY HEART HATH BEEN SECRETLY ENTICED, OR MY MOUTH HATH KISSED MY HAND:_ Enticed - away from God to idolatry. KISSED ... HAND. Adoration literally means this. In worshipping they used to kiss the hand, and then throw the kiss, as it were, toward the object of worship (1 Kings 19:18; Hosea 13:2... [ Continue Reading ]
_THIS ALSO WERE AN INIQUITY TO BE PUNISHED BY THE JUDGE: FOR I SHOULD HAVE DENIED THE GOD THAT IS ABOVE._ _ THIS ALSO WERE AN INIQUITY TO BE PUNISHED BY THE JUDGE: FOR I SHOULD HAVE DENIED THE GOD THAT IS ABOVE._ The Mosaic law embodied subsequently the feeling of the godly from the earliest times... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I REJOICED AT THE DESTRUCTION OF HIM THAT HATED ME, OR LIFTED UP MYSELF WHEN EVIL FOUND HIM:_ Lifted up himself - in malicious triumph (Proverbs 17:5, "He that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished;" Proverbs 24:17; Psalms 7:4).... [ Continue Reading ]
_NEITHER HAVE I SUFFERED MY MOUTH TO SIN BY WISHING A CURSE TO HIS SOUL._ Mouth - literally, palate (Job 6:30, note). WISHING - literally, 'so as to demand his (my enemy's) soul (i:e., life) by a curse.' This verse parenthetically confirms Job 31:29. Job, in the patriarchal age of the promise, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF THE MEN OF MY TABERNACLE SAID NOT, OH THAT WE HAD OF HIS FLESH! WE CANNOT BE SATISFIED._ i.e., Job's household said, Oh that we had Job's enemy to devour! We cannot rest satisfied until we have. But Job refrained from even wishing revenge (1 Samuel 26:8, David would not hurt Saul, his cruel foe,... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE STRANGER DID NOT LODGE IN THE STREET: BUT I OPENED MY DOORS TO THE TRAVELLER._ Traveller, х_ 'ORACH_ (H734)] - literally, way - i:e., wayfarers; so expressed to include all of every kind (2 Samuel 12:4).... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I COVERED MY TRANSGRESSIONS AS ADAM, BY HIDING MINE INIQUITY IN MY BOSOM:_ Adam. Translated by Umbreit 'as men do,' (Hosea 6:7, where see the margin). But the English version is more natural. Job elsewhere alludes to the flood. So he might easily know of the fall, through the two links which co... [ Continue Reading ]
_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?_ Rather, the apodosis to Job 31:33, "Then let me be (or, I must have been) fear-stricken before a great multitude; let the contempt (or the contempt, etc., must have terrifie... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 returns to his wish (Job 13:22; Job 19:23). Omit is: 'Behold, my sign' - i:e., my mark of subscription to the statements just given in my defense: the mark or signat... [ Continue Reading ]
_SURELY I WOULD TAKE IT UPON MY SHOULDER, AND BIND IT AS A CROWN TO ME._ So far from hiding the adversary's "answer" or 'charge' through fear, 'I would take it on my shoulders' as a public honour (Isaiah 9:6). A CROWN - not a mark of shame, but of distinction (Isaiah 62:3).... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WOULD DECLARE UNTO HIM THE NUMBER OF MY STEPS; AS A PRINCE WOULD I GO NEAR UNTO HIM._ Declare ... number of ... steps - I would accurately declare all my ways-my whole course of life. A good conscience imparts a princely dignity before man, and free assurance in approaching God. This can be real... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF MY LAND CRY AGAINST ME, OR THAT THE FURROWS LIKEWISE THEREOF COMPLAIN;_ Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (Job 31:20; Genesis 4:10; Habakkuk 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (Job 24:2; Isaiah 5:8). FURROWS - the s... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I HAVE EATEN THE FRUITS THEREOF WITHOUT MONEY, OR HAVE CAUSED THE OWNERS THEREOF TO LOSE THEIR LIFE:_ Lose ... life - not literally, but 'harassed to death;' until he gave me up his land gratis (Maurer); as in Judges 16:16; 'suffered him to languish' by taking away his means of living (Umbreit)... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET THISTLES GROW INSTEAD OF WHEAT, AND COCKLE INSTEAD OF BARLEY. THE WORDS OF JOB ARE ENDED._ Thistles - or brambles; thorns. COCKLE - literally, noxious weeds, perhaps wolfsbane, which is common in Arabia. THE WORDS ... ENDED - i:e., in the controversy with the friends. He spoke in the book a... [ Continue Reading ]