CHAPTER XXXI _Job makes a solemn protestation of his chastity and integrity_, 1-12; _of his humanity_, 13-16; _of his charity and mercy_, 17-23; _of his abhorrence of covetousness and idolatry_, 24-32; _and of his readiness to acknowledge his errors_, 33, 34; _and wishes for a full investigat... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:2. _FOR WHAT PORTION OF GOD_ IS THERE _FROM ABOVE?_] Though I have not, in this or in any other respect, wickedly departed from God, yet what reward have I received?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:3. IS _NOT DESTRUCTION TO THE WICKED_] If I had been guilty of such secret hypocritical proceedings, professing faith in the _true God_ while in _eye_ and _heart_ an _idolater_, would not such a worker of iniquity be distinguished by a _strange_ and unheard-of punishment?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:4. _DOTH NOT HE SEE MY WAYS_] Can I suppose that I could screen myself from the eye of God while guilty of such iniquities?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:5. _IF I HAVE WALKED WITH VANITY_] If I have been guilty of _idolatry_, or the worshipping of a _false god_: for thus שאו _shau,_ which we here translate _vanity_, is used Jeremiah 18:15; (compare with Psalms 31:6; Hosea 12:11; and Jonah 2:9,) and it seems evident that the whole of Job'... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:6. _MINE INTEGRITY._] תמתי _tummathi_, my perfection; the totality of my unblameable life.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:7. _IF MY STEP HATH TURNED OUT OF THE WAY_] I am willing to be sifted to the uttermost-for every _step_ of my _foot_, for every _thought_ of my _heart_, for every _look_ of mine _eye_, and for every _act_ of my _hands_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:8. _LET ME SOW, AND LET ANOTHER EAT_] Let me be plagued both in my circumstances and in my family. _MY OFFSPRING BE ROOTED OUT._] It has already appeared probable that _all_ Job's children were not destroyed in the fall of the house mentioned Job 1:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:9. _IF MINE HEART HAVE BEEN DECEIVED BY A WOMAN_] The Septuagint add, ανδρος ετερου, _another man's wife_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:10. _LET MY WIFE GRIND UNTO ANOTHER_] Let her work at the _handmill_, grinding corn; which was the _severe_ work of the meanest _slave_. In this sense the passage is understood both by the _Syriac_ and _Arabic_. See Exodus 11:5, and Isaiah 47:2; and see at the end of the chapter. Job 31... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:11. _FOR THIS_ IS _A HEINOUS CRIME_] Mr. _Good_ translates, "For this would be a premeditated crime, And a profligacy of the understanding." See also Job 31:28. That is, It would not only be a sin against the _individuals_ more particularly concerned, but a sin of the first magnitud... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:12. _FOR IT_ IS _A FIRE_] Nothing is so destructive of domestic peace. Where _jealousy_ exists, unmixed misery dwells; and the adulterer and fornicator _waste their substance_ on the unlawful objects of their impure affections.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:13. _THE CAUSE OF MY MAN-SERVANT_] In ancient times _slaves_ had no action at law against their owners; they might dispose of them as they did of their cattle, or any other property. The slave might complain; and the owner might hear him if he pleased, but he was not compelled to do so.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:15. _DID NOT HE THAT MADE ME - MAKE HIM?_] I know that God is the Judge of all; that all shall appear before him in that state where the king and his subject, the master and his slave, shall be on an equal footing, all civil distinctions being abolished for ever. If, then I had treated... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:17. _OR HAVE EATEN MY MORSEL MYSELF ALONE_] Hospitality was a very prominent virtue among the ancients in almost all nations: friends and strangers were equally welcome to the board of the affluent. The supper was their grand meal: it was then that they saw their friends; the business... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:18. This is a very difficult verse, and is variously translated. Take the following instances: - For from his youth _he_ (the male orphan) was brought up with me as a father. Yea, I have guided _her_ (the female orphan) from her mother's womb. - _Heath_. Nam a pueris educavit me commis... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:20. _IF HIS LOINS HAVE NOT BLESSED ME_] This is a very delicate touch: the part that was cold and shivering is now covered with _warm woollen_. It _feels_ the comfort; and by a fine _prosopopoeia_, is represented as blessing him who furnished the clothing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:21. _IF I HAVE LIFTED UP MY HAND AGAINST THE FATHERLESS_] I have at no time opposed the orphan, nor given, in behalf of the rich and powerful, a decision against the poor, _when I saw my help_ _in the gate _- when I was sitting chief on the throne of judgment, and could have done it wit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:22. _LET MINE ARM FALL_] Mr. _Good_, as a medical man, is at home in the translation of this verse: - "May my shoulder-bone be shivered at the blade, And mine arm be broken off at the socket." Let judgment fall particularly on those parts which have either done wrong, or refused to d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:23. _DESTRUCTION_ FROM _GOD_ WAS _A TERROR_] I have ever been preserved from outward sin, through the fear of God's judgments; I knew his eye was constantly upon me, and I could "Never in my Judge's eye my Judge's anger dare.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:24. _GOLD MY HOPE_] For the meaning of זהב _zahab_, polished gold, and כתם _kethem_, stamped gold, see on Job 28:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:26. _IF I BEHELD THE SUN WHEN IT SHINED_] In this verse Job clears himself of that idolatrous worship which was the most ancient and most consistent with reason of any species of idolatry; viz., _Sabaeism_, the worship of the heavenly bodies; particularly the _sun_ and _moon, Jupiter_ a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:28. _FOR I SHOULD HAVE DENIED THE GOD_ THAT IS _ABOVE._] Had I paid Divine adoration to them, I should have thereby denied the God that made them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:29. _IF I REJOICED_] I did not avenge myself on my enemy; and I neither bore malice nor hatred to him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:30. _NEITHER HAVE I SUFFERED MY MOUTH TO SIN_] I have neither _spoken evil_ of him, nor _wished evil_ to him. How few of those called _Christians_ can speak thus concerning their _enemies_; or those who have done them any mischief!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:31. _IF THE MEN OF MY TABERNACLE SAID_] I believe the _Targum_ gives the best sense here: - "If the men of my tabernacle have not said, Who hath commanded that we should not be satisfied with his flesh?" My domestics have had all kindness shown them; they have lived like my own children... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:32. _THE STRANGER DID NOT LODGE IN THE STREET_] My kindness did not extend merely to my family, domestics, and friends; the _stranger _- he who was to me perfectly unknown, and the _traveller _- he who was on his journey to some other district, found my doors ever open to receive them,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:33. _IF I COVERED MY TRANSGRESSIONS AS ADAM_] Here is a most evident allusion to the _fall_. Adam _transgressed_ the commandment of his Maker, and he endeavoured to _conceal_ it; _first_, by _hiding_ _himself_ among the trees of the garden: "I heard thy voice, and went and HID myself;... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:34. _DID I FEAR A GREAT MULTITUDE_] Was I ever prevented by the voice of the _many_ from decreeing and executing what was right? When many _families_ or _tribes_ espoused a particular cause, which I found, on examination, to be wrong, did they _put me in fear_, so as to prevent me from... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:35. _O THAT ONE WOULD HEAR ME!_] I wish to have a fair and full hearing: I am grievously accused; and have no proper opportunity of clearing myself, and establishing my own innocence. _BEHOLD, MY DESIRE IS_] Or, הן תוי _hen tavi_, "There is my pledge." I bind myself, on a great penalty... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:36. _SURELY I WOULD TAKE IT UPON MY SHOULDER_] I would be contented to stand before the bar as a criminal, bearing upon my shoulder the _board_ to which the _accusation_ is affixed. In a book of _Chinese punishments_ now before me, containing _drawings_ representing various criminals b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:37. _I WOULD DECLARE UNTO HIM THE NUMBER OF MY STEPS_] I would show this adversary the different _stations_ I had been in, and the _offices_ which I had filled in life, that he might trace me through the whole of my civil, military, and domestic life, in order to get evidence against me... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:38. _IF MY LAND CRY_] The most careless reader may see that the introduction of this and the two following verses here, disturbs the connection, and that they are most evidently out of their place. Job seems here to refer to that law, Leviticus 25:1, by which the Israelites were obliged... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:39. _IF I HAVE EATEN THE FRUITS THEREOF WITHOUT MONEY_] I have never been that _narrow-minded_ man who, through a principle of _covetousness_, exhausts his land, putting himself to no _charges_, by _labour_ and _manure_, to strengthen it; or defrauds those of their _wages_ who were empl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 31:40. _LET THISTLES GROW INSTEAD OF WHEAT_] What the word חוח _choach_ means, which we translate _thistles_, we cannot tell: but as חח _chach_ seems to mean _to hold, catch as a hook, to hitch_, it must signify some kind of _hooked thorn_, like the brier; and this is possibly its meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]