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 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 signature was originally a cross; and hence, the letter Tau (in the Hebrew here for sign) or T. Translate also, 'Oh that the Almighty,' etc. He marks "God" as the "One" meant in the first clause - "Oh that one would hear me!" Adversary - i:e., 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 is He. HAD WRITTEN A BOOK - rather, 'would write down his charge' or 'bill of indictment.'...

33-40 Job clears himself from the charge of hypocrisy. We are loth to confess our faults, willing to excuse them, and to lay the blame upon others. But he that thus covers his sins, shall not prosper, Proverbs 28:13. He speaks of his courage in what is good, as an evidence of his sincerity in it. When men get estates unjustly, they are justly deprived of comfort from them; it was sown wheat, but shall come up thistles. What men do not come honestly by, will never do them any good. The words of Job are ended. They end with a bold assertion, that, with respect to accusation against his moral and religious character as the cause for his sufferings, he could appeal to God. But, however confident Job was, we shall see he was mistaken, chap. Job 40:4;...

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, to come into court, and abide the issue. THAT _THE ALMIGHTY WOULD ANSWER ME_] That he would call this case immediately _before himself_; and oblige my _adversary_ to come into court, to put his accusations into a legal form, that I might have the opportunity of vindicating myself in the presence of a judge who would hear dispassionately my pleadings, and bring the cause to a righteous issue. _AND_ THAT _MINE ADVERSARY HAD WRITTEN A BOOK_] That he would not indulge himsel

O THAT ONE WOULD HEAR ME! - This refers undoubtedly to God. It is, literally, “Who will give to me one hearing me;” and the wish is that which he has so often expressed, that he might get his cause fairly before God. He feels assured that there would be a favorable verdict, if there could be a fair judicial investigation; compare the notes at Job 13:3. BEHOLD, MY DESIRE IS - Margin, “Or, my sign is that ‘the Almighty will answer me.’” The word rendered in the text desire, and in the margin sign, (תו _tâv_), means properly a mark, or sign, and is also the name of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Then the word means, according to Gesenius (Lex.), a mark, or cross, as subscribed to a bill of complaint; hence, the bill itself, or, as we should say, the pleading. According to this, Job means

EXPOSITION The conclusion of Job's long speech (ch. 26-31.) is now reached. He winds it up by a solemn vindication of himself from all the charges of wicked conduct which have been alleged or insinuated against him. perhaps it may be said that he goes further, maintaining generally his moral rectitude in respect of all the principal duties which a man owes either to God (verses 4-6, 24-28, 35-37) or to his fellows (verses 1-3, 7-23, 29-34, 38-40). He protests that he is innocent of impure thoughts (verses 1-4); of false seeming (verses 5-8); of adultery (verses 9-12); of injustice towards dependants (verses 13-15); of hardness towards the poor and needy (verses 16-23); of covetousness (verses 24, 25); of idolatry (verses 26-28); of malevolence (verses 29, 30); of want of hospitality (verses 31, 32); of hiding his transgressions (verses 33, 34); and of injustice as a landlord (verses 38-4...

OH, THAT ONE WOULD HEAR ME!.... Or, "who will give me a hearer?" l Oh, that I had one! not a nearer of him as a teacher and instructor of many, as he had been, Job 4:3; or only to hear what he had delivered in this chapter; but to hear his cause, and hear him plead his own cause in a judiciary way; he does not mean an ordinary hearer, one that, comes out of curiosity into courts of judicature to hear causes tried, what is said on both sides, and how they will issue; but, as Bar Tzemach paraphrases it, "who shall give me a judge that shall hear me,'' that would hear his cause patiently, examine it thoroughly, and judge impartially, which is the business of judges to do, Deuteronomy 1:16; he did not care who it was, if he had but such an one; though he seems to have respect to God himself,

CHAPTER 31 _ 1. My chastity and righteousness (Job 31:1)_ 2. My philanthropy (Job 31:13) 3. My integrity and hospitality (Job 31:24) 4. Let God and man disprove me (Job 31:35) Job 31:1. His final word is the final word in his self-righteous vindication. He gives Eliphaz the lie. He gives a review of his life to prove that he is clean in the sight of God and of man. Even if after this outburst his friends would have an inclination to answer him they could not have done so. He silenced them for good. But what are his declarations after all

JOB 31. THE OATH OF CLEARING. Job's final protestation of his innocence, and appeal to God to judge him. This chapter, says Duhm, is the high-water mark of the OT ethic, higher than the Decalogue or even than the prophets, since they deal with social not private morality. Duhm notes especially the humanity towards the slave based on the fact of a common creation, also that we are not to hate our enemies. (Job does not go so far as to say, Love your enemies; that is Christ's.) JOB 31:1. Job clears himself of secret sensual desires. He remembered that the all-seeing God punishes the evildoer. Job speaks from the standpoint he had occupied before his trials made him doubt the Divine justice. JOB 31:5. He clears himself of falsehood and covetousness....

OH! Figure of speech _E_ cphonesis. App-6. ADVERSARY. man (Hebrew. _i_. _h_. App-14.) of my quarrel....

OH THAT ONE WOULD HEAR ME, &C.— The clause, _behold, my desire is,_ &c. might be better rendered, _Lo, here my sign or pledge, let the Almighty question me:_ for the Hebrew word signifies, equally, _let him answer me,_ or _let him make me to answer._ Job here, as in other places, shews a great earnestness to come upon his trial: they were his friends, and not God, who were his accusers: for God, he was well persuaded, would soon clear him if he were but once admitted to come in judgment before him. The meaning of the verse, therefore, seems plainly to be this: "O that I had but a hearing granted me! "See there my _mark_ or _gage;"_ תוי _tavi:_ (something as a pledge or earnest that he would stand the trial) "Let the Almighty interrogate me; and let any of you, my accusers, write a bill of indictment against me." It follows, Job 31:36. Surely I would ta