Job 31

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:4

Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? (see above, Job 7:18-20 ; and below, Job 34:21 . Comp. also Psalms 139:3 ; Proverbs 5:21 ; Proverbs 15:3 , etc.). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:4

God's watchfulness. I. ITS CONCENTRATION ON CONDUCT . God sees Job's ways. He is not confined to the observation of external deeds, for he reads the hearts of men and he judges by the course of the inner life. Still, it is by a man's actions, including the internal actions, that God judges a man. What is of most concern to our great Master is how we exercise our will, what way we choose to walk in, how we shape our daily conduct. He cares little for our opinions and emotions,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:5

If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit. "If I have been a living lie, i.e. if, under a fair show of piety and righteousness of life, I have, as you my friends suppose, been all along a deceiver and a hypocrite, cloaking my secret sins under a mere pretence of well-doing, then the sooner I am exposed the better. Let me be weighed," etc. The painful suggestion of hypocrisy has been made by Job's friends repeatedly during the colloquy ( Job 4:7-9 ; Job 8:6 , ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:6

Let me be weighed in an even balance ; literally, let him ( i.e. God) weigh me in the balances of justice. The use of this imagery by the Egyptians has been already noted (see the comment on Job 6:2 ). It is an essential part of every Egyptian representation of the final judgment of souls by Osiris. Each man's merits are formally weighed in a balance, which is carefully depicted, and he is judged accordingly. Job asks that this may be done in his case, either immediately or at any... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:6

An even balance. Job only desires to be weighed in an even balance. He feels that his friends have judged him in anything but a fair manner, and he now craves for the true justice of God. I. THE JUSTICE OF AN EVEN BALANCE IS GREATLY TO BE DESIRED . People have taken a very narrow view of justice, so narrow a view as to be practically false and most fallacious. Justice has been regarded as the power that punishes sin, and while, of course, this is true, this is not a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:7

If my step hath turned out of the way . If; i.e; I have at any time knowingly and voluntarily departed from the way of thy commandments, as made known to me either by godly men or by thy law written in my heart, then let the consequences follow that are mentioned in the next verse. Or if mine heart hath walked after mine eyes, and if consequently any blot hath cleaved to mine hands ; i.e. if I have been guilty of any plain act of sin. It is to be remembered that Job has the testimony... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:8

Then let me sow, and let another eat (comp. Job 5:5 ; Le 26:16; Deuteronomy 28:33 , Deuteronomy 28:51 , etc.). The expression is proverbial. Yea, lot my offspring be rooted out; rather, my produce , or the produce of my field (see the Revised Version). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:9

If mine heart have been deceived by a woman ; rather, enticed , or allured unto a woman . If, that is, I have suffered myself at any time to be enticed by the wiles of a "strange woman" ( Proverbs 5:3 ; Proverbs 6:24 , etc.), and have so far yielded as to go after her; and if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door —watching for an opportunity to enter unseen, while the goodman is away ( Proverbs 7:19 ) Job is not speaking of what he has done, but of what men may suspect him of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:10

Then let my wife grind unto another ; i.e. "let the wife of my bosom be brought so low as to be compelled to do the servile work of grinding the corn in the household of another woman." The condition of the female slaves who ground the corn was regarded as the lowest point in domestic slavery (see Exodus 11:5 ; Isaiah 47:2 ). And let others bow down upon her . Let them, i.e; claim the master's right, and reduce her to the extremest degradation There would be a just nemesis in this... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 31:11

For this is an heinous crime . The crime of adultery subverts the family relation, on which it has pleased God to erect the entire fabric of human society. Hence, in the Jewish Law, adultery was made a capital offence (Le Job 20:10 ; Deuteronomy 22:22 ), both in the woman and in the man. Among other nations the adulteress was commonly punished with death, but the adulterer escaped scot-free. In modern communities adultery is mostly regarded, not as a crime, but as a civil wrong, on... read more

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