Job 31:5

JOB'S OATHS OF IMPRECATION ATTEST HIS INNOCENCE

"If I have walked with falsehood,

And my foot hath hasted to deceit

(Let me be weighed in an even balance,

That God may know mine integrity);

If my step hath turned out of the way,

And mine heart walked after mine eyes,

And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands:

Then let me sow, and let another eat:

Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out."

"If I have walked ... if my step ... if any spot ... etc." (Job 31:5,7). Nearly twenty times in this chapter we encounter these "if' clauses; and their significance was explained by Van Selms. "Job here appealed to the self-imprecatory oath: "God do so to me, and more also, if I ... etc. (2 Samuel 3:35)."[10]

"Then let me sow, and let another eat" (Job 31:8). This is the imprecation Job invoked upon himself in case he was found to be lying. In this chapter, we may understand all of the "if" clauses as an appeal to exactly this same kind of an oath, even though an imprecation is not always stated. It was the most solemn way that any man could affirm and protest his innocence in ancient times.

Job's saying, "Let me sow; and let another eat," is only one of a whole avalanche of curses given in Deuteronomy 28." This particular one is Deuteronomy 28:30.