Job 31:24

JOB'S INNOCENCE IN OTHER AREAS ALSO

"If I have made gold my hope,

And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

And because my hand had gotten much;

If I have beheld the sun when it shined,

Or the moon walking in brightness,

And my heart hath been secretly enticed,

And my mouth hath kissed my hand:

This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

For I should have denied the God that is above.

If 50have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,

Or lifted up myself when evil found him

(Yea, I have not suffered my mouth to sin

By asking his life with a curse)."

"And my mouth hath kissed my hand" (Job 31:27). The thing referred to here is that of throwing kisses to idols, or other objects of worship. "Although not alluded to again in the Old Testament, the habit is abundantly attested elsewhere."[17] The actual kissing of idols is mentioned in 1 Kings 19:18 and in Hosea 13:2. "What Job denies here is any participation in the pagan worship of the heavenly bodies."[18]

The appeal of the heavenly host to Job is obvious here; "But Job does not confound the moon with the Maker: the glorious bodies of light (sun and moon) are God's creatures. Their glory is a witness to God; but to worship or pay homage to them is tantamount to denying the one true God."[19]

I have not suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse (v. 30). Job is here speaking of his enemies. "He was untainted by bitterness toward his enemies; and in this he is traveling in the direction of our Lord's words in Matthew 5:44."[20]

JOB'S PERSONAL SERVANTS NAMED AS WITNESSES OF HIS INNOCENCE