Job 31
OGCTODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION
1 I have made a solemn promise
never to look at a girl with lust.
2 What does Almighty God do to us?
How does he repay human deeds?
3 He sends disaster and ruin
to those who do wrong.
4 God knows everything I do;
he sees every step I take.
5 I swear I have never acted wickedly,
and never tried to deceive others.
6 Let God weigh me on honest scales,
and he will see how innocent I am.
7 If I have turned from the right path,
or let myself be attracted to evil, if my hands are stained with sin,
8 then let my crops be destroyed,
or let others eat the food I grow.
9 If I have been attracted to my neighbor’s wife,
and waited, hidden, outside her door,
10 then let my wife fix another man’s food
and sleep in another man’s bed.
[11 Such a sin would be wicked and would be punished by death. 12 It would be like a destructive, hellish fire, destroying everything I have.] 13 When one of my servants complained against me,
I would listen and treat him fairly.
14 If I did not, how could I then face God?
What could I say when God came to judge me?
15 The same God who created me
created my servants also.
16 I have never refused to help the poor,
never let widows live in despair,
17 or let orphans go hungry while I ate. 18 All my life I have taken care of them. 19 When I found someone in need, too poor to buy clothes, 20 I would give him clothing made of wool that had come from my own flock of sheep.
And he would praise me with all his heart.
21 If I have ever cheated an orphan,
because I knew I could win in court,
22 then may my arms be broken;
may they be torn out of my shoulders.
23 Because I fear God’s punishment,
I could never do such a thing.
24 I have never trusted in riches, 25 or taken pride in my wealth. 26 I have never worshiped the sun in its brightness,
or the moon in all its beauty.
27 I have never even been tempted to do it. 28 Such a sin would be punished by death;
it denies Almighty God.
29 I have never been glad when my enemies suffered,
or pleased when they met with disaster;
30 I never sinned by praying for their death. 31 All the men who work for me know
that I have always welcomed strangers.
32 I have welcomed travelers into my home,
and never let them sleep in the streets.
33 Other men try to hide their sins,
but I have never concealed mine.
34 I have never feared what people would say;
I have never kept quiet or stayed indoors
because I feared their scorn.
35 Will no one listen to what I am saying?
I swear that every word is true. Let Almighty God answer me. If the charges my opponent brings against me
were written down so that I could have them,
36 I would wear them proudly around my neck,
and hold them up for everyone to see.
37 I would tell God everything I have done,
and hold my head high in his presence.
38 If I have stolen the land I farm
and taken it from its rightful owners
39 if I have eaten the food that grew,
but let the farmers that grew it starve
40 then instead of wheat and barley
may weeds and thistles grow.
The words of Job are ended.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 31:1-40
Making a covenant or taking an oath was so very important. Should we do such today?
Job is as proud of what he did not do as he is of what he did. Our eyes have a large responsibility in both areas. Explain.
Are we indeed the master of our eyes? Discuss.
Is Job telling the truth in his statement of Job 31:1 b?
Was fornication permissible in Job’s day? Discuss.
What is the connection between verse one and two?
Did Job agree with the major premise of his three friends? Cf. Job 31:2.
How does Job express his friendship with God and God with him? Cf. Job 31:4.
A series begins in verse five. What series? What is the first of the series?
Had Job been weighed in God’s balance before? What is he saying now?
The covenant with his eyes in verse one has extended to a broader sphere in verse seven. Discuss.
Is Job referring to his children in verse eight. Discuss.
There is a vivid picture in verse nine. What is it?
Job’s wife would suffer for his sin of adultery. Is this fair? Discuss.
We have come a long way in America from the moral code of Job 31:11. Discuss.
How is adultery associated with fire?
There is revealed in Job 31:13 a remarkably advanced moral consciousness as related to slaves. Discuss.
Job believed that God would make a call upon him. For what purpose? Cf. Job 31:14.
Job declares that men are one because of what? Cultural stratification can be overcome only by what?
Job denies the charge of Eliphaz made in Job 22:7-9, but the charge was irrational. Show how.
Job really had a practical and compassionate program for the poor. What was it? Cf. Job 31:17-18.
Are some of our acts of charity mere tax write-offs? Discuss.
What action is viewed in Job 31:21?
Job calls a drastic result upon himself if what he has said is not true. What was it?
How does the greatness of God relate to morality?
Job denies that he has had any other gods. Name two he has rejected.
The worship of the sun and moon was a real threat to the worship of God. Do we have this problem today?
What was involved in kissing the hand? Cf. Job 31:27.
If chapter 31 is the crown of all the ethical development of the O.T., then Job 31:29 is the jewel of that crown. Explain.
How easy (natural?) it is to rejoice in the destruction of those who hate us. How is such rejoicing done? Job didn-’t, a. Job 31:30.
V.
RESISTING THE RESTRAINTSBREAKING OF SILENCE (Job 32:1, Job 37:24)
A.
ELIHU CANNOT REMAIN SILENT. (Job 32:1-22)
Introduction in prose: Elihu is angry with Job and with the three friends. (Job 32:1-6 a)
Job 31:1-8
Solemn declaration that neither in him nor in his conduct was there justification for the change, and he is ready to face God (Job 31:1-40)
a. He was not lustful. (Job 31:1-8)
TEXT 31:1-8
**1 I made a covenant with mine eyes;
How then should I look upon a virgin?
2 For what is the portion from God above,
And the heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
And disaster to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doth not he see my ways,
And number all my steps?
5 If I have walked with falsehood,
And my foot hath hasted to deceit
6 (Let me be weighed in an even balance,
That God may know mine integrity);
7 If my step hath turned out of the way,
And my heart walked after mine eyes, And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands:
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat;
Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.**
COMMENT 31:1-8
**Job 31:1**In the ancient Israelite legal procedure the oath of innocence repudiating an accusation was of crucial importance. Where clear evidence was lacking, it was taken as proof of the innocence of the accused. Thus, the swearing of such an oath was a solemn religious celebration, which placed the verdict in God’s hands.[307] Job here swears his innocence, then challenges the creator of the universe to give His verdict, i.e., acknowledge that he is innocent.[308] He rests his case on a series of oaths of clearance. Belief in the power of the oath made it the ultimate criterion of probabilityExo 22:9-10 and 1 Kings 8:31-32. Some have compared Job’s negative repudiation of evil to the negative confession in the Egyptian Book of the Dead where a long list of sins not committed are enumerated.[309] The exact list of Job’s disclaimers is difficult to determine because of textual uncertainties. But the oath is no mere formal matter. Job examines both his interior motives and exterior behavior to enumerate what sins or crimes he has been tempted to commit. Only God will impel this oriental aristocrat to virtuous action and self-restraint. His moral standards are perhaps the highest to be found in the Old Testament. He shows sensitive respect for the dignity of his fellow men, even slaves. He also refutes Eliphaz’s accusation (chapter 22)Job 31:16-20.[310]
[307] For examination of Psalms 139 as an oath denying worship of other gods, see E. Wurthwein, Vetus Testamentum, 1957, pp. 165-182; R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 1 vol, E. T., 1961, McGraw-Hill, Hall and Justice, pp. 143-163, esp. pp. 155ff; W. Zimmerli, Das Gesetz in Alten Testament, Theologische Literaturzeitung, 1960, pp. 481-498; D. Daube, Studies in Biblical Law (Cambridge, 1947); A. Alt, Die Ursprunge des Israelitischen/Gesretz (Leipzig, 1934, Munich, 1953), pp. 278-332; G. E. Mendenhall, Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East (Pittsburgh, reprinted from Biblical Archaeologist, 1954), pp. 26-46, 49-76; see my bibliography on Seminar Syllabus: Philosophy of Law.
[308]See S. Blank, The Curse, Blasphemy, the Spell, and the Oath, Hebrew Union College Annual, 1950, pp. 73-95; also his An Effective Literary Device in Job XXXI, Journal Semitic Studies, 1951, pp. 105-107; and F. Horst, Der Eid im altenteatament, Evangelische Theologie, 1957, pp. 366-384.
[309] See J. Murtagh, The Book of Job and the Book of the Dead, Irish Theological Quarterly, 1968, pp. 166-173.
[310] See E. Asswald, Hiob 31 in Rahmen der alttestamentiche Ethik, Theologische Yersuche. 1970, pp. 9-26.
In line one Job declares that he has put a ban (lit. cut a covenant) on his eyes. The preposition for (le, not the usual with*-‘im* or -et) designates a condition imposed by a superior on an inferior party in a covenant or treaty1 Samuel 11:2; 2 Samuel 5:3; 2 Kings 11:4. Job is master of his eyes. If the particle -man is taken as negative rather than as interrogative how, as in A. V., then the line reads that I would not look upon a virgin. Emending the text is completely unnecessary here. Job here is discussing sinning by desire, and below the act of adultery. Job is here setting forth his controlled modesty, though as an Eastern prince he could do, with no impropriety or social repercussion, what he has made a covenant not to do. This is religious motive for morals of the highest orderMat 5:28; Matthew 18:8. Isaiah contains a beautiful description of a righteous man, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, stops his ears against hearing of bloodshed, shuts his eyes against looking at evilIsa 33:5, e.g. Joseph’s example in Genesis 38.
**Job 31:2**In the previous verse, Job is clearly thinking of his behavior in the days of his piety, prosperity, and prestige. Job has consistently maintained that piety[311] ought to be rewarded by the blessings of prosperity, and his entire argument is that in practice this is not the case. God has not rewarded his righteousness; rather He has punished him for it.
[311] In view of our own 20th century crisis in piety and Eastern meditation techniques, eg., T. M., being rushed into the spiritual vacuum, see Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God (Revell, 1958); the works of both Ritschel and Warfield on Perfectionism; Donald G. Bloesch, The Crisis of Piety (Eerdmans, 1968); F. E. Stoeffler, The Rise of Evangelical Pietism (Brill, Leiden, 1971 ed.); also his German Pietism During the 18th Century (Brill: Leiden, 1973); John Bunyan’s classic The Pilgrim’s Progress, many eds.; Augustine’s Confessions (Oxford, 1958); S. Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart (Harper, 1956).
**Job 31:3**Job thought that he could depend on the above principle in his own life. Workers of iniquity is a common expression for the wicked in the Psalms. Disastrous calamities would be appropriate for the wicked, but not for a righteous man like he is.
**Job 31:4**God was his friend. He used to graciously watch over his lifeJob 14:16. But now God is silent in the presence of his suffering. Do his purity and piety count for nothing? God is viewed here as morally, inwardly, and outwardly available to Job. God sees his thoughts and actions and counts the steps in his entire existence.
**Job 31:5**He begins his series of oaths rejecting evil with a general repudiation of any sort of unrighteous conduct. Here falsehood is personified and presented as a companion. Perhaps Dahood is correct in suggesting that the preposition -im, here parallel with –‘al, has directional significance meaning walking and hastening toward falsehood and deceit. He also suggests an emendation which makes the offense specific. He renders, If I went to an idol, or my foot hastened to a fraud.[312]
[312] M. Dahood, Ugaritic Hebrew Philology (Rome, 194S), p. 32.
**Job 31:6**The Old Testament condemns false balances consistentlyLev 19:36; Ezekiel 45:10; Amos 8:5; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 20:23. For the weighing of a man in the balance for evaluating his character, see Daniel 5:27 and Matthew 7:2. God has previously borne witness to his integrity in Job 2:3, where the same word as here appears. Job is not a moral fraud; if he were weighed, God’s judgment would be positive, as before.[313]
[313] See suggestion by M. Dahood, Vetus Testamentum, Supplement, 1967, p. 47, regarding full weight instead of my innocence, but the sense would remain the same regardless.
**Job 31:7**Have I departed from the path of righteousness? His covenant with his eyes in verse one is here extended to a broader sphere. He has not coveted what is another’S. Sin is often metaphorically pictured as staining one’s handsJob 11:14; Job 16:17; and Isaiah 1:15. Clean hands are symbolic of one’s righteousnessJob 22:30 and Psalms 24:4.
**Job 31:8**If he has sinned in thought or deed, Job here invokes a curse upon himselfJob 5:5; Job 27:17; Leviticus 26:16; Micah 6:15; Isaiah 45:22. Though it is possible that se-’esa-‘im in line two refers to produce of the field, as in A. V., in all probability it means Job’s human progeny. As Pope affirms, human beings can be uprooted as well as plants[314]Psalms 52:5; Job 31:12 b. His entire lineage is being removed from the earth, his children are dead, and he is dying.
[314] M. Pope, JBL, 1961, p. 196.
Job 31:9-23
b.
Was upright in his domestic relations (Job 31:9-15)
c.
He was kind and neighborly. (Job 31:16-23)
TEXT 31:9-23
**9 If my heart hath been enticed onto a woman,
And I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door;
10 Then let my wife grind onto another,
And let others bow down upon her.
11 For that were a heinous crime;
Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
12 For it is a fire that consumeth unto Destruction,
And would root out all mine increase.
13 If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant,
When they contended with me;
14 What then shall I do when God riseth up?
And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 Or have eaten my morsel alone,
And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof
18 (Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And her have I guided from my mother’s womb);
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
Or that the needy had no covering;
20 If his loins have not blessed me,
And if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
Because I saw my help in the gate:
22 Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,
And mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For calamity from God is a terror to me,
And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.
COMMENT 31:9-23
Job 31:9**The sin of adultery is repudiated by Job. The woman is a married woman, as the parallel makes plain, i.e., neighbor’s door or house. The picture of laying in wait suggests that of an adulteressPro 7:12; Exodus 20:7; also Job 31:19; here the thought is of an adulterer who waits for his opportunity, which he might find at duskJob 24:15.
**Job 31:10**The work of a slave is grindingExo 11:5; Isaiah 47:2. Samson was reduced to grinding by the PhilistinesJdg 16:21. In the second line, Job invokes the principle of the lex talionis. His hypothetical adultery would to all Hebrews be an offense against her husband. In Hebrew law, adultery always involved a married woman. Their double standard meant that the marital status of the man was immaterial (compare with Jesus-’ revolutionary views, His repudiation of the double standard, and His liberation of women).[315] The second line is clearly sexual in connotation, as the verb kr-’ can imply sexual intercourseDeu 28:30.
[315] This misunderstanding, i.e., thinking that this verse literally means that his wife becomes a slave, is presented in the apocryphal work, The Testament of Job; while Job sat on the dunghill, his wife carried water as a slave.
**Job 31:11**The A. V. rendering heinous crime comes from zimmah and is consistently used of lewdness, and indecent sexual conduct.[316] The perversion is so lewd that it deserved to receive judicial condemnation.
[316] M. Pope, JBL, 1966, p. 458.
**Job 31:12**This verse echoes Deuteronomy 32:22; Proverbs 6:27-29. The sure punishment for adultery is compared with deadly fireEcc 9:8 b.[317]
[317] G. R. Driver, Yestus Testamentum, 1955, pp. 88ff.
**Job 31:13**In this verse the issue turns to the charge of the abuse of power. If he has abused his servants, permitted the weak to suffer injustice, he again calls a curse down upon himself. The rights of slaves were few in the ancient world. Hebrew laws attempted to mitigate their harsh treatmentExo 21:2-11; Leviticus 25:39-55; Deuteronomy 5:14; for manumission of slaves, see Jeremiah 34:8-11.[318] Job had recognized his slaves as fellow human beingsJob 31:15who had rights which were not enforceable by law. He was always ready to listen to their complaints. They often helped Job during his tragediesJob 19:15 ff. These specific social crimes reveal a remarkably advanced moral consciousness for the Near East. Job here maintains that he has not failed in either equity or mercy. Neither virtue was based in law, but in love for his fellow human beings.
[318] On the matter of slavery in the Near East and Israel, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, pp. 80-90; and I. Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East, 1949, for entire picture.
**Job 31:14**Jeremiah says that perfidy in dealing with slaves was a factor in God’s condemnation of the southern kingdom to destruction in Babylonian exileJer 34:15-22. Job here feels that he is answerable to God for his social behavior. His personal relationship with God had social significance. Salvation always has public signification and never merely private or personal meaning. The verb rise (yaqumarise in vengeance) in line one suggests rising to judgment,[319] i.e., when God visits (verb means to visit Job 7:18; inspect Job 5:24; or punish Job 35:14), Job is conscious that his appeal to God will lead to investigation and consequent vindication or negative judgment. No slave could have made such an appeal legally, but Job can and does.
[319] M. Dahood, Biblica, 1971, p. 346, suggests the root meaning vengeance.
**Job 31:15**Job has spoken earlier (Job 10:8 ff) of God’s merciful care being lavished upon him at his birth. Here he asserts that he has extended this same care upon slaves, who legally had no such rights. We cannot lose sight of the high ethical perspective in this verse. It is remarkable for any age, but in Job’s Sitz im Leben is all the more remarkable. He declares that men are one because of the creator. The same problem haunts man in the last quarter of the 20th century. Cultural stratification can be overcome only in Job’s redeemer, but neither through any proposed classical Liberal Fatherhood of God-Brotherhood of Man thesis, nor neo-Marxian classless society. The evidence from Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America is adequate grounds for suspicion toward the myth that politico-economic conditions can humanize, thus unify, mankindMal 2:10; Proverbs 17:5 a; Acts 17:16 ff; Ephesians 6:9. Men’s efforts to humanize merely proliferate bureaucracy, and then death by bureaucracy.
**Job 31:16**Job denies Eliphaz’s charges under oathJob 22:7-9. He has not exploited the weak nor attained unjust victories in the community. It seems strange that one has raised the issueWhy are the poor and unfortunate so important? They do not prosper because they are wicked. If they were not wicked, they would not be the powerless poor. The wicked deserve their fate; so why would Eliphaz ever raise such a charge? It is completely irrational, even on his own assumptions.
**Job 31:17**Job has invited, or at least permitted, the poor to eat from his own tableIsa 58:7; Proverbs 22:9; and Matthew 25:35. He has fed the destitute; thus, he cared and shared.
**Job 31:18**He went far beyond heartless charity; he gave them fatherly compassion. That this expresses a behavior pattern and not a single act of charity is revealed in the Hebrew text, which says he grew up with me from my mother’s womb. He has always been a righteous man. These images are, of course, hyperbolicJas 1:27.
**Job 31:19**He even looked around to locate the poor, fatherless, and the widows. Clothing and covering are parallel in Job 24:7 and Matthew 25:36 ff. His behavior was not a mere tax write-off for social prestige, like many of our great foundations in the western world.
**Job 31:20**The poor, whose loins once ached from the night cold, bless him for supplying a fleece covering. Their warmth praises him, as one’s bones might praise GodPsa 35:10.[320] Job’s benevolence is rewarded by praise.
[320] For analysis of this figure, see G. R. Driver, American Journal of Semitic Literature, 1935-36, pp. 164ff.
**Job 31:21**The raised hand (lit. waved or shaken) is symbolic of an overt threatIsa 11:15; Isaiah 19:16; Zechariah 2:9. He here denies that he has exploited his power to secure an unjust verdictJob 29:7. The orphans, widows, and poor had no prospects of justice without the support (Heb. is lit. saw my help) of a person like JobJob 39:12; Proverbs 22:12.
**Job 31:22**If what I have just declared is not true, then may my lower arm be broken off from the upper arm.[321] Perhaps this imagery is derived from the violent mourning rites discussed in the Mosaic LawLev 19:28; Leviticus 21:5.
[321] Rendering of A. Herdner, Revue des etudes semitiques, 1942-43, p. 49.
**Job 31:23**God alone, in all His majestic power, restrained Job from exploiting his power over others. He vividly describes his thought about God’s presencelit. For a terror unto me was calamity from God. Terrien simply states the case: It was religion which justified, supported, explained, and made possible his morality (Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4, p. 1121).
Job 31:24-28
d. He did not trust in wealth nor in heavenly bodies. (Job 31:24-28)
TEXT 31:24-28
**24 If I have made gold my hope,
And have said to the fine gold,
Thou art my confidence;
25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gotten much;
26 If I have beheld the sun when it shined,
Or the moon walking in brightness,
27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
And my mouth hath kissed my hand:
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
For I should have denied the God that is above.**
COMMENT 31:24-28
**Job 31:24**He denies that he has ever made material wealth his GodJob 22:24 ff and Job 28:16. Deeper and deeper into his own thoughts he penetrates. He exposes two kinds of idolatry: (1) Job 31:24-25money, rather than God; and (2) Job 31:26-28the secret sin of invoking strange godsPsa 49:6 ff; Psalms 52:7 ff; Psalms 62:10; Proverbs 11:28; Jeremiah 17:7; Eccl. 31:5-10; Matthew 6:24. His confidence is in God, not gold.
**Job 31:25**His former good fortune has not made him proud. His great possessions and power have not made him a bigot. He has not abused his wealth.
**Job 31:26**Here Job denies that he has been an idolator, worshipping the sun and the moonGen 1:16 ff. The imagery suggests that the sun was a precious thing. It is the same word used of gems. Job denies even any secret longing to worship these two beautiful living lords of the eastern skies. The prophets severely condemned the worship of astro-deities by a vast number of covenant personsHab 3:4; Jeremiah 8:2; Ezekiel 8:16.
**Job 31:27**Job denies that his hand ever touched his mouth in homage to the sun and moon. Ezekiel attacks sun worship in Job 8:16; and Jeremiah castigates worshippers of the queen of heaven in Jeremiah 44:17. Kissing as an act of pagan worship is inveighed against in 1 Kings 19:18 and Hosea 13:12. A. Parrot suggests that the gesture is used throughout the Middle East when one tries to convince another in an argument.[322] The occult practices of the Canaanites are now known from the Ras Shamra literature.[323] Job is here contending for uncompromising monotheism in contrast to the crass, widely disseminated polytheism.
[322] See esp. A Goetze, JIVES, 1945, p. 248, and literature cited, esp. B. Meissner Der Kuss in alten orient.
[323] For the occult content of this literature, see C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Literature (Rome, 1949); R. DeLanghe, Le Textes des Ras ShamraUgarit (Paris, 1943); R. Dussaud, Les decouvertes de Ras Shamra et l-‘Ancien Testament; E. Jacob, Ras Shamra et L-‘Ancien Testament, Delachaux et Niestle, 1960.
Job 31:29-40
e.
He lived openly and would not hesitate to have the Almighty publish his record. (Job 31:29-40)
**TEXT 31:29-40
29 If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
Or lifted up myself when evil found him
30 (Yea, I have not suffered my mouth to sin
By asking his life with a curse);
31 If the men of my tent have not said,
Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat?
32 (The sojourner hath not lodged in the street;
But I have opened my doors to the traveller);
33 If like Adam I have covered my transgressions,
By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom.
34 Because I feared the great multitude,
And the contempt of families terrified me, So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door
35 Oh that I had one to hear me!
(Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me) And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!
36 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;
I would bind it unto me as a crown:
37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps;
As a prince would I go near unto him.
38 If my land crieth out against me,
And the furrows thereof weep together;
39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,
Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat,
And cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.**
COMMENT 31:29-40
**Job 31:29**Job declares that he has never found pleasure in the destruction of his enemies. We are here presented with a rare treat. If chapter 31 is the crown of all the ethical development of the Old Testament, Job 31:29 is the jewel of that crown (Duhm). Oh, if he could have heard Jesus speakMat 5:43 ff. Moses enjoins help to one’s enemiesExo 23:4 ff; Proverbs 20:22; Proverbs 24:17 ff; Proverbs 25:21 ff. Though the Psalmists often reveal a spirit of malevolence toward their enemiesPsa 58:10; Psalms 109:6 ff; Psalms 118:10 ff; Psalms 137:8 ffor become exulted over their misfortunePsa 57:7; Psalms 59:10; Psalms 92:11; Psalms 118:7Job declares against the imprecatory spirit found in some of Israel’s hymns.
**Job 31:30**The contrary-to-fact conditional (lu) is not apparent in the A. V. translation; it is stronger than (lonot) a negation. The turn of phrase Job uses, my palate, suggests a dainty morsel, meaning he never permitted himself to taste such a delicious tid-bitEcc 5:5 and 1 Kings 3:11.
**Job 31:31**Job’s hospitality has been shared by his slaves, not only his social equals. The uncompleted oath if not (-im lo) has been taken by both Tur Sinai and Pope to imply the reading to be sated with his flesh, i.e., homosexual abuse, at Job’s table or in his house.[324] This is not self-evident from the Hebrew grammar, nor its most likely emendations. Imposing the sexual content of the Ugaritic literature on Job is a precarious pastime, as well as of dubious exegetical value.
[324] Pope, Job. pp. 236-237.
**Job 31:32**His hospitality has been extended to both slaves and strangers (lit. wayfarer)Genesis 19 and Jude 1:19. Extension of hospitality meant the extension of protection from abuses of any kind.
**Job 31:33**Now Job repudiates the sin of hypocrisy. Job identifies Adam as a person who has sinned and attempted to hide his guilt along with himself from God. The mark of hypocrisy is living a lie. Often men try to hide their sins, but I have not.
**Job 31:34**If it refers to guests, then he refused to give up his guest to the aggressive ones outside. Protection both inside and outside the home is the mark of true, i.e., non-hypocritical, hospitality. Or if the verse refers to Job, then had Job actually done the things charged to him by his enemies, he would have been afraid to have gone out of doors. He lived with a pure and unafraid heartJob 29:7. But if he were guilty, he would be horrified. Hospitality was a sacred trust in Job’s world, dominated by God.
**Job 31:35**What are the specific chargesGod? Every accused person has a right to know the charges brought against him. State the chargesGod. I will validate my oath by my signature (Heb. -tawlast letter of Hebrew alphabet).[325] Job’s opponent (lit. man of my controversy) is God. Divine accuser, specify my charges, write them down, either as a writ of indictment or of acquittal.
[325] For grammatical possibilities, see E. F. Sutcliffe, Biblica, 1949, pp. 71ff; P. P. Saydon, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1961, pp. 252ff.
**Job 31:36**What is it that Job would carry on his head or shoulders? The natural antecedent is the writ that he has called for in Job 31:35. To carry or wear something in this manner is to display it proudlyIsa 9:5; Isa. 27:22; Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18; Proverbs 6:21. The exchange of dirty clothes for clean is the symbol of acquittal as in Zechariah 3:2-6; Zechariah 3:8-9. The mixed images suggest that the display of the writ and the symbol of acquittal he would wear as a crown.
**Job 31:37**There is nothing from his past that he is seeking to hide. He is willing to appear before God as an innocent man, not as an unrighteous oneJob 31:34. He would appear as a prince with a clear conscience.
**Job 31:38**Job calls his land to testify. If he has gained the land unjustly, let it cry outDeu 15:1 ff and Leviticus 19:19. Instead the land weeps for joy. The land is personified and identified with its rightful owner, Job.
**Job 31:39**The imagery is unclear. It is not certain whether the reference is to oppressive appropriation[326] of lands which brought death to their owner, such as Naboth1 Kings 21or that the owner died from some other cause.
[326] On this point see M. Dahood, Biblical, 1960, p. 303; also Biblica, 1962, p. 362; and the Gregorianum, 1962, p. 75.
**Job 31:40**If I have wrongly acquired the land, let it refuse to bear fruit, wheat, etc. Instead, let it bear thorns and putrid smelling plants. Presumably an editorial note adds, The words of Job are ended. Thus he has delivered his final response to his consolers and his last challenge to God. Job’s oath is response to the friends-’ charges, and it will stand because of default of evidence. His case against them is intact, but he has not won a judicial hearing before his creator. Job has made at least one defective move, i.e., presenting God as an adversary in a lawsuit. He has drawn conclusions from his unblemished life which are inappropriate in the presence of deity. From his suffering he has precariously deduced what God ought to do about it. What is the way to mediate between God’s transcendence and His immanence? Rilke says that man cried for a ladder of escape, but God sent down a cross! Nonetheless, Job has asserted his rightsJob 9:20; Job 13:18; Job 19:7; Job 23:7; Job 27:2; Job 27:6. He has been what God pronounced him to beJob 1:8 and Job 2:3. His presumptiveness face to face with holiness is hybris of the highest order. Prometheus and Iscarus combined had less arrogance than Job. His integrity has become a high wall, separating him from God, while he is searching for Him. He could never find God while walking the path of pride. God must come to Him; he could never come to God2 Corinthians 5:17 ff.[327]
[327] For the hermeneutical problems in Chapter s 29-31, see J. R. Kautz, A Hermeneutical Study of Job 29-31. Diss. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1970; see Diss. Abstracts 30, 1970, 5516s.