A Glimpse of Jesus's Teachings in Job

Continuing a Bible study of Job, Job is still speaking in chapter 31:

(Job 31:1) "I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?"

Once again Job reflects back on his life to declare how he has lived righteously. So far was he from the wickedness of adultery, that he had vowed not to even let his eyes look upon a young woman.

(2) "For what portion of God is there from above, and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? (3) Is it not destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? (4) Does He not see my ways, and count all my steps?"

For what reward is there from God for the wicked? Only destruction and misfortune. The KJV translators added the word "punishment". The original text shows only "strange". It meant something strange and unexpected, a calamity, misfortune, or disaster. God sees his ways, so of course, Job would choose only to live righteously.

(5) "If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, (6) Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity."

If Job has been lying, false, or deceitful, then let his life and his heart be weighed in a just balance by God. Judged by God, Job is confident he will be shown to be righteous, even if men err in their judgment.

(7) "If my step has turned from the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any blot has cleaved to my hands, (8) Then let me sow, and let another eat; yes, let my offspring be rooted out."

Job says if he has chosen a path outside the path of righteousness, if he has coveted what his eyes beheld, and if his hands were not pure, then let whatever he plants or does be uprooted.

(9) "If my heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, (10) Then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her."

If Job's heart has been enticed by another woman, waiting for an opportunity to be with her at his neighbor's door, then let his wife be another man's wife.

(11) "For this is a heinous crime; yes, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. (12) For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase."

Job understands that adultery is an abominable act, a crime punishable by law. Also lust destroys the soul and ruins a man.

(13) "If I despised the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant when they contended with me, (14) What then shall I do when God rises up, and when He visits, what shall I answer Him?"

I think perhaps because Job used his own servants as an example rather than anyone in the public square, the sense is that if Job treated even his own servants unjustly, he would still have to answer to God.

(15) "Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not the same One fashion us in the womb?"

Job refers to him, his manservant. Job understands that God created all people.

(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 myself alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it, (18) (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb);"

If Job has dealt wrongly, frustrating hopes, and not sharing with the poor, widows, and orphans, will not the Creator of them all judge Job? Verse 18 is a little difficult to understand exactly, but as it is a parenthetical phrase to the verses before it, the sense is that Job has cared for the poor, widows, and/or orphans, since his youth. I say "and/or" because Job may have only been talking about his most recent mention, the fatherless, with that parenthetical thought.

(19) "If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; (20) If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;"

With his continuation of "if"'s, Job makes it clear that he always provided for the poor and needy. The loins that were once cold and shivering, now covered by Job's fleece, were a blessing to him, either because Job himself felt blessed by helping the "least of these", or because the poor man offered a blessing in gratitude.

(21) "If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate; (22) Then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone."

If Job ever oppressed the fatherless, even when as a judge at the gate it could have been within his power to do so, then let the arm that refused to help be torn from its socket. Once again, Job gives us a glimpse into something Jesus would later say, "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee..."

(23) "For destruction from God was a terror to me, and because of His highness I could not endure."

The meaning is clear; Job feared the Lord.

(24) "If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, 'You are my confidence'; (25) If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;"

Once again the "if"'s mean that Job did not put his faith in riches, nor did he rejoice and boast in his achievements of wealth and prosperity. Job did not serve mammon!

(26) "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in brightness, (27) And my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand; (28) This also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judge, for I would have denied the God who is above."

This passage refers to sun and moon worship. If Job's heart was enticed to this form of worship, and his hands and mouth were moved to active idolatry, it would be a sin against God, punishable by the judges.

(29) "If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted myself up when evil found him, (30) Neither have I allowed my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul;"

Job did not take pleasure in the misery of even those who hated him, and never cursed them.

(31) "If the men of my tent have not said, 'Oh, that we had of his flesh! We cannot be satisfied.'"

Even though the double negative seems to negate the thought, my initial thought was that the sense is that no one within Job's tent was ever unsatisfied; they always had their fill. This seemed logical as verse 32 continues with hospitality. I thought "flesh" meant "meat" or "food", but it also means "the flesh of man" and "mankind", the sense being that Job always gave of himself. However, there is another school of thought obtained from some of the old commentaries that says that verse 31 refers to the passage before, to the man who hated Job. The sense is that his servants were so upset by the ill treatment of their master that they wished to avenge him with the flesh of his enemy. Actually, the so-called "double negative" makes more sense this way, and doesn't negate the thought.

(32) "The stranger did not lodge in the street; I opened my doors to the traveler. (33) If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom; (34) Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and did not go out of the door?"

If it appears that Job is falsely self-righteous and thinks he is perfect, verse 33 proves that he knows he sinned and on more than one occasion. He tells us he did not attempt to hide his transgressions as Adam had done when he hid in the garden, and he was not silent about confessing them.

(35) "Oh, that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book. (36) Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and bind it on me like a crown; (37) I would declare to him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach him."

Job wishes to have a full and just hearing, and wishes God to answer him. I believe the sense of 35b and verse 36 is that Job wishes to know exactly what it is he has done to warrant his afflictions. He would openly confess to any charges of which he was guilty. The NKJV capitalizes "him" in verse 37 as if Job were talking about God, but I see no reason why it must be, and evidently the early commentaries did not suggest it, either. Verse 37 continues the same thought that Job would openly approach his adversary or a judge (anyone who would hear him) and discuss any charges.

(38) "If my land cries against me, or that its furrows complain; (39) If I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their lives; (40) Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.

If Job had gotten his land by fraud or violence, then let the land be cursed with thistles and cockles and no good grain. Job ends his chapters-long discourse by saying that he was innocent; he had not broken the law and his land could not cry out against him.