I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? Ver. 1. _I made a covenant with mine eyes_] This chapter, since it is one of the largest in all the book, so it is elegant, various, and very full of matter; for it shows us, as in a mirror, both what we should do and what we sh... [ Continue Reading ]
For what portion of God [is there] from above? and [what] inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Ver. 2. _For what portion of God is there from above?_] What but a portion with the devil and hypocrites? The unjust are reserved unto the day of judgment to be punished, saith Peter; but chiefly, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 31:3 [Is] not destruction to the wicked? and a strange [punishment] to the workers of iniquity? Ver. 3. _Is not destruction to the wicked?_] Yes, that is their portion, their inheritance; and so Job makes answer to his own question proposed in the preceding verse. The ruin of impure souls is in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?_ Ver. 4. _Doth he not see my ways, and count, &c._] Yea, sure he doth so; and the conscience of God's omniscience, who would soon take him tripping, kept him from this great wickedness. So it did Joseph, but so it did not David; who is, therefore, s... [ Continue Reading ]
If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; Ver. 5. _If I have walked with vanity_] As they do who disquiet themselves in vain, in heaping up riches by evil arts, by deceits and covin in bargaining; by getting other men's means fraudulently, &c. "The getting of treasures by a... [ Continue Reading ]
Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. Ver. 6. _Let me be weighed in an even balance_] Heb. Let him weigh me; Examine me, saith Tremellius. David, with the like confidence, Search me, O God, saith he, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there... [ Continue Reading ]
If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; Ver. 7. _If my step hath turned out of the way_] _sc._ Of justice and equity, in trading and trafficking to get the mammon of unrighteousness. No; the sun might sooner be turned... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 31:8 [Then] let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. Ver. 8. _Then let me sow, and another eat_] God loves to retaliate; and let him do so to me, according to that he hath threatened, Deuteronomy 28:30, &c., and as he executed upon Laban, Nabal, Saul, Haman, others.... [ Continue Reading ]
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or [if] I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; Ver. 9. _If my heart hath been deceived by a woman_] By a female sinner, as they call such, a strange woman (as the Scripture), whose lips are snares, whose hands are bands, whose words are cords to draw a... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 31:10 [Then] let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. Ver. 10. _Then let my wife grind unto another_] _i.e._ Let her be his slave, as Lam 5:13 Exodus 11:5 Matthew 24:41; or rather, let her be his whore; and may my sin, which hath served her for example, serve her also f... [ Continue Reading ]
For this [is] an heinous crime; yea, it [is] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judges. Ver. 11. _For this is an heinous crime_] _Hoc enim grande flagitium est,_ so the Tigurines translate; for this is a wickedness with a witness, though counted by some a light offence, a peccadillo. The Popish pr... [ Continue Reading ]
For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. Ver. 12. _For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction_] _Ad Gehennam usque,_ to the place of destruction. Heb. to Abaddon, that burneth as low as hell itself. In case men should be slack to punish this hein... [ Continue Reading ]
If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; Ver. 13. _If I did despise the cause of my many, errant, &c._] Servants of old (among the heathen especially) were mere slaves to their masters according to the flesh, who had power to use them at their p... [ Continue Reading ]
What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Ver. 14. _What then shall I do when God riseth up, &c._] Job considered that he had a Master in heaven, Colossians 4:1; that there is one higher than the highest, Ecclesiastes 5:8, with whom there is no respect... [ Continue Reading ]
Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? Ver. 15. _Did not he that made me in the womb, make him?_] In which regard have not we all one Father, and hath not one God created us? Malachi 2:10. Is it not he who formeth and shapeth us, and all by the book, P... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;_ Ver. 16. _If I have withheld the poor from their desire_] The poor man speaketh supplications, he comes to the rich with his God help me, as Lazarus did, Luke 16:20,21, his very name speaks as much, but... [ Continue Reading ]
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; Ver. 17. _Or have eaten my morsel myself alone_] As that churl Nabal did, and therefore merited the title of Pamphagus. Many rich wretches are like little children, who, though they have their mouths full of food and b... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) Ver. 18. _For from my youth he was brought up with me, &c._] _i.e._ Ever since I could do anything it hath been my delight to be doing good to the poor orphans, whom I have tend... [ Continue Reading ]
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; Ver. 19. _If I have seen any perish for want of clothing_] Job was _ad omnem humanitatem effectus atque assuefactus._ This liberal man devised liberal things; and as he dealt his bread to the hungry, so when he saw the na... [ Continue Reading ]
If his loins have not blessed me, and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep; Ver. 20. _If his loins have not blessed me_] As being warm clothed by me; not with a suit of words, as those great benefactors, James 2:15,16, who were much in mouth mercy, which indeed is good cheap; but a... [ Continue Reading ]
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Ver. 21. _If I have lift up my hand against the fatherless_] That is, against any that are destitute of human helps and defences. Such to ill treat and oppress is easy for great ones. See Genesis 50:15,21, &c. But w... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 31:22 [Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. Ver. 22. _Then let mine arm fall from the shoulder blade_] That unworthy arm of mine (as Cranmer cried out of that unworthy right hand of his, which he therefore burnt first), so injuriously lifted up a... [ Continue Reading ]
For destruction [from] God [was] a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. Ver. 23. _For destruction from God was a terror to me_] Such an eminent and exemplary calamity or misery, as is mentioned in the former verse, frightened me from wrong dealing. I foresaw the evil even... [ Continue Reading ]
If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence; Ver. 24. _If I have made gold my hope_] The Seventy read, _Si posui aurum in coniugmm meum; _ signifying the covetous man's great love (Minut. Octav.). If I have trusted in uncertain riches, and been high minded,... [ Continue Reading ]
If I rejoiced because my wealth [was] great, and because mine hand had gotten much; Ver. 25. _If l rejoiced because my wealth was great_] Those that trust in it cannot but rejoice in the increase of it; though, in truth, they do rather revel than rejoice; for true joy is a severe thing, saith the p... [ Continue Reading ]
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness; Ver. 26. _If I beheld the sun when it shined_] viz. To adore it, as the Persians did, and other heathens. The Egyptians had their Heliopolis, or city of the sun; and the Canaanites their Timnath heres, Jdg 2:9 Joshua 24:30, th... [ Continue Reading ]
And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: Ver. 27. _And my heart hath been secretly enticed_] _sc._ By the devil, who is ειδωλοχαρης, as, saith Synesius, a great promoter of idolatry; and probably had tempted good Job to this sin also; but was bravely repulsed. If I... [ Continue Reading ]
This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] above. Ver. 28. _This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge_] No less than adultery, but rather more. This also is _iniquitas iudiciaria,_ a God provoking, land desolating sin, a wicke... [ Continue Reading ]
If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: Ver. 29. _If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me_] If I rejoiced at his ruin or fed my thoughts with his fall. Flesh and blood would have taught him so to do; there being nothing more natu... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. Ver. 30. _Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin_] Heb. my palate; which is one of the nine instruments of speech. I have not so much as broken out into any passionate word against him; but when I was raging ripe I refrained,... [ Continue Reading ]
If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. Ver. 31. _If the men of my tabernacle said not_] _Contubernales, sive domestici; _ those of my family and familiarity. A man is to take heed of the iniquity of his heels, that is, of his followers and attenda... [ Continue Reading ]
The stranger did not lodge in the street: [but] I opened my doors to the traveller. Ver. 32. _The stranger did not lodge in the street_] Job was so far from liking and commending those enraged stomachs of his servants, that be would not suffer strangers to lodge abroad in the night season. Gregory... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:_ Ver. 33. _If I covered my transgression as Adam_] A transgressor then Job yieldeth himself; the lives of the best alive are fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars, or the furnace of sparks. But he did not act like... [ Continue Reading ]
Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, [and] went not out of the door? Ver. 34. _Did I fear a great multitude_] Or, Though I should have terrified a great multitude, yet the most contemptible of the families frayed me (or humbled me), so that... [ Continue Reading ]
Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire [is, that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine adversary had written a book. Ver. 35. _Oh that one would hear me_] _Quis det mihi auscultantem mihi?_ Oh that after all this purging and praising of myself (wherein I take no pleasure, but that I... [ Continue Reading ]
Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it [as] a crown to me. Ver. 36. _Surely I would take it on my shoulder_] As a father doth his darling, or as a standard bearer doth his ensign, or as a man carrieth his most desirable things out of a common combustion. _ And bind it as a crown to... [ Continue Reading ]
I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. Ver. 37. _I would declare unto him the number of my steps_] I would tell him all that ever I know by myself, and turn him the inside outward, deal ingeniously with him, and make him my confessor; and so help him... [ Continue Reading ]
If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; Ver. 38. _If my land cry against me_] As unjustly gotten; where we have an elegant personification not unlike that of the prophet, Habakkuk 2:11,12, where the stone out of the wall cries out against the oppressor, and the _ti... [ Continue Reading ]
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: Ver. 39. _If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money_] _i.e._ Not paying the labourers their wages, which is a bony sin, Amos 5:12,13, crying cruelty, James 5:4, such as hath a woe hanging... [ Continue Reading ]
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. Ver. 40. _Let thistles grow instead of wheat_] This was a piece of that first curse, Genesis 3:8, under which the earth hath lain bedridden, as it were, ever since, waiting for the coming of the Son of God... [ Continue Reading ]