_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job's protestation of his innocence, with regard to wantonness, Job 31:1; fraud and injustice, Job 31:5; adultery, Job 31:9; haughtiness and severity toward his servants, Job 31:13; unmercifulness to the poor, Job 31:16; confidence in his wealth, Job 31:24; Job 31:25; idolat... [ Continue Reading ]
_I made a covenant with mine eyes_, &c. So far have I been from any gross wickedness, that I have abstained from the least occasions and appearances of evil. It was possible Job's friends might make quite another use than he intended of the relation which he had made of his miserable condition in th... [ Continue Reading ]
_For what portion of God is there_, &c. What recompense may be expected from God for those who do otherwise? _From above_ How secretly soever unchaste persons carry the matter, so that men cannot reprove them, yet there is one who stands upon a higher place, whence he seeth in what manner they act.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is not destruction to the wicked?_ Destruction is their portion. _And a strange punishment_ Some extraordinary and dreadful judgment, which of right belongs to them. Hebrew, ונכר, _venecher, an alienation_, or _estrangement_, namely, from God and his favour: had I been such a one, I neither should... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I have walked with vanity_ Conversed in the world, or dealt with men, with lying, falsehood, or hypocrisy, as the word _vanity_ is often used; _or if my foot hath hasted to deceit_ If, when I had an opportunity of enriching myself by wronging others, I have readily and greedily complied with it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If my step hath turned out of the way_ If I have knowingly and willingly swerved from the way of truth and justice, which God hath prescribed to me; _and my heart walked after mine eyes_ A strong and beautiful expression, signifying, if my eyes have seduced my heart. If I have let my heart loose to... [ Continue Reading ]
_If my heart have been deceived by a woman_ Namely, by a strange woman, or rather, by my neighbour's wife, as the next words limit the clause; for of a maid he had spoken before. _If I have laid wait at my neighbour's door_ Watching for his absence, or some fair opportunity to enter his house and de... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this is a heinous crime_ Namely, adultery, whether committed by choice and design, or by the solicitation of a woman; _yea, it is an iniquity to be punished_, &c. Hebrew, _an iniquity of the judges;_ which it belongs to them to take cognizance of, and to punish, even with death; and that not on... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I did despise the cause of my man-servant_ If I used my power over him to overthrow him and his just rights; _when they contended with me_ Either for requiring more work from them than they could perform, or for not providing for them those supports which their nature and necessity required, or... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I have withheld the poor_, &c. If I have denied them what they desired of me, either in justice or from necessity; for he was under no obligation to grant their vain or inordinate desires. _Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail_ With tedious expectation of my justice or charity. I durst n... [ Continue Reading ]
_For from my youth_ As soon as I was capable of managing my own affairs, and doing good to others; _he was brought up with me as with a father_ Under my care and protection, with all the diligence and tenderness of a father. _And I have guided her_ The widow, mentioned Job 31:16; _from my mother's w... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I have seen any perish_ When it was in my power to help them. _If his loins have not blessed me_ That is, if my covering his loins hath not given him occasion to bless me, and to pray to God to bless me; the loins being put for the whole body. _If he were not warmed_, &c. With clothing made of m... [ Continue Reading ]
_For destruction_, &c. I stood in awe of God, and his justice and wrath, and therefore made it my care and business to shun sin, and to please him. _And by reason of his highness_ His excellence or majesty, which is most glorious and terrible; _I could not endure_ I knew myself unable, either to opp... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I have made gold my hope_ That is, the matter of my hope and trust, expecting safety and happiness from it, and placing my chief joy in the increase of my riches.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great_ Esteeming myself happy in the possession of it, though without God's love and favour; _because my hand had gotten much_ Ascribing my acquisition of it to my own skill or industry, rather than to God's goodness and mercy. And these sins Job the rather... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I beheld the sun when it shined_ Namely, in its full strength and glory; when it most affected men's minds and hearts with admiration of its beauty, and of the benefits which it is instrumental in communicating to the world, and thereby moved them to worship it; _or the moon walking in brightnes... [ Continue Reading ]
_This also were an iniquity_ No less than the other fore- mentioned sins of adultery, oppression, &c.; _to be punished by the judge_ The civil magistrate; who, being advanced and protected by God, is obliged to maintain and vindicate his honour, and consequently to punish idolatry. _For I should hav... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I rejoiced_, &c. I was so far from being malicious toward, and from revenging myself on, an enemy, which is the common and allowed practice of ungodly men, that I did not so much as delight in his ruin, when it was brought upon him by other hands. By this, and other passages of the Old Testament... [ Continue Reading ]
_If the men of my tabernacle_ My domestics and familiar friends; _said not, O that we had of his flesh!_ Heath and Schultens read the words, _Who can show the man that hath not filled himself with his victuals?_ And many commentators understand Job as asserting here, that it was a common thing among... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I covered my transgressions as Adam_ As Adam did in paradise. _By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom_ In my own breast, and from the sight of all men; or, _in secret_, as R. Levi renders בחבי, _bechobbi._ Job alludes to Adam's hiding himself among the trees of the garden, and palliating his sin; a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Did I fear a great multitude?_ No: all that knew Job, knew him to be a man of resolution, that boldly appeared, spoke, and acted, in defence of religion and justice. He durst not _keep silence_, or stay within, when called to speak or act for God. He was not deterred by the number, or quality, or i... [ Continue Reading ]
_O that one would hear me!_ O that I might have my cause heard by any just and impartial judge! _Behold, my desires_, &c. So the Vulgate and the Targum understand תוי, _tavi_, here, deriving it from אוה, _ivvah, he desired, he coveted._ Some, however, deriving it from תוה, _tivvah_, to _mark_, to _d... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely I would take it_ The book, or writing, containing the charges against me; _upon my shoulder_ As a trophy, or badge of honour; _and bind it as a crown to me_ I would be so far from being ashamed or terrified, that I would glory, and rejoice, and triumph in it, nay, and openly expose it to be... [ Continue Reading ]
_I would declare to him_ To the Almighty, my judge; _the number of my steps_ The whole course of my life and actions, step by step, as far as I could remember: _as a prince would I go near him_ That is, with courage and confidence of success: I would stand before him with a look as upright and assur... [ Continue Reading ]
_If my land cry against me_ To wit, to God, for revenge, (as the like phrase signifies, Genesis 4:10; Habakkuk 2:11,) because I have gotten it from the right owners by fraud or violence, as my friends accuse me. _If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money_ Either without paying the price requ... [ Continue Reading ]