Job 31:1

CONTENTS

The subject of Job's defense is still prosecuted. He enters, somewhat more largely, into the particular justification of himself from that sin which he seemed so much hurt at having been charged with, hypocrisy, and closes the subject with this defense.

Job 31:1

(1) В¶ I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

This chapter deserves our attention the more, because, though Job takes no pride in what he here saith, in the justification of himself, yet in those secret sins, which are known only to the LORD, on numberless occasions of evil, the Patriarch pleads not guilty; and which therefore serves to confirm the divine testimony which the LORD gave concerning his servant, in the opening of the book itself, that there was none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feared GOD, and eschewed evil. Chap. 2:3. There is a great beauty in Job's expression in this verse, of having made a covenant with his eyes, to preserve, under grace, the chastity of the mind and body. By the eye, the lust of the flesh is frequently excited: and our adored Redeemer hath set it down as uncleanness and adultery already committed, if a man so looks on a woman as to lust after her. Matthew 5:28. There may be many causes, in the difficulty of attainment, or the shame and punishment which might attend the gratification of unlawful passions, which restrain the actual commission of the sin; but nothing but the grace of GOD can preserve the chastity of the mind from so much as wishing it, or thinking upon it. Joseph's views of this subject was similar to Job's, that wickedness is against GOD. Genesis 39:9. Reader, though I have made this long note upon this verse, yet it is so very important, that I venture to make it a little longer, and to observe, that since from the corruption of our poor fallen nature, evil thoughts, and the whole train of the imaginations of the heart arise, how infinitely precious ought it to be to us, to eye the grace of JESUS as our preservative against this, and every evil; and, conscious of the uncleanness within, to keep the heart with all diligence, and to beg of GOD to keep it for us, since out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23.