Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 31:34

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 31:34. Did I fear a great multitude — Was I ever prevented by the voice of the many from decreeing and executing what was right? When many families or tribes espoused a particular cause, which I found, on examination, to be wrong, did they put me in fear, so as to prevent me from doing justice to the weak and friendless? Or, in any of these cases, was I ever, through fear, self-seeking, or favour, prevented from declaring my mind, or constrained to keep my house, lest I should be obliged to give judgment against my conscience? Mr. Good thinks it an imprecation upon himself, if he had done any of the evils which he mentions in the preceding verse. He translates thus: -

"Then let me be confounded before the assembled multitude,

And let the reproach of its families quash me!

Yea, let me be struck dumb! let me never appear abroad!"

I am satisfied that Job 31:38-40, should come in either here, or immediately after Job 31:25; and that Job's words should end with Job 31:37, which, if the others were inserted in their proper places, would be Job 31:40. See the reasons at the end of the chapter. Job 31:40.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job reaffirms his innocence (31:1-40)

Once again Job examines his past life to see if, in fact, he has committed some great sin for which God is now punishing him. He readily acknowledges that God sees everything and that his punishment of sin is just. God knows that he has not been guilty even of unlawful sexual lust (31:1-4). He has not cheated others to enrich himself. If someone can prove that he has, he will gladly surrender all the produce of his fields (5-8). If he has committed adultery, he will gladly accept the lawful punishment due to him and will submit to the humiliation of having to surrender his wife to slavery (9-12).
Job continues: he has always been fair to his servants, knowing that they have been created by God the same as he has. He knows he is answerable to God for the way he treats them (13-15). He has looked after the poor and needy, some from childhood (16-20). He has never cooperated with corrupt judges to exploit the defenceless (21-23). He has not been greedy for money, nor has he engaged in any kind of false worship (24-28). At all times he has been forgiving to enemies and hospitable to strangers (29-32). He has never hidden the truth in fear of either popular opinion or influential people (33-34).
Having found no charge against himself, Job now challenges God to find a charge against him. If God can find such a charge, Job will be glad to have it made public so that he can answer it before God and before his fellow citizens. Then he will be able to prove himself innocent (35-37). He adds a final note that he has not gained any of his lands by dishonesty or violence (38-40).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JOB’S PERSONAL SERVANTS NAMED AS WITNESSES OF HIS INNOCENCE

“If the men of my tent have not said, Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat? (The sojourner hath not lodged in the street; But I have opened my doors to the travelers); If like Adam I have covered my transgressions, By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, Because I have feared the great multitude, And the contempt o f families terrified me, So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door -”

In all of the holy Scriptures there is not a more beautiful portrait of an upright, godly, righteous man than that which reaches a climax in this chapter. Here is the man whom God Himself in the prologue has called, “blameless and upright.” “This is a true picture of Job the righteous, the perfect example of Old Testament righteousness for which the Law provided incentive and direction.”Layman’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 128. In the last analysis, Job’s friends were silenced; they were unable to deny anything that he had said. Note that he broke off his words at this point and concluded with a paragraph which some of the scholars have, without any authority, relocated earlier in the chapter. It is this writer’s opinion that the final paragraph belongs exactly where it is.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Did I fear a great multitude - Our translators have rendered this as if Job meant to say that he had not been deterred from doing what he supposed was right by the fear of others; as if he had been independent, and had done what he knew to be right, undeterred by the fear of popular fury, or the loss of the favor of the great. This version is adopted also by the Vulgate, by Herder, and substantially by Coverdale and Luther. Another interpretation has, however, been proposed, and is adopted by Schultens, Noyes, Good, Umbreit, Dathe, and Scott, which is, that this is to be regarded as an imprecations, or that this is the punishment which he invoked and expected if he had been guilty of the crime which is specified in the previous verses. The meaning then would be “Then let me be confounded before the great multitude! Let the contempt of families cover me with shame! Let me keep silence, and let me never appear abroad!” The Hebrew will admit of either construction, and either of them will accord well with the connection. The latter, however, regarding it as an imprecation, seems to me to be preferable, for two reasons:

(1) It will accord more forcibly with what he had said in the previous verse. The sense then would be, as expressed by Patrick, “If I have studied to appear better than I am, and have not made a free confession, but, like our first parent, have concealed or excused my faults, and, out of self-love, have hidden mine iniquity, because I dread what the people will say of me, or am terrified by the contempt into which the knowledge of my guilt will bring me with the neighboring families, then am I content my mouth should be stopped, and that I never stir out of my door any more.”

(2) This interpretation seems to be required, in order to make a proper close of his remarks. The general course in this chapter has been to specify an offence, and then to utter an imprecation if he had been guilty of it. In the previous verses he had specified crimes of which he had declared himself innocent; but unless this verse be so regarded, there is no invocation of any corresponding punishment if he had been guilty. It seems probable, therefore, that this verse is so to be regarded. According to this, the phrase “Did I fear a great multitude” means, “Then let me be terrified by a multitude - by the opinions of the world, and let this be the punishment of my sin. Since by the fear of others I was led to hide my sin in my bosom, let it be my lot to lose all popular favor, and feel that I am the object of public scorn and contempt!”

Or did the contempt of families terrify me - Let the contempt of families crush me; let me be despised and abhorred by them. If I was led to hide sins in my bosom because I feared them, then let me be doomed to the total loss of their favor, and become wholly the object of their scorn.

That I kept silence - Or let me keep silence as a punishment. That is, let me not be admitted as a counsellor, or allowed to express my sentiments in the public assemblies.

And went not out at the door - That is, “Let me not go out at the door. Let me be confined to my dwelling, and never be allowed to appear in public, to mingle in society, to take part in public affairs - because by the fear of the world I attempted to hide my faults in my bosom. Such a punishment would be appropriate to such an offence. The retribution would be no more than a suitable recompense for such an act of guilt - and I would not shrink from it.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn in our Bibles to the book of Job, chapter 31.

Job has pretty well talked down all of his friends. Bildad has had his last word and Job is still responding, and has been responding, actually, just generally now to his friends. This last discourse of Job is his longest discourse, and he goes on and on with it. And we have been studying the final response of Job to his friends. His next responses will be to God. But Job is talking about his own righteousness, his own goodness, that which he has done. He said,

I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is not destruction to the wicked? and strange punishment to the doers of iniquity? Doth he not see my ways, and count all my steps? If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hasted to deceit; Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know my integrity. If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to my hands; Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. If my heart hath been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door; Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. It's a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all mine increase ( Job 31:1-12 ).

So these are things that Job's friends have been hinting that he was guilty of, but he is denying his guilt. "I made a covenant before God. I'm not going to look on another woman. I'm not going to be interested in other women." It is interesting that Jesus said, "If a man looks upon a woman to desire after her, he has committed adultery already in his heart" ( Matthew 5:28 ). Job made a covenant, "I'm not going to look on other women. I'm going to be satisfied with my wife. Now if I have been guilty of adultery, then the punishment of my wife committing adultery with someone else would be a punishment that I deserved. But I'm innocent of these things. Let God weigh me in balances. Let it be fair. Let what I have received be fair from God. I'm receiving more than I deserve for I haven't been guilty of these things."

Job, speaking of the lust, said, "It's a fire that consumes to destruction. It would destroy all my increase." The Bible speaks about a man, who through foolish woman, is brought down to a crust of bread ( Proverbs 6:25-26 ). What destruction unbridled lust can bring. It can destroy great men. It can bring them down. And so Job speaks of it, of a fire that destroys, the burning lust.

If I did despise the cause of my manservant or maidservant, when they contended with me; What shall I do when God rises up? for he visiteth, and what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? ( Job 31:13-15 )

Now Job is speaking here of the fact that he had not really lorded over his servants, that he had looked upon them as equals. "We were both, all of us, created in the womb."

It's really a tragedy when men begin to think themselves superior to others. Rather than realizing that all of us have been created by God and in God's eyes there is no ranking, there is no superiorities. That, of course, goes for male/female, it goes for bond or free. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And yet, it seems that man is always trying to exalt or elevate himself above others. Trying to put himself in the position of higher. "I want others to bow to me. I want others to do obeisance and the whole thing." And that's tragic that men develop these rankings in which they seek then to promote and give honor and flattery and all to each other.

Job said that he dealt honestly with his servants when they argued with him. He looked upon them honestly, because he said, "After all, we were all, we all came out of the womb. I'm no better than they are. I recognize that." And he also recognized that God takes up the cause of the poor. Now it's interesting throughout the scripture it does speak about God hearing the cry of the poor, "When their cry cometh unto Me." And God talks about taking vengeance upon those that would oppress the poor. That when their cries came to Him because of their oppression, He would hear and He would bring vengeance upon those that would oppress the poor.

If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; If I have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone ( Job 31:16-22 ).

"If I'm guilty of these things of not helping the poor, if I've allowed people to go naked, if I've allowed people to go hungry while I was living in luxury, then let my arms fall off." Job is bringing curses upon himself. "If I'm guilty of these things, then let these horrible things happen to me."

It is interesting then in those cultures, in that particular culture, and in the eastern culture, hospitality is such an important part of the culture of those people and of those days. It was extremely important that you be hospitable, that you be benevolent, that you help those that are in need. Especially if a person was traveling. You notice how Abraham entertained the people that were traveling, "Come on in, let me fix something for you, and all." As the angels (he didn't know they were angels at the time), but as they were traveling by, "Come on it. It's too late; spend the night here. Let my wife fix you something to eat, and all" ( Genesis 18:3-5 ). Hospitality was an important thing. It should be an important thing in the church. Paul tells us that when we chose those who are to be overseers of in the body of Christ, that we should pick out men who are hospitable, those who have shown themselves to be hospitable.

Our Southern California culture seems to be very isolated. I have been in other parts of the United States where people seem to be more hospitable than they are here. Down in the south, people far more open, hospitable. "Oh, come on over for dinner," you know. And there is a lot of hospitality, southern hospitality. We're in Southern California, but we just don't see it here. But I believe that it is pleasing to the Lord that we really show hospitality. If there is someone who is visiting, someone who is a stranger, that we open up our doors to them, that we invite them over for dinner or that we show them hospitality. The Bible says, "Be careful to entertain strangers, you don't know but what you might one day be entertaining an angel unaware." ( Hebrews 13:2 )

Now my father used to take these scriptures very literally. Also he was an usher in the church as I was growing up and he read in James how that we do wrong when we have respect of people's persons. If one comes into church and he's all dressed up, wearing diamonds and all, you say, "Oh," you know, "come on in, sit in this nice chair." And yet if someone comes in rags, you say, "Go sit in the corner" ( James 2:3 ). So when people would come to church in rags, hobos, he would usher them right down to the front row, with all style. And my dad was a very gallant gentleman, and a lot of flair and a lot of style, you know, and he'd usher them right down to the front row, and sit them right in the prime places, and then invite them home for lunch. We had the most interesting guests. They had the smell of the antiseptic from the mission so many times. We've had all kinds of... oh, I could tell you stories that you'd hardly believe of some of the people that we've had at our house.

We had one fellow that Dad invited home for dinner and he stayed for a couple of weeks with us. And he was a very interesting fellow. If Mom would say, "Wind up the vacuum cord," I would wind up the vacuum cord, and when I was through, he said, "That took you twenty-seven seconds. Now you should be able to do that in fifteen seconds. Now wind it up again. And do it this time in fifteen seconds." Always timing everything, everything had to be split-second timing. And you did it until you could do it in fifteen seconds. We later found out that this guy was a bank robber. And he was the mastermind behind many of the bank robberies and some of the most exotic prison breaks in the United States. And that's why he was always interested in timing. Timed everything, got everything down to split second, and all. And he always, it was part of his thinking processes. When he started telling his stories, oh, was that interesting. We'd sit there just transfixed as he'd tell us about some of the heists and all that he was involved in and escape from some of the major prisons in the United States.

Actually, the way we met him was very fascinating. My father went up to the Ventura County Jail and spoke there at the jail every Sunday. And he would just, you know, one day he was talking to these prisoners and he said, "Fellows," he said, "God answers prayer. Now Jesus said if you ask anything in His Name, the Father would do it. Now look, just get down and ask God for something you need. Put God to the test. Either His Word is true or it isn't." Well this guy, Jimmy Reynolds, was sitting in the back bunk; he didn't even come out to the area where the guys were meeting. He was just sitting back there listening. He was tough, and he didn't want to come out in the open cell with the rest of the guys and show that he was at all interested, but he was just sitting back there. And after my dad left, he turned to the guy across on the next bunk from him, and he said, "Did you hear what the guy said?" He said, "Man, I've sprung a lot of jails, but this would be a new one." He says, "Hey, man, let's you and me get down on our knees and we're going to ask God to get us out of here by next Sunday. And if God gets us out of here by next Sunday, we'll go down to that man's church." My father was also the Sunday school superintendent at the church and so we always got to church a half hour early. And this Sunday morning as we drove up to the church there was this fellow pacing back and forth in front of the church, and when he spotted my dad, he came up and opened the door for my mother and all, and he said, "Good morning, Mrs. Smith, Mr. Smith. Nice to see you today." And he said, "I'm Jimmy." And Dad said, "Well, it's nice to meet you. Will you come in and go to church with us and then come on home to dinner?" And that's how we met him.

Now after he left, my dad went to the sheriff and he said, "You know, we've had an interesting houseguest for the last couple of weeks." He said, "He's told us some very fascinating stories." He said, "The thing I want to know, though, is how did he get out of jail?" And the sheriff told my dad, he said, "Mr. Smith," he said, "that was a mistake." He said, "We weren't supposed to release that man." He said, "We picked him up on a vagrancy charge in Oxnard. We were holding him here, but," he said, "on our cards, when we have a prisoner and there's a hold on them because of their being wanted in other places," he said, "we always type up at the top of the card a red HOLD." He said, "We had a new trustee typing cards. And so he thought that it didn't look neat to have that HOLD up in the right hand corner so he typed it down in the bottom of the card. And so," he said, "that Sunday morning as they were going through the cards, they came across Jimmy Reynolds and found that we had held him as long as we legally could without filing charges. And we really didn't have any charges to file, but we were holding him because of his prison escapes from Oklahoma State Prison and several federal penitentiaries and," he said, "we were supposed to be holding him to extradite him back there. But," he said, "in going through the cards that morning, they just came to his card, saw that his time was up as far as what we could legally hold him, and they didn't pull the card all the way out. And so that Sunday morning they call, 'Jimmy Reynolds,' he said, 'yep.' They said, 'You're free.' He says, 'I'm what?' And they said, 'You're free.'" And he said, "Mr. Smith," he said, "I've broken a lot of jails in the country, but," he said, "this is the first time I've ever had one like this!" You know.

Hospitality. Now that wasn't an angel unaware in that particular case. Some of the things that happened when I was a kid... Oh, my. I could tell you some interesting stories about George the tramp, but that'll have to wait 'til another time. Ah, but my dad was quite a guy.

He said,

I've not allowed my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to another man's soul ( Job 31:30 ).

Verse Job 31:30 :

If the men of my tent said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the travelers. If I covered my transgression as Adam ( Job 31:31-33 ),

Interesting he refers to Adam, isn't it? Evidently the stories of Adam were widely circulated even by the time of Job, even though the book of Job perhaps precedes in writing the book of Genesis. That is, that it was written before. Yet he is aware of Adam's attempt to cover his sin by sewing the fig leaves.

by hiding my iniquity in my bosom: 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? So surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown unto me ( Job 31:33-34 , Job 31:36 ).

He said,

I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince I would go near unto him. If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; If I have eaten the fruit thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and the cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended ( Job 31:37-40 ).

"I've had it. That's it. I'm innocent." And the final declaration of his innocence before his friends.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Job’s continuing innocence ch. 31

As was common in ancient Near Eastern judicial cases, Job concluded his summary defense with an oath of innocence. He did so in the form of a negative confession complete with self-imprecations. [Note: Parsons, p. 141. Cf. Michael Brennan Dick, "The Legal Metaphor in Job 31," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 41 (1979):42, 47.] He concluded with a challenge to God to present His charges in writing (Job 31:35-37). Job’s idea was that if God remained silent this would be a vindication of his innocence. However, if he had been guilty, God would have to intervene and impose the punishment Job had designated. [Note: Norman C. Habel, The Book of Job, p. 164.] Note the frequent repetition of the phrase, "If I have . . ." and its equivalents.

"Chapter 31 as to its literary format is a negative testament by which Job will close the matter of whether he is being punished for his sins. After such a statement, in the jurisprudence of the ancient Near East, the burden of proof fell on the court. That is why Job 31:40 says, ’The words of Job are ended.’ Each disavowal had to be accompanied by an oath that called for the same punishment the offense deserved on the basis of the principle of lex talionis (Job 31:5-10). Because the charges against Job were wide and varied, he must give a similarly wide disavowal. He had already done this in a general way (cf. Job 23:10-12), but now he specifies and calls for condemnation and punishment from both God and man (Job 31:8; Job 31:11-12; Job 31:14; Job 31:22-23) if he is guilty of any of these sins." [Note: Smick, "Architectonics, Structured . . .," p. 94. Cf. Hartley, p. 406.]

Job claimed purity from ethical defilement in two ways. He referred to the binding covenant he had made with his eyes (Job 31:1). Then he used the oath form "if" such and such be true "then" (sometimes not stated) let thus and so happen (Job 31:5-10; Job 31:13; Job 31:16; Job 31:19-20 [twice], 21-22, 24, 25, 26, 38, 39-40).

"The making of a covenant with his eyes is not merely a promise not to lust after a girl. The sin he has in mind is far more fundamental, or it would not have commanded this position in the poem. Job is emphatically denying an insidious and widespread form of idolatry: devotion to the betula, ’the maiden,’ the goddess of fertility. This Venus of the Semitic world was variously known as the Maiden Anat in Ugaritic, Ashtoreth in preexilic Israel, and Ishtar in Babylonian sources, wherein she is described as ’laden with vitality, charm and voluptuousness.’ She is probably the ’Queen of Heaven’ mentioned in Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:16-19." [Note: Smick, "Architectonics, Structured . . .," p. 96.]

Most of the 14 sins that Job mentioned in this chapter were not heinous crimes but relatively minor deviations from the ethical ideal. They were covert rather than overt iniquities. Thus Job claimed innocence on the highest level of morality (cf. Matthew 5:27-28). Note also that he continued to assume that God punishes the wicked (Job 31:2-3).

"As a consequence of his suffering, Job viewed man’s relationship to God as being based on God’s sovereign caprice; therefore man could hope for happiness only by adhering to an ethical rightness superior to God’s whereby he could demand vindication (Job 31; cf. Job 35:2 b)." [Note: Parsons, p. 144.]

Job 31:10 has in view Job’s wife grinding corn with a hard millstone, the work of a slave, and being overpowered by men sexually.

"His hypothetical adultery would in Hebrew eyes be an offence against her husband, and so another’s adultery with his wife would be a similar offence against him. In Hebrew law adultery always involved a married woman. The marital state of the man was immaterial." [Note: Rowley, p. 200.]

Fundamentally, adultery involves a married man or a married woman (cf. Leviticus 20:10), but in Israel, as well as in Roman society, infidelity by the husband was not commonly viewed as constituting adultery. [Note: See Unger’s Bible Dictionary, 1957 ed., s.v. "Adultery."] Job’s words about adultery (Job 31:9-12) are classic and reveal righteous abhorrence of that sin. Likewise, his statements regarding the importance of treating slaves as human beings (Job 31:13-15) reveal Job’s fear of God and love for his fellowman. He respected human life highly (Job 31:16-23). Job further claimed that he was not an idolater (Job 31:24-28), selfish (Job 31:29-32), or hypocritical (Job 31:33-34).

"Here then is either a very clean conscience or a very calloused one." [Note: Andersen, p. 244.]

Job’s cry for a hearer of his claims (Job 31:35) probably implied God rather than the mediator he had requested earlier (Job 16:19; Job 19:25; cf. Job 30:20).

"An examination of biblical and extra-biblical legal documents establishes Job 31:35 as a dependent’s official appeal before a third party for a civil hearing at which the judge would compel the plaintiff to formalize his accusations and to present any supporting evidence. As we shall see, this request was ordinarily made only after all attempts at informal arbitration had been exhausted and was often accompanied by a sworn statement of innocence. In Job 31 the oath of innocence has been expanded to embrace the entire chapter." [Note: Dick, p. 38.]

His "adversary" in this verse was also God (cf. Job 13:24; Job 16:9; Job 19:11). We should probably understand "owners" (Job 31:39) as "workers."

Having ended his final summation in defense of his innocence, Job rested his case and waited for God’s verdict. This is another climax in the book. Job had claimed innocence in his personal life (Job 31:1-12), toward his neighbor (Job 31:13-20), and toward God (Job 31:24-34; cf. Job 1:11). Job’s friends believed that God always punishes sin, therefore Job was a sinner. Job believed that God was punishing him when he was innocent, therefore God was unfair.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Did I fear a great multitude?.... No, they did not deter him from confessing his sin in the most public manner, when sensible or convicted of it, and when such a public acknowledgment was necessary:

or did the contempt of families terrify me? no, the contempt he might suppose he should be had in by some families that knew him, and he was well acquainted with, did not terrify him from making a free and ingenuous confession of his sins:

that I kept silence; or "did I keep silence",

[and] went not out of the door? so as not to open his mouth by confession in public, but kept within doors through fear and shame; or else the sense is, that he was not intimidated from doing his duty as a civil magistrate, administering justice to the poor and oppressed; neither the dread of a clamorous mob, nor the contempt of families of note, or great personages, could deter him from the execution of his office with uprightness, so as to cause him to be silent, and keep at home; but without any regard to the fear of the one, or the contempt of the other, he went out from his house through the street to the court of judicature, took his place on the bench, and gave judgment in favour of those that were oppressed, though the multitude was against them, and even persons and families of note: or thus, though I could have put a great multitude to fear, yet the most contemptible persons in any family, so Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom interpret that phrase, the meanest person, or but a beggar, if his cause was just, terrified him; or such was the fear of God upon him, that he durst do no other than to do him justice; so that he could not open his mouth against him, or stir out of doors to do him the tease; injury; though perhaps it may be best of all, with Schultens, to consider these words as an imprecation, that if what he had said before from Job 31:24 was not true; if he was not clear from idolatry figurative, and literal, from a malicious and revengeful spirit, from inhospitality and unkindness to strangers, from palliating, excusing, and extenuating his sins; then as if he should say, may I be frightened with a tumult, or a multitude of people, and terrified with the public contempt of families; may I be as silent as a mope in my own house, and never dare to stir out of doors, or show my thee, or see face of any man any more: and then, before he had quite finished his account of himself, breaks out in the following manner.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:   34 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?   35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.   36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.   37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.   38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;   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.

      We have here Job's protestation against three more sins, together with his general appeal to God's bar and his petition for a hearing there, which, it is likely, was intended to conclude his discourse (and therefore we will consider it last), but that another particular sin occurred, from which he thought it requisite to acquit himself. He clears himself from the charge,

      I. Of dissimulation and hypocrisy. The general crime of which his friends accused him was that, under the cloak of a profession of religion, he had kept up secret haunts of sin, and that really he was as bad as other people, but had the art of concealing it. Zophar insinuated (Job 20:12; Job 20:12) that he hid his iniquity under his tongue. "No," says Job, "I never did (Job 31:33; Job 31:33), I never covered my transgression as Adam, never palliated a sin with frivolous excuses, nor made fig-leaves the shelter of my shame, nor ever hid my iniquity in my bosom, as a fondling, a darling, that I could by no means part with, or as stolen goods which I dreaded the discovery of." It is natural to us to cover our sins; we have it from our first parents. We are loth to confess our faults, willing to extenuate them and make the best of ourselves, to devolve the blame upon others, as Adam on his wife, not without a tacit reflection upon God himself. But he that thus covers his sins shall not prosper,Proverbs 28:13. Job, in this protestation, intimates two things, which were certain evidences of his integrity:-- 1. That he was not guilty of any great transgression or iniquity, inconsistent with sincerity, which he had now industriously concealed. In this protestation he had dealt fairly, and, while he denies some sins, was not conscious to himself that he allowed himself in any. 2. That what transgression and iniquity he had been guilty of (Who is there that lives and sins not?) he had always been ready to own it, and, as soon as ever he perceived he had said or done amiss, he was ready to unsay it and undo it, as far as he could, by repentance, confessing it both to God and man, and forsaking it: this is doing honestly.

      II. From the charge of cowardice and base fear. His courage in that which is good he produces as an evidence of his sincerity in it (Job 31:34; Job 31:34): Did I fear a great multitude, that I kept silence? No, all that knew Job knew him to be a man of undaunted resolution in a good cause, that boldly appeared, spoke, and acted, in defence of religion and justice, and did not fear the face of man nor was ever threatened or brow-beaten out of his duty, but set his face as a flint. Observe, 1. What great conscience Job had made of his duty as a magistrate, or a man of reputation, in the place where he lived. He did not, he durst not, keep silence when he had a call to speak in an honest cause, or keep within doors when he had a call to go abroad to do good. The case may be such that it may be our sin to be silent and retired, as when we are called to reprove sin and bear our testimony against it, to vindicate the truths and ways of God, to do justice to those who are injured or oppressed, or in any way to serve the public or to do honour to our religion. 2. What little account Job made of the discouragements he met with in the way of his duty. He valued not the clamours of the mob, feared not a great multitude, nor did he value the menaces of the mighty: The contempt of families never terrified him. He was not deterred by the number or quality, the scorns or insults, or the injurious from doing justice to the injured; no, he scorned to be swayed and biassed by any such considerations, nor ever suffered a righteous cause to be run down by a high hand. He feared the great God, not the multitude, and his curse, not the contempt of families.

      III. From the charge of oppression and violence, and doing wrong to his poor neighbours. And here observe,

      1. What his protestation is--that the estate he had he both got and used honestly, so that his land could not cry out against him nor the furrows thereof complain (Job 31:38; Job 31:38), as they do against those who get the possession of them by fraud and extortion, Habakkuk 2:9-11. The whole creation is said to groan under the sin of man; but that which is unjustly gained and held cries out against a man, and accuses him, condemns him, and demands justice against him for the injury. Rather than his oppression shall go unpunished the very ground and the furrows of it shall witness against him, and be his prosecutors. Two things he could say safely concerning his estate:-- (1.) That he never ate the fruits of it without money,Job 31:39; Job 31:39. What he purchased he paid for, as Abraham for the land he bought (Genesis 23:16), and David, 2 Samuel 24:24. The labourers that he employed had their wages duly paid them, and, if he made use of the fruits of those lands that he let out, he paid his tenants for them, or allowed it in their rent. (2.) That he never caused the owners thereof to lose their life, never got an estate, as Ahab got Naboth's vineyard, by killing the heir and seizing the inheritance, never starved those that held lands of him nor killed them with hard bargains and hard usage. No tenant, no workman, no servant, he had, could complain of him.

      2. How he confirms his protestation. He does it, as often before, with a suitable imprecation (Job 31:40; Job 31:40): "If I have got my estate unjustly, let thistles grow instead of wheat, the worst of weeds instead of the best of grains." When men get estates unjustly they are justly deprived of the comfort of them, and disappointed in their expectations from them. They sow their land, but they sow not that body that shall be. God will give it a body. It was sown wheat, but shall come up thistles. What men do not come honestly by will never do them any good. Job, towards the close of his protestation, appeals to the judgment-seat of God concerning the truth of it (Job 31:35-37; Job 31:35-37): O that he would hear me, even that the Almighty would answer me! This was what he desired and often complained that he could not obtain; and, now that he had drawn up his own defence so particularly, he leaves it upon record, in expectation of a hearing, files it, as it were, till his cause be called.

      (1.) A trial is moved for, and the motion earnestly pressed: "O that one, any one, would hear me; my cause is so good, and my evidence so clear, that I am willing to refer it to any indifferent person whatsoever; but my desire is that the Almighty himself would determine it." An upright heart does not dread a scrutiny. He that means honestly wishes he had a window in his breast, that all men might see the intents of his heart. But an upright heart does particularly desire to be determined in every thing by the judgment of God, which we are sure is according to the truth. It was holy David's prayer, Search me, O God! and know my heart; and it was blessed Paul's comfort, He that judgeth me is the Lord.

      (2.) The prosecutor is called, the plaintiff summoned, and ordered to bring in his information, to say what he has to say against the prisoner, for he stands upon his deliverance: "O that my adversary had written a book--that my friends, who charge me with hypocrisy, would draw up their charge in writing, that it might be reduced to a certainty, and that we might the better join issue upon it." Job would be very glad to see the libel, to have a copy of his indictment. He would not hide it under his arm, but take it upon his shoulder, to be seen and read of all men, nay, he would bind it as a crown to him, would be pleased with it, and look upon it as his ornament; for, [1.] If it discovered to him any sin he had been guilty of, which he did not yet see, he should be glad to know it, that he might repent of it and get it pardoned. A good man is willing to know the worst of himself and will be thankful to those that will faithfully tell him of his faults. [2.] If it charged him with what was false, he doubted not but to disprove the allegations, that his innocency would be cleared up as the light, and he should come off with so much the more honour. But, [3.] He believed that, when his adversaries came to consider the matter so closely as they must do if they put the charge in writing, the accusations would be trivial and minute, and every one that saw them would say, "If this was all they had to say against him, it was a shame they gave him so much trouble."

      (3.) The defendant is ready to make his appearance and to give his accusers all the fair play they can desire. He will declare unto them the number of his steps,Job 31:37; Job 31:37. He will let them into the history of his own life, will show them all the stages and scenes of it. He will give them a narrative of his conversation, what would make against him as well as what would make for him, and let them make what use they pleased of it; and so confident he is of his integrity that as a prince to be crowned, rather than a prisoner to be tried, he would go near to him, both to his accuser to hear his charge and to his judge to hear his doom. Thus the testimony of his conscience was his rejoicing.

      Those that have kept their hands without spot from the world, as Job did, may lift up their faces without spot unto God, and may comfort themselves with the prospect of his judgment when they lie under the unjust censures of men. If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.

      Thus the words of Job are ended; that is, he has now said all he would say in answer to his friends: he afterwards said something in a way of self-reproach and condemnation (Job 40:4; Job 40:5; Job 42:2-6, c.), but here ends what he had to say in a way of self-defence and vindication. If this suffice not he will say no more he knows when he has said enough and will submit to the judgment of the bench. Some think the manner of expression intimates that he concluded with an air of assurance and triumph. He now keeps the field and doubts not but to win the field. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.