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Commentary on Job 31 verses 1–8
The lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world, are the two fatal rocks on which multitudes split; against these Job protests he was always careful to stand upon his guard.
I. Against the lusts of the flesh. He not only kept himself clear from adultery, from defiling his neighbour's wives (Job 31:9), but from all lewdness with any women whatsoever. He kept no concubine, no mistress, but was inviolably faithful to the marriage bed, though his wife was none of the wisest, best, or kindest. From the beginning it was so, that a man should have but one wife and cleave to her only; and Job kept closely to that institution and abhorred the thought of transgressing it; for, though his greatness might tempt him to it, his goodness kept him from it. Job was now in pain and sickness of body, and under that affliction it is in a particular manner comfortable if our consciences can witness for us that we have been careful to preserve our bodies in chastity and to possess those vessels in sanctification and honour, pure from the lusts of uncleanness. Now observe here,
1.What the resolutions were which, in this matter, he kept to (Job 31:1): I made a covenant with my eyes, that is, "I watched against the occasions of the sin; why then should I think upon a maid?" that is, "by that means, through the grace of God, I kept myself from the very first step towards it." So far was he from wanton dalliances, or any act of lasciviousness, that, (1.) He would not so much as admit a wanton look. He made a covenant with his eyes, made this bargain with them, that he would allow them the pleasure of beholding the light of the sun and the glory of God shining in the visible creation, provided they would never fasten upon any object that might occasion any impure imaginations, much less any impure desires, in his mind; and under this penalty, that, if they did, they must smart for it in penitential tears. Note, Those that would keep their hearts pure must guard their eyes, which are both the outlets and inlets of uncleanness. Hence we read of wanton eyes (Isa 3:16) and eyes full of adultery, Pe2 2:14. The first sin began in the eye, Gen 3:6. What we must not meddle with we must not lust after; and what we must not lust after we must not look at; not the forbidden wealth (Pro 23:5), not the forbidden wine (Pro 23:31), not the forbidden woman, Mat 5:28. (2.) He would not so much as allow a wanton thought: "Why then should I think upon a maid with any unchaste fancy or desire towards her?" Shame and sense of honour might restrain him from soliciting the chastity of a beautiful virgin, but only grace and the fear of God would restrain him from so much as thinking of it. Those are not chaste that are not so in spirit as well as body, Co1 7:34. See how Christ's exposition of the seventh commandment agrees with the ancient sense of it, and how much better Job understood it than the Pharisees, though they sat in Moses's chair.
2.What the reasons were which, in this matter, he was governed by. It was not for fear of reproach among men, though that is to be considered (Pro 6:33), but for fear of the wrath and curse of God. He knew very well, (1.) That uncleanness is a sin that forfeits all good, and shuts us out from the hope of it (Job 31:2): What portion of God is there from above? What blessing can such impure sinners expect from the pure and holy God, or what token of his favour? What inheritance of the Almighty can they look for from on high? There is no portion, no inheritance, no true happiness, for a soul, but what is in God, in the Almighty, and what comes from above, from on high. Those that wallow in uncleanness render themselves utterly unfit for communion with God, either in grace here or in glory hereafter, and become allied to unclean spirits, which are for ever separated from him; and then what portion, what inheritance, can they have with God? No unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem, that holy city. (2.) It is a sin that incurs divine vengeance, Job 31:3. It will certainly be the sinner's ruin if it be not repented of in time. Is not destruction, a swift and sure destruction, to those wicked people, and a strange punishment to the workers of this iniquity? Fools make a mock at this sin, make a jest of it; it is with them a peccadillo, a trick of youth. But they deceive themselves with vain words, for because of these things, how light soever they make of them, the wrath of God, the unsupportable wrath of the eternal God, comes upon the children of disobedience, Eph 5:6. There are some sinners whom God sometimes out of the common road of Providence to meet with; such are these. The destruction of Sodom is a strange punishment. Is there not alienation (so some read it) to the workers of iniquity? This is the sinfulness of the sin that it alienates the mind from God (Eph 4:18, Eph 4:19), and this is the punishment of the sinners that they shall be eternally set at a distance from him, Rev 22:15. (3.) It cannot be hidden from the all-seeing God. A wanton thought cannot be so close, nor a wanton look so quick, as to escape his cognizance, much less any act of uncleanness so secretly done as to be out of his sight. If Job was at any time tempted to this sin, he restrained himself from it, and all approaches to it, with this pertinent thought (Job 31:4), Doth not he see my ways; as Joseph did (Gen 39:9), How can I do it, and sin against God? Two things Job had an eye to: - [1.] God's omniscience. It is a great truth that God's eyes are upon all the ways of men (Pro 5:20, Pro 5:21); but Job here mentions it with application to himself and his own actions: Doth not he see my ways? O God! thou hast searched me and known me. God sees what rule we walk by, what company w walk with, what end we walk towards, and therefore what ways we walk in. [2.] His observance. "He not only sees, but takes notice; he counts all my steps, all my false steps in the way of duty, all my by-steps into the way of sin." He not only sees our ways in general, but takes cognizance of our particular steps in these ways, every action, every motion. He keeps account of all, because he will call us to account, will bring every work into judgment. God takes a more exact notice of us than we do of ourselves; for who ever counted his own steps? yet God counts them. Let us therefore walk circumspectly.
II. He stood upon his guard against the love of the world, and carefully avoided all sinful indirect means of getting wealth. He dreaded all forbidden profit as much as all forbidden pleasure. Let us see,
1.What his protestation is. In general, he had been honest and just in all his dealings, and never, to his knowledge, did any body any wrong. (1.) He never walked with vanity (Job 31:5), that is, he never durst tell a lie to get a good bargain. It was never his way to banter, or equivocate, or make many words in his dealings. Some men's constant walk is a constant cheat. They either make what they have more than it is, that they may be trusted, or less than it is, that nothing may be expected from them. But Job was a different man. His wealth was not acquired by vanity, though now diminished, Pro 13:11. (2.) He never hasted to deceit. Those that deceive must be quick and sharp, but Job's quickness and sharpness were never turned that way. He never made haste to be rich by deceit, but always acted cautiously, lest, through inconsideration, he should do an unjust thing. Note, What we have in the world may be either used with comfort or lost with comfort if it was honestly obtained. (3.) His steps never turned out of the way, the way of justice and fair dealing; from that he never deviated, Job 31:7. He not only took care not to walk in a constant course and way of deceit, but he did not so much as take one step out of the way of honesty. In every particular action and affair we must closely tie ourselves up to the rules of righteousness. (4.) His heart did not walk after his eyes, that is, he did not covet what he saw that was another's, nor wish it his own. Covetousness is called the lust of the eye, Jo1 2:16. Achan saw, and then took, the accursed thing. That heart must needs wander that walks after the eyes; for then it looks no further than the things that are seen, whereas it ought to be in heaven whither the eyes cannot reach: it should follow the dictates of religion and right reason: if it follow the eye, it will be misled to that for which God will bring men into judgment, Ecc 11:9. (5.) That no blot had cleaved to his hands, that is, he was not chargeable with getting any thing dishonestly, or keeping that which was another's, whenever it appeared to be so. Injustice is a blot, a blot to the estate, a blot to the owner; it spoils the beauty of both, and therefore is to be dreaded. Those that deal much in the world may perhaps have a blot come upon their hands, but they must wash it off again by repentance and restitution, and not let it cleave to their hands. See Isa 33:15.
2.How he ratifies his protestation. So confident is he of his own honesty that, (1.) He is willing to have his goods searched (Job 31:6): Let me be weighed in an even balance, that is, "Let what I have got be enquired into and it will be found to weigh well" - a sign that it was not obtained by vanity, for then Tekel would have been written on it - weighed in the balance and found too light. An honest man is so far from dreading a trial that he desires it rather, being well assured that God knows his integrity and will approve it, and that the trial of it will be to his praise and honour. (2.) He is willing to forfeit the whole cargo if there be found any prohibited or contraband goods, any thing but what he came honestly by (Job 31:8): "Let me sow, and let another eat," which was already agreed to be the doom of oppressors (Job 5:5), "and let my offspring, all the trees that I have planted, be rooted out." This intimates that he believed the sin did deserve this punishment, that usually it is thus punished, but that though now his estate was ruined (and at such a time, if ever, his conscience would have brought his sin to his mind), yet he knew himself innocent and would venture all the poor remains of his estate upon the issue of the trial.
There is in my way of life, even in its details, as much exactness as in the arm [of a balance]. I have not overlooked the smallest detail. For this, I do not appeal to the testimony of a mortal, who may want to please and ignores many things, but to the testimony of God, who accurately knows all that is hidden and to whom nothing can escape. “The Lord,” he says, “knows my innocence, if my foot has turned aside out of the way or if my heart has followed my eye.” Is this a further detail? Yes, truly, it was important at that time as well as now. It is important, in fact, to overturn inordinate desires, and it is not less important, after receiving those desires, not to satisfy them. And proceeding further, he states something that is even more important, that is, that not even his eyes have ever accepted anything of that kind.
15. After the manner of Sacred Revelation we call it to ‘sow’ to preach the words of life. Thus it is hence the Prophet says, Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters. [Is. 32, 20] For the preachers of Holy Church he saw to ‘sow upon all waters’ because they bestowed the words of life, like grains of heavenly bread, upon all peoples far and wide. But to ‘eat’ is to be filled to the full with good works. Hence Truth saith by Itself; My meat is to do the will of Him That sent Me. [John 4, 34] So then, if the things that he gave forth, he forbore to do, he says; Then let me sow, and another eat. As though he said in plain words; ‘What my mouth utters let not me but another man put in practice.’ For the preacher who in his ways is at variance with his own words, sows going hungry what another may eat; because he is not himself fed by His own seed, when by wrong conduct he is made void of the rightness of his word. And because it very often happens that the disciples hear what is good to no purpose, when by the life of the master it is destroyed by the example of actions, it in rightly subjoined; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
16. For ‘the offspring’ of the teacher is ‘rooted out,’ when he who is born by the word, is killed by the example, because him whom the heeding tongue begets, heedlessness of the life kills. For neither should we pass over with an insensible mind, that in Solomon the woman killed in sleeping the child, whom she was used to suckle being awake; [1 Kings 3, 19] in this way, because masters awake indeed in knowledge, but asleep in life, upon their hearers, whom they nourish by the watches of preaching, whilst they neglect to do the things that they say, through the sleep of insensibility inflict death, and by neglecting overlay those whom they appeared to be feeding with the milk of words. Hence generally whilst they live themselves in a blameable way, they are at once unable to have disciples of a praiseworthy life, and endeavour to draw over the disciples of others to themselves, that so, whilst they show themselves to have good followers, in the judgments of men they may excuse the evil things that they do, and as it were by the life of those under them cover their deathdealing negligence. Whence in that place the woman, because she had killed her own, sought for another’s child. Yet the sword of Solomon discovered the true mother, because surely what man’s fruit may live or what man’s die, the wrath of the Strict Judge in the final Judgment brings to light. Where this too is to be regarded with a discreet eye, that the child is first bidden to be divided whilst living, in order that afterwards it may be restored to the mother only, because in this life the disciples’ life is in a manner allowed to be divided, whereas it is sometimes the case that from that life one man is permitted to have merit with God, and another man to have praise with men.
17. But the feigned mother did not fear for him to be put to death, whom she did not bear; because masters that are presumptuous and unacquainted with charity, if they are not able to win the fullest character of praise from the disciples of others, hunt down their life with cruelty. For being set on fire with the firebrand of envy, they are not minded for those to live to others whom they see that they cannot themselves possess. Whence in that place the bad woman cries out, Let it be neither mine nor thine. [ib. v. 26] For as we said, those whom they do not see to be at their command for temporal glory, they grudge should live to others through truth. But the true mother is at pains that her child may at least be with a stranger woman and live, because genuine masters yield it that by their disciples others indeed should have the praise of preceptorship, if, this notwithstanding, those same disciples do not lose wholeness of life. Through which same bowels of pitifulness this same true mother is known, because all tutorage is tested in the trial of charity, and she alone has earned to receive the whole, who as it were gave up the whole; because the faithful rulers, for this that they not only do not envy others’ praise derived from their own good disciples, but also implore for them usefulness for advancement, do themselves receive back the children at once whole and living, when in the Last Inquest from the lives of those they obtain the joys of perfect recompensing. These things we have delivered in few words out of course, that we might point out in what way the offspring of hearers is through the negligence of the teachers made to be extinct; because whosoever does not live according to that which he speaks, uproots by practice from the stedfastness of righteousness those whom he has begotten by speech. But blessed Job never by his way of acting put an end whilst sleeping to those whom by his preaching he had brought forth whilst awake; and therefore he says with confidence, Then let me sow and another eat, let my offspring be rooted out; which same still examining himself touching the defilement of bad practice.
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SUMMARY
Job 31:8 encapsulates a powerful self-imprecation, forming a critical part of Job's most extensive and final defense of his integrity before God and his friends. In this verse, Job declares that if he has been guilty of any form of injustice, deceit, or covetousness, particularly in his agricultural or economic dealings, he would willingly accept the most severe consequences: the complete loss of the fruit of his labor and the utter eradication of his lineage. This bold and solemn challenge profoundly underscores his unwavering conviction of his own righteousness and his desperate demand for divine justice and vindication.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 31:8 powerfully employs several literary devices to convey Job's intense conviction and the gravity of his oath. The most prominent is Self-Imprecation, where Job invokes a curse upon himself if his claims of innocence are false. This rhetorical strategy is a solemn oath, designed to impress upon his listeners (and God) the absolute truthfulness of his defense. The specific curses themselves utilize Hyperbole, presenting extreme and devastating consequences (total loss of labor, complete eradication of lineage) to emphasize the gravity of the sins he denies and the depth of his integrity. There is also a strong element of Irony in the first clause, "let me sow, and let another eat," highlighting the bitter reversal of natural order and justice, where effort does not lead to reward. This specific imagery also functions as a Metonymy, where "sowing" and "eating" represent the entire cycle of productive labor and its rightful enjoyment. The parallel structure of the two clauses, moving from economic loss to existential obliteration, creates a sense of escalating severity, reinforcing the weight of Job's oath.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 31:8 is a profound theological statement, revealing Job's unwavering commitment to a system of retributive justice where righteousness should be rewarded and sin punished. His willingness to invoke such dire consequences upon himself if he has deviated from this moral standard underscores his deep conviction that his suffering is undeserved, thereby challenging God's perceived justice. The verse brings to the forefront the ancient understanding of divine covenant curses, where specific acts of disobedience were believed to lead to specific forms of judgment, often involving agricultural failure and the destruction of lineage. Job's self-imprecation thus becomes a dramatic plea for God to act according to the very principles of justice that Job believes God upholds. The tension created by Job's blamelessness and his profound suffering is central to the book's exploration of the mystery of God's ways and the limitations of human understanding of divine justice.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 31:8, though rooted in an ancient cultural practice of self-imprecation, offers timeless insights into the human desire for integrity, justice, and accountability. Job's willingness to stake his entire legacy on his innocence challenges us to examine the depth of our own moral conviction and the consistency of our walk before God and others. Do we live with such transparency and integrity that we could, in a spiritual sense, invite scrutiny of our lives? The verse reminds us that actions have profound consequences, not just for ourselves but potentially for our descendants and our legacy. While we no longer invoke literal curses, our choices—especially those related to honesty, fairness, and compassion in our work and relationships—do shape our lives and the world around us. Job's struggle also invites us to reflect on our understanding of divine justice. When life seems unfair, do we, like Job, hold fast to our integrity and continue to seek God, even if His ways are beyond our immediate comprehension? The ultimate lesson from Job is not that suffering is always a direct result of sin, but that God's wisdom and justice transcend human frameworks, calling us to trust in His sovereign goodness even when we do not understand.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is a "self-imprecation," and why does Job use it?
Answer: A self-imprecation is a solemn oath or curse that a person invokes upon themselves, stating that if they are found to be guilty of a certain transgression, then a specific, often severe, punishment should befall them. Job uses this device throughout Job 31 as a powerful rhetorical strategy to affirm his absolute innocence. By inviting such dire consequences upon himself, Job demonstrates his profound conviction that he has not committed the sins for which his friends accuse him, thereby challenging God to prove him wrong and vindicate his blamelessness. It's a way of saying, "If I'm lying, let this terrible thing happen to me."
What does "let my offspring be rooted out" truly mean in this context?
Answer: In ancient Israelite society, the continuation of a family line was of immense importance, deeply tied to identity, legacy, and the fulfillment of God's covenant promises (e.g., the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2). To have one's "offspring rooted out" means the complete destruction or cessation of one's lineage—no children, no grandchildren, no descendants to carry on the family name or inherit property. It was considered the most devastating curse imaginable, signifying utter divine displeasure and the complete obliteration of one's future and memory on earth. Job's willingness to invoke this curse underscores the extreme confidence he has in his moral purity.
How is Job's challenge relevant to Christians today, given that we don't make such oaths?
Answer: While Christians do not typically make self-imprecatory oaths, Job's challenge in Job 31:8 remains profoundly relevant as a testament to integrity and a pursuit of justice. It calls us to live lives of such transparency and moral uprightness that our character would stand up to scrutiny. It also highlights the universal human desire for fairness and justice, and the struggle to reconcile suffering with God's goodness. For believers, it encourages a deep trust in God's ultimate justice, even when His ways are mysterious, and a commitment to living righteously, knowing that our true vindication comes through Christ, not through our own perfect performance (Romans 3:23-24).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job 31:8, with its raw demand for justice and its invocation of curses for unrighteousness, finds its ultimate fulfillment and transformation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Job, in his blamelessness, desperately seeks vindication from God, believing that his integrity should exempt him from suffering. Yet, the New Testament reveals a different kind of blamelessness and a different kind of suffering. Jesus Christ, perfectly righteous and truly without sin (unlike Job, who, though blameless in human terms, was still a sinner in need of grace), did not invoke curses upon Himself, but willingly became a curse for us. Galatians 3:13 declares, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." The very curses Job feared—loss of life's fruit and the cutting off of lineage—were symbolically or literally borne by Christ. He "sowed" a perfect life of obedience, yet "another ate" (or rather, we, humanity, reaped the benefits of His sacrifice) as He endured the cross, the ultimate loss of the fruit of His earthly labor. Furthermore, though His physical lineage was cut off at the cross, His spiritual "offspring" (believers) were "rooted in" Him, ensuring an eternal legacy far beyond any earthly lineage (Isaiah 53:10). Job's struggle for vindication points forward to Christ, who, though innocent, suffered the ultimate curse, not for His own sin, but to secure the eternal vindication and blessing for all who believe in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).