9 If my heart hath been enticed by woman, And by the opening of my neighbour I laid wait,
And the eye of an adulterer Hath observed the twilight, Saying, `No eye doth behold me.' And he putteth the face in secret. He hath dug in the darkness -- houses; By day they shut themselves up, They have not known light.
To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings, Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten. For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths. None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil `is' her mouth, And her latter end `is' bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword `with' mouths. Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of. The path of life -- lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths -- thou knowest not. And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth. Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house, Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce, Lest strangers be filled `with' thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger, And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food, And hast said, `How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised, And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear. As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company. Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters. Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth, A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually. And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman? For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering. His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden. He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 31
Commentary on Job 31 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 31
Job had often protested his integrity in general; here he does it in particular instances, not in a way of commendation (for he does not here proclaim his good deeds), but in his own just and necessary vindication, to clear himself from those crimes with which his friends had falsely charged him, which is a debt every man owes to his own reputation. Job's friends had been particular in their articles of impeachment against him, and therefore he is so in his protestation, which seems to refer especially to what Eliphaz had accused him of, ch. 22:6, etc. They had produced no witnesses against him, neither could they prove the things whereof they now accused him, and therefore he may well be admitted to purge himself upon oath, which he does very solemnly, and with many awful imprecations of God's wrath if he were guilty of those crimes. This protestation confirms God's character of him, that there was none like him in the earth. Perhaps some of his accusers durst not have joined with him; for he not only acquits himself from those gross sins which lie open to the eye of the world, but from many secret sins which, if he had been guilty of them, nobody could have charged him, with, because he will prove himself no hypocrite. Nor does he only maintain the cleanness of his practices, but shows also that in them he went upon good principles, that the reason of his eschewing evil was because he feared God, and his piety was at the bottom of his justice and charity; and this crowns the proof of his sincerity.
Job 31:1-8
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.
Job 31:9-15
Two more instances we have here of Job's integrity:-
Job 31:16-23
Eliphaz had particularly charged Job with unmercifulness to the poor (ch. 22:6, etc.): Thou hast withholden bread from the hungry, stripped the naked of their clothing, and sent widows away empty. One would think he could not have been so very positive and express in his charge unless there had been some truth in it, some ground, for it; and yet it appears, by Job's protestation, that it was utterly false and groundless; he was never guilty of any such thing. See here,
Job 31:24-32
Four articles more of Job's protestation we have in these verses, which, as all the rest, not only assure us what he was and did, but teach us what we should be and do:-
Job 31:33-40
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,
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 (ch. 40:4, 5, 42:2, etc.), 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.