1.
I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
2.
For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3.
Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
4.
Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5.
If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
6.
Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
7.
If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
8.
Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9.
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;
10.
Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11.
For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12.
For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
13.
If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
14.
What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
15.
Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
16.
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
A DARING APPEAL
‘If … then!’
Job 31:16; Job 31:22
I. Job protests the even-handedness of his dealings with his servants, alleging the principle which underlies the whole Christian teaching on the point, that we all have been made by the same Creator, as we have been redeemed by the same precious blood. He also insists on his benevolence to the widow and fatherless. He is careful to show that he had not failed in doing all the good that was within his reach. Alas! how few of us can say as much. How many occasions are drifted to our feet every day, which we heedlessly let pass!
II. Job had not boasted in his wealth, or worshipped the sun and moon, or rejoiced in the calamity of others, or failed in hospitality, or concealed known evil: in none of these things was he conscious of wrong. Instead of examining ourselves in a general way, it is wholesome to divide our life into compartments, and cross-question ourselves on each.
III. With this appeal he goes into the presence of God, and asks for a reply.—In the strong Gospel light we are too convicted of sin to dare to do this, and must rely upon the merits of Christ. In these alone can we approach the uncreated light.
Illustration
‘ “If I have eaten my morsel alone”—
The patriarch spoke in scorn;
What would he think of the Church, were he shown
Heathendom, huge, forlorn,
Godless, Christless, with soul unfed,
While the Church’s ailment is fullness of bread,
Eating her morsel alone?
“I am debtor alike to the Jew and the Greek,”
The mighty Apostle cried;
Traversing continents, souls to seek,
For the love of the Crucified.
Centuries, centuries since have sped,
Millions are famishing, we have bread,
But we eat our morsel alone.
Ever of them who have largest dower
Shall Heaven require the more;
Ours is affluence, knowledge, power,
Ocean from shore to shore;
And East and West in our ears have said,
“Give us, give us your living Bread”;
Yet we eat our morsel alone.
“Freely as ye have received, so give,”
He bade Who hath given us all;
How shall the soul in us longer live,
Deaf to their starving call,
For whom the Blood of the Lord was shed,
And His Body broken to give them Bread,
—If we eat our morsel alone?’
Archbishop Alexander.
17.
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
18.
(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
19.
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
20.
If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21.
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
22.
Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
A DARING APPEAL
‘If … then!’
Job 31:16; Job 31:22
I. Job protests the even-handedness of his dealings with his servants, alleging the principle which underlies the whole Christian teaching on the point, that we all have been made by the same Creator, as we have been redeemed by the same precious blood. He also insists on his benevolence to the widow and fatherless. He is careful to show that he had not failed in doing all the good that was within his reach. Alas! how few of us can say as much. How many occasions are drifted to our feet every day, which we heedlessly let pass!
II. Job had not boasted in his wealth, or worshipped the sun and moon, or rejoiced in the calamity of others, or failed in hospitality, or concealed known evil: in none of these things was he conscious of wrong. Instead of examining ourselves in a general way, it is wholesome to divide our life into compartments, and cross-question ourselves on each.
III. With this appeal he goes into the presence of God, and asks for a reply.—In the strong Gospel light we are too convicted of sin to dare to do this, and must rely upon the merits of Christ. In these alone can we approach the uncreated light.
Illustration
‘ “If I have eaten my morsel alone”—
The patriarch spoke in scorn;
What would he think of the Church, were he shown
Heathendom, huge, forlorn,
Godless, Christless, with soul unfed,
While the Church’s ailment is fullness of bread,
Eating her morsel alone?
“I am debtor alike to the Jew and the Greek,”
The mighty Apostle cried;
Traversing continents, souls to seek,
For the love of the Crucified.
Centuries, centuries since have sped,
Millions are famishing, we have bread,
But we eat our morsel alone.
Ever of them who have largest dower
Shall Heaven require the more;
Ours is affluence, knowledge, power,
Ocean from shore to shore;
And East and West in our ears have said,
“Give us, give us your living Bread”;
Yet we eat our morsel alone.
“Freely as ye have received, so give,”
He bade Who hath given us all;
How shall the soul in us longer live,
Deaf to their starving call,
For whom the Blood of the Lord was shed,
And His Body broken to give them Bread,
—If we eat our morsel alone?’
Archbishop Alexander.
23.
For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
24.
If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
25.
If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
26.
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
27.
And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
28.
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
29.
If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
30.
Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
31.
If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
32.
The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
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.