Job 31

Job's Words Are Ended

Note: I am adding chapter 32 to tomorrow's reading since 31 ends Job's speeches and 32 begins Elihu's.


Job finalizes his case before his friends and God and maintains his innocence. His final speech is a series of rhetorical questions in the format of "if-then-for" which adds to the overall legal sound of his speech. His initial declaration seems antithetical, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman." (31:1). None of his friends had accused Job of sexual misconduct or physical lust, yet Job begins his final plea with this covenant. Why? The eye is the last moving part of the body.  It is a portal to the mind of man and the most superior of all the physical senses. Above the eyes is the mind when the mental sense reside, imagination, reasoning, memory, etc.

Job is establishing that he had subjected his physical senses to the law of God. He wants his friends to know the seriousness of his dedication and that he was in control of all of his physical senses to the point that he did not allow them to be a gateway to sin.  Next he begins to enumerate the sinful behaviors he had shunned: lying, lust, deception, stealing, stinginess, aggression, murder, and idolatry.  He has not committed schadenfreude, nor defrauded his servants.  As he has stated numerous times in previous responses, Job has maintained his integrity and knows that his suffering is not a result of sin.

This speech is reflective of the Ten Commandments yet many believe that Job was a contemporary of Abraham - i.e. he lived prior to the giving of the Law.  Because he was a man of God and cognizant of the leadership of God in his life, it is no surprise that Job would live in accordance with the Law of God.  His if-then-for's all have a recurring theme: If I am a sinner, then I would have lived like a sinner, for God will not continue to be with a sinner. Because I did not sin, and did not live as a sinner, then my suffering must be the result of God testing me, is the gist of Job's final plea.

Job ends his speech.  Next to speak is Elihu.  There were four messengers who brought news of the calamities that began Job's suffering.  We also see, with the introduction of Elihu, there are four friends who speak to Job of his condition.  We will also see that Elihu's words are on a different plane than those of Job's other "friends."

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.