14 What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him?
For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, That we should come together in judgment.
I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me, Show me why you contend with me.
For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn't forget the cry of the afflicted.
Arise, Yahweh! Don't let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.
Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don't forget the helpless. Why does the wicked person condemn God, And say in his heart, "God won't call me into account?" But you do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.
Won't God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
When God arose to judgment, To save all the afflicted ones of the earth. Selah.
What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your glory?
The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, And the man who is inspired to be insane, Because of the abundance of your sins, And because your hostility is great.
Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!"
Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault.
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.