The
Sunday called Sexagesima, or the
second
Sunday before Lent.
The
Collect.
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O
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LORD God, who seest that we put not
our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be
defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Chapter 31 is one of the longest to this point and cannot sensibly be covered
in a brief devotion verse by verse; so I will attempt to distill the sense of
the whole in summaries of the salient points therein.
Job 31
King James Version (KJV)
31 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;
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.
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 rejoice 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 rejoice 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.
The very first verse introduces us to the theme of this chapter: 1.
I made a covenant with mine eyes (Job 31:1a) Here Job states the
covenant that he made in his youth to avoid sins that his eyes and senses might
induce. "…why then should I think upon a maid."
(Job 31:1b) Sensual sins are the most besetting and most powerful. If our eyes
are blind to the chocolate cake, we shall never over indulge it. Our eyes make
us more aware of the opportunity to sin. All that we see we may believe can be
ours, but there are some things that are unprofitable and even sinful for us to
behold in hunger and envy. Forget not that it was the EYE that most led Eve to
sin before the Ill-Natured Tree at Eden. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (Gen 3:6) Of course, she
was led to the temptation of sight first by the lesser sense of hearing, but it
was the appearance of the fruit that settle the sordid affair. So Job is saying
that we must, in making a covenant with our senses, set walls and ramparts
about our physical senses for these are the gateways to our spiritual
fortresses.
Job provides us a glimpse of his moral method of living in the past. Of course
he runs off a laundry list all the laws and regulations for morality that he
has set upon his life. It was a sad description of legalism in some sense
though moral righteousness is never to be condemned; yet our righteous living
is not righteous in the eyes of God for it cannot be. So Job, in a sense, is
saying: Look, Lord, I have done everything right – kept your laws, kept from
sins of passion, kept from greed, etc. Why should I experience this terrible
tribulation? Job has developed a set of "New Year's" resolutions that
he considers comprehensive, but no set of resolutions can cover ever
eventuality or opportunity for sin. Even in a sense of absent-mindedness, our
minds may be distracted by the passing of a beautiful lady, or handsome young
gentleman. It is for this reason that our Prayer of General Confession
includes sins of omission as well as sins of commission. Man simply
cannot be "good enough" to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Only in
swearing an oath of allegiance and dependency upon the King of that Kingdom
(Jesus Christ) can we gain admittance.
Next Job asks a question of profound implications, in my humble interpretation.
What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall
I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not
one fashion us in the womb? (Job 31:14-15) Before delving into the
deeper and prophetic meaning, let us first observe that, first of all, we shall
all answer to God at some point of His own choosing. The same whop fashion and
began a life in the womb is the same who fashioned our own substance unseen. He
is the Same who fashioned every body and soul that has ever lived. Where shall
we stand at that Day of the Lord if we have destroyed in the womb that which
the Lord has commenced to create? Shall the abortionist not be relegated to the
hottest dens of Hell? But may I ask you, Friend, what will you do when God
rises in judgment of all your hidden and secret sins? Will they be covered by
the Risen Lord? The promise of the coming Seed had already been made when Job
spoke these words; but now we have an even greater certainty in the
accomplished fact. We shall have less reason to complain of our straights than
Job had for he had less certain knowledge of the Risen Christ – he saw with
eyes of faith. Job wonders what account he shall give at that great moment.
What account will YOU render? There is one Creator and He offers the same
miracle and opportunity to life that all receive. Will you be guilty of
terminating that miracle of God? By the way, since we all have the same
Creator, we also share a common nature. Because of the Adamic Fall, we have a
SIN nature whether we like to hear that or not.
At verse 16, Job initiates a series of questions that prove the timeless
principles of true religion expressed by James: 16 If I have
withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to
fail; 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:
(Job 31:16-21) Compare these
entreaties with what James describes as true religion: If any man among
you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own
heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God
and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:26-27) These are
sins of omission mentioned by Job and they bear the same penalty as sins of
commission.
In verse 24 through 28, Job denies the love of money as his love. 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. (Job
31:24-28) I need not remind the readers of these lengthy devotions that money,
in and of itself, is not evil. But the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.
(see 1st Timothy 6:10) Job also addresses, not
only the idolatry of money, gold, and silver; but idolatry of beauty itself as
a god. To be tempted at the beauty of a glorious sunrise without knowing it is
God's beauty, or the blessing of a bright moon at night, to worship these
creatures instead of their Creator, is idolatry. Neither have I suffered
my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. (Job 31:30) Modern
preachers are known to claim to put a curse on those who refuse to follow the
desires of the so-called "anointed of God." Such ministers will
occupy the lowest rent district of Hell itself.
Job undertakes now to address `hidden sins.' But wait! Are there any sins
hidden from God who knows all, sees all, and hears all? To hide sin is yet
another sin multiplying sin on sin. Remember the old adage that you must tell a
hundred lies to cover the first one? If I covered my transgressions as
Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom (Job 31:33) Was Adam able to
cover his sin in the Garden with a flimsy fig leaf? So are our attempts to hide
our sins from God as flimsy as fig leaves.
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The
words of Job are ended. (Job 31:40) Job says that if he has failed in
any of the failures to look after the neighbor, the widow, the orphan, or to
clothe the naked, then let the same curse that God levied on Adam come to bear
upon him. Guess what – it DID! "….cursed is the ground for thy
sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. (Gen 3:17-18) Is Job too blind to see that the curse he
mentioned has fallen around his own neck? Are you, as well, too blind to see
that your perfections are miserable failures in the eyes of the Lord?
