Job 31:16 Commentary and Bible Study

Job seems to have been in a position of influence all his life and free from concern about his livelihood, because well provided for. He looks back and asks himself, and those who had known him all his life, whether he had acted in a haughty way to the poor. He can sympathise with those who are uncertain about where the next meal is coming from, and understands how this can preoccupy them. This becomes all their desire so that they have no time for the pleasures enjoyed by those with more ample resources. Similarly, Job cared for the widows who he knew were prone to anxiety. The ‘eyes of the widow’ mean their hope and longing for the provisions which they would have sought from their husbands while they were alive, and for which now they were totally dependent on the Lord. Job had such a caring heart that he looked out for all these, knowing that this pleased his Lord. He hated the thought of the cruelty involved in deliberately disappointing them in such need. And the orphans naturally looked to his kindness for help. How could he callously deny them a meal, and selfishly keep all for himself when they had no one else to turn to? Rather it was his life-long practice care for others, values which no doubt his father and mother had trained him to regard as important. He had not deviated from this for he had always been a succour to the needy.