Job 31:38 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Job 31:38

Comments

In this elegant language Job ends his words protesting his innocence. Injustice is committed against fellow human beings not against inanimate objects and therefore we must see this as a poetic way of speaking of the harm that Job might have done to others, by failing to pay workers who had laboured on his land, or by refusing to give some of the produce of the land to those in great need. The land is personified and pictured as crying out itself against such injustice because its fruit has been so misused. It served the purpose of God for it faithfully brought forth food for the table, but then a man who might have used that food to do good, selfishly hoarded it for himself alone. Of course Job denies having done anything of the sort, but to reinforce this denial he again calls down a curse on himself if he had acted otherwise than with charity and honesty. Let the land on which he is dependent yield only worthless weeds and thistles in future instead of growing food to support life. So ought every believer to be able to say and if he can remember any incident in which he has done differently, he should repent and correct it at once.

Application

Of course, in all this Job speaks sincerely and honestly of the great efforts he made in holiness. But if a man of God could make such efforts, what is he doing wrong?

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1. As you go through, you see he does it because he is concerned about present blessing or punishment. Our motives for pleasing God should not be so that God will bless me tomorrow but because things are right – God desires it, and I will receive spiritual blessing. We must not have an almost sub-Christian motive of obeying for temporal blessing. We want our hands clean for spiritual blessing.

2. He tells us all this because he thinks God is dealing unfairly. As he tries to live a righteous life, he thinks his good deeds ought to count for something. He also believes in grace and his acts are a drop in the bucket. But he has the contradictory belief – I have tried, so why am I not being blessed? We always receive all our blessing solely on Christ’s merits.

3. Job doesn’t really register the deceitfulness of his heart – his policy is good, his sense of realism is poor. He actually thought he could keep this rule. You can say, ‘I would like to keep it but I constantly find my affections being taken up with wrong things.’

4. Job says, ‘If I have been affected by my blessings …’, but he has already shown that he has been affected. He had not been anything like as tough with himself as he should have been. Therefore don’t think we deserve a medal for every good deed. Having made a determination to live in God’s way, we have really only just begun. Be honest with yourself. There is nothing worse than a Christian who thinks he has succeeded when he has failed. We see the weaknesses of Job as he inadvertently reveals them. Don’t put down roots here in this world, and live for blessings here and now.

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Job 31:38 Commentary and Bible Study