Job 31:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Job calls down a curse on himself, if he has at any time turned out of the way – God’s way of righteousness – and planned to go after the lust of his eyes, or carried out evil acts. If he has departed from those standards which should govern the life of every saint, and chosen any other way, then he is no longer in God’s way. That way is the narrow way apart from which there is no alternative path. It is a way chosen for us by the Lord and we cannot negotiate with him to go an easier way or a more pleasant way. In a sense it is a way designed for each believer, for the circumstances of our lives differ, and the trials and blessings and gifts given to each one of us vary. But in another sense it is the same for each one of us, for the same principles govern all who walk in it. For each one it is a way that involves choosing what is right according to the commandments of God. Job has seen things that he did not want to see and he has felt the attraction of the flesh to such things, but he exercised self-control and stopped his heart from going after those things. He has not let his hands, which stand for all his actions, be employed in the service of sin, or if they have done so, he has repented and asked to be cleansed from it. The curse that he calls down on himself is vanity, disappointment and wasted effort. Man works in the hope of a reward and the gospel teaches the same thing: ‘The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits’ (2 Timothy 2:6). If he sins in this way, let him not enjoy any of the fruits of his labour, but let him have the frustration of seeing his hard work produce benefit for another who does not recognise him. This is Job’s self-punishment if he departs from the ways of God. Let his years of labour, the trees which he has patiently waited to see grow large enough to bear fruit; let them be rooted out and all those years of waiting be cut off in a moment. Let his children perish and he be without descendants.