Job 31:24-32

Verse 24

Gold my hope - For the meaning of זהב zahab, polished gold, and כתם kethem, stamped gold, see on Job 28:15-17 (note). Verse 26

If I beheld the sun when it shined - In this verse Job clears himself of that idolatrous worship which was the most ancient and most consistent with reason of any species of idolatry; viz., Sabaeism, the worship of the heavenly bodies; particularly the sun and moon, Jupiter and Venus, the two latter being the morning and evening stars, and the most resplendent of all the heavenly bodies, the sun and moon excepted. "Job," says Calmet, "points out three things here:

1. The worship of the sun and moon; much used in his time, and very anciently used in every part of the East; and in all probability that from which idolatry took its rise.

2. The custom of adoring the sun at its rising, and the moon at her change; a superstition which is mentioned in Eze 8:16, and in every part of profane antiquity.

3. The custom of kissing the hand; the form of adoration, and token of sovereign respect."Adoration, or the religious act of kissing the hand, comes to us from the Latin; ad, to, and os, oris, the mouth. The hand lifted to the mouth, and there saluted by the lips. Verse 28

For I should have denied the God that is above - Had I paid Divine adoration to them, I should have thereby denied the God that made them. Verse 29

If I rejoiced - I did not avenge myself on my enemy; and I neither bore malice nor hatred to him. Verse 30

Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin - I have neither spoken evil of him, nor wished evil to him. How few of those called Christians can speak thus concerning their enemies; or those who have done them any mischief! Verse 31

If the men of my tabernacle said - I believe the Targum gives the best sense here: - "If the men of my tabernacle have not said, Who hath commanded that we should not be satisfied with his flesh?" My domestics have had all kindness shown them; they have lived like my own children, and have been served with the same viands as my family. They have never seen flesh come to my table, when they have been obliged to live on pulse. Mr. Good's translation is nearly to the same sense: - "If the men of my tabernacle do not exclaim,

Who hath longed for his meat without fullness?" "Where is the man that has not been satisfied with his flesh?" i.e., fed to the full with the provisions from his table. See Pro 23:20; Isa 23:13, and Dan 10:3. Verse 32

The stranger did not lodge in the street - My kindness did not extend merely to my family, domestics, and friends; the stranger - he who was to me perfectly unknown, and the traveler - he who was on his journey to some other district, found my doors ever open to receive them, and were refreshed with my bed and my board.