Job 31

¹ “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? ² What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? ³ Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? ⁴ Does not he see my ways and number all my steps? ⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; ⁶ (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) ⁷ if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, ⁸ then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out. ⁹ “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, ¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. ¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; ¹² for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase. ¹³ “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, ¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? ¹⁶ “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it ¹⁸ (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow), ¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering, ²⁰ if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, ²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, ²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. ²³ For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty. ²⁴ “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, ²⁵ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, ²⁶ if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, ²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above. ²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him ³⁰ (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse), ³¹ if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’ ³² (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler), ³³ if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, ³⁴ because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors— ³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! ³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; ³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him. ³⁸ “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, ³⁹ if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last, ⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

In David McCullough’s The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914, McCullough recounts Theodore Roosevelt’s rather tortured attempt to defend the American taking of Panama from Colombia.

Attorney General Knox, having been asked by Roosevelt to construct a defense, is said to have remarked, “Oh, Mr. President, do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality.” At another point, during a Cabinet meeting, Roosevelt talked of the bitter denunciations in the press, then entered into a long, formal statement of his position. When he had finished, the story goes, he looked about the table, finally fixing his eye on Elihu Root. “Well,” he demanded, “have I answered the charges? Have I defended myself?” “You certainly have, Mr. President,” replied Root, who was known for his wit. “You have shown that you were accused of seduction and you have conclusively proved that you were guilty of rape.”[1]

Root’s response to Roosevelt is as witty as it is jarring. I suppose it is jarring not only because of the loaded and shocking terminology he used but also because of the way that he put his finger on something that is germane to the human condition: all of our protests of innocence tend to make our guilt clearer and clearer.

It is perhaps not surprising then that Job’s friends assumed Job to be guilty. After all, is it not the case that guilt usually lurks behind our protestations of innocence? And is it not the case that our crimes usually end up being greater than the lesser acts we are denying? Human sinfulness is, among other things, profoundly self-deluding.

There is a scene in the 1990 film “Presumed Innocent” when Harrison Ford, who has been accused of murdering a female co-worker, looks at his lawyer in a moment of desperation and says, “I’m innocent.” The look his lawyer gives him in that moment, as well as Ford’s character’s later self-loathing recounting of the episode to his wife, reveals the truth behind all such declarations: you never look more guilty than when you swear you are not.

Yet, with Job, he was innocent! As he concludes his lengthy speech in Job 31, Job will periodically assert his own innocence, but he will do so in the midst of a passionate monologue in which he argues that if he was in fact guilty he should in fact be punished.

Job does not deny the legitimacy of divine wrath against sin, he simply denies that in his case his tragedy is a result of such sin.

Job announces his firm conviction that sin should indeed be punished yet protests throughout that he has not sinned.

Chapter 31 of Job is a powerful and even beautiful articulation of two of Job’s great convictions. The first is that sin should rightly be punished by God. The second is that he is not personally harboring sin that needs to be punished. It is best to hear Job’s words in one grand sweep just as he delivered them.

¹ “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? ² What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? ³ Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? ⁴ Does not he see my ways and number all my steps? ⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; ⁶ (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) ⁷ if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, ⁸ then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out. ⁹ “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, ¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. ¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; ¹² for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase. ¹³ “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, ¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? ¹⁶ “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it ¹⁸ (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow), ¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering, ²⁰ if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, ²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, ²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. ²³ For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty. ²⁴ “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, ²⁵ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, ²⁶ if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, ²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above. ²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him ³⁰ (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse), ³¹ if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’ ³² (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler), ³³ if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, ³⁴ because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors— ³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! ³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; ³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him. ³⁸ “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, ³⁹ if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last, ⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

Again, this is not arrogance. Job truly is innocent in this case. What he is trying to tell his friends is that he is not looking for a personal exception clause. He does not see himself as a special case. Rather, he sees himself as part of the human race that should rightly receive judgment if he has sinned. However, he has not sinned!

This idea of pleading one’s innocence before the judgment seat of God was not unknown in the ancient world (nor is it in our own day). Steven Chase has mentioned the Egyptian Book of the Dead in which is found the words of a dead man who is claiming innocence before Osiris and forty-two judges. He says:

I have come to thee, my Lord…Lord of Justice…

I have not committed evil against men.

I have not mistreated cattle.

I have not committed sin in a place of truth.

I have not known that which is not.

I have not seen evil…

I have not done violence to a poor man.

I have not done that which the gods abominate.

I have not defamed a slave to his superior.

I have not made (anyone) sick.

I have not made (anyone) weep.

I have not killed.

To be sure, there is something within the human heart that wants to think of itself and wants others to think of it as innocent. Obviously, even those caught in the mire of paganism feel this. Job offers his own list of sins he has not committed, and we know that, in this case, he right to do so. Chase offers a breakdown of Job’s own fourteen claims of innocence.

• lust (vv.1-2)
• cheating in business (vv. 5-6)
• taking the property of others (vv.7-8)
• adultery (vv. 9-12)
• unfairness toward slaves in the courts (vv.13-15)
• callousness toward the poor (vv. 16-18)
• lack of pity for the wayfarer (vv. 19-20)
• perversion of the just claims of the widow and the orphan (vv. 21-23)
• love of gold and confidence in wealth (vv. 24-25)
• worship of the sun and moon (vv. 26-28)
• joy in the calamity of his foes (vv. 29-31)
• failure to practice hospitality (v. 32)
• concealing sins because of fear of public opinion (vv. 33-34)
• expropriation of the land of others (vv.38-40)[2]

It is as if Job is not wanting to leave any stone unturned in his catalogue of sins, as if he is trying to say, “Look, I’m not playing a game here. I am aware of the many ways in which men fall. But I have not fallen in these or any other areas!”

It is commonly said that the big three downfalls of man are “money, sex, and power.” That is true. Perhaps that list could also be applied to the downfall of women. It is telling that the first sin Job mentions is the sin of lust. He has covenanted with his eyes not to lust after woman, he says. Does this mean that Job thinks that his friends believe him to be lustful, a fornicator, possibly even an adulterer? Perhaps he does. Perhaps they did! Regardless, Job protests this and all other accusations and proclaims his innocence.

Yet our position is not always the position of Job: Job was innocent and had to reject his friends’ assertions of guilt. We are guilty and often have to reject our own assertions of innocence.

It needs to be said at this point that what we find in the book of Job is not a normative harmartology. Harmartology refers to the theology of sin. When I say that Job is not trying to offer a normative harmartology, I am saying that the point of the book is neither that no suffering is ever a result a sin or that human beings occupy the place of Job in this situation and can likewise claim innocence as a matter of course.

Some suffering is causally rated to personal sins. We may think, just to use one of many examples, of the person who wrecks his or her health with alcohol. And all suffering in a sense can be traced to the fall of humankind into sin. But to say this is not to suggest that all suffering in every circumstance is a direct result of some sin that you have personally committed. Sometimes, like in the case of Job, God allows suffering that we cannot diagnose and that we cannot explain.

Nor is the point of Job 31 that we too can say with Job that we have not sinned. In point of fact, we have sinned, all of us. While we may experience inexplicable suffering like Job, and while many, in fact, do, it is too often the case that our pain is a result of our own foolishness and rebellion. I do not say this in order to stand with Job’s friends or to stand with a simplistic theory of retributive justice. The condemnations of both are well attested and divinely approved. But it does need to be said, lest we seek to apply Job’s claims of innocence de facto to our own situations, that sometimes our suffering is in fact a result of our own sinfulness.

If we are not suffering as a result of personal sin in a given situation, we should not allow those with a deficient theology to force us into thinking that we are. There are strands of Christianity today that attempt to say such things, and it is a horribly abusive thing to say. “Some preachers need a travel agent to handle all the guilt trips they put on God’s people,” write Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, “But there is a big difference between putting a guilt trip on Christians and unveiling Christ to them.”[3] That is well said!

However, let us not forget that sometimes the problem is our sin and we should search our own hearts to see if there is anything of which we should repent. If we assume innocence we are as naïve as Job’s friends who assumed guilt. If we assume innocence, we may be missing out on the key to our healing: repentance and the receiving of forgiveness. While keeping the crucial point of Job’s just complaint in mind, let us also remind ourselves of the pervasiveness of human sinfulness. There is perhaps no better statement to this regard than Paul’s powerful words in Romans 3.

⁹ What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” ¹³ “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” ¹⁴ “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” ¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ in their paths are ruin and misery, ¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Before we assume Job 31 for ourselves, let us make sure that we are not in sin! To fail to consider this is a dangerous thing. In his book, Healing for Damaged Emotions, David Seamands insightfully writes:

Some of us remember the defensive lineup of the Los Angeles Rams of several years ago. Half a ton of human flesh simply buried the opposition. They were called the Fearsome Foursome. Jesus is saying that the unforgiven and the unforgiving get turned over to a Fearsome Foursome of guilt, resentment, striving, and anxiety. These four produce stress, conflict, and all sorts of emotional problems. Dr. David Belgum, commenting on the claim that up to 75 percent of the people in hospitals today with physical illnesses have sicknesses rooted in emotional causes, says that these patients are punishing themselves with their illnesses and that their physical symptoms and breakdowns may be their involuntary confessions of guilt…[4]

If this is you, if you are suffering and it is a result of your own sinful choices, it is vitally important that you own that reality and run with abandon to Jesus! It is true that we are sinners, but it is also true that Christ has come to save sinners! Alongside the chilling words of Romans 3 we must always place the beautiful truth of 2 Corinthians 5.

²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Yes, we are sinners, but Christ takes our sin so that we might be forgiven! We are forgiven because He is condemned! We live because He died! We live after death because He rose after death.

None of us can claim Job 31 over our suffering in every circumstance. Perhaps we can claim it in truth over very few of our personal circumstances. Not even Job could claim it in every circumstance. Only Jesus could always say that He was and is innocent, and that is why we have hope! The righteous Lamb can and does forgive! When we are guilty, He is waiting with forgiveness grounded in His own righteousness and the love of the Father.

If you are suffering and cannot attribute it to known sin, do not let those with a faulty theology harass you and abuse you.

If you are suffering and you know it is a result of your own sin, turn to the one who suffered in your stead and who is ever with you. There you will find forgiveness, grace, peace, and life.

 

[1] McCullough, David (2001-10-27). The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 (p. 383). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

[2] Steven Chase, Job. Belief. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), p.229-230.

[3] Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Manifesto (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010), p.25.

[4] Seamands, David A. (2010-11-01). Healing for Damaged Emotions (Kindle Locations 406-412). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.