Job 31:1 - Meaning and Application

The desires of the body and the love of the world are the two deadly traps that ruin many people. Job says he was careful to guard himself against both. First, he kept himself from the lusts of the flesh. He did not just avoid adultery, or defiling another man's wife (Job 31:9), but every kind of sexual sin with any woman at all.

He kept no concubine or mistress. He stayed faithful to his marriage bed, even though his wife was not the wisest, kindest, or best wife. From the beginning, God made marriage so that a man should have one wife and cling to her alone, and Job held closely to that design. Though his high rank might have tempted him, his goodness kept him from it.

Job was now in pain and sickness, and that made this clear conscience especially comforting. It is a great relief in suffering to know that we have kept our bodies in purity and honor, and have not given them over to filthy desires. Here we should notice both his resolve and his reasons.

His resolve was this, he made a covenant with his eyes, meaning he made a firm promise to guard his sight. He would not allow his eyes to rest on anything that could stir impure thoughts or desires. If his eyes led him into sin, then they must answer for it with tears of repentance. Those who want to keep their hearts pure must guard their eyes, because the eyes are both a doorway in and a doorway out for uncleanness.

This is why Scripture speaks of wanton eyes (Isaiah 3:16) and eyes full of adultery (2 Peter 2:14). The first sin in Eden began with the eyes (Genesis 3:6). What we must not touch, we must not long for. What we must not long for, we must not keep staring at. That includes forbidden wealth (Proverbs 23:5), forbidden wine (Proverbs 23:31), and the forbidden woman (Matthew 5:28).

Job also guarded his mind. He would not even let himself entertain a lustful thought. “Why then should I think upon a maid?” means he would not let his mind dwell on a young woman with unclean desire. Shame might keep a man from openly pursuing such sin, but only grace and fear of God can keep him from even thinking it. A person is not pure unless he is pure in spirit as well as in body (1 Corinthians 7:34). Christ's teaching on the seventh commandment matches the true meaning of the law, and Job understood it better than the Pharisees, even though they sat in Moses's seat.

Job's reasons were stronger than fear of man's opinion. He was moved by the fear of God's wrath and curse. He knew that sexual uncleanness cuts a person off from all true good. “What portion of God is there from above?” he asks in Job 31:2. What blessing can an impure sinner expect from the pure and holy God? What inheritance can such a person look for from the Almighty? All true happiness is found in God and comes from above. Those who wallow in impurity make themselves unfit for fellowship with God now, or glory later. No unclean thing will enter the New Jerusalem, the holy city.

He also knew this sin brings divine judgment. If it is not repented of, it ends in ruin. Job 31:3 speaks of destruction, a sudden and certain ruin, and of a strange punishment for those who do this evil. Many people laugh at this sin and treat it as a small matter, just a youthful mistake. But they are fooled by empty words. Because of these things, even when people think lightly of them, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6). Some sinners are sometimes met by God in unusual ways, and this is one of those sins. The destruction of Sodom is an example of that strange punishment.

The line may also mean “alienation,” because this sin turns the heart away from God (Ephesians 4:18-19). That is both the sin itself and the punishment, since such sinners are set forever at a distance from him (Revelation 22:15). Job knew, too, that this sin cannot stay hidden from God. A lustful thought cannot be too secret, and a lustful look cannot be too quick, for God's sight. No act of uncleanness can be done where he does not see it.

So if Job was ever tempted this way, he stopped himself with this thought: “Does he not see my ways?” like Joseph said, “How can I do this and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). Job kept two things in view. First, God's all-knowing eye. It is true that God's eyes are on all human ways (Proverbs 5:20-21), but Job applied that truth to himself. “Does he not see my ways?” he says. God sees the rule we follow, the company we keep, the goal we move toward, and the paths we take.

Second, Job knew God not only sees, but also notices. He counts all our steps, even our false steps in the path of duty, and all our side-steps into sin. He takes careful note of every action and movement, because he will call us to account and bring every work into judgment. God observes us more closely than we observe ourselves, for who ever counted his own steps? Yet God counts them all. So we should walk carefully.

Job also guarded himself against the love of the world, and he avoided all dishonest ways of getting wealth. He feared forbidden profit as much as forbidden pleasure. In general, he had been honest and fair in all his dealings, and as far as he knew, he had done no one wrong. He says in Job 31:5 that he never walked with vanity, meaning he never lied to make a better bargain.

He did not make a habit of tricks, false claims, or double talk in business. Some people live by cheating. They make what they have seem greater than it is, so others will trust them, or smaller than it is, so others will expect less. Job was not like that. His wealth had not been gained by deceit, even though now it was reduced (Proverbs 13:11).

He says, in effect, that he never rushed into deceit. People who deceive others often need speed and sharp thinking, but Job says he never used those gifts that way. He did not try to get rich by dishonest means. Instead, he acted carefully so that he would not do wrong through carelessness.

He also says his steps never turned away from the path of justice and fair dealing (Job 31:7). He does not mean only that he avoided a steady pattern of deceit. He means he did not even take one step off the path of honesty. In every choice and business matter, we must hold ourselves closely to the rules of righteousness.

Job then says his heart did not follow his eyes. That means he did not desire something just because he saw it and it belonged to someone else. Covetousness is called the lust of the eye (1 John 2:16). Achan saw the forbidden thing and then took it, which led him into sin. A heart that follows the eyes will wander far from God, because it looks only at what is visible, not at what is right. Our hearts should follow faith, conscience, and sound reason, because if they follow the eyes, they will be drawn toward what God will judge (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

He adds that no stain had clung to his hands. In other words, he was not guilty of getting anything by cheating, or of keeping what belonged to someone else once he learned the truth. Unfair dealing leaves a mark, both on a person’s goods and on the person himself. It spoils the honor of both, so it should be feared. Those who handle much in this world may sometimes get a stain on their hands, but they must wash it away by repentance and making things right, and not let it remain.

Job then strengthens his protest. He is so sure of his honesty that he is willing for his goods to be examined. “Let me be weighed in an even balance” (Job 31:6) means, let my life and my gain be tested, and it will be seen that they are sound. If he had been dishonest, the verdict would have been that he was too light, as in the warning word Tekel, weighed in the balance and found wanting. An honest man does not fear a fair test. He welcomes it, knowing that God sees his integrity and will approve it.

He is also willing to lose everything if any unlawful thing is found in his possession (Job 31:8). “Let me sow, and let another eat” means, let someone else enjoy the fruit of my labor, as is the fate of oppressors (Job 5:5). “Let my offspring be rooted out” means, let even the trees I have planted be destroyed. This shows that he believed such sin deserved such punishment, and that it often receives it. Even though his property was already ruined, and that was the very time when guilt might have come back to his mind, he still knew himself innocent and was willing to risk the last remains of his estate on the truth.