Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:33
If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
33 34. The verses should probably be read,
33. If I have covered my transgressions like men,
Hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
34. Because I feared the great multitude,
And the contempt of the families terrified me,
So that I kept still and went not out of the door.
33. as Adam ] This is possible, and so Hos 6:7; such a reference, however, seems without motive here. The words rather mean, like common men, like the world (Ew.), Psa 17:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If I covered my transgressions as Adam – That is, if I have attempted to hide or conceal them; if, conscious of guilt, I have endeavored to cloak my sins, and to appear righteous. There has been great variety of opinion about the meaning of this expression. The margin reads it, After the manner of men. Luther, renders it, Have I covered my wickedness as a man – Habe ich meine Schalkheit wie ein Menseh gedecht. Coverdale, Have I ever done any wicked deed where through I shamed myself before men. Herder, Did I hide my faults like a mean man. Schultens, If I have covered my sin as Adam. The Vulgate, Quasi homo – as a man. The Septuagint, If when I sinned unwillingly ( akousios – inadvertently, undesignedly) I concealed my sin. Noyes, After the manner of men. Umbreit, Nach Menschenart – After the manner of men. Rosenmuller, As Adam. The Chaldee, , meaning, as Rosenmuller remarks, as Adam; and the Syriac, As men.
The meaning may either be, as people are accustomed to do when they commit a crime – referring to the common practice of the guilty to attempt to cloak their offences, or to the attempt of Adam to hide his sin from his Maker after the fall; Gen 3:7-8. It is not possible to decide with certainty which is the correct interpretation, for either will accord with the Hebrew. But in favor of the supposition that it refers to the effort of Adam to conceal his sin, we may remark, (1.) That there can be little or no doubt that that transaction was known to Job by tradition. (2.) it furnished him a pertinent and striking illustration of the point before him. (3.) the illustration is, by supposing that it refers to him, much more striking than on the other supposition. It is true that people often attempt to conceal their guilt, and that it may be set down as a fact very general in its character; but still it is not so universal that there are no exceptions. But here was a specific and well-known case, and one which, as it was the first, so it was the most sad and melancholy instance that had ever occurred of an attempt to conceal guilt. It was not an attempt, to hide it from man – for there was then no other man to witness it; but an attempt to hide it from God. From such an attempt Job says he was free.
By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom – By attempting to conceal it so that others would not know it. Adam attempted to conceal his fault even from God; and it is common with people, when they have done wrong, to endeavor to hide it from others.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 31:33
If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom.
Hiding and confessing sin
To cover and hide sin is sin: it is the adding of sin to sin. Sin is the disease of the soul, and there is no such way to increase and make a disease desperate as to conceal it. Silence feeds and cherishes the diseases of the body; and so it doth the diseases of our souls. Sin increaseth two ways, by concealment or hiding.
1. In the guilt of it. The obligation to punishment takes stronger hold upon the soul, and every man is bound the faster with those chains of darkness by how much the more he labours to keep his sins in the dark. The longer a sin remains upon the conscience unpardoned, the more doth the guilt of it increase. Now all the while sin is hid, all the while sin is artificially and intentionally covered, it remains unpardoned; and therefore the guilt of it must needs increase upon the soul.
2. Sin being thus covered, increaseth in the filth and contagion of it, in the strength and power of it, it gains more upon the soul, it grows more master and more masterly; lust begins to rage, rave, it commands and carries all before it, while we are so foolish as to keep it close and covered. If any say, Surely it is not so sinful to cover and hide sin, for doth not Scripture condemn those that did not hide it? I answer, that there is a two-fold not hiding of sin.
(1) There is a not hiding which proceeds from repentance.
(2) And there is a not hiding which proceeds from impudence. Or there is a not hiding of sin which proceeds from a broken heart, and there is a not hiding of sin which proceeds from a brazen face, from a brow of brass. As Job in speaking this, would deny the hiding and covering of his sin, so he affirms the confession of it. So that here is more intended than expressed; when he saith he did not cover, his meaning is, he discovered his sin; when he saith he did not hide it, his meaning is, he did disclose it. A godly man doth not only not hide, but is ready to confess his sin. He makes confession that he may be freed from condemnation. The holy confession of sin, which is opposed to the covering or hiding of sin, hath three things in it.
1. A confession of the fact, or the thing done (Jos 7:19).
2. A confession of the fault; that is, that in doing so we have done amiss, or done sinfully and foolishly.
3. There is in confession not only an acknowledgment of the fact and fault, but a submission to the punishment. Confession is a judging of ourselves worthy of death. True confession is a submitting to the sentence of the Judge, yea, a judging of ourselves, and a justifying of God in all, even in His sharpest and severest dispensations. Some may say, Is there a necessity to make such a confession of sin, seeing that God is already acquainted with and knows our sins, with all the circumstances and aggravations of them? But we do not confess to inform God of what He knows not, but to give glory to God in that which He knows. We are also called to an acknowledgment and confession of our sins to God, that we ourselves may be more deeply affected with them. The knowledge which God hath of sin in and by Himself may be a terror to sinners, His knowing of them by us is only a ground of comfort; God hath nowhere promised to pardon sin because He knows it, but He hath if we make it known. Nothing is known properly to God in that capacity as He pardons and forgives, but that which is acknowledged by us. The acknowledgment of sin is–
(1) The confession of all sin.
(2) Of our special sins in a special manner.
(3) And it takes in all the several circumstances and aggravations of it.
Sin should be confessed feelingly, sincerely, with self-abhorrence, and believingly. (Joseph Caryl)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. If I covered my transgressions as Adam] Here is a most evident allusion to the fall. Adam transgressed the commandment of his Maker, and he endeavoured to conceal it; first, by hiding himself among the trees of the garden: “I heard thy voice, and went and HID myself;” secondly, by laying the blame on his wife: “The woman gave me, and I did eat;” and thirdly, by charging the whole directly on God himself: “The woman which THOU GAVEST ME to be with me, SHE gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” And it is very likely that Job refers immediately to the Mosaic account in the Book of Genesis. The spirit of this saying is this: When I have departed at any time from the path of rectitude, I have been ready to acknowledge my error, and have not sought excuses or palliatives for my sin.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This he adds to prevent or answer an objection. So the sense is, either,
1. And whereas amongst these and other virtues it may well be presumed that I had divers failings, as I do not now deny them, so I never covered them, but was forward to confess them to God or to men, as I had occasion. Or, (which I propose with submission to better judgments,)
2. If I used all this care and caution in my carriage towards strangers, and enemies, and others only as a cloak to any secret and subtle way of wickedness, such as you accuse me of, and did not seek to purge out all sin as in Gods sight, but only to hide my sins from men, and to have the better opportunity for oppressing others, or indulging myself in any other close sin, under a colour, and with a reputation of justice and holiness. As Adam; either,
1. As Adam did in Paradise; which history is recorded by Moses, Gen 3:7, &c., and was doubtless imparted by the godly patriarchs to their children before Mosess time. Or,
2. Like a man, or after the manner of men in their corrupt estate. Compare Hos 6:7.
In my bosom; in my own breast, and from the sight of all men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. Adamtranslated byUMBREIT, “as men do”(Ho 6:7, where see Margin).But English Version is more natural. The very same word for”hiding” is used in Gen 3:8;Gen 3:10, of Adam hidinghimself from God. Job elsewhere alludes to the flood. So he mighteasily know of the fall, through the two links which connect Adam andAbraham (about Job’s time), namely, Methuselah and Shem. Adam isrepresentative of fallen man’s propensity to concealment (Pr28:13). It was from God that Job did not “hide hisiniquity in his bosom,” as on the contrary it was from God that”Adam” hid in his lurking-place. This disproves thetranslation, “as men”; for it is from their fellow menthat “men” are chiefly anxious to hide their real characteras guilty. MAGEE, to makethe comparison with Adam more exact, for my “bosom”translates, “lurking-place.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If I covered my transgressions as Adam,…. Job could not be understood, by this account he had given of the holiness of his life, that he thought himself quite free from sin; he had owned himself to be a sinner in several places before, and disclaimed perfection; and here he acknowledges he was guilty of transgressing the law of God, and that in many instances; for he speaks of his “transgressions” in the plural number; but then he did not seek to cover them from the of God or men, but frankly and ingenuously confessed them to both; he did not cover them, palliate, excuse, and extenuate them, as Adam did his, by laying the blame to his wife; and as she by charging it on the serpent; and those excuses they made are the inventions they found out, Ec 7:29; or the meaning is, Job did not do “as men” k in common do; who, when they have sinned, either through fear or shame, endeavour to conceal it, and keep it out of the sight of others, unless they are very hardened and audacious sinners, such as the men of Sodom were, see Ho 6:7;
by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom; meaning perhaps some particular iniquity which his nature was most inclined to; this he did not attempt to hide in secret, as what is put into the bosom is; or that he did not spare it and cherish it, and, from an affection to it, keep it as persons and things beloved are, laid in the bosom; and so Mr. Broughton reads the words, “hiding my sin of a self-love”; either having a self-love to it, or hiding it of self-love, that is, from a principle of self-love, to preserve his honour, credit, and reputation among men.
k “ut homo”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Beza, Bolducius, Mercerus, Drusius, Schmidt; “more hominum”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator so Aben Ezra.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
33 If I have hidden my wickedness like Adam,
Concealing my guilt in my bosom,
34 Because I feared the great multitude
And the contempt of families affrighted me,
So that I acted secretly, went not out of the door. –
Most expositors translate : after the manner of men; but appropriate as this meaning of the expression is in Psa 82:7, in accordance with the antithesis and the parallelism (which see), it would be as tame here, and altogether expressionless in the parallel passage Hos 6:7 –
(Note: Pusey also ( The Minor Prophets with Commentary, P. i. 1861) improves “like men” by translating “like Adam.”)
the passage which comes mainly under consideration here – since the force of the prophetic utterance: “they have transgressed the covenant,” consists in this, “that Israel is accused of a transgression which is only to be compared to that of the first man created: here, as there, a like transgression of the expressed will of God” (von Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 412f.); as also, according to Rom 5:14, Israel’s transgression is that fact in the historical development of redemption which stands by the side of Adam’s transgression. And the mention of Adam in Hosea cannot surprise one, since he also shows himself in other respects to be familiar with the contents of Genesis, and to refer back to it (vid., Genesis, S. 11-13). Still much less surprising is such a reference to primeval history in a book that belongs to the literature of the Chokma (vid., Introduction, 2). The descent of the human race from a single pair, and the fall of those first created, are, moreover, elements in all the ancient traditions; and it is questionable whether the designation of men by beni Adama (children of Adam), among the Moslems, first sprang from the contact of Judaism and Christianity, or whether it was not rather an old Arabic expression. Therefore we translate with Targ., Schult., Boullier, Rosenm., Hitz., Kurtz, and von Hofm.: if I have hidden (disowned) like Adam my transgression. The point of comparison is only the sinner’s dread of the light, which became prominent as the prototype for every succeeding age in Adam’s hiding himself. The which follows is meant not so much as indicating the aim, as gerundive ( abscondendo); on this use of the inf. constr. with , vid., Ew. 280, d. , bosom, is . . ; Ges. connects it with the Arab. habba , to love; it is, however, to be derived from the , occulere , whence chabbe , that which is deep within, a deep valley (comp. , chabaa , with their derivatives); in Aramaic it is the common word for the Hebr. .
Job 31:34 With follows the motive which Job might have had for hiding himself with his sin: he has been neither an open sinner, nor from fear of men and a feeling of honour a secret sinner. He cherished within him no secret accursed thing, and had no need for playing the hypocrite, because he dreaded ( only here with the acc. of the obj. feared) the great multitude of the people ( not adv. but adj.; with Mercha-Zinnorith, consequently fem., as sometimes, Ew. 174, b), and consequently the moral judgment of the people; and because he feared the stigma of the families, and therefore the loss of honour in the higher circles of society, so that as a consequence he should have kept himself quiet and retired, without going out of the door. One might think of that abhorrence of voluptuousness, with which, in the consciousness of its condemnatory nature, a man shuts himself up in deep darkness; but according to Job 31:33 it is in general deeds that are intended, which Job would have ground for studiously concealing, because if they had become known he would have appeared a person to be scouted and despised: he could frankly and freely meet any person’s gaze, and had no occasion to fear the judgment of men, because he feared sin. He did nothing which he should have caused for carefully keeping from the light of publicity. And yet his affliction is to be accounted as the punishment of hidden sin! as proof that he has committed punishable sin, which, however, he will not confess!
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Job’s Protestation of His Integrity. | B. C. 1520. |
33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: 34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? 35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. 36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. 38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; 39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: 40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
We have here Job’s protestation against three more sins, together with his general appeal to God’s bar and his petition for a hearing there, which, it is likely, was intended to conclude his discourse (and therefore we will consider it last), but that another particular sin occurred, from which he thought it requisite to acquit himself. He clears himself from the charge,
I. Of dissimulation and hypocrisy. The general crime of which his friends accused him was that, under the cloak of a profession of religion, he had kept up secret haunts of sin, and that really he was as bad as other people, but had the art of concealing it. Zophar insinuated (ch. xx. 12) that he hid his iniquity under his tongue. “No,” says Job, “I never did (v. 33), I never covered my transgression as Adam, never palliated a sin with frivolous excuses, nor made fig-leaves the shelter of my shame, nor ever hid my iniquity in my bosom, as a fondling, a darling, that I could by no means part with, or as stolen goods which I dreaded the discovery of.” It is natural to us to cover our sins; we have it from our first parents. We are loth to confess our faults, willing to extenuate them and make the best of ourselves, to devolve the blame upon others, as Adam on his wife, not without a tacit reflection upon God himself. But he that thus covers his sins shall not prosper, Prov. xxviii. 13. Job, in this protestation, intimates two things, which were certain evidences of his integrity:– 1. That he was not guilty of any great transgression or iniquity, inconsistent with sincerity, which he had now industriously concealed. In this protestation he had dealt fairly, and, while he denies some sins, was not conscious to himself that he allowed himself in any. 2. That what transgression and iniquity he had been guilty of (Who is there that lives and sins not?) he had always been ready to own it, and, as soon as ever he perceived he had said or done amiss, he was ready to unsay it and undo it, as far as he could, by repentance, confessing it both to God and man, and forsaking it: this is doing honestly.
II. From the charge of cowardice and base fear. His courage in that which is good he produces as an evidence of his sincerity in it (v. 34): Did I fear a great multitude, that I kept silence? No, all that knew Job knew him to be a man of undaunted resolution in a good cause, that boldly appeared, spoke, and acted, in defence of religion and justice, and did not fear the face of man nor was ever threatened or brow-beaten out of his duty, but set his face as a flint. Observe, 1. What great conscience Job had made of his duty as a magistrate, or a man of reputation, in the place where he lived. He did not, he durst not, keep silence when he had a call to speak in an honest cause, or keep within doors when he had a call to go abroad to do good. The case may be such that it may be our sin to be silent and retired, as when we are called to reprove sin and bear our testimony against it, to vindicate the truths and ways of God, to do justice to those who are injured or oppressed, or in any way to serve the public or to do honour to our religion. 2. What little account Job made of the discouragements he met with in the way of his duty. He valued not the clamours of the mob, feared not a great multitude, nor did he value the menaces of the mighty: The contempt of families never terrified him. He was not deterred by the number or quality, the scorns or insults, or the injurious from doing justice to the injured; no, he scorned to be swayed and biassed by any such considerations, nor ever suffered a righteous cause to be run down by a high hand. He feared the great God, not the multitude, and his curse, not the contempt of families.
III. From the charge of oppression and violence, and doing wrong to his poor neighbours. And here observe,
1. What his protestation is–that the estate he had he both got and used honestly, so that his land could not cry out against him nor the furrows thereof complain (v. 38), as they do against those who get the possession of them by fraud and extortion, Hab. ii. 9-11. The whole creation is said to groan under the sin of man; but that which is unjustly gained and held cries out against a man, and accuses him, condemns him, and demands justice against him for the injury. Rather than his oppression shall go unpunished the very ground and the furrows of it shall witness against him, and be his prosecutors. Two things he could say safely concerning his estate:– (1.) That he never ate the fruits of it without money, v. 39. What he purchased he paid for, as Abraham for the land he bought (Gen. xxiii. 16), and David, 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. The labourers that he employed had their wages duly paid them, and, if he made use of the fruits of those lands that he let out, he paid his tenants for them, or allowed it in their rent. (2.) That he never caused the owners thereof to lose their life, never got an estate, as Ahab got Naboth’s vineyard, by killing the heir and seizing the inheritance, never starved those that held lands of him nor killed them with hard bargains and hard usage. No tenant, no workman, no servant, he had, could complain of him.
2. How he confirms his protestation. He does it, as often before, with a suitable imprecation (v. 40): “If I have got my estate unjustly, let thistles grow instead of wheat, the worst of weeds instead of the best of grains.” When men get estates unjustly they are justly deprived of the comfort of them, and disappointed in their expectations from them. They sow their land, but they sow not that body that shall be. God will give it a body. It was sown wheat, but shall come up thistles. What men do not come honestly by will never do them any good. Job, towards the close of his protestation, appeals to the judgment-seat of God concerning the truth of it (v. 35-37): O that he would hear me, even that the Almighty would answer me! This was what he desired and often complained that he could not obtain; and, now that he had drawn up his own defence so particularly, he leaves it upon record, in expectation of a hearing, files it, as it were, till his cause be called.
(1.) A trial is moved for, and the motion earnestly pressed: “O that one, any one, would hear me; my cause is so good, and my evidence so clear, that I am willing to refer it to any indifferent person whatsoever; but my desire is that the Almighty himself would determine it.” An upright heart does not dread a scrutiny. He that means honestly wishes he had a window in his breast, that all men might see the intents of his heart. But an upright heart does particularly desire to be determined in every thing by the judgment of God, which we are sure is according to the truth. It was holy David’s prayer, Search me, O God! and know my heart; and it was blessed Paul’s comfort, He that judgeth me is the Lord.
(2.) The prosecutor is called, the plaintiff summoned, and ordered to bring in his information, to say what he has to say against the prisoner, for he stands upon his deliverance: “O that my adversary had written a book–that my friends, who charge me with hypocrisy, would draw up their charge in writing, that it might be reduced to a certainty, and that we might the better join issue upon it.” Job would be very glad to see the libel, to have a copy of his indictment. He would not hide it under his arm, but take it upon his shoulder, to be seen and read of all men, nay, he would bind it as a crown to him, would be pleased with it, and look upon it as his ornament; for, [1.] If it discovered to him any sin he had been guilty of, which he did not yet see, he should be glad to know it, that he might repent of it and get it pardoned. A good man is willing to know the worst of himself and will be thankful to those that will faithfully tell him of his faults. [2.] If it charged him with what was false, he doubted not but to disprove the allegations, that his innocency would be cleared up as the light, and he should come off with so much the more honour. But, [3.] He believed that, when his adversaries came to consider the matter so closely as they must do if they put the charge in writing, the accusations would be trivial and minute, and every one that saw them would say, “If this was all they had to say against him, it was a shame they gave him so much trouble.”
(3.) The defendant is ready to make his appearance and to give his accusers all the fair play they can desire. He will declare unto them the number of his steps, v. 37. He will let them into the history of his own life, will show them all the stages and scenes of it. He will give them a narrative of his conversation, what would make against him as well as what would make for him, and let them make what use they pleased of it; and so confident he is of his integrity that as a prince to be crowned, rather than a prisoner to be tried, he would go near to him, both to his accuser to hear his charge and to his judge to hear his doom. Thus the testimony of his conscience was his rejoicing.
| Hic murus aheneus esto, nil conscire sibi– Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence, Still to preserve thy conscience innocence. |
Those that have kept their hands without spot from the world, as Job did, may lift up their faces without spot unto God, and may comfort themselves with the prospect of his judgment when they lie under the unjust censures of men. If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.
Thus the words of Job are ended; that is, he has now said all he would say in answer to his friends: he afterwards said something in a way of self-reproach and condemnation (Job 40:4; Job 40:5; Job 42:2-6, c.), but here ends what he had to say in a way of self-defence and vindication. If this suffice not he will say no more he knows when he has said enough and will submit to the judgment of the bench. Some think the manner of expression intimates that he concluded with an air of assurance and triumph. He now keeps the field and doubts not but to win the field. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(33) As Adam.Or, as man, i.e., commonly does. There may or may not be here some indication of acquaintance with the narrative of Genesis. (See the margin.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. As Adam Hos 6:7. Many expositors translate as in the margin; but others, Samuel Wesley. ( Diss. in Jobum, xiv,) Schultens, ( in loc.,) and Hitzig, satisfactorily defend the reading, “as Adam.” The following verse furnishes, as the point of comparison, the sinner’s dread of the light a universal fact of our fallen nature, for which fallen Adam will ever stand as the prototype. Gen 3:8-11. There is no reason for supposing that Job was ignorant of “the fall.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 31:33. If I covered my transgressions as Adam This passage contains an allusion to one circumstance in the history of the fall. Among the particulars wherein Job vindicates his integrity, one is, that he was ever ready to acknowledge his errors. The allusion to Adam’s hiding himself is proper and apposite; but if you render the passage agreeably to the marginal reading of our English Bible, after the manner of men, it becomes an accusation of others; and the vindication of himself has in it a mixture of pride which does not suit the character of the speaker. See Sherlock on Prophesy, p. 212.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(33) If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: (34) Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? (35) Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. (36) Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. (37) I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. (38) If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; (39) If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: (40) Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
This close of the chapter is very striking, and merits more particular attention. From man, Job appeals to GOD. Now this brings the matter to a decision. Job’s friends had accused him of hypocrisy. Then saith Job, let the Almighty Searcher of hearts determine it. I beg the Reader to be particularly attentive, to have a clear sense of Job’s meaning. Let not the Reader suppose that Job, in this appeal, was looking up to GOD’S judgment seat, as one unconscious of sin. The opposite from this was Job’s meaning. It was the sin of hypocrisy only he dared justify himself against the charge of. He had not covered, he saith, his transgressions, as his forefather Adam had done, seeking to hide himself from the presence of the LORD, amidst the trees of the garden. But he had told GOD his sins, and opened to him, in a full confession, his iniquity.
Yet at the same time, against what his three friends had observed, that his afflictions were the fruit of his hypocrisy, and GOD was now punishing him for that, here Job put in his appeal, and, in this point, desired to look up to GOD. If the Reader will compare this passage with that which we have before gone over, chap. 9:20, 21, he will be led to see, that it is in this sense the Patriarch all along is making his appeal to the justice of GOD. In no other light can we possibly look at the case, for the infinite holiness, and the infinite majesty of GOD, make it a solemn concern for any of the fallen race of Adam, even though brought into a state of justification through the blood and righteousness of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, to come before the LORD, and much less to make an appeal to the tribunal of his justice. And Job having thus given in his defense, declares his discourse to be ended.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 31:33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
Ver. 33. If I covered my transgression as Adam ] A transgressor then Job yieldeth himself; the lives of the best alive are fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars, or the furnace of sparks. But he did not act like Adam, or after the manner of men, cover or conceal them, extenuate or excuse them, denying them, as Cain did, Gen 4:9 , and Gehazi, 2Ki 5:25 , and Ananias, Act 5:8 , or at least, dealing with them as the unjust steward did, who for a hundred set down fifty. Adam went about to hide his sin, alleging, non causam pro causa, that for the cause of his flight that was not the true cause thereof, viz. the voice of God, his fear thereupon, his nakedness, &c.: thus sin and shifting came into the world together. Secondly, when that would not do, but that he was driven from that , then he seeks to excuse it, by accusing God, and transferring the blame upon him, for giving him a woman to tempt him, Gen 3:12 . The like thereunto do they that plead predestination, or constellations, or natural inclination, &c., that put God to his proofs, as they did, Jer 2:35 . Job was none such; but made it his daily practice to acknowledge his iniquities against himself, Psa 32:5 , and with utmost aggravation from all the circumstances; laying open how many transgressions were wrapped up in each sin, as it is Lev 16:21 , lest, as Samuel once said to Jesse, Are here all thy sons? so God should say to Job, Are these all thy sins? and, there being but one only uncovered, that one should prove destructive to his soul, as that bastard Abimelech did to all his brethren. But now that he freely and fully confesseth his offences, he is sure to find mercy, Pro 28:18 . No man was ever kept out of heaven for his confessed badness; many are for their supposed goodness.
By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
transgressions. Hebrew. pasha’. App-44. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Septuagint, and Vulgate, read “transgression” (singular)
as Adam. Compare Gen 3:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
covered: Gen 3:7, Gen 3:8, Gen 3:12, Jos 7:11, Pro 28:13, Hos 6:7, Act 5:8, 1Jo 1:8-10
as Adam: or, after the manner of men, Hos 6:7
Reciprocal: Gen 2:15 – the man 1Sa 15:15 – for 2Ki 20:15 – All the things Job 7:20 – I have sinned Psa 17:4 – works Psa 32:5 – have Psa 38:18 – For Isa 39:4 – All that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 31:33. If I covered my transgressions as Adam As Adam did in paradise. By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom In my own breast, and from the sight of all men; or, in secret, as R. Levi renders , bechobbi. Job alludes to Adams hiding himself among the trees of the garden, and palliating his sin; a circumstance in the history of the fall, recorded by Moses, Gen 3:7, and doubtless imparted by the godly patriarchs to their children before Mosess time, and therefore well known to Job, who here says he did not act thus, but was ever ready to acknowledge his errors. The allusion is quite proper and apposite: but if we should render the passage, agreeably to the marginal reading, after the manner of men, it becomes an accusation of others; and the vindication of himself has a mixture of pride in it, which does not suit the character of the speaker. See Sherlock on Prophecy, p. 212.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
31:33 If I covered {x} my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
(x) Not confessed it freely, by which it is evident that he justified himself before men, and not before God.