Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:14
What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
14. when God riseth up ] i. e. to judge, as the expression “visiteth” in the next clause suggests.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What then shall I do when God riseth up? – That is, when he rises up to pronounce sentence upon people, or to execute impartial justice. Job admits that if he had done injustice to a servant, he would have reason to dread the divine indignation, and that he could have no excuse. I tremble, said President Jefferson, speaking of slavery in the United States when I remember that God is just! Notes on Virginia.
And when he visiteth – When he comes to inspect human conduct. Umbreit renders it when he punishes. The word visit is often used in this sense in the Scriptures.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 31:14
What then shall I do when God riseth up?
The great question
1. Jobs mind was deeply impressed with a sense of his own responsibility. There is a natural inclination in the mind of man to diminish the sense of responsibility. In most transactions of life men frequently evince a desire to escape as much as possible from personal responsibility. There are responsibilities arising out of the very conformation of the society in which we live, that cannot be avoided. It never can be a matter of choice with us, whether we shall be responsible to God, and in the sight of God. The very nature of our relation to God implies responsibility, and the very character of God, in reference to that relationship, also implies responsibility. The responsibility of man to God reaches to the whole of mans moral being.
2. Jobs conviction that there is a day coming in which God will arise. As a Sovereign, making inquisition, and holding a grand assize in which the universe should be concerned. And God will visit. That term is often used in the sense of visitation for the purpose of punishment. God will arise as the legislator of the universe–as the promulgator of a law which has been universally violated, and which has not exercised its restraining influence upon the hearts of men because their allegiance had departed. Of necessity there must be vindication. Either the justice of God must fail, or there must be a vindication. As the law of God reaches to the minutest details of human existence and of human conduct, the vindication must reach every personal interest, the details of every individual life. And the Lord must visit as an avenger; for vindication implies vengeance. The God whose own arm hath brought salvation, shall be the God who shall visit in the way of vengeance. Job asks, When He visiteth, what shall I answer Him? Should not we ask the same question? What will the man of this world, of pleasure, and of gain, answer? Realise the necessity for finding some answer. There is but one answer. There is nothing to do but to cling to the Cross of Jesus. (George Fish, LL. B.)
The great account
The subject brought before us here is our personal responsibility; that everyone must give account of himself to God. Nothing is hid from the all-seeing eye of Jehovah, that searcheth the heart and the reins, and looketh at the motive, the object, the spirit, in which the man acts.
I. Mans responsibility. We must all give account to God, not merely masters, but servants also; and we must give account in all the transactions of everyday life. Every man has time, talents, opportunities, gifts; every man has a certain station, every man has a certain amount of influence; and we are all responsible for the right use before God. Not one of you can help this influence going forth upon those around you; not one of you can avoid the things you do, telling, in one way or another, upon those with whom you have intercourse. You must do good, or you must do evil. This responsibility we need to face, for it is one that presses always.
II. The way of meeting this responsibility. Two things are spoken of here.
1. What shall we do? Regarding ourselves as responsible to God, what shall we do when He rises in judgment? Shall we not fear to face a holy God? Shall we hide ourselves from God, in order to elude His searching eye? That surely is a vain consideration. Shall we resist His summons? Surely that too is vain.
2. What shall we answer? Shall we say that we have not broken one of Gods commandments? Shall we, like the Pharisee, compare ourselves with others? Shall we begin to make excuse? Shall we plead Gods mercy? The careless cannot meet God. Nor can the formalist; nor the hypocrite and pretender. The two great things we require to be experimentally acquainted with, are repentance and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you are delivered at once from the power of the law, and all the accusations of Satan, because Jesus has conquered him, and you also win the victory through faith in Him. (John W. Reeve, M. A.)
The final judgment and ground of acquittal
I. The certainty of a day of visitation and reckoning.
1. This is indicated by the testimony of conscience. Conscience is the vicegerent of the Almighty. It discriminates between virtue and vice, attaching to either their respective awards.
2. By a reference to the moral economy of man, or the economy of Gods dealings towards man.
3. The certainty of a day of visitation is fully unfolded in the Book of God.
II. The ground upon which an answer is to be prepared to the question in our text. Classify the Christian community into four compartments.
1. There are some who have no answer prepared. This is a fact of undoubted certainty.
2. Others prepare an answer on a self-righteous principle. They plead obedience to the requirements of Gods law.
3. Others confide in the uncovenanted mercy of God.
4. But some take higher ground, and are preparing their answer in reference to the righteousness of Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the only plea which will bear inspection, the only foundation for the exercise of mercy. (Adam Gun, A. M.)
The day of visitation
Although Job appears to have taken an undue estimate of his own righteousness, and certainly adhered to his own integrity with a blamable tenacity, yet his scrupulous conscientiousness is greatly to be admired. The smallest act of injustice or oppression, nay, even of neglect, towards the meanest slave or household servant, was viewed by Job as a sin against God, and one for which God would hereafter call him to account!
I. The occasion contemplated. When God will rise up, and when He will visit in judgment.
1. He appears now, as it were, indifferent to the affairs of men.
2. A day is coming when He will arise and visit. It is the day of death. It is the day of punishment. It is the day of judgment.
3. The certainty of its approach. Accountability seems almost an instinct in man. The day of judgment must come–there is no escape from it.
4. Yet most persons believe and act as if they believed it not. How surprising is the indifference of professed believers!
II. The important inquiry respecting this solemn event. When He visiteth, what shall I answer Him?
1. There is individuality in this question; it is the souls soliloquy. Not what shall this man do; but what shall I do?
2. It is, what shall I do? But the time for action is then over. Can I escape and hide myself? Can I evade or deceive? Can I contend with Him?
3. It is, what shall I answer? Various are the excuses with which men satisfy their consciences now, but they will avail nothing then. The following will have nothing to answer,–vicious men and dissipated. Men who have neglected their souls. Self-satisfied formalists. The spiritual professor who has not departed from secret sin. There will be one who can answer–the poor, penitent, humble, believing disciple of Jesus. (F. Close, A. M.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
When God riseth up, to wit, to plead the cause of the oppressed against the oppressor, and to execute judgment, as this phrase is used, Psa 68:1; Zec 2:13, and elsewhere. I used my servant like one who was also myself a servant, and had a Master in heaven, Col 4:1, to whom I was to give an account of my carriage to my servant and to all men.
When he visiteth, i.e. when he shall call me to his tribunal, and severely examine all my actions, and particularly the cause between me and my servant, what apology shall I make for myself?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14, 15. Parenthetical; thereason why Job did not despise the cause of his servants. Translate:What then (had I done so) could I have done, when God arose (to callme to account); and when He visited (came to enquire), what could Ihave answered Him?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
What then shall I do when God riseth up?…. That is, if he had despised and rejected the cause of his servants, or had neglected, or refused to do them justice; he signifies he should be at the utmost loss to know what to do, what excuse to make, or what to say in his own defence, when God should rise up to defend the cause of the injured; either in a way of Providence in this life, or at the great day of judgment in the world to come, when everything will be brought to account, and masters and servants must stand alike before the judgment seat of God, to receive for the things they have done, whether good or evil:
and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? when he makes a visitation among men, either in this world, even in a fatherly way, visits transgressions, and reproves and corrects for them; had he been guilty of ill usage of his servants, he must have silently submitted to such visitations and chastisements, having nothing to say for himself why he should not be thus dealt with; or in the world to come, in the great day of visitation, when God shall make inquisition for sin, and seek it out, and call to an account for it; and should this be produced against him, even contempt of the cause of his servants, he was sensible he could not answer him for it, nor for anyone sin of a thousand, as no man will be able to do; but must be speechless, unless he has a better righteousness than his own to answer for him in that time to come. This is Job’s first reason which deterred him from using his servants ill; another follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14. Riseth up To judgment: such is the divine indignation at the contemplation of man’s cruelty to man. Stephen in the hour of martyrdom saw the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 482
THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPARING FOR OUR GREAT ACCOUNT
Job 31:14. What shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
THE testimony of a good conscience is a source of rich consolation at all times, but more especially when we are suffering under afflictions from God, or calumnies from man. Job, in the midst of all his troubles, was upheld by it, when, without such a support, he must have inevitably sunk under his accumulated burthens. It must be confessed, indeed, that this holy man, when urged and irritated by his uncharitable friends, expressed himself too strongly upon this subject: yet we cannot fail of seeing throughout his whole history, that his conscious integrity enabled him to hold fast by God, and to wait with patience the issue of his unexpected calamities.
In the passage before us he is specifying many things commonly practised by others, but from which he had been preserved pure. Among these he mentions his conduct to his servants; and observes that, if in this he had been arbitrary and oppressive, he would have a melancholy account indeed to give in the day of judgment; Then, says he, What shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
These words may be considered as,
I.
A weighty reflection
Job is contemplating his responsibility to God, together with the impartiality that will be shewn in the future judgment
[In speaking of his accountableness to God, he does not limit it to such actions as are reprobated among men, but mentions it in reference to (what is generally but little regarded) his spirit and temper in domestic duties. He well knew that God took cognizance of small things as well as great, and of things relating to civil and social life as well as those that pertain more immediately to religion. He was certain also, that at Gods tribunal the slave and his master, the beggar and the king, would have their cause determined with equal and unerring justice. Hence, when calumniated and condemned by men, he naturally reflects on the sentence that would be passed upon him at Gods tribunal, on the supposition that there were any wilful and allowed sin found in him, whatever the nature of that sin might be, and however venial it might be deemed by the world at large.]
Such a reflection will be highly profitable to us also
[For great and heinous sins, as they are called, we all feel ourselves accountable to God; but we scarcely think that any responsibility attaches to the dispositions we manifest in the family or the state; we may be querulous and contentious subjects, or proud and oppressive masters, or slothful and impertinent servants, and yet never imagine that God will notice such faults in the day of judgment. The rich and the great are ready to think, that they shall find some favour with God on account of their earthly distinctions; and that, while a poor man who robs or injures them is deserving of the heaviest judgments, they may rob and injure others to ever so great an amount by their extravagance or extortion, and yet pass without censure. But the great and terrible God has no respect of persons [Note: Deu 10:17.], but will judge every man according to his works. And it will be well for us, if we take a retrospect of our actions, and seriously reflect, what answer we shall give to God in the day that he shall visit us.]
But these words may also properly suggest to us,
II.
An instructive inquiry
The inquiry is twofold: if God should call us to his judgment-seat before we have truly repented of our sins,
1.
What shall we do?
[Shall we go before him with boldness, as too many rush into his presence now? Will not his purity abash us, and his excellency make us afraid [Note: Job 13:11.]?
Shall we hide ourselves from his presence, and elude his search? Whither shall we flee in order to effect this [Note: Psa 139:7-12.]? In vain shall we, call upon the rocks to fall upon us, or the hills to cover us.
Shall we resist his summons? How vain the attempt! Shall our hands be strong in the day that he shall deal with us [Note: Eze 22:14.], or, can we thunder with a voice like his [Note: Job 40:9.]?
Let us then bethink ourselves what we shall do in the day of visitation? to whom shall we flee for help? and where shall we leave our glory [Note: Isa 10:3.]?]
2.
What shall we answer?
[Shall we say with that amiable, but mistaken, youth, I have kept all thy commandments [Note: Mat 19:20.]? Alas! which of the commandments have we not broken times without number? Let it only be considered that an angry word is murder [Note: Mat 5:21-22.], and an unchaste look adultery [Note: Mat 5:28.]; and we shall find abundant reason, even as holy Job himself did [Note: Job 9:20.], to blush and be confounded before the heart-searching God [Note: Job 9:2-3.].
If this appear too presumptuous, shall we, like the Pharisee, tell him of our comparative goodness [Note: Luk 18:11-12.]? Suppose we do differ from others, what ground of glorying is this to us [Note: 1Co 4:7.]? And how infinitely short have we come of the perfection which God requires of us! Yea, the very disposition to justify ourselves is sufficient to make God utterly abhor us [Note: Job 9:30-32. Luk 18:14.].
Shall we answer, that we had other things beside religion to attend to? But what other things? If they were lawful in themselves, they were not in the least degree incompatible with religion: and if they were unlawful, they ought to have been renounced.
Shall we reply, that we did not think God would ever condemn any one for the want of religion? But why did we entertain so fond a hope? Were we not sufficiently warned to the contrary? Was it possible for God to declare in more express terms his determination to punish impenitent transgressors [Note: Psa 9:17. 1Co 6:9-10.]?
Whatever other answers we may be disposed to make, let us consider whether they do not admit of a reply that shall stop our mouths, and utterly confound us? In this way we shall gather instruction for which we may have reason to bless God for ever.]
The oblique hints which both Job and his friends repeatedly gave to each other, may lead us further to consider the words, as,
III.
A solemn warning
If a masters unkindness to his servant would bring down upon him the divine judgments, Jobs friends might see, that their uncharitableness towards him would not pass unnoticed. In the same manner, these questions convey a solemn warning,
1.
To those who are altogether regardless of religion
[We are well aware that when a fellow-creature expostulates with such persons, they will fill their mouths with arguments, and turn to ridicule the words of truth and soberness. But it is not a worm like themselves that they must answer, but the living God. Let careless sinners then consider what they shall answer him? And, before they speak peace to themselves, let them think whether he will deem their excuses sufficient? It is by his judgment that they must stand or fall; and therefore they must be satisfied with nothing which will not satisfy him. It will be to but little purpose to be justified in their own eyes, and in the opinions of a partial world; for if he should refuse his sanction, they will have nothing left but to bewail their folly in everlasting torments.]
2.
To those who rest in an outward and formal religion
[It is not the observance of forms, but the devotion of the heart, that God requires. Religion is to be our business, yea, our very element wherein we live. Our daily care, and our supreme delight, must be to maintain fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, and to glorify God by a holy conversation. These are the things which God will inquire into at the last day: and if we tell him then, that such a life was generally reprobated as hypocrisy or enthusiasm, will he account it a sufficient excuse for our conduct? What! he may say, were all the prophets, and apostles, yea, and my only dear Son, too, hypocrites and fanatics? And were others to be condemned in proportion as they resembled these divine patterns? Did you not know in your consciences, even while you ridiculed the godly, that both you, and they, ought to walk as Christ walked?
Know, then, that the form of godliness, however exemplary, will, if destitute of the life and power of it, leave you without excuse in the day of judgment.]
3.
To those who profess religion indeed, but walk unworthy of it
[Every question put to careless or formal Christians will have tenfold force when addressed to those who profess godliness: for they acknowledge their obligation to piety, and seek to be esteemed as truly religious characters; and therefore to all their other guilt they add the basest hypocrisy, if they live in any wilful sin. Let those (if such there be amongst us) who, while they seem to be religious, either bridle not their tongue [Note: Jam 1:26.], or yield to the solicitations of wrath, envy, malice, lewdness, covetousness, or any other vile affection; let them, I say, consider what they shall answer when God shall visit them. If others be punished, much more shall they [Note: Amo 3:2. Isa 33:14.]: yea, their condemnation shall be increased in proportion to the mercies they have slighted, and the advantages they have abused.]
We cannot conclude without adding one word of direction
[It has been shewn already, what answers will not suffice at the day of judgment. It is but reasonable then to ask, What answer will suffice? To solve this important question, we reply, That doubtless we must renounce all habitual and allowed sin: but that, with respect to the sins of infirmity that are incident to our fallen nature, we should lie low before God [Note: Job 40:4-5; Job 9:15.], seeking mercy through Christ only, and declaring our affiance in the promises which God has given us in his word [Note: Isa 43:25-26. See this very question, What shall we do? and the answer given to it by the voice of inspiration, Act 2:37-38; Act 16:30-31.]. Then, though vile, we shall not be cast out; nor shall our past sins be remembered against us any more for ever [Note: Heb 8:12.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Job 31:14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
Ver. 14. What then shall I do when God riseth up, &c. ] Job considered that he had a Master in heaven, Col 4:1 ; that there is one higher than the highest, Ecc 5:8 , with whom there is no respect of persons, but whereever any deal proudly, God is above them, Exo 18:11 . These and the like humbling considerations, and not any placability or natural courteousness, made him deal thus fairly and kindly with his servants; how much more, then, with his wife and children!
And when he visiteth, what shall I answer?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
What then: Job 9:32, Job 10:2, Psa 7:6, Psa 9:12, Psa 9:19, Psa 10:12-15, Psa 44:21, Psa 76:9, Psa 143:2, Isa 10:3, Zec 2:13
when he: Hos 9:7, Mic 7:4, Mar 7:2, Jam 2:13
what shall: Rom 3:19
Reciprocal: Job 10:7 – Thou knowest Mat 8:6 – my 1Th 4:6 – the Lord
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
31:14 What then shall I do when {k} God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
(k) If I had oppressed others, how would I have escaped God’s judgment.