Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:15

Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

Did not he that made me in the womb make him? – Had we not one and the same Creator, and have we not consequently the same nature? We may observe in regard to this sentiment, (1.) That it indicates a very advanced state of view in regard to man. The attempt has been always made by those who wish to tyrannize over others, or who aim to make slaves of others, to show that they are of a different race, and that in the design for which they were made, they are wholly inferior. Arguments have been derived from their complexion, from their supposed inferiority of intellect, and the deep degradation of their condition, often little above that of brutes, to prove that they were originally inferior to the rest of mankind. On this the plea has been often urged, and oftener felt than urged, that it is right to reduce them to slavery. Since this feeling so early existed, and since there is so much that may be plausibly said in defense of it, it shows that Job had derived his views from something more than the speculations of people, and the desire of power, when he says that he regarded all people as originally equal, and as having the same Creator. It is in fact a sentiment which people have been practically very reluctant to believe, and which works its way very slowly even yet on the earth; compare Act 17:26. (2.) This sentiment, if fairly embraced and carried out, would soon destroy slavery everywhere.

If people felt that they were reducing to bondage those who were originally on a level with themselves – made by the same God, with the same faculties, and for the same end; if they felt that in their very origin, in their nature, there was that which could not be made mere property, it would soon abolish the whole system. It is kept up only where people endeavor to convince themselves that there is some original inferiority in the slave which makes it proper that he should be reduced to servitude and be held as property. But as soon as there can be diffused abroad the sentiment of Paul, that God hath made of one blood all nations of men, Act 17:26, or the sentiment of the patriarch Job, that the same God made us and them in the womb, that moment the shackles of the slave will fall, and he will be free. Hence it is apparent, how Christianity, that carries this lesson on its fore-front, is the grand remedy for the evils of slavery, and needs only to be universally diffused to bring the system to an end.

And did not one fashion us in the womb – Margin, Or, did he not fashion us in one womb? The Hebrew will bear either construction, but the parallelism rather requires that given in the text, and most expositors agree in this interpretation. The sentiment is, whichever interpretation be adopted, that they had a common origin; that God would watch over them alike as his children; and that, therefore, they had equal rights.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Job 31:15

Did not He that made me in the womb make him?

God the universal Creator

I. Illustrate the doctrine here conveyed. Both high and low, rich and poor, all sorts and conditions of men, have one common Creator.

1. The unity of creation, Mens tastes, habits, abodes, and appearances differ, but men are one family.

2. The high position of the Divine Being. There are none to divide His praise, none to claim His position.

3. The harmony of Gods providential dealings. He can cause one event to fit in with another, one person to assist and help his fellow, and out of the apparently diverse elements to make one perfect,, harmonious, and beautiful whole.

II. Apply the subject to our own improvement. We are taught from the fact stated by Job. If we see another sin, our language should be, Did not He that made me make him? And we should bear with him tenderly. If we see another in want or poverty our thoughts should be, Did not He that made me make him? And we should afford our best relief.

1. Some suggestions for our duty towards God. He is our Creator. As our supreme Benefactor and Maker we should manifest our sense of His authority over us and our dependence on His care.

2. Some reflections on our duty one to another. (Homilist.)

Mans common rights

Had we not one and the same Creator, and have we not consequently the same nature? We may observe in regard to this sentiment–

1. That it indicates a very advanced state of view in regard to man. The attempt has been always made by those who wish to tyrannise over others, or who aim to make slaves of others, to show that they are of a different race, and that in the design for which they were made, they are wholly inferior. Arguments have been derived from their complexion, from their supposed inferiority of intellect, and the deep degradation of their condition, often little above that of brutes, to prove that they were originally inferior to the rest of mankind. On this the plea has been often urged, and oftener felt than urged, that it is right to reduce them to slavery. Since this feeling so early existed, and since there is so much that may be plausibly said in defence of it, it shows that Job had derived his views from something more than the speculations of men and the desire of power, when he says that he regarded all men as originally equal, and as having the same Creator. It is, in fact, a sentiment which men have been practically very reluctant to believe, and which works its way very slowly even yet on the earth.

2. This sentiment, if fairly embraced and carried out, would soon destroy slavery everywhere. If men felt that they were reducing to bondage those who were originally on a level with themselves,–made by the same God, with the same faculties, and for the same end; if they felt that in their very origin, in their nature, there was that which could not be made mere property, it would soon abolish the whole system. It is kept up only where men endeavour to convince themselves that there is some original inferiority in the slave which makes it proper that he should be reduced to servitude, and be held as property. But as soon as there can be diffused abroad the sentiment of Paul, that God hath made of one blood all nations of men, that moment the shackles of the slave will fall, and he will be free. (Albert Barnes.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 15. Did not he that made me – make him?] I know that God is the Judge of all; that all shall appear before him in that state where the king and his subject, the master and his slave, shall be on an equal footing, all civil distinctions being abolished for ever. If, then I had treated my slaves with injustice, how could I stand before the judgment-seat of God? I have treated others as I wish to be treated.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I considered that he was, though my servant, yet my fellow creature, made by the same God, and therefore one of Gods subjects, whom I could not abuse without the injury of his supreme Lord.

Did not one fashion us in the womb, Heb. did he not form us in one womb? not in one individual womb, but in a womb of the same kind, in a human womb, with a body and soul of the same nature and quality, a reasonable and immortal creature, and made after Gods image, no less than myself, to whom therefore I owed some respect for Gods sake.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

15. Slaveholders try to defendthemselves by maintaining the original inferiority of theslave. But Mal 2:10; Act 17:26;Eph 6:9 make the common origin ofmasters and servants the argument for brotherly love being shown bythe former to the latter.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Did not he that made me in the womb make him?…. And her also, both his manservant and maidservant: these were made, by the Lord as Job was, and in a like place and manner as he himself; though parents are the instruments of begetting children, and of bringing them into the world, God is the Maker of men, as at the beginning, and all are alike made by him, in whatsoever rank, condition, and circumstance of life, whether masters or servants; and they are all fabricated in the same shop of nature, the womb of a woman:

and did not one fashion us in the womb? that is, he who is the one God, according to Mal 2:10; God is one in nature and essence, though there are three Persons in the unity of the Godhead; and this one God, Father, Son, and Spirit, is the Creator of all men and things; hence we read of “Creators”, Ec 12:1; and, though one God makes the bodies and creates the souls of men now as at the first, and all are formed and fashioned by him, high, low, rich and poor, bond and free; and they have all the same rational powers and faculties of soul, Ps 33:15; as well as the same curious art and skill are employed in forming and fashioning their bodies and the members of them, in the lower parts of the earth, in their mother’s womb; yea, they are fashioned “in one womb” h, as the words will better bear to be rendered according to the position of them in the original and the accents; not indeed in the same identical womb, but in a like one: there are two words in the original here, both translated “womb”; the one signifies the “ovarium”, in which the conception is made; the other designs the “secundine”, in which the fetus is wrapped or covered; for so it may be rendered, “did he not cover us?” c. i though Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Ben Gersom, and others, interpret it of the one God as we do: Job’s reasoning is, that seeing he and his servants were equally the workmanship of God, and both made in the womb by him, and curiously fashioned alike, and possessed of the same rational powers, it would be unreasonable in him to use them ill, who were his fellow creatures; and should he, he might expect the Maker of them both would highly resent it. Macrobius k, an Heathen writer, gives a remarkable instance of the care heaven, as he expresses it, has of servants, and how much the contempt of it is resented thereby; and reasons much in the same manner concerning them as Job does here, that they are men, though servants; are of the same original, breathe in the same air, live and die as other men.

h , Sept. “in utero uno”, Munster; so Beza, Drusius, Michaelis. i Saturnal. l. 1. c. 11. k Vid. Hackman. Praecidan. Sacr. p. 193.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(15) Did not he that made me in the womb make him?He here meets the charges of Eliphaz (Job. 22:6-7; Job. 22:9).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

15. Did not one fashion us “There is,” said Seneca, “the same beginning, the same origin, for all; no one is more noble than another.” De Benef., 3:28. Nature, as she contemplates her two great estates, life and death, man’s entrance into and his departure from life, has many a moral for man, such as humility, forbearance, charity, and brotherly love. The charter of human rights rests upon our oneness in nature, and our equality before the ONE who made us God.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

Ver. 15. Did not he that made me in the womb, make him? ] In which regard have not we all one Father, and hath not one God created us? Mal 2:10 . Is it not he who formeth and shapeth us, and all by the book, Psa 139:16 . We are all of all sorts in this respect (whether kings or captives, lords or lowlies), made of the same mould, hewn out of the same rock, digged out of the same pit, cut out of the same piece, the shears only going between, as they say. Thus for our bodies, and for our better part, is not the meanest made in God’s image, and as capable of heaven, if God please, as the greatest? In the law the servant paid the half shekel as well as the master; and in Christ Jesus, as there is neither Jew nor Greek, so neither bond nor free, Gal 3:28 . Truth it is, God hath made these distinctions and degrees among men, but himself is no respecter of persons. He acknowledgeth no faces (so the Hebrew expresseth it). He taketh no notice of any man’s outward condition, as country, sex, wisdom, wealth, dignity, &c. These neither please God nor displease him, but as they are in a good or bad man; as a cipher by itself is nothing without a figure before it. This reason wrought with Job, and should do, doubtless, with all superiors, to bring them to a moderation. Why should a poor man be slighted or brow beaten? Is he not God’s handiwork also? Was he not made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth? Psa 139:15 , that is, in his mother’s womb, as it followeth.

And did not one (that is God) fashion (Heb. apt or fit) us in the womb?] Quum fortuna, non natura eos fecerit servos, cur, propter fortunam, eos contemptiores habuissem? Forasmuch as not Nature, but Providence, hath made them my servants, why should I for that cause deal hardly with them; and not rather favour them the more, for our common condition of birth, and death, and coming to judgment? Apte et concinne elaboravit (Brent.). Servus vei domini sui est.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)