Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:17
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone – If I have not imparted what I had though ever so small, to others. This was in accordance with the Oriental laws of hospitality. It is regarded as a fixed law among the Arabians, that the guest shall always be helped first, and to that which is best; and no matter how needy the family may be, or how much distressed with hunger, the settled laws of hospitality demand that the stranger-guest shall have the first and best portion. Dr. Robinson, in his Biblical Researches, gives an amusing instance of the extent to which this law is carried, and the sternness with which it is executed among the Arabs. In the journey from Suez to Mount Sinai, intending to furnish a supper for the Arabs in their employ, he and his fellow-travelers had bought a kid, and led it along to the place of their encampment. At night the kid was killed and roasted, and the Arabs were anticipating a savory supper.
But those of whom they had bought the kid, learned in some way that they were to encamp near, and naturally concluded that the kid was bought to be eaten, and followed them to the place of encampment, to the number of five or six persons. Now the stern law of Arabian hospitality demands, that whenever a guest is present at a meal, whether there be much or little, the first and best portion must be laid before the stranger. In this instance the five or six guests attained their object, and had not only the selling of the kid, but also the eating of it, while our poor Arabs, whose mouths had long been watering with expectation, were forced to take up with the fragments. Vol. 1:118. There is often, indeed, much ostentation in the hospitality of the Orientals, but the law is stern and inflexible. No sooner, says Shaw (Travels, vol. 1:p. 20), was our food prepared, than one of the Arabs, having placed himself on the highest spot of ground in the neighborhood, called out thrice with a loud voice to all their brethren, the sons of the faithful, to come and partake of it; though none of them were in view, or perhaps within a hundred miles of them. The great law of hospitality Job says he had carefully observed, and had not withheld what he had from the poor and the fatherless.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. Or have eaten my morsel myself alone] Hospitality was a very prominent virtue among the ancients in almost all nations: friends and strangers were equally welcome to the board of the affluent. The supper was their grand meal: it was then that they saw their friends; the business and fatigues of the day being over, they could then enjoy themselves comfortably together. The supper was called coena on this account; or, as Plutarch says, ‘ , . “The ancient Romans named supper COENA, (,) which signifies communion () or fellowship; for although they dined alone, they supped with their friends.” – PLUT. Symp. lib. viii., prob. 6, p. 687. But Job speaks here of dividing his bread with the hungry: Or have eaten my morsel myself alone. And he is a poor despicable caitiff who would eat it alone, while there was another at hand, full as hungry as himself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Eaten my morsel myself alone; without communicating part of my provisions or estate to the poor, as it follows.
The fatherless: this one kind of necessitous persons is put for all the rest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Arabian rules of hospitalityrequire the stranger to be helped first, and to the best.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone,…. Though he had kept no doubt a plentiful table in the time of his prosperity suitable to his circumstances, yet had been no luxurious person, and therefore calls provisions a “morsel”; however, be it what it would, more or less, he did not eat it alone; what he had for himself the poor had a share of it with him, and the same he ate himself he gave to them:
and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof: meaning the poor fatherless: for as to the rich fatherless, it was no charity to feed them: this verse contradicts the charge exhibited against him, Job 22:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Job 31:17. Or have eaten my morsel myself alone This is agreeable to the early ideas of hospitality, and is as strong an expression of benevolence as can be conceived. The Arabs practise it to this very day in its greatest extent. On a journey, after they have prepared their food, they go to the highest ground in the neighbourhood, and call out thrice with a loud voice to all their brethren, the sons of the faithful, to come and partake of it: Dr. Shaw tells us, that they did so when he travelled in that country, though none of those brethren were in view, or perhaps within a hundred miles of them. This custom, however, they maintain to be a token at least of their great benevolence, as indeed it would have been of their hospitality, provided they had had an opportunity to have shewn it. See the Preface to his Travels, p. 12. Schultens observes, very agreeably, that this verse affords us a beautiful picture of liberality and tender charity; which would not suffer Job to eat even the least morsel of bread without imparting some little portion to the poor and needy.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 31:17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
Ver. 17. Or have eaten my morsel myself alone ] As that churl Nabal did, and therefore merited the title of Pamphagus. Many rich wretches are like little children, who, though they have their mouths full of food and both their hands full, yet will part with none to another, but rather mar it. The richer they are the harder, as Dives; whom, to upbraid, Lazarus was laid in the bosom of liberal Abraham, of whom it is recorded, that he sat in the door of his tent in the heat of the day (the usual time of repose and repast) purposely to invite passengers, Gen 18:1 . He pursued hospitality, as the apostle’s expression is, Rom 12:13 , and a very hearty householder he was. Think the same of Job, whose cup overflowed into other men’s lesser vessels, as Psa 23:5 , neither did anything he eat do him good without some good company to take part with him. Charity is no churl. Of a certan bishop of Lincoln the story is told, that he never thought he had that thing which he did not give, Quod nondum dederit, nondum se credit habere. Hoc habeo quodcunque dedi, saith Seneca; and another (Martial),
Quas dederis solas, semper habebis, opes.
And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof ] These were his fellow commoners; and the like is reported of Charles the Great, and of Bishop Hooper, who had his board of beggars, widows, and orphans sent for to his palace in Worcester, and served every day with whole and wholesome meats ere himself sat down to dinner. Neither were these any losers by their liberality. The flowers hurt not their own fruit, though they yield honey to the painful bee. The sun loseth not light, though it lend it to the moon. But as the moon, the fuller she is of light the farther she gets from the sun, and as the sun moveth slowest when he is highest in the zodiac; so are those farthest off from bounty, for the most part, who abound most in plenty. Your fattest men have the least blood, and your richest men do the least good. Whereas those that are rich in this world should be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate to widows and fatherless especially, sith those are God’s own clients, 1Ti 6:17 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
have: Deu 15:11, Deu 15:14, Neh 8:10, Luk 11:41, Joh 13:29, Act 4:32
the fatherless: Job 29:13-16, Eze 18:7, Eze 18:16, Rom 12:13, Jam 1:27, 1Jo 3:17
Reciprocal: 1Sa 25:11 – Shall I then Job 6:27 – the fatherless Job 22:7 – not given Job 24:3 – drive Job 31:32 – The stranger Psa 68:5 – A father Mat 14:16 – they