Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:24
If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence;
24 34. Repudiation of another class of secret sins, that would have dishonoured him: (1) secret joy in the possession of wealth that love of gain which is idolatry (Col 3:5), Job 31:24-25; (2) a momentary impulse to salute the rising sun or the moon in her splendour and thus be false to the true spiritual God on high, Job 31:26-28; (3) secret joy of heart at the misfortune of his enemy, Job 31:29-30; (4) narrowness of soul and niggardliness, Job 31:31-32; and finally, hypocrisy, Job 31:33-34.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If I have made gold my hope – That is, if I have put my trust in gold rather than in God; if I have fixed my affections with idolatrous attachment on riches rather than on my Maker. Job here introduces another class of sins, and says that his conscience did not charge him with guilt in respect to them. He had before spoken mainly of social duties, and of his manner of life toward the poor, the needy, the widow, and the orphan. He here turns to the duty which he owed to God, and says that his conscience did not charge him with idolatry in any form. He had indeed been rich, but he had not fixed his affections with idolatrous attachment on his wealth.
Or have said to fine gold – The word used here ( kethem) is the same which is employed in Job 28:16, to denote the gold of Ophir. It is used to express that which was most pure – from the verb katham – to hide, to hoard, and then denoting that which was hidden, hoarded, precious. The meaning is, that he had not put his trust in that which was most sought after, and which was deemed of the highest value by people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 31:24-28
If I have made gold my hope.
On the love of money
How universal is it among those who are in pursuit of wealth to make gold their hope; and, among those who are in possession of wealth, to make fine gold their confidence! Yet we are here told that this is virtually as complete a renunciation of God as to practise some of the worst charms of idolatry. We recoil from an idolater as from one who labours under a great moral derangement, in suffering his regards to be carried away from the true God to an idol. But is it not just the same derangement, on the part of man, that he should love any created good, and in the enjoyment of it lose sight of the Creator–that, thoroughly absorbed with the present and the sensible gratification, there should be no room left for the movements of duty, or regard to the Being who furnished him with the materials, and endowed him with the organs of every gratification? There is an important distinction between the love of money, and the love of what money purchases. Either of these affections may equally displace God from the heart. But there is a malignity and an inveteracy of atheism in the former which does not belong to the latter, and in virtue of which it may be seen that the love of money is, indeed, the root of all evil. A man differs from an animal in being something more than a sensitive being. He is also a reflective being. He has the power of thought, and inference, and anticipation. And yet it will be found, in the case of every natural man, that the exercise of those powers, so far from having carried him nearer, has only widened his departure from God, and given a more deliberate and wilful character to his atheism than if he had been without them altogether. In virtue of the powers of mind which belong to him, he can carry his thoughts beyond the present desires and the present gratification. He can calculate on the visitations of future desire, and on the means of its gratification. But the reason of man, and the retrospective power of man, still fail to carry him, by an ascending process, to the first cause. He stops at the instrumental cause, which, by his own wisdom and his own power, he has put into operation. In a word, the mans understanding is overrun with atheism, as well as his desires. To look no further than to fortune as the dispenser of all the enjoyments which money can purchase, is to make that fortune stand in the place of God. It is to make sense shut out faith. We have the authority of that Word which has been pronounced a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, that it cannot have two masters, or that there is not in it room for two great and ascendant affections. Covetousness offers a more daring and positive aggression on the right and territory of the Godhead, than even infidelity. The latter would only desolate the sanctuary of heaven; the former would set up an abomination in the midst of it. When the liking and the confidence of men are toward money, there is no direct intercourse, either by the one or the other of these affections towards God; and in proportion as he sends forth his desires, and rests his security on the former, in that very proportion does he renounce God as his hope, and God as his dependence. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
The worship of wealth
What is the true idea of property–something to be left behind when we die, or something which may be interwoven with our immortal nature, and so will last us for eternity? Money, jewels, lands, houses, books, decorations of all sorts and kinds, must be taken leave of at the bed of death. But there are things that last. Habits are wrought into the intellect and will–the love of God and of man, sincerity, purity, disinterestedness, these things live, and are really property, for death cannot touch them. Most men regard civilisation as mere material progress; but true human improvement must be an improvement of the man himself. And man himself is not what he owns and can handle, nor even his bodily frame, but he is a spirit clothed in a bodily form. His real improvement consists in that which secures the freedom and the supremacy of the noblest part of his nature. A true civilisation is that which shall promote this upon a great scale in human society. What do we see every year as the London season draws near, but a bevy of mothers, like generals, set out on a campaign, prepared to undergo any amount of fatigue if only they can marry their daughters, not necessarily to high-souled, virtuous men, but in any ease to a fortune! What do we see but a group of young men, thinking, after perhaps a career of dissipation, that the time has arrived for settling respectably in life, and looking, each one of them, not for a girl who has the graces and character which will make her husband and children happy, but for somebody who has a sufficient dowry to enable him to keep up a large establishment! Who can wonder, when the most sacred of all human relations, the union of hearts for time and for eternity, is thus prostituted to the brutal level of an affair of cash, that such transactions are quickly followed by months or years of misery–misery which, after seething long in private, is at last paraded before the eyes of the wondering world amid the unspeakable shame and degradation of the Divorce Court! (Canon Liddon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 24. Gold my hope] For the meaning of zahab, polished gold, and kethem, stamped gold, see on Job 28:15-17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My hope, i.e. the matter of my hope and trust, placing my chief joy and satisfaction in worldly wealth, expecting safety and happiness from it. Compare Psa 62:10.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24, 25. Job asserts his freedomfrom trust in money (1Ti 6:17).Here he turns to his duty towards God, as before he had spoken of hisduty towards himself and his neighbor. Covetousness iscovert idolatry, as it transfers the heart from the Creator to thecreature (Col 3:5). In Job 31:26;Job 31:27 he passes to overtidolatry.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If I have made gold my hope,…. Job here purges himself from idolatry in a figurative sense, as he afterwards does from it, taken in a literal sense; for covetousness is idolatry, and a covetous man is an idolater; he worships his gold and silver, placing his affections on them, and putting his trust and confidence in them, Eph 5:5; for to make gold the object or ground of hope is to place it in the room of God, who is the Hope of Israel, and in whom every good man should trust, and whom he should make his hope, Jer 14:8; not gold on earth, but glory in heaven, is what the good man is hoping for; and not riches, but Christ and his righteousness, are the foundation of such an hope; to make gold our hope, is to have hope in this life, and to make a thing present the object of it; whereas true hope is of things not seen and future, and if only in this life good men have hope, they are of all most miserable; but they have in heavens better and a more enduring substance, and a better ground for hope of that substance, than worldly wealth and riches can give:
or have said to the fine gold, [thou art] my confidence; as bad men do, and good men are prone unto, and therefore to be cautioned against it,
Ps 49:6; for this is not only to trust in uncertain riches, and in unsatisfying ones, but to put them in the stead of God, who is or ought to be the confidence of the ends of the earth: not gold, but the living God, who gives all things richly to enjoy, is to be trusted in; when men covet riches, and trust in them as their security from evil, and that they may live independent of the providence of God, it is virtually to deny it, and carries in it secret atheism; as well as such a confidence is destruction of the worship of God, and such a temper makes a man an unprofitable hearer, plunges him into errors and hurtful lusts, and endangers his everlasting happiness, Hab 2:9; in later times the Romans worshipped the goddess “Pecunia”, or money, as Austin z relates.
z De Civitate Dei, l. 4. c. 21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
24 If I made gold my confidence,
And said to the fine gold: O my trust;
25 If I rejoiced that my wealth was great,
And that my hand had gained much; –
26 If I saw the sunlight when it shone,
And the moon walking in splendour,
27 And my heart was secretly enticed,
And I threw them a kiss by my hand:
28 This also would be a punishable crime,
For I should have played the hypocrite to God above.
Not only from covetous extortion of another’s goods was he conscious of being clear, but also from an excessive delight in earthly possessions. He has not made gold his , confidence (vid., on , Job 4:6); he has not said to , fine gold (pure, Job 28:19, of Ophir, Job 28:16), (with Dag. forte implicitum as Job 8:14; Job 18:14): object (ground) of my trust! He has not rejoiced that his wealth is great ( , adj.), and that his hand has attained , something great (neutral masc. Ew. 172, b). His joy was the fear of God, which ennobles man, not earthly things, which are not worthy to be accounted as man’s highest good. He indeed avoided as (Col 3:5), how much more the heathenish deification of the stars! is here, as Job 37:21 and in Homer, the sun as the great light of the earth. is the moon as a wanderer (from = ), i.e., night-wanderer ( noctivaga ), as the Arab. tarik in a like sense is the name of the morning-star. The two words describe with exceeding beauty the solemn majestic wandering of the moon; is acc. of closer definition, like , Psa 15:2, and this “brilliantly rolling on” is the acc. of the predicate to , corresponding to the , “that (or how) it shoots forth rays” ( Hiph. of , distinct from Isa 13:20), or even: that it shot forth rays ( fut. in signif. of an imperf. as Gen 48:17).
Job 31:27 proceeds with futt. consec. in order to express the effect which this imposing spectacle of the luminaries of the day and of the night might have produced on him, but has not. The Kal is to be understood as in Deu 11:16 (comp. ib. iv. 19, ): it was enticed, gave way to the seducing influence. Kissing is called as being a joining of lip to lip. Accordingly the kiss by hand can be described by ; the kiss which the mouth gives the hand is to a certain extent also a kiss which the hand gives the mouth, since the hand joins itself to the mouth. Thus to kiss the hand in the direction of the object of veneration, or also to turn to it the kissed hand and at the same time the kiss which fastens on it (as compensation for the direct kiss, 1Ki 19:18; Hos 13:2), is the proper gesture of the and adoratio mentioned; comp. Pliny, h. n. xxviii. 2, 5; Inter adorandum dexteram ad osculum referimus et totum corpus circumagimus . Tacitus, Hist. iii. 24, says that in Syria they value the rising sun; and that this was done by kissing the hand ( ) in Western Asia as in Greece, is to be inferred from Lucians , c. xvii.
(Note: Vid., Freund’s Lat. Wrterbuch s. v. adorare, and K. Fr. Hermann’s Gottesdienstliche Alterth. der Griechen, c. xxi. 16, but especially Excursus 123 in Dougtaeus’ Analecta.)
In the passage before us Ew. finds an indication of the spread of the Zoroaster doctrine in the beginning of the seventh century b.c., at which period he is of opinion the book of Job was composed, but without any ground. The ancient Persian worship has no knowledge of the act of adoration by throwing a kiss; and the Avesta recognises in the sun and moon exalted genii, but created by Ahuramazda, and consequently not such as are to be worshipped as gods. On the other hand, star-worship is everywhere the oldest and also comparatively the purest form of heathenism. That the ancient Arabs, especially the Himjarites, adored the sun, , and the moon, ( , whence , the mountain dedicated to the moon), as divine, we know from the ancient testimonies,
(Note: Vid., the collection in Lud. Krehl’s Religion der vorislamischen Araber, 1863.)
and many inscriptions
(Note: Vid., Osiander in the Deutsche Morgenl. Zeitschr. xvii. (1863) 795.)
which confirm and supplement them; and the general result of Chwolsohn’s
(Note: In his great work, Ueber die Ssabier und den Ssabismus, 2 Bdd. Petersburg, 1856.)
researches is unimpeachable, that the so-called Sabians (Arab. sabwn with or without Hamza of the Je ), of whom a section bore the name of worshippers of the sun, shemsje , were the remnant of the ancient heathenism of Western Asia, which lasted into the middle ages. This heathenism, which consisted, according to its basis, in the worship of the stars, was also spread over Syria, and its name, usually combined with (Deu 4:19), perhaps is not wholly devoid of connection with the name of a district of Syria, ; certainly our poet found it already there, where he heard the tradition about Job, and in his hero presents to us a true adherent of the patriarchal religion, who had kept himself free from the influence of the worship of the stars, which was even in his time forcing its way among the tribes.
It is questionable whether Job 31:28 is to be regarded as a conclusion, with Umbr. and others, or as a parenthesis, with Ew., Hahn, Schlottm., and others. We take it as a conclusion, against which there is no objection according to the syntax, although strictly it is only a confirmation (vid., Job 31:11, Job 31:23) of an implied imprecatory conclusion: therefore it is (would be) also a judicial misdeed, i.e., one to be severely punished, for I should have played the hypocrite to God above ( , recalling the universal Arabic expression allah taala , God, the Exalted One) by making gold and silver, the sun and moon my idols. By both the sins belonging to the judgment-seat of God, as in , Mat 5:22, are not referred to a human tribunal, but only described as punishable transgressions of the highest grade. signifies to play the hypocrite to any one, whereas to disown any one is expressed by . His worship of God would have been hypocrisy, if he had disowned in secret the God whom he acknowledged openly and outwardly.
Now follow strophes to which the conclusion is wanting. The single imprecatory conclusion which yet follows (Job 31:40), is not so worded that it might avail for all the preceding hypothetical antecedents. There are therefore in these strophes no conclusions that correspond to the other clauses. The inward emotion of the confessor, which constantly increases in fervour the more he feels himself superior to his accusers in the exemplariness of his life hitherto, struggles against this rounding off of the periods. A “yea then – !” is easily supplied in thought to these strophes which per aposiopesin are devoid of conclusions.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Job’s Abhorrence of Idolatry. | B. C. 1520. |
24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; 26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above. 29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: 30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. 31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. 32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
Four articles more of Job’s protestation we have in these verses, which, as all the rest, not only assure us what he was and did, but teach us what we should be and do:–
I. He protests that he never set his heart upon the wealth of this world, nor took the things of it for his portions and happiness. He had gold; he had fine gold. His wealth was great, and he had gotten much. Our wealth is either advantageous or pernicious to us according as we stand affected to it. If we make it our rest and our ruler, it will be our ruin; if we make it our servant, and an instrument of righteousness, it will be a blessing to us. Job here tells us how he stood affected to his worldly wealth. 1. He put no great confidence in it: he did not make gold his hope, v. 24. Those are very unwise that do, and enemies to themselves, who depend upon it as sufficient to make them happy, who think themselves safe and honourable, and sure of comfort, in having abundance of this world’s goods. Some make it their hope and confidence for another world, as if it were a certain token of God’s favour; and those who have so much sense as not to think so yet promise themselves that it will be a portion for them in this life, whereas the things themselves are uncertain and our satisfaction in them is much more so. It is hard to have riches and not to trust in riches; and it is this which makes it so difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,Mat 19:23; Mar 10:23. 2. He took no great complacency in it (v. 25): If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and boasted that my hand had gotten much. He took no pride in his wealth, as if it added any thing to his real excellency, nor did he think that his might and the power of his hand obtained it for him, Deut. viii. 17. He took no pleasure in it in comparison with the spiritual things which were the delight of his soul. His joy did not terminate in the gift, but passed through it to the giver. When he was in the midst of his abundance he never said, Soul, take thy ease in these things, eat, drink, and be merry, nor blessed himself in his riches. He did not inordinately rejoice in his wealth, which helped him to bear the loss of it so patiently as he did. The way to weep as though we wept not is to rejoice as though we rejoiced not. The less pleasure the enjoyment is the less pain the disappointment will be.
II. He protests that he never gave the worship and glory to the creature which are due to God only; he was never guilty of idolatry, v. 26-28. We do not find that Job’s friends charged him with this. But there were those, it seems, at that time, who were so sottish as to worship the sun and moon, else Job would not have mentioned it. Idolatry is one of the old ways which wicked men have trodden, and the most ancient idolatry was the worshipping of the sun and moon, to which the temptation was most strong, as appears Deut. iv. 19, where Moses speaks of the danger which the people were in of being driven to worship them. But as yet it was practised secretly, and durst not appear in open view, as afterwards the most abominable idolatries did. Observe,
1. How far Job kept from this sin. He not only never bowed the knee to Baal (which, some think, was designed to represent the sun), never fell down and worshipped the sun, but he kept his eye, his heart, and his lips, clean from this sin. (1.) He never so much as beheld the sun or the moon in their pomp and lustre with any other admiration of them than what led him to give all the glory of their brightness and usefulness to their Creator. Against spiritual as well as corporal adultery he made a covenant with his eyes; and this was his covenant, that, whenever he looked at the lights of heaven, he should by faith look through them, and beyond them, to the Father of lights. (2.) He kept his heart with all diligence, that that should not be secretly enticed to think that there is a divine glory in their brightness, or a divine power in their influence, and that therefore divine honours are to be paid to them. Here is the source of idolatry; it begins in the heart. Every man is tempted to that, as to other sins, when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. (3.) He did not so much as put a compliment upon these pretended deities, did not perform the least and lowest act of adoration: His mouth did not kiss his hand, which, it is likely, was a ceremony then commonly used even by some that yet would not be thought idolaters. It is an old-fashioned piece of civil respect among ourselves, in making a bow, to kiss the hand, a form which, it seems, was anciently used in giving divine honours to the sun and moon. They could not reach to kiss them, as the men that sacrificed kissed the calves (Hos 13:2; 1Ki 19:18); but, to show their good will, they kissed their hand, reverencing those as their masters which God has made servants to this lower world, to hold the candle for us. Job never did it.
2. How ill Job thought of this sin, v. 28. (1.) He looked upon it as an affront to the civil magistrate: It were an iniquity to be punished by the judge, as a public nuisance, and hurtful to kings and provinces. Idolatry debauches men’s minds, corrupts their manners, takes off the true sense of religion which is the great bond of societies, and provokes God to give men up to a reprobate sense, and to send judgments upon a nation; and therefore the conservators of the public peace are concerned to restrain it by punishing it. (2.) He looked upon it as a much greater affront to the God of heaven, and no less than high treason against his crown and dignity: For I should have denied the God that is above, denied his being as God and his sovereignty as God above. Idolatry is, in effect, atheism; hence the Gentiles are said to be without God (atheists) in the world. Note, We should be afraid of every thing that does but tacitly deny the God above, his providence, or any of his perfections.
III. He protests that he was so far from doing or designing mischief to any that he neither desired nor delighted in the hurt of the worst enemy he had. The forgiving of those that do us evil, it seems, was Old-Testament duty, though the Pharisees made the law concerning it of no effect, by teaching, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy, Matt. v. 43. Observe here,
1. Job was far from revenge. He did not only not return the injuries that were done him, not only not destroy those who hated him; but, (1.) He did not so much as rejoice when any mischief befel them, v. 29. Many who would not wilfully hurt those who stand in their light, or have done them a diskindness, yet are secretly pleased and laugh in their sleeve (as we say) when hurt is done them. But Job was not of that spirit. Though Job was a very good man, yet, it seems, there were those that hated him; but evil found them. He saw their destruction, and was far from rejoicing in it; for that would justly have brought the destruction upon him, as it is intimated, Pro 24:17; Pro 24:18. (2.) He did not so much as wish in his own mind that evil might befel them, v. 30. He never wished a curse to his soul (curses to the soul are the worst of curses), never desired his death; he knew that, if he did, it would turn into sin to him. He was careful not to offend with his tongue (Ps. xxxix. 1), would not suffer his mouth to sin, and therefore durst not imprecate any evil, no, not to his worst enemy. If others bear malice to us, that will not justify us in bearing malice to them.
2. He was violently urged to revenge, and yet he kept himself thus clear from it (v. 31): The men of his tabernacle, his domestics, his servants, and those about him, were so enraged at Job’s enemy who hated him, that they could have eaten him, if Job would but have set them on or given them leave. “O that we had of his flesh! Our master is satisfied to forgive him, but we cannot be so satisfied.” See how much beloved Job was by his family, how heartily they espoused his cause, and what enemies they were to his enemies; but see what a strict hand Job kept upon his passions, that he would not avenge himself, though he had those about him that blew the coals of his resentment. Note, (1.) A good man commonly does not himself lay to heart the affronts that are done him so much as his friends do for him. (2.) Great men have commonly those about them that stir them up to revenge. David had so, 1Sa 24:4; 1Sa 26:8; 2Sa 16:9. But if they keep their temper, notwithstanding the spiteful insinuations of those about them, afterwards it shall be no grief of heart to them, but shall turn very much to their praise.
IV. He protests that he had never been unkind or inhospitable to strangers (v. 32): The stranger lodged not in the street, as angels might lately have done in the streets of Sodom if Lot alone had not entertained them. Perhaps by that instance Job was taught (as we are, Heb. xiii. 2) not to be forgetful to entertain strangers. He that is at home must consider those that are from home, and put his soul into their soul’s stead, and then do as he would be done by. Hospitality is a Christian duty, 1 Pet. iv. 9. Job, in his prosperity, was noted for good house-keeping: He opened his door to the road (so it may be read); he kept the street-door open, that he might see who passed by and invite them in, as Abraham, Gen. xviii. 1.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
d. He did not trust in wealth nor in heavenly bodies. (Job. 31:24-28)
TEXT 31:2428
24 If I have made gold my hope,
And have said to the fine gold,
Thou art my confidence;
25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gotten much;
26 If I have beheld the sun when it shined,
Or the moon walking in brightness,
27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
And my mouth hath kissed my hand:
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
For I should have denied the God that is above.
COMMENT 31:2428
Job. 31:24He denies that he has ever made material wealth his GodJob. 22:24 ff and Job. 28:16. Deeper and deeper into his own thoughts he penetrates. He exposes two kinds of idolatry: (1) Job. 31:24-25money, rather than God; and (2) Job. 31:26-28the secret sin of invoking strange godsPsa. 49:6 ff; Psa. 52:7 ff; Psa. 62:10; Pro. 11:28; Jer. 17:7; Eccl. 31:510; Mat. 6:24. His confidence is in God, not gold.
Job. 31:25His former good fortune has not made him proud. His great possessions and power have not made him a bigot. He has not abused his wealth.
Job. 31:26Here Job denies that he has been an idolator, worshipping the sun and the moonGen. 1:16 ff. The imagery suggests that the sun was a precious thing. It is the same word used of gems. Job denies even any secret longing to worship these two beautiful living lords of the eastern skies. The prophets severely condemned the worship of astro-deities by a vast number of covenant personsHab. 3:4; Jer. 8:2; Eze. 8:16.
Job. 31:27Job denies that his hand ever touched his mouth in homage to the sun and moon. Ezekiel attacks sun worship in Job. 8:16; and Jeremiah castigates worshippers of the queen of heaven in Jer. 44:17. Kissing as an act of pagan worship is inveighed against in 1Ki. 19:18 and Hos. 13:12. A. Parrot suggests that the gesture is used throughout the Middle East when one tries to convince another in an argument.[322] The occult practices of the Canaanites are now known from the Ras Shamra literature.[323] Job is here contending for uncompromising monotheism in contrast to the crass, widely disseminated polytheism.
[322] See esp. A Goetze, JIVES, 1945, p. 248, and literature cited, esp. B. Meissner Der Kuss in alten orient.
[323] For the occult content of this literature, see C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Literature (Rome, 1949); R. DeLanghe, Le Textes des Ras ShamraUgarit (Paris, 1943); R. Dussaud, Les decouvertes de Ras Shamra et lAncien Testament; E. Jacob, Ras Shamra et LAncien Testament, Delachaux et Niestle, 1960.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(24) If I have made gold my hope.He here refers to the admonition of Eliphaz (Job. 22:23-24), and declares that such had not been his practice.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fourth strophe Job declares himself to have discharged his more secret and private obligations to God and man. He was not only free from covetous extortion, as he had previously declared, (Job 31:21,) but also from avaricious idolatry of glittering wealth and a concealed adoration of the most conspicuous of the heavenly bodies. Nor had he cherished emotions of retaliation and revenge, nor neglected the rites of hospitality, nor in general laid claim to virtues which he possessed not, Job 31:24-34.
Dillmann and others make the fourth strophe end with Job 31:32; Hengstenberg continues it to Job 31:34, and calls it a new decalogue of trespasses with an appended curse. The strophe divides itself into halves the first, treating of sin directly against God; the second, of sin against man.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24. Gold my hope Job here links the love of the shining metals with the worship of the shining luminaries covert idolatry with overt idolatry and thus anticipates the apostle in his estimate of covetousness. Col 3:5. “They whose God is gold have not God.” Dr. Chalmers has a serm on (in loc., Job 31:24-28) on “The Love of Money.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 483
SPIRITUAL IDOLATRY
Job 31:24-25; Job 31:28. If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; . This also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
HATEFUL as boasting is, and justly condemned both by God and man, there are occasions when it is proper, and indeed necessary. For instance; when a character has been grossly calumniated, and can be vindicated only by an appeal to facts, those facts may be adduced, however much the recital of them may tend to proclaim our own praise. Samuel was constrained to assert the equity of his own administration, when the people cast reflections on him, by desiring to change the form of his government, and to have a king substituted in his place. Paul also, when traduced by persons who sought to destroy his influence in the Church, declared, though much against his will, the honours which had been conferred upon him, and the habits he had invariably maintained [Note: 2Co 12:1-11.]. Indeed, we should have known comparatively but little of this blessed Apostle, if he had not been compelled by the malevolence of others to make known the hidden principles by which he had been actuated, and the blameless conduct which he had uniformly pursued: and, so far from blaming him for his boasting, we cannot but be thankful that God suffered him to be so injured, and thereby constrained him in self-defence to make known to us so much of his true character. In like manner we account it a great benefit to the Church, that Job was driven by the heavy accusations that were brought against him, to insist so largely on his own innocence, and to declare so fully the habits and exercises of his former life. Throughout this whole chapter he maintains, in reference to the evils that were laid to his charge, that his conduct had been the very reverse of what his friends supposed. Had he done this in the spirit of the self-applauding Pharisee (Luke 18.), he had acted wrong: but when it was necessary to wipe off the aspersions that were so injuriously cast upon him, he was justified in adducing whatever had a tendency to place his character in its true light.
The part we have just read is a vindication of himself from idolatry. Of idolatry there are two kinds; one actual and manifest; the other virtual and constructive. The actual idolatry is that which is referred to in the verses we have omitted. In the days of Job, or at least in the country where he lived, the sun and moon were the only objects to which idolatrous worship was paid: and, as they were out of the reach of the worshippers, the kiss, which was afterwards given to idols as an expression of supreme regard, was transferred to them by means of the hand [Note: Hos 13:2.]. But Job declared, that he had never been guilty of this great impiety. Nay more, he had never, even in heart, given to the creature any portion of that respect which was due only to the Most High God: and if he had, he acknowledged that his sufferings were richly merited, and that as his conduct would have been in fact a denial of his God, he could expect nothing from God but wrath and indignation to all eternity.
I.
The disposition here specified
An undue regard to wealth is extremely common in the world
[The possession of wealth is no evil: it then only becomes an evil, when it is accompanied with a measure of affiance or delight in it. But, fallen and depraved as man by nature is, it is exceeding difficult to view wealth with such indifference as we ought. Our blessed Lord states this, when speaking of the Rich Youth, who renounced and forsook him, rather than part with his great possessions. He first said, How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the kingdom of God! and then, How hardly shall they that trust in riches enter into the kingdom of God! intending thereby to intimate, that it is almost impossible to have them, and not to trust in them [Note: Mar 10:21-27.]. The pleasure that men take in the contemplation of their wealth, whether inherited or acquired, arises from the thought, that they are thereby placed, if not entirely, yet in some measure, beyond the reach of evil; and that, in whatever circumstances they may be, they shall have something which will administer to their comfort [Note: Hab 2:9.]. But this is idolatry, as we shall shew under our Second Head. At present, we content ourselves with observing, that this is the view, which all natural men have of wealth, and the regard which, under all circumstances, they pay to it.
Whence is it that men are so eager in the pursuit of wealth? Whence is it that they so earnestly desire it for their children? Whence is it that all who come to the possession of wealth, or to any great preferment, are congratulated by their friends, and receive those congratulations as suitable to the occasion? Whence is it, on the contrary, that any heavy losses are considered as so great a misfortune, and call forth either real sympathy, or compliments of condolence? Is not all this from a presumption, that wealth and preferment are in themselves a certain and a positive good? Does it not all imply a hope or confidence in gold? Would a man who had merely scraped together a great heap of dust, rejoice because his hand had gotten much? and does not the satisfaction he feels from the attainment of riches, shew, that he has formed an erroneous estimate of their value? ]
Such then being the disposition specified in our text, we proceed to point out,
II.
The sinfulness of it
To act in any way unworthy of God is to deny him [Note: Tit 1:16.]: but to feel such a disposition towards wealth as has been now described, is in a more especial manner to be regarded in this view. It denies, in fact,
1.
That God is the only source of happiness to man
[God has called himself the Fountain of living waters, and has pronounced all creatures to be broken cisterns that will hold no water. Now what is this but a declaration, that to make us happy is his exclusive prerogative? Doubtless the creature, when he accompanies it with his blessing, is a source of much comfort: but it has nothing in itself: the sun, whose genial warmth is such a fruitful source of blessings to some, destroys all the hopes of others, and burns up the very face of the earth. The moon, which gladdens the heart of many a benighted traveller, operates by a secret influence upon the brain, to strike some with madness. Thus wealth also, which to some is the means of exercising a most diffusive benevolence, to others is a curse. What was Nabal the better for his wealth? It only fostered his deep-rooted churlishness, and ultimately proved the occasion of his death. In a word, the creature is nothing but what God is pleased to make it: with his blessing, it will contribute to our happiness; but without his blessing, it is only vanity and vexation of spirit. If then we place any confidence in it, or suffer it to be a source of complacency to our minds, we ascribe to the creature what is found in none but the Lord Jehovah; to whom alone we should have respect, when we say, Return unto thy rest, O my soul.]
2.
That he is all-sufficient for that end
[The man that can look up to a reconciled God in Christ Jesus, has all that he can desire: the wealth of the whole world can add nothing to him. If it be thought that wealth being an addition, must of necessity enlarge the comforts of the soul; we would ask, What can a taper add to the light of the meridian sun? or who that enjoys the full splendour of that heavenly orb, does not despise the feeble efforts of a taper to augment its lustre? So it is with him who beholds the light of Gods glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ: the creature, whoever, or whatever it may be, has no glory in his eyes by reason of the glory that excelleth. Did the prodigal any longer affect the husks which the swine ate of, when he was feeding on the fatted calf in his fathers house? No, surely: nor does he ever hunger, who has fed on Jesus flesh; or thirst, when once he has been refreshed with the water of life Hear the testimony of one who spoke from his own experience: We are sorrowful, says the blessed Apostle, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing all things [Note: 2Co 6:10.].
Now if we desire any earthly good from an idea that it can of itself contribute to our happiness, we virtually deny the all-sufficiency of Christ; and by exalting the creature to a participation of his rights, we rob him of his unalienable and incommunicable glory.]
Improvement
1.
For reproof
[Let this character of Job be compared with that of the generality of Christians, and it will afford abundant matter for the deepest humiliation. Certainly, on account of our superior advantages, we ought to possess far greater spirituality of mind than Job: yet how far below him do the generality even of those who profess religion fall! Perhaps the besetting sin of those who embrace the Gospel is worldliness: it is certain, that very many of them are as eager in the pursuit of wealth as others: and this accounts for the little influence of the word of God upon them: the seed is good, but the soil is bad; and the noxious weeds, by their speedy and incessant growth, keep down the feebler plants of piety in the soul: the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. And here let it be observed, that it is not the overt act of covetousness or creature-dependence that is condemned, but the inward disposition of the soul: even the complacency of mind that arises from the possession of wealth is itself a positive denial of the God that is above. O, Brethren, enter into your own bosoms, and judge yourselves in relation to this matter. Inquire whether God has such a full possession of your hearts as to render all earthly things rain, empty, and worthless, in your estimation? if not, how can you call God your portion, or imagine that you have formed a proper estimate of the blessings of salvation? Know assuredly, that, if you have just views of Christ, you will regard him as the pearl of great price, to purchase which a wise merchant will sell all that he has; and you will say from your inmost soul, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee.
2.
For instruction in righteousness
[We learn from our text, wherein a true confession of Christ consists: it is not in an assent to some particular truths, but in a practical and experimental sense of his love overpowering all inferior considerations. To love the Lord Jesus Christ, to cleave to him with full purpose of heart, to count him all our salvation and all our desire, this is what God requires; this is also what our blessed Saviour merits at our hands; and if we despise not even life itself when standing in competition with his will, his presence, his glory, we shall be regarded as denying him, and must expect to be denied by him in the presence of his Father and his holy angels [Note: Mar 8:34-35; Mar 8:38.]. In the Church above there is no need of either sun or moon to lighten it, because the Lamb is the light thereof [Note: Rev 21:23.]; so also is it in the Church below, wherever Christ has really established his kingdom in the heart [Note: Isa 24:23.]. Look to it then, Brethren, that it be thus with you: and, if you are disposed to ask, Who will shew me any good? learn immediately to add, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me; and that shall put more gladness in my heart, than any increase of corn or wine or oil can ever do [Note: Psa 4:6-7.]: for as, on the one hand, A mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth, so, on the other hand, In Gods favour is life, and his loving-kindness is better than life itself.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Job 31:24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence;
Ver. 24. If I have made gold my hope ] The Seventy read, Si posui aurum in coniugmm meum; signifying the covetous man’s great love (Minut. Octav.). If I have trusted in uncertain riches, and been high minded, as Paul expounds it, 1Ti 6:17 , holding myself simply the better or the safer for the wealth I have gotten; this is creature confidence, this is fiat idolatry, worse than that of the belly god, who sacrificeth to his gut, but trusteth not to it. An ancient complaineth (and not without cause), Divites facultatibus suis alligatos magis aurum consuevisse suspicere quam caelum, That rich men mind gold more than God, and money more than mercy. If wealth be wanting, they sit down in a faithless sullen discontent and despair; as, if they have it, they rise up in a corky, frothy confidence that all shall go well with them. This St Paul calls idolatry, Col 3:5 ; St James, adultery, Jas 4:4 , and enmity with God, in a sense both active and passive; for it maketh a man both to hate God and to be hated by God. Now who would buy gold at so dear a rate?
Or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 31:24-30
Job 31:24-30
JOB’S INNOCENCE IN OTHER AREAS ALSO
“If I have made gold my hope,
And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gotten much;
If I have beheld the sun when it shined,
Or the moon walking in brightness,
And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
And my mouth hath kissed my hand:
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
For I should have denied the God that is above.
If 50have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
Or lifted up myself when evil found him
(Yea, I have not suffered my mouth to sin
By asking his life with a curse).”
“And my mouth hath kissed my hand” (Job 31:27). The thing referred to here is that of throwing kisses to idols, or other objects of worship. “Although not alluded to again in the Old Testament, the habit is abundantly attested elsewhere.” The actual kissing of idols is mentioned in 1Ki 19:18 and in Hos 13:2. “What Job denies here is any participation in the pagan worship of the heavenly bodies.”
The appeal of the heavenly host to Job is obvious here; “But Job does not confound the moon with the Maker: the glorious bodies of light (sun and moon) are God’s creatures. Their glory is a witness to God; but to worship or pay homage to them is tantamount to denying the one true God.”
I have not suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse (v. 30). Job is here speaking of his enemies. “He was untainted by bitterness toward his enemies; and in this he is traveling in the direction of our Lord’s words in Mat 5:44.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 31:24-25. Job had once been rich, but that was no sin provided it did not make him vain; the record we have shows that it did not.
Job 31:26-27. If a man were to kiss his hand in salutation to the sun, that would be an idolatrous act. Job was denying that he had done any such thing.
Job 31:28. Had Job done homage to the sun he could have justly been punished by the rulers. It would have been a denial of God, and the same was taught in Mat 6:24
Job 31:29. Job teaches that it would be wrong to take pleasure in the misfortune of others, even if they be personal enemies.
Job 31:30. If it would be wrong to rejoice at another’s calamities, it would likewise be wrong to wish for such a thing to come upon him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Gen 31:1, Deu 8:12-14, Psa 49:6, Psa 49:7, Psa 49:17, Psa 52:7, Psa 62:10, Pro 10:15, Pro 11:28, Pro 30:9, Mar 10:24, Luk 12:15, Col 3:5, 1Ti 6:10, 1Ti 6:17
Reciprocal: Est 5:11 – the glory Psa 10:3 – and blesseth Pro 18:11 – General Jer 9:23 – rich Eze 28:5 – and thine Hos 12:8 – Yet Mat 6:19 – General Mat 19:23 – That Luk 12:19 – Soul Luk 18:23 – he was very sorrowful Gal 6:14 – that I
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 31:24. If I have made gold my hope That is, the matter of my hope and trust, expecting safety and happiness from it, and placing my chief joy in the increase of my riches.