Commentary on
The Book of Job

Chapter Thirty-one: Oath of Clearing

The Oath of Clearing

The Oath of Clearing

Job: chapter 31
¹ I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
² For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
³ Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
⁵ If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
⁶ Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.
⁷ If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
⁸ Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
⁹ If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;
¹⁰ Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
¹¹ For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
¹² For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
¹³ If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
¹⁴ What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
¹⁶ If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
¹⁸ (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
¹⁹ If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
²¹ If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
²² Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
²³ For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
²⁴ If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
²⁵ If I rejoice 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 rejoice 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.
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.

I am so righteous, begins Job's closing argument, that I wouldn't even look at a young woman (31:1). Job has pulled himself together for an ‘oath of clearing’ (Penn-Lewis 1996, 129). This is a challenge to God: look and see if you find... and he begins to list various possible sins, and suggest awful punishments if he is found guilty.

This oath of clearing was a common practice in the Middle East. The Egyptians believed that the dead would be brought to account for their life in the afterlife. A formula for this declaration before the gods is found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead:

“I have not committed sins against human beings,
I have not mistreated cattle.
I have not blasphemed against God.
I have not struck the wretched.
I have not caused diseases.
I have not starved anyone.
I have not murdered anyone.
I have not stolen loaves from the spirits.
I have not committed pederasty.
I have not done impure actions.
I have not falsified measures of produce...”

The Egyptian belief was that if someone uttered this declaration who had in fact transgressed in one of these areas, they would be burned immediately (Martini 1992, 59).

Samuel, sealing the anointing of Saul as king (against his wishes), makes an oath of clearing: “Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you” (I Sam. 12:3). David uses this same formula: “O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honor in the dust” (Ps. 7:3-5).

The character of Job's oath is more defiant. “For what portion of God is there from above” (31:2)? Job wants to know how God is repaying his righteousness. Aren't the wicked the ones who get “strange punishment” (31:3)? I'm being treated like a bad guy, but can't God see I'm a good guy (31:4)? Job's theology is not wrong, it is just very limited. God has blessed Job, but now Job is being called to something finer, something higher. Job alluded to the refiner's fire in chapter twenty-three (23:10), but neither he nor his friends have any understanding of what is happening.

A clear contrast might be found in David's cry: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24). Here David is holding himself out to be transformed of God. Psalm 17, is an example of a more diffident statement of innocence. But, even here David concludes with a statement of pure faith: “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” (Ps. 17:15).

Count All My Steps

“I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” (31:1). Clarke suggests the sin in question may be idolatry rather than lust: “umah ethbonan al bethulah And why should I set myself to contemplate, or think upon, Bethulah? That Bethulah may here signify an idol, is very likely. Sanchoniatho observes, that Ouranos first introduced Baithulia when he erected animated stones, or rather, as Bochart observes, ANOINTED stones, which became representatives of some deity. I suppose that Job purges himself here from this species of idolatry. Probably the Baithulia were at first emblems only of the tabernacle; beith Eloah, ‘the house of God;’ or of that pillar set up by Jacob, Genesis 28:18, which he called beith Elohim, or Bethalim; for idolatry always supposes a pure and holy worship, of which it is the counterfeit” (Clarke, note on 31:1). I would tend to agree with Clarke only because the sensibility of starting with the more egregious sin. The first four of the ten commandments cover direct offenses to God, including idolatry. Job, although not under that covenant, clearly understands the gist of God's law. Similarly verse 5, “If I have walked with vanity...” (31:5), uses the Hebrew word ‘shâv’ which can also mean ‘idolatry’ (Strong, H7723; also Clarke, note on 31:5). “It seems evident that the whole of Job’s discourse here is a vindication of himself from all idolatrous dispositions and practices” (Clarke, note on 31:5).

Job begins the litany of sins that he might commit and advises the appropriate punishments to which he would willingly submit, if he were guilty. If I have been deceitful, or if I have stolen (31:5-7), then let someone steal my crops, or let my shoots (Barnes, notes to 31:8) be uprooted (31:8). If I have committed adultery (31:9), let my wife do the same (31:10). If I had refused to honestly listen to the complaint of those who serve me (31:13), then how can I expect God to listen to me (31:14)? If I refuse to feed the poor, the widow, the orphan (31:16-17), and if I refuse to cloth them (31:19-20), or if I beat away the orphans (31:21), then let my arm be broken off (31:22). Job indicates that he was raised with orphans and has raised them (31:18).

Fear of the Lord is Job's guiding force: “For destruction from God was a terror to me” (31:23). It is popular for Christians to class ‘Old Testament’ morality as inferior because of its lack of understanding of the sins of the heart. Job clearly understands that an evil desire or an evil thought is an offense to God (as 31:1) and he includes these in his declaration. He is trying to be thorough. Job goes on to list evil thoughts which he has been careful to avoid. If gold was my assurance, or I was overly proud of my wealth (31:24-25), or if I have secretly worshiped (“kissed my hand” at) the sun or the moon (31:26-27), I should be punished (31:28).

God takes the business of oaths quite seriously (Exod. 20:7, Lev. 19:12). “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths’: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (Matt. 5:33-37). Job understands the seriousness of his oath. He is putting forward this oath of clearing so that his friends will see he is hiding nothing. Job is trying desperately to be justified before his brethren. The young Elihu, who is about to speak, clearly doesn't believe Job (34:7-8). It is a performance which breeds self-satisfaction at best.

Accuse Me in Writing

As Job continues with his list he is becoming agitated. He is not completing his thoughts. If I have gloated over the downfall of my enemy (31:29), I didn't even curse him (31:30), or if I have kept the best meat for myself (31:31), I opened my doors to travelers (31:32), if I have lied about my transgressions like Adam (31:33)...

Job stops and wails, “Oh that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense – let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing” (31:35). Job wants his day in court. This ‘oath of clearing’ is of no use, if God refuses to listen. I grew up in a region with lots of snow in winter, so loosing vehicles stuck in snow was not unusual. The rule was to put the car in low gear and go slow. Once the wheels spin freely you have to back off on the throttle until they begin to catch. I remember vividly trying to push out a man from Georgia who had chains on his car but still couldn't get loose because he was trying so hard. I tried to give him advice, but he refused to listen to my teenage wisdom. Instead he pressed the throttle down full so that the wheels spun violently. He spun his wheels all the way through the snow and dug his chains an inch down into the asphalt before the car started to move. He left me covered in snow and bits of asphalt. This is Job. He is trying so hard that everything churns around him, but there is still no answer from heaven. He is still stuck.

Although he throws his full weight against it, heaven is as iron to Job. ‘My arms are too short to box with God’ proclaims the title of a play about the deaf. “I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron” (Levi. 26:19). Job's righteousness has become his stumbling block. He believes himself justified by his righteous life (his works) and demands to be heard of heaven. His oath of clearing is his final full disclosure statement. But the supreme judge refuses to hear his plea. In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a great tree cut down to a stump and bound with brass and iron. Daniel interprets the dream that Nebuchadnezzar must humble himself to God or be cut down and sent into the field as a beast. Because of his pride, Nebuchadnezzar is made mad and is driven out into the fields to eat grass until he does humble himself (Dan. 4:9-33). Because of pride the heavens are closed against Job.

I Bind It as a Crown

Job's viewpoint is deeply flawed. No citizen is considered special simply because he or she adheres to the law. A citizen is expected to stay within the law or be punished. God demands that we adhere to His commandments. This prevents us from sinking into greater crime (sin). That does not make us pure or holy and does not give us special privileges with God, it merely keeps us from punishment, from cursing ourselves further. Living among the lawless, Job believes his law abiding character is holiness. He is immensely frustrated at not getting a hearing.

Job is abundantly sure of his innocence. Before God Himself I could take my record book, he declares, “and bind it as a crown to me. I would declare unto Him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto Him” (31:36-37). I have a right to be proud, is Job's declaration. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6), declares Isaiah when he finally realizes his true self-worth. Job cannot see that his self-realized righteousness is but excrement with which he writes his proud record of lawfulness. He puffs himself up to declare, he would bind his record to his head to show God. I am reminded of a dog I had who would leave his deposit on the lawn, sniff it and turn brightly to me wagging his tail as if to say ‘look what I made’.

I don't mean to make light of Job's situation, which is gravely serious. I am trying to illustrate that although Job has pleased God with his diligence, he is still naked before God. Going forward, his record is of no use, he can only rely on faith in the goodness and mercy of God. By his righteousness, Job is on the threshold of holiness. But he has yet to enter the gates. Because he is feverishly trying to reason out his circumstances, Job has become a froth of words. Because he has no understanding, he is a froth with no substance. Stretching his thoughts over his faith, his faith is becoming a pale water mark fading in the smoking lamp of his own reasoning.

There is only one crown that we can wear into the presence of God. “In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people” (Isa. 28:5). The shed blood of Jesus, a sacrifice for the cleansing of His people by which mark we may approach the throne of God. Job as yet has no crown that he can wear before God.

Job finishes his final ‘if’, not even the furrows in the field will accuse me. He closes defiant. He will stay in this defiant stance until God has finished describing Leviathan.

back

*All Bible quotes are from the King James Version unless otherwise indicated.

Commentary onThe Book of Job