Bible Commentary - Job 31

In this chapter, Job denies for once and for all that he has sinned in any way.

This chapter is the epic conclusion of Job’s monologue, and it’s also the last time in the book that Job himself has any substantial role (though he does share a few brief words in two later chapters).

Having spoken about the precious value of wisdom, and about his own former blessed life and his present suffering, Job now denies with a curse that he has ever sinned against God in the ways that his friends described and even in some ways they haven’t mentioned yet.  Job goes through whole categories of sins, denying them one by one, and each time declaring a curse upon himself if he has ever done otherwise.

In verses 1-12, Job denies any kind of sexual sin (as well as possibly deceit in business, v. 4-5).  This is an interesting passage.  First of all, it is clear that the bible describes a gradual evolution in sexual ethics over time.  Beginning with Abraham and the patriarchs, it was reasonably common for men to have multiple wives and concubines.  Similarly in the later kingdom period, David, Solomon and various other kings down the line had many wives, numbering in the hundreds.  I don’t know exactly when the shift happened, it is not well-described in the biblical text, but by the time we get to Paul and Jesus, we have both Paul and Jesus making various direct and indirect statements in support of simple monogamy: one husband and one wife.

Within this context, our challenge is twofold: to an extent, we need to try to place Job somewhere on this timeline between polygamy and monogamy, and then secondly we need to figure out the nature of the sin based on that context.

Given the historical setting of the book and the general language, it seems likely that Job is on the older side.  As I mentioned in my introduction, Job is possibly the oldest book in the OT, even though it is very hard to give an exact date.  From this point of view, it seems unlikely that Job would view polygamy (a man having multiple wives) as a sin.  It is clear that adultery (defined in this context as having sex with a married woman) has always been considered a sin, however.

From the text in verses 1-12, it isn’t clear to me exactly what Job thinks is the sin here.  Verse 1 specifically says “gaze at a virgin”, which implies an unmarried woman.  From this verse, it would seem that Job thinks sex with anyone besides his wife is a sin, which would be consistent with later monogamy traditions that are historically unlikely at the point when Job was written.  On the other hand, verse 9 equates being “enticed by a woman” with “lurked at my neighbor’s doorway”.  This implies that the woman is a married woman, i.e. the wife of the aforementioned “neighbor” whose doorway he was visiting.  This shifts the sin to adultery, which has been universally condemned in the bible at every point.

Taking the entire passage as a whole, I suspect that Job may be broadly indicating a range of sexual sins and probably not referencing just adultery, but he’s certainly including adultery, and the remainder of the passage is quite vague about what transgressions he might have in mind.  It’s notable that Job is described as having only one wife, in spite of his relative wealth and prestige, so it’s possible that Job was indeed advocating for monogamy and considered polygamy a sin.  The evidence is pretty thin, but it seems within the realm of possibility.

The next section, from verse 13-23, moves on to the much more common social justice concerns that we have seen dominate the narrative so far.  Both Job and his friends have raised social justice concerns as a primary category of sin and evil, describing vulnerable categories as the poor and needy, widows and orphans.  This passage follows the same formula, listing “male and female slaves”, “the poor”, “widows”, “orphans”, “the needy”, and “the orphan” (again) as vulnerable persons who Job swears he has never abused.  Rather, Job asserts (as he did in chapter 29) that he has always served and helped the vulnerable, using his position of power to bless and support those in need.

Here he does the same, listing many ways that he has financially helped others, providing food, clothing and shelter to those in need.  He also mentions that he has never used his privilege and position of honor to abuse others, “because I saw I had support at the gate”.  As my reader my recall, chapter 29 described how Job was greatly honored at the city gate, where civil disputes would be adjudicated.  Because of his great honor he could have abused others and presumed that the legal process would vindicate him even if he did wrong.  Here in verse 21, Job insists that he has never used this position to his advantage, though he could have done so if he wished.  Also, Job gives an insightful justification for social justice concerns, stating that it is derived from the equal created status of all men before God (v. 15)

The remainder of the chapter, from verse 24-40, covers a variety of topics with no particular theme but still in the same vein with Job describing sins and calling down curses upon himself if he has ever committed them.  These include putting confidence in his personal wealth, worshiping the sun or moon (and thus denying God), cursing his enemies or rejoicing over their downfall, abusing the poor (social justice concerns again), and either stealing land or abusing his servants somehow (v. 38-39).

Out of these, perhaps the most interesting is that Job considers it a sin to worship the sun or moon (v. 26-28).  Certainly to a Jewish mind worshiping anything besides God is a terrible sin, but to a non-Jewish Job this would be much less clear.  Indeed, this is the first time idolatry as a subject has been raised by anyone in the book of Job.  I have to wonder whether this is taken from the original Job story or if this is an interpolation or addition from the Jewish author/transcriber.  One could raise a similar question about the personal ethics described throughout Job, whether they are from the authentic source material or the Jewish author who re-wrote the Job parable into his own framework.  So far I have not been able to find any commentary on that subject though I’m sure scholars have looked at it.

Lastly, my readers should notice how in several cases Job calls down curses upon himself that fit the same topic and the general nature of the sin he is denying.  For instance, if he has committed adultery in v. 9, then let his wife have sex with another man in v. 10.  Here at the end of the chapter, if he has sinned with regards to his land (v. 38-39), then he invites weeds and briars to grow on his land in punishment (v. 40).

In the next chapter, Job’s fourth, unmentioned friend Elihu speaks for the first time.