During Job’s final address to the friends, he mentioned that he had always been faithful to his wife, never entertaining even the thought of adultery (Job 31:1). If, as it seems to be, the age in which Job lived was prior to the giving of the Law, it is interesting that men knew and understood that it was expected that they should have only one wife, and that understanding had to have come from the Lord’s words at Genesis 2:24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Nevertheless, during the fourth generation of mankind, men began practicing polygamy (Genesis 4:19), indicating they had begun to treat women as objects of lustful behavior. Not only so, but it wasn’t long before marriages were used to unite tribes into greater and more powerful communities, which led to more and more violence, until all mankind was affected (Genesis 6:4-5).
Before his personal tragedies and affliction had befallen him, Job’s righteousness had never come into question. However, due to the prevailing worldview of the righteous in Job’s day, righteousness was rewarded with personal wealth, while unrighteousness was rewarded with sever trials. Therefore, the friends accused Job of hiding his sin (Job 8:1-6; 11:6; 22:5, 15), and his afflictions had exposed him as a wicked man, because they were astonished with the sight of him (Job 2:11-13), and couldn’t offer an adequate or reasonable explanation for the terrible tragedies that had engulfed his life, except to say Job was obviously being judged by God for wicked behavior. Nevertheless, Job denied their charges, saying he had “made a covenant with his eyes…” (Job 31:1), which indicates he made a solemn commitment in his heart to reject even the thought of evil (cp. Proverbs 23:7).
Job went on to mention five sinful categories, which he avoided: a lustful heart (Job 31:1), adultery (Job 31:9), exploiting the poor for gain (Job 31:16), love of riches (Job 31:24), and respecting the persons of men, when deciding a matter as one of the city’s magistrates (Job 31:33-34). Against such things, Job had made an earnest covenant with his heart. However, I don’t believe what Job had in mind was that he simply made a promise to himself, similar to what we might do to express our intentions to do or not do a thing. Instead, Job’s covenant implies he slew an animal in sacrifice to the Lord, solemnly vowing to refrain from sinning in the above categories, which Job considered repugnant. In doing so, the sacrifice implies that, if Job reneged on his vow, he should be slain and cut in pieces, just as the animal was killed and cut in sacrifice to validate Job’s solemn promise. Thus, Job claims to have behaved out of the integrity of his heart.
Moreover, the eyes are the windows to the heart (Proverbs 31:2; Ecclesiastes 11:9; 2Peter 2;14), and what one sees as good and pleasant, may make one ‘wise’ but not necessarily in righteousness (Genesis 3:6; cp. Romans 1:22; 12:16; 16:19). So, the scriptures imply that one’s eyes betray one’s heartfelt desires, which may or may not be hid from others, who were even the least bit perceptive. The fact that Job uses this context to defend his integrity seems to imply the friends could ask anyone who knew Job, and they would be the witnesses of the integrity of his heart, concerning his righteous judgments, as one of the city’s magistrates.
Job understood that there is an unseen power in sinful behavior, from which no man had power to escape, if he yielded to it (cp. 1Corinthians 6:12; Ephesians 4:18-19), and God would judge such behavior (Job 31:2). Nothing Job might do could escape the all-seeing eye of God (Job 31:4; cp. Deuteronomy 23:14), so, if Job permitted himself to flirt with wickedness, the Lord would judge him and destruction would come in a manner that would not be expected in the ordinary course of life’s events (Job 31:3). In other words, his judgment would be evident not only to him, but to all who had a discerning eye, because there would be no other explanation for the calamity that would befall him.
However, it is in this very context that the friends had repeatedly accused Job of hypocrisy (Job 4:7-9; 8:6; 11:4-6, 11-14; 15:30-35; 18:5-21; 20:5-29).[1] The problem was, however, they had done so without offering any evidence to support their claims, except to say Job’s calamity was, itself, the evidence of the Lord’s judgment upon him for his wickedness. Yet, Job’s appeal of innocence was to ask those who knew him, for they could witness to his righteous behavior toward them as magistrate. Nevertheless, it is difficult for a righteous man to disprove false accusations of secretly acting with improper motives. How does one defend the integrity of one’s heart? When accusations are made without proof to support them, nothing can be brought forward to show one’s heart is irreproachable, or one has not engaged in deception and secret plans to defraud the innocent (cp. Job 11:13). All the righteous man is able to do is to call down curses upon himself, if he was guilty of the false charges made against him (Job 31:5-8).[2] There is nothing left to do for the innocent but to appeal to God, asking him to disclose one’s integrity of heart to his accusers, and those who might be swayed by his enemies’ arguments (Job 31:6).
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[1] See the Pulpit Commentary.
[2] Today, one is presumed innocent unless proved guilty. In other words, the burden of proof lay upon the accuser. In Job’s case, he was presumed guilty, unless he could prove his innocence, the burden of proof being upon himself.
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