Albert Barnes Commentary Job 31

I made a covenant with my eyes - The first virtue of his private life to which Job refers is chastity. Such was his sense of the importance of this, and of the danger to which man was exposed, that he had solemnly resolved not to think upon a young female. The phrase here, “I made a covenant with my eyes,” is poetical, meaning that he solemnly resolved. A covenant is of a sacred and binding nature; and the strength of his resolution was as great as if he had made a solemn compact. A covenant or compact was usually made by slaying an animal in sacrifice, and the compact was ratified over the animal that was slain, by a kind of imprecation that if the compact was violated the same destruction might fall on the violators which fell on the head of the victim.

This idea of cutting up a victim on occasion of making a covenant is retained in most languages. So the Greek ὅρκια τέμνειν, τέμνειν σπονδάς (assuming πέμνἔιν is a typo for τέμνειν), horkia temnein, temnein spondas, and the Latin icere foedus - to strike a league, in allusion to the striking down, or slaying of an animal on the occasion. And so the Hebrew, as in the place before us, כרת ברית (b^erı̂yth kârath) - to cut a covenant, from cutting down, or cutting in pieces the victim over which the covenant was made; see this explained at length in the notes at (Hebrews 9:16). By the language here, Job means that he had resolved, in the most solemn manner, that he would not allow his eyes or thoughts to endanger him by improperly contemplating a woman.

Why then should I think upon a maid? - Upon a virgin - על־בתולה (‛al-b^ethûlâh); compare (Proverbs 6:25), “Lust not after her beauty in your heart; neither let her take you with her eyelids;” see, also, the fearful and solemn declaration of the Savior in (Matthew 5:28). There is much emphasis in the expression used here by Job. He does not merely say that he had not thought in that manner, but that the thing was morally impossible that he should have done it. Any charge of that kind, or any suspicion of it, he would repel with indignation. His purpose to lead a pure life, and to keep a pure heart, had been so settled, that it was impossible that he could have offended in that respect.

His purpose, also, not to think on this subject, showed the extent of the restriction imposed on himself. It was not merely his intention to lead a chaste life, and to avoid open sin, but it was to maintain a pure heart, and not to allow the mind to become corrupted by dwelling on impure images, or indulging in unholy desires. This strongly shows Job’s piety and purity of heart, and is a beautiful illustration of patriarchal religion.

We may remark here, that if a man wishes to maintain purity of life, he must make just such a covenant as this with himself - one so sacred, so solemn, so firm, that he will not allow his mind for a moment to harbor an improper thought. “The very passage of an impure thought through the mind leaves pollution behind it;” and the outbreaking crimes of life are just the result of allowing the imagination to dwell on impure images. As the eye is the great source of danger (2 Peter 2:14), there should be a solemn purpose that it should be pure, and that any sacrifice should be made rather than allow indulgence to a wanton gaze . No man was ever too much guarded on this subject; no one ever yet made too solemn a covenant with his eyes, and with his whole soul to be chaste.

For what portion of God is there from above? - Or, rather, “What portion should I then have from God who reigns above?” Job asks with emphasis, what portion or reward he should expect from God who reigns on high, if he had not made such a covenant with his eyes, and if he had given the reins to loose and wanton thoughts? This question he himself answers in the following verse, and says, that he could have expected only destruction from the Almighty.

Is not destruction to the wicked? — That is, Job says that he was well aware that destruction would overtake the wicked, and that if he had given indulgence to impure desires, he could have expected nothing else. Well knowing this, he says, he had guarded himself in the most careful manner from sin and had labored with the greatest diligence to keep his eyes and his heart pure.

And a strange punishment — ונכר wəneker. The word used here means literally strangeness—a strange thing, something with which we were unfamiliar. It is used here evidently in the sense of a strange or unusual punishment, something that does not occur in the ordinary course of events. The sense is that for the sin particularly referred to here, God would intervene to inflict vengeance in a manner that did not occur in the ordinary dealings of his providence. There would be some punishment specially chosen for this sin, which would mark it with his special displeasure.

Has it not been so in all ages? The Vulgate renders it alienatio, and the Septuagint translates it in a similar manner—ἀπαλλοτρίωσις apallotriōsis—and they seem to have understood it as followed by entire alienation from God, an idea that would be everywhere sustained by a reference to the history of the sin referred to by Job.

There is no sin that so greatly poisons all the fountains of pure feeling in the soul, and none that will so certainly terminate in the entire wreck of character.

Doth he not see my ways? - This either means that God was a witness of all that he did - his thoughts, words, and deeds, and would punish him if he had indulged improper feelings and thoughts; or that since God saw all his thoughts, he could boldly appeal to him as a witness of his innocence in this matter, and in proof that his life and heart were pure. Rosenmuller adopts the latter interpretation; Herder seems to incline to the former. Umbreit renders it, “God himself must be a witness that I speak the truth.” It is not easy to determine which is the true meaning. Either of them will accord well with the scope of the passage.

If I have walked with vanity — This is the second specification in regard to his private deportment. He says that his life had been sincere, upright, honest. The word "vanity" here is equivalent to falsehood, as the parallelism demands, and as the word (שׁוא shâv') is often used (Psalms 12:3; Psalms 41:7; Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 5:20; compare Isaiah, Deuteronomy 1:13).

Job's meaning here is that he had been true and honest. In his dealings with others, he had not defrauded them; he had not misrepresented things; he had spoken the exact truth, and had done that which was without deception or guile.

If my foot hath hasted to deceit — That is, if I have gone to execute a purpose of deceit or fraud. He had never, on seeing an opportunity where others might be defrauded, hastened to embrace it. The Septuagint renders this verse: If I have walked with scoffers — μετα γελοιαστῶν meta geloiastōn — and if my foot has hastened to deceit.