Job 31:38-40 | KingComments | STEP | After Job has declared and signed his innocence extensively, another P.S., an after writing, follows, because actually Job still has a lot to say. He only will speak about his land, how he has dealt with it, what he has done with the proceeds and how he has treated the tenants of it. He can testify that he has managed his land with care and has not neglected it ( ). In accordance with the (later) commandment, he has given the land rest at regular intervals ( ; ) and seeded it properly ( ; ). The furrows he plowed on his land did not weep, which means that he worked his land properly. The cultivated land is given the floor as a person to testify of Job’s correct handling of it. He did not overexploit his land, which means that, due to unwise management of his farmland, it loses its fertility and the yield considerably decreases or even disappears. His land brought the full yield ( ). He ate and enjoyed its yield. He was not plagued by a conscience that accused him of not paying his workers who had collected and processed the yield (cf. ). He also had owners or tenants, people who rented a piece of land from him. He did not treat them harshly by asking for more than was fair or threatening to punish them if they could not pay the rent because of crop failures. He didn’t let them sigh. Laban was a very different kind of boss. He did ask the utmost of Jacob and made him sigh ( ). Job concludes this declaration of innocence again with a curse ( ). If he is guilty of one of the things mentioned, he deserves that briars or thistles grow instead of the wheat he has sown and that poisonous stinkweed grows instead of the barley he has sown. The blessing he thought he was getting must then turn into a curse, for he has deserved it. Job is not unwilling to suffer if he deserved it. He has emphasized this throughout this chapter. His statements of innocence alone are intended to show that his suffering is useless if his suffering is linked to sin, for he has not sinned. He has therefore not deserved this suffering. What Job must come to is not to look at cause and effect, which his friends have always done, but at God. He is almost ready for this. For the time being Job has finished speaking (cf. ). God has patiently listened to all his words without interrupting him or responding to Job’s challenges to Him. As long as we justify ourselves, God cannot tell us anything. Only when we have finished speaking, He will have the opportunity to say something to us. In preparation for this, we first hear Elihu in the following chapters. After that, when God has spoken, Job will speak again, but briefly and very modestly.

‏ Job 31:38-40

Land Abuse

After Job has declared and signed his innocence extensively, another P.S., an after writing, follows, because actually Job still has a lot to say. He only will speak about his land, how he has dealt with it, what he has done with the proceeds and how he has treated the tenants of it. He can testify that he has managed his land with care and has not neglected it (Job 31:38). In accordance with the (later) commandment, he has given the land rest at regular intervals (Exo 23:10-11; Lev 26:35-36) and seeded it properly (Lev 19:19; Deu 22:9).

The furrows he plowed on his land did not weep, which means that he worked his land properly. The cultivated land is given the floor as a person to testify of Job’s correct handling of it. He did not overexploit his land, which means that, due to unwise management of his farmland, it loses its fertility and the yield considerably decreases or even disappears. His land brought the full yield (Job 31:39). He ate and enjoyed its yield. He was not plagued by a conscience that accused him of not paying his workers who had collected and processed the yield (cf. Jam 5:4).

He also had owners or tenants, people who rented a piece of land from him. He did not treat them harshly by asking for more than was fair or threatening to punish them if they could not pay the rent because of crop failures. He didn’t let them sigh. Laban was a very different kind of boss. He did ask the utmost of Jacob and made him sigh (Gen 31:7 ; 39-41).

Job concludes this declaration of innocence again with a curse (Job 31:40). If he is guilty of one of the things mentioned, he deserves that briars or thistles grow instead of the wheat he has sown and that poisonous stinkweed grows instead of the barley he has sown. The blessing he thought he was getting must then turn into a curse, for he has deserved it.

Job is not unwilling to suffer if he deserved it. He has emphasized this throughout this chapter. His statements of innocence alone are intended to show that his suffering is useless if his suffering is linked to sin, for he has not sinned. He has therefore not deserved this suffering. What Job must come to is not to look at cause and effect, which his friends have always done, but at God. He is almost ready for this.

For the time being Job has finished speaking (cf. Psa 72:20). God has patiently listened to all his words without interrupting him or responding to Job’s challenges to Him. As long as we justify ourselves, God cannot tell us anything. Only when we have finished speaking, He will have the opportunity to say something to us. In preparation for this, we first hear Elihu in the following chapters. After that, when God has spoken, Job will speak again, but briefly and very modestly.