If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
Job 31:5 belongs to the debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions, a debate spanning Job 4-31 and arranged in three circles of speeches. It belongs more broadly to Job 3-31, the arguments or colloquies between Job and his three friends on the cause and object of human suffering. It is part of Job's closing argument and defense that he has committed no open sins against God, in which he denies having walked with vanity or hastened his foot to deceit.
It is part of Job's appeal to God to expose any moral stain in his conduct, denying living falsely or hastening toward deceit, and showing that his friends could not convict him of sin. It is Job's assertion of his known integrity, for he judges to some extent from the same standpoint as his friends, yet knowing his integrity cannot understand God's dealings with him, though he does not charge God foolishly. The chapter's protestation of integrity is stronger evidence of honesty than merely being free from debts to other people.
The verse is part of Job's declaration that he made a covenant with his eyes so that he might not sin, exemplifying guarding the senses against sinful impressions. The denial of vanity and deceit belongs to his testimony about wealth: though one of the richest men of his day, he did not trust in his riches nor rejoice because his wealth was great, but trusted in the living God and remembered that God gave him power to get wealth. He regarded wealth only as a means of blessing the poor, the needy, the fatherless, and the widow. The sin is not in being rich but in trusting in riches, putting confidence in them, rejoicing in them, and being proud and highminded because of them, which denies the God above.
Job 31:5 belongs to the debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions, a debate spanning Job 4-31 and arranged in three circles of speeches. It belongs more broadly to Job 3-31, the arguments or colloquies between Job and his three friends on the cause and object of human suffering. It is part of Job's closing argument and defense that he has committed no open sins against God, in which he denies having walked with vanity or hastened his foot to deceit.
It is part of Job's appeal to God to expose any moral stain in his conduct, denying living falsely or hastening toward deceit, and showing that his friends could not convict him of sin. It is Job's assertion of his known integrity, for he judges to some extent from the same standpoint as his friends, yet knowing his integrity cannot understand God's dealings with him, though he does not charge God foolishly. The chapter's protestation of integrity is stronger evidence of honesty than merely being free from debts to other people.
The verse is part of Job's declaration that he made a covenant with his eyes so that he might not sin, exemplifying guarding the senses against sinful impressions. The denial of vanity and deceit belongs to his testimony about wealth: though one of the richest men of his day, he did not trust in his riches nor rejoice because his wealth was great, but trusted in the living God and remembered that God gave him power to get wealth. He regarded wealth only as a means of blessing the poor, the needy, the fatherless, and the widow. The sin is not in being rich but in trusting in riches, putting confidence in them, rejoicing in them, and being proud and highminded because of them, which denies the God above.