if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
Job is answering his friends' accusations by walking through his own life. Here he points to a poor man who left his door warm instead of shivering. The wool came off Job's own flock, so the claim is concrete. Yet the way he tells it raises a second question: who was the good in Job, and who deserves the credit?
Sins Of Omission
The verse belongs to a run where Job defends himself not for what he did, but for what he never failed to do.
Leslie M. GrantIn verses 16-21 he speaks of sins of omission also. Suppose he had not helped the poor, or had ignored the plight of the widow. Suppose he had kept all he had for himself, so that the fatherless went hungry. Suppose he had seen anyone die for lack of clothing, or any poor man without covering. Suppose the heart of the poor had not blessed Job, because it was not warmed by the fleece of his sheep. Then, he says, "let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket" (v.22).
The Loins That Blessed Him
The thanks Job speaks of comes from a part of the body, not from a speech. Where the ESV says "his body," older translations read "his loins."
Andrew MillerThe loins are the body's chief seat of strength, when they are properly belted for work.
So the blessing is the poor man's own strength giving thanks. Warmth had returned to a body that once lay exposed.
Constant, Not Casual
Job's care ran through his household and reached far past it. It also kept watch over itself.
William KellyHis care was not only a strong sense of family inside his own household. His compassion always went out to suffering people — the widow and the fatherless, the needy and the naked. He did not help now and then, but with the constant, tireless care of a father. And he watched himself, so that he never took the smallest advantage by using his influence with others.
Another writer traces the same care outward, from the servants in Job's house to the poor at his door.
Samuel RidoutHe starts with his household. Its good order grew out of the purity of its master. He claims he was fair in every dealing with his servants, since he saw that they shared his nature and stood before a God "who shows no partiality." Then he moves outward to the needy poor. The fatherless and the widow had shared his food, and he had warmed them with his clothing. In short, he was a father to the orphan and a son to the widow. Here we surely have an example of religion that is "pure and undefiled" (James 1:27).
The Question It Puts To Us
The verse is not only a defence of one man. It is a measure anyone can hold up to their own life.
A. J. PollockTo close, and to be practical: what is my life, and what is your life? Am I a fruitful vine? Are you? Am I, are you, touching the world's need, for God's glory and to show His character?... Clearly Job was not an empty vine.
Borrowed Garments
Everything Job says here is true. The trouble is the telling. A man wrapping himself in his own record has taken something that was never his to wear.
Samuel RidoutWe cannot question the truth or the sincerity of all that he says. But we may well ask: is his conclusion a happy one even for himself?... Divine truth, as well as divine love, will not let him wrap himself in these clothes of self-righteousness. Most of them are borrowed garments that belong to God, and Job gives Him not the least bit of glory for them. The rest are only filthy rags, fit for the dust and ashes where Job will soon put himself.
What The Good Man Still Needed
The wool was real, and so was the warmth. The kindness came from God working in Job. Yet something was still missing, and God set out to deal with it.
J. N. DarbyNow Job needed this, and God saw that he needed it. He was gracious and godly, but he did not know himself. He had never seen God in a way that brought him to a real knowledge of himself in His presence. So God deals with him in a way that brings his sinfulness right out into the open. Then He sets him, with that sinfulness now clear to his conscience, in His own presence... Job had acted well, for grace had acted in him; but he did not know himself before God.
Summary
- Seen. Job counts failure to act as guilt. Passing a man with no covering would have been sin, not just a missed chance to do good.
- Given. The covering came off his own flock. Real mercy costs the giver something he owned.
- Warmed. The loins are the body's seat of strength. The poor man's restored strength is the thanks Job receives.
- Blessed. Steady care — from the servants in his house out to the widow and the orphan — is an example of religion that is pure and undefiled.
- Boasted. The deeds were true, but grace had worked them. Worn as self-praise, they become borrowed garments. The man who wears them still does not know himself before God.