“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him
Job has finished answering his friends and is now speaking under oath about his own past life. In this verse he speaks about how he treated people who wished him harm. He denies that he ever enjoyed their downfall — a strange thing for a man to raise in his own defence.
A sworn statement, not a boast
Job builds the whole chapter as a legal defence. He lists the charges his friends bring and swears he is clear of each one.
F. B. HoleHaving spoken these sorrowful complaints, Job closed his long speech. As we see in Job 31, he ended it with a series of solemn declarations that almost amounted to oaths. His friends had accused him of definite sins and wrongdoing. As to these things his conscience was clear, though, as we have seen, he admitted he was not pure in the sight of God. So he strongly affirmed that he had not committed the kinds of evil that were alleged or hinted at.
What the denial covers
Job rules out two things: private pleasure at an enemy's ruin, and any profit he might take from it. The next verse extends the same denial to what Job said out loud.
Leslie M. GrantIt was clearly a concern to him that he should not rejoice when trouble came to one who hated him. He would not use such an occasion to profit from that person's misfortune either (v.29). In fact, he had not even allowed his mouth to sin by asking for a curse on that person's soul (v.30). Actually, this is only normal for one who has faith in the Lord Jesus (Rom. 12:20), so it was no reason for Job to boast.
A common and quiet temptation
Job denies that he ever gloated over a fallen enemy. What he rules out is not an act, but a small pleasure taken in another person's trouble.
William KellyThis is a very common snare for people. They take a little pleasure when their adversaries come to grief, or are troubled.
Witnesses to the claim
Job does not leave this as a private claim about his own heart. He points to the people who lived in his house and could contradict him.
Samuel RidoutJob's strong point is his kindness to his fellow men. Here he declares that even to his enemies he had been just. He had not been glad at their calamity, nor even in secret wished a curse to blight their life. He could call the men of his own household to bear witness.
Conscience before any written law
Job lived long before Israel received the law at Sinai, and before anyone had written a word of Scripture. Yet his conscience reaches past his conduct into the motives of his heart.
William KellyThis closing burst of indignant self-defence on Job's part is both interesting and instructive. The law had its value, for God does nothing in vain. Yet we can see how high the moral standard already was for the soul and the walk of godly men outside Israel. It was high before the law came from Sinai, as we see in the patriarchs of Genesis. This is not only a matter of right and wrong, which conscience could judge more or less exactly, according to how much light a person had. We also see what divine revelation did in the soul, in its affections and its judgments. God had spoken words. He had also worked in solemn ways with people, one by one and all together, in grace and in judgment. All this was long before He inspired men to write His mind. Faith received His word and thought over His dealings, to rich profit, before there was any Scripture — though Scripture, once given, added much to the blessing of those who had it.
True — and still not enough
Everything Job says here is accurate. The problem is not what he says, but what saying it does for him.
William KellyThe friends were wholly wrong, unjustifiable, and unloving. What Job says was true, but he does not yet know all the truth about himself. No one could learn that truth from God until He came who is the Truth, and proved it in grace to the uttermost in His cross. But Job was occupied and satisfied with himself. From this God would deliver him, and bless him more than ever. No flesh shall glory in His presence; and this Job must learn — to glory only in Him.
Summary
- Oath. The verse belongs to a sworn defence. Job answers each charge by swearing he never did it.
- Heart. What he denies is not an action but a feeling — gladness at the ruin of a man who hated him, and any gain taken from that ruin.
- Mouth. The denial then reaches his speech. He never let his mouth ask for a curse on that man's life, and his household could testify.
- Early. Job held this standard before Sinai and before a word of Scripture existed. Conscience and God's own revelation had already shaped godly men outside Israel.
- Not enough. Every word of it is true, and still it is not enough. Job is satisfied with himself, and God means to bring him to glory only in Him.