(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),
Job's last speech is a long defence of his whole life. One of its final claims is about his front door: no stranger ever slept outside it. That line raises two questions. How high could goodness reach before the law was given? And why did a man this generous still fall?
The Open Door
A traveller with no host had nowhere to sleep but the street. Job says his door stood open to the road instead. One writer puts that open door in everyday terms:
Samuel RidoutJob's strong point is his kindness to his fellow men. No stranger was ever left beside his home in the street; his door was always open to them — in our modern phrase, "the latch string was always outside."
Witnesses Who Lived With Him
Job does not expect anyone to take his word alone. He points to the people best placed to contradict him: those who ate at his table and knew his daily habits.
William KellyHe solemnly denies any joy over an enemy's calamity — and he had never asked for that calamity, not even in the most indirect way. He could appeal to the people who knew his daily habits best. Had a single person ever left him unhappy with the food he gave? Had he ever left a stranger near him without shelter?
Light Before the Law
Job lived long before God gave the law at Mount Sinai. Yet his standard of right and wrong already stood this high:
William KellyThis closing burst of angry self-defence by Job is deeply 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 godly men outside Israel, in the soul and in the daily walk, before the law came from Sinai. The patriarchs of Genesis show the same. And this is not only a matter of right and wrong, which conscience could judge more or less exactly, depending on how much light a man had. We also see what God's revelation did in the soul, in its affections and its judgments.
The Same Open Door Today
Scripture presses the same welcome on believers. One writer gathers the passages:
The Christian's FriendOne fruit of faith much commended in Scripture is the one urged on us in passages like these: "Seek to show hospitality" (Romans 12:13). "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9). "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews 13:2). "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Matthew 25:35).
True, but Not Safe to Boast
Job's account is not exaggerated. God Himself had said the same about him long before:
Leslie M. GrantThough Job's misery was complete, he returns in this chapter to the defence of his whole life, a life more upright than that of any other man. God had said the same to Satan long before (Job 1:8). So there is no reason to doubt what Job says of himself. But he did not realise that the very act of declaring his own goodness was itself sinful pride.
So the fault lies not in the record but in the speaker. Kelly puts it plainly:
William KellyJob 31 gives as grand a description of an admirable saint as you could ever have. But the trouble is, it was Job talking about himself. It is a fine thing to speak warmly about other people's goodness. It is not a fine subject for yourself, and that is what betrayed Job.
Summary
- Open door. Job's claim is concrete: no traveller near his home slept in the street, because his door stood open to them.
- Open witness. He rests the claim on the people who knew his daily life. Anyone who ate at his table could have contradicted him.
- Open light. He lived before the law came from Sinai, yet his standard was already high. Conscience and God's revelation had done real work.
- Open home. Scripture asks the same welcome of believers: show hospitality, do not neglect strangers, take in the one with nowhere to go.
- Closed on self. The facts were true, and God had said them first. The fault was that Job said them about himself, and that boast betrayed him.