because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors —
Job's last speech is a long defence of his innocence. Verse 34 finishes a sentence he began the line before: if he ever hid his wrongdoing, let him answer for it. The sin in view is not theft or cruelty. It is something quieter — the cover-up, and the fear of people that drives it.
The Sin of the Cover-Up
Verses 33 and 34 belong together. Job's claim is that he never had a reason to keep his head down:
Leslie M. GrantHe was willing to be tested too as to whether he had covered his transgression, as Adam did when using fig leaves, as though this could deceive the Lord (v.33). One might cover his sin because he fears the criticism of the people and the contempt of families. But Job was confident he had no reason for such fear. He had no reason to hide at home from the eyes of critics (v.34). His life had been open and honest.
Adam's Fig Leaves
The comparison in verse 33 reaches back to the oldest cover-up in the Bible. One commentator points out what Adam did instead of owning his sin:
William KellyYou notice that Job knew the very interesting and helpful story of Adam's fall. There was the great sin of Adam. Instead of humbling himself before God, and going to meet God to tell Him how he had disgraced himself, Adam hid himself away. And the clothing he put on showed that he was no longer innocent.
Adam's covering achieved nothing, and what drove him into hiding still drives people now:
C. H. MackintoshAdam's apron could not screen him from the eye of God; and he could not stand in His presence naked; therefore he fled to hide himself. This is what conscience will do at all times. It will cause man to hide himself from God.
What the Fear of the Crowd Does
Job names the exact pressure that makes people hide: the crowd's opinion and the scorn of respected families. Pilate, the governor at Jesus' trial, is the standing example of a man who gave in to it:
C E StuartPilate was not the last who has agreed to what was wrong for the sake of short-term gain. Such a course may look successful at the time. But it very often turns out anything but happy for the person in the end. Conscience will speak at some point, and make itself heard. And the people he tried to please at the expense of righteousness may turn round and attack the one who acted to satisfy them… Weak, and afraid of popular opposition or resentment, he yielded against his conscience and better judgment. "The fear of man lays a snare" (Prov. 29:25).
Hiding Works on People Only
The fear Job names is fear of what the neighbours will see. But a man who shuts his door still has a witness inside the room:
Hamilton SmithGod knows your most secret sin: "You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence" (Ps. 90:8). As He sees when you shut your door to pray, and will reward your sincerity, so when you do it to sin in secret, He will reward your hypocrisy. The word tells you of an informer you have in your own heart — conscience. It goes along with you, and it witnesses all your cleverly laid plots. What it sees, it writes down, for it is a court of record.
Job's Claim, and Its Limit
Job's answer to all this is that he never went indoors and stayed silent. Translations of the line before differ, and one commentator gives both readings:
Samuel RidoutJob now declares his complete openness. He was not afraid of the great, and did nothing behind closed doors that he would not have declared publicly. He had not acted as people so often do, hiding their sins from the eyes of others — or, as our translation and many others render the words, "as Adam," who hid from the presence of God to conceal the shame of his guilt. Job walked in the light, where all could see him.
Yet his openness had a flaw underneath it. Not fearing the crowd's contempt is one thing. Needing the crowd's respect is another:
William KellyJob was living, for a man of faith, too much in the good opinion of other people as well as in his own good opinion. There is where he was quite wrong. And Christ and Christianity put us in our true place if we are faithful: we have to face a hostile world.
Summary
- Cover — verse 34 finishes the "if" of verse 33: the sin in view is hiding wrongdoing, and Adam's fig leaves are the pattern.
- Crowd — Job names what drives the hiding: fear of the crowd's criticism and the scorn of respected families.
- Cost — the fear of man lays a snare. Pilate bought peace with the crowd, and later lost it to his own conscience.
- Conscience — a closed door hides sin from neighbours only. Conscience is a court of record, and secret sins stand in the light of God's presence.
- Caution — Job's openness was real. Yet he still leaned too hard on other people's good opinion, and on his own.