◄ Job 31:7 ►
If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
Study Bible
if my steps have turned from the path
The phrase "if my steps have turned from the path" reflects a metaphorical journey of righteousness and integrity. In Hebrew, the word for "steps" (צְעָדַי, tze'aday) can denote one's course of life or conduct. The "path" (מִדֶּרֶךְ, miderekh) signifies the way of righteousness and divine commandments. Job is asserting his commitment to walking in God's ways, emphasizing the importance of steadfastness in one's spiritual journey. Historically, the imagery of a path is common in wisdom literature, symbolizing the moral and ethical choices one makes. Job's declaration is a profound testament to his desire to remain faithful and not deviate from God's ordained way.

if my heart has followed my eyes
The "heart" (לִבִּי, libbi) in Hebrew culture is the center of one's inner life, encompassing thoughts, emotions, and will. The "eyes" (עֵינַי, einai) often represent desires or covetousness. Job is introspectively examining whether his inner desires have led him astray, highlighting the biblical principle that sin often begins with the eyes, leading to the heart's corruption. This phrase underscores the need for vigilance over one's desires and the importance of aligning one's heart with God's will. It reflects a deep understanding of human nature and the potential for inner conflict between spiritual aspirations and worldly temptations.

or if impurity has stuck to my hands
The term "impurity" (מְאוּמָה, me'umah) refers to moral or ethical defilement. The imagery of something "stuck to my hands" suggests actions that are tainted or sinful. In ancient times, hands were symbolic of one's deeds and actions. Job is asserting his innocence by claiming that no wrongdoing has clung to his actions. This phrase is a powerful declaration of Job's integrity and his commitment to purity in both thought and deed. It serves as a reminder of the biblical call to holiness and the importance of maintaining clean hands and a pure heart before God.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Job
A man described as blameless and upright, who feared God and shunned evil. He is the central figure in the Book of Job, known for his immense suffering and unwavering faith.

2. The Path
Symbolically represents the righteous way of living according to God's commandments and moral integrity.

3. The Heart and Eyes
In Hebrew thought, the heart is the center of will and desire, while the eyes often symbolize temptation and the gateway to sin.

4. Impurity
Refers to moral or ethical corruption, often associated with sin and wrongdoing.

5. The Book of Job
A poetic and philosophical text in the Old Testament that explores themes of suffering, justice, and faith.
Teaching Points
Guarding the Heart and Eyes
Job highlights the importance of vigilance over one's desires and temptations. Christians are called to guard their hearts and eyes to maintain purity and righteousness.

Integrity in Action
Job's self-examination serves as a model for believers to regularly assess their actions and intentions, ensuring they align with God's standards.

Confession and Repentance
Acknowledging when one's steps have strayed is crucial. Believers should be quick to confess and repent, seeking God's forgiveness and guidance.

The Role of Accountability
Job's public declaration of his integrity suggests the value of accountability within the community of faith. Christians benefit from mutual encouragement and correction.

The Consequences of Sin
Job's concern about impurity sticking to his hands reminds believers of the tangible consequences of sin and the importance of living a life that reflects God's holiness.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Job's commitment to integrity challenge your own approach to personal holiness and accountability?

2. In what ways can you guard your heart and eyes against temptation in your daily life?

3. Reflect on a time when you strayed from the path of righteousness. How did you return, and what role did confession and repentance play?

4. How can you incorporate regular self-examination into your spiritual routine to ensure your actions align with God's will?

5. What practical steps can you take to foster accountability within your faith community, and how can this support your spiritual growth?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Proverbs 4:25-27
This passage emphasizes the importance of staying on the righteous path and guarding one's heart, similar to Job's declaration of integrity.

Matthew 5:28
Jesus speaks about the heart's role in sin, connecting to Job's concern about his heart following his eyes.

Psalm 24:3-4
Discusses the purity of hands and heart as prerequisites for standing in God's holy place, echoing Job's claim of innocence.
Sermons
Guard the SensesGurnall, WilliamJob 31:1-32
Methods of Moral LifeJoseph Parker, D. D.Job 31:1-32
Solemn Assurances of InnocenceE. Johnson Job 31:1-40
The Consciousness of IntegrityR. Green Job 31:1-40
People
Abaddon, Adam, Job
Places
Uz
Topics
Aside, Blemish, Blot, Cleaved, Cleaveth, Defiled, Defilement, Followed, Hands, Heart, Led, Path, Property, Spot, Step, Steps, Stuck, Turn, Walked
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 31:5-8

     4430   crops

Job 31:7-8

     4510   sowing and reaping

Library
Thou Shalt not Steal.
This Commandment also has a work, which embraces very many good works, and is opposed to many vices, and is called in German Mildigkeit, "benevolence;" which is a work ready to help and serve every one with one's goods. And it fights not only against theft and robbery, but against all stinting in temporal goods which men may practise toward one another: such as greed, usury, overcharging and plating wares that sell as solid, counterfeit wares, short measures and weights, and who could tell all the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Question of the Active Life
I. Do all Acts of the Moral Virtues come under the Active Life? II. Does Prudence pertain to the Active Life? III. Does Teaching belong to the Active or to the Contemplative Life? IV. Does the Active Life continue after this Life? I Do all Acts of the Moral Virtues come under the Active Life? S. Isidore says[407]: "In the active life all the vices are first of all to be removed by the practice of good works, so that in the contemplative life a man may, with now purified mental gaze, pass to the …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Whether virtue is in us by Nature?
Objection 1: It would seem that virtue is in us by nature. For Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii, 14): "Virtues are natural to us and are equally in all of us." And Antony says in his sermon to the monks: "If the will contradicts nature it is perverse, if it follow nature it is virtuous." Moreover, a gloss on Mat. 4:23, "Jesus went about," etc., says: "He taught them natural virtues, i.e. chastity, justice, humility, which man possesses naturally." Objection 2: Further, the virtuous good consists …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether after Christ, it was Proper to the Blessed virgin to be Sanctified in the Womb?
Objection 1: It would seem that it was proper for the Blessed Virgin, after Christ, to be sanctified in the womb. For it has been said [4131](A[4]) that the Blessed Virgin was sanctified in the womb, in order that she might be worthy to be the mother of God. But this is proper to her. Therefore she alone was sanctified in the womb. Objection 2: Further, some men seem to have been more closely connected with Christ than Jeremias and John the Baptist, who are said to have been sanctified in the womb. …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Corporal Alms are of More Account than Spiritual Alms?
Objection 1: It would seem that corporal alms are of more account than spiritual alms. For it is more praiseworthy to give an alms to one who is in greater want, since an almsdeed is to be praised because it relieves one who is in need. Now the body which is relieved by corporal alms, is by nature more needy than the spirit which is relieved by spiritual alms. Therefore corporal alms are of more account. Objection 2: Further, an alms is less praiseworthy and meritorious if the kindness is compensated, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Confession is According to the Natural Law?
Objection 1: It would seem that confession is according to the natural law. For Adam and Cain were bound to none but the precepts of the natural law, and yet they are reproached for not confessing their sin. Therefore confession of sin is according to the natural law. Objection 2: Further, those precepts which are common to the Old and New Law are according to the natural law. But confession was prescribed in the Old Law, as may be gathered from Is. 43:26: "Tell, if thou hast anything to justify …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether one Can, Without a Mortal Sin, Deny the Truth which Would Lead to One's Condemnation?
Objection 1: It would seem one can, without a mortal sin, deny the truth which would lead to one's condemnation. For Chrysostom says (Hom. xxxi super Ep. ad Heb.): "I do not say that you should lay bare your guilt publicly, nor accuse yourself before others." Now if the accused were to confess the truth in court, he would lay bare his guilt and be his own accuser. Therefore he is not bound to tell the truth: and so he does not sin mortally if he tell a lie in court. Objection 2: Further, just as …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Advanced Christian Reminded of the Mercies of God, and Exhorted to the Exercise of Habitual Love to Him, and Joy in Him.
1. A holy joy in God, our privilege as well as our duty.--2. The Christian invited to the exercise of it.--3. By the consideration of temporal mercies.--4. And of spiritual favors.--5. By the views of eternal happiness.--6. And of the mercies of God to others, the living and the dead.--7. The chapter closes with an exhortation to this heavenly exercise. And with an example of the genuine workings of this grateful joy in God. 1. I WOULD now suppose my reader to find, on an examination of his spiritual …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Trials of the Christian
AFFLICTION--ITS NATURE AND BENEFITS. The school of the cross is the school of light; it discovers the world's vanity, baseness, and wickedness, and lets us see more of God's mind. Out of dark afflictions comes a spiritual light. In times of affliction, we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God. The end of affliction is the discovery of sin; and of that, to bring us to a Saviour. Doth not God ofttimes even take occasion, by the hardest of things that come upon us, to visit …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

The Christian Business World
Scripture references: Proverbs 22:29; Romans 12:11; Psalms 24:1; 50:10-12; Haggai 2:8; Psalm 49:6,10,16,17; 62:10; Matthew 13:22; Mark 10:23,24; Job 31:24-26; Proverbs 3:9; Matthew 25:14-30; 24:45-51; 6:19-21; Luke 12:16-21. THE IDEAL IN THE BUSINESS WORLD There is often a wide difference between the methods actually employed in doing business and when they should be. Good men who are in the thick of the battle of competition and rivalry with other firms in the same line of trade, are the quickest …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

The Seventh Commandment
Thou shalt not commit adultery.' Exod 20: 14. God is a pure, holy spirit, and has an infinite antipathy against all uncleanness. In this commandment he has entered his caution against it; non moechaberis, Thou shalt not commit adultery.' The sum of this commandment is, The preservations of corporal purity. We must take heed of running on the rock of uncleanness, and so making shipwreck of our chastity. In this commandment there is something tacitly implied, and something expressly forbidden. 1. The …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Tit. 2:06 Thoughts for Young Men
WHEN St. Paul wrote his Epistle to Titus about his duty as a minister, he mentioned young men as a class requiring peculiar attention. After speaking of aged men and aged women, and young women, he adds this pithy advice, "Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded" (Tit. 2:6). I am going to follow the Apostle's advice. I propose to offer a few words of friendly exhortation to young men. I am growing old myself, but there are few things I remember so well as the days of my youth. I have a most …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

Thoughts Upon Worldly-Riches. Sect. Ii.
TIMOTHY after his Conversion to the Christian Faith, being found to be a Man of great Parts, Learning, and Piety, and so every way qualified for the work of the Ministry, St. Paul who had planted a Church at Ephesus the Metropolis or chief City of all Asia, left him to dress and propagate it, after his departure from it, giving him Power to ordain Elders or Priests, and to visit and exercise Jurisdiction over them, to see they did not teach false Doctrines, 1 Tim. i. 3. That they be unblameable in …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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