◄ Job 31:20 ►
if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,
Study Bible
if his heart
The phrase "if his heart" refers to the inner being or the core of a person, often seen as the seat of emotions and intentions in Hebrew thought. The Hebrew word for heart, "לֵב" (lev), encompasses not just emotions but also the mind and will. In the context of Job, it suggests a deep, sincere response from the person who has been helped. Job is emphasizing the genuine gratitude that should arise from the heart of someone who has received kindness.

has not blessed me
The act of blessing in the Hebrew context, "בָּרַךְ" (barak), is more than just a verbal expression; it is a profound acknowledgment of goodness and favor. In ancient times, blessings were considered powerful and binding. Job is asserting that his acts of kindness were so impactful that they naturally elicited blessings from those he helped. This reflects the cultural importance of reciprocity and gratitude in relationships.

for warming him
The phrase "for warming him" indicates a tangible act of kindness and provision. In the harsh climates of the ancient Near East, warmth was a necessity for survival. Job's provision of warmth symbolizes his care and concern for the well-being of others. This act is not just physical but also metaphorical, representing comfort and protection.

with the fleece of my sheep
The "fleece of my sheep" is a direct reference to the resources and wealth that Job possessed. Sheep were a significant measure of wealth and status in ancient times, and their fleece was a valuable commodity. By using his own resources to provide for others, Job demonstrates his generosity and stewardship. This reflects the biblical principle of using one's blessings to bless others, a theme consistent throughout Scripture.

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 Needy
In this context, Job refers to those who are poor or in need, whom he has helped by providing clothing and warmth.

3. The Fleece of My Sheep
This refers to the wool from Job's sheep, symbolizing the resources and wealth that Job used to care for others.
Teaching Points
Generosity as a Reflection of Faith
Job's willingness to use his resources to help others is a testament to his faith and righteousness. Believers are encouraged to reflect their faith through acts of generosity.

The Blessing of Giving
Job notes that the heart of the needy blessed him. This highlights the reciprocal nature of giving, where both the giver and receiver are blessed.

Stewardship of Resources
Job's use of his sheep's fleece to warm others demonstrates responsible stewardship. Christians are called to use their resources wisely to serve and bless others.

Compassionate Living
Job's example challenges believers to live compassionately, actively seeking opportunities to meet the needs of those around them.

Integrity in Action
Job's actions align with his words, showing integrity. Believers are encouraged to ensure their actions reflect their professed beliefs.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Job's example of generosity challenge your current approach to helping those in need?

2. In what ways can you use your resources, like Job used the fleece of his sheep, to bless others in your community?

3. Reflect on a time when you received a blessing from someone else’s generosity. How did it impact your view on giving?

4. How can the principles found in Job 31:20 be applied to modern-day issues of poverty and social justice?

5. What other biblical examples of generosity can you find, and how do they reinforce the message in Job 31:20?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 25:35-40
Jesus speaks about caring for the needy, emphasizing that acts of kindness to others are acts of service to Him. This connection highlights the importance of generosity and compassion, as exemplified by Job.

Isaiah 58:7
This verse encourages sharing with the hungry and providing shelter and clothing to the needy, aligning with Job's actions and reinforcing the biblical call to social justice and mercy.

1 John 3:17
This passage questions how God's love can be in someone who has material possessions but does not help a brother in need, echoing Job's commitment to using his resources for others.
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
Bless, Blessed, Blessing, Fleece, Hasn't, Heart, Lambs, Loins, Sheep, Sheep's, Thanked, Warm, Warmed, Warming, Wool
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 31:20

     4645   fleece

Job 31:16-20

     7925   fellowship, among believers

Job 31:16-23

     8410   decision-making, examples

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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