Matthew Henry on Job 31:9-15
Two more instances we have here of Job's integrity: -
I. That he had a very great abhorrence of the sin of adultery. As he did not wrong his own marriage bed by keeping a concubine (he did not so much as think upon a maid, v. 1), so he was careful not to offer any injury to his neighbour's marriage bed. Let us see here, 1. How clear he was from this sin, Job 31:9. (1.) He did not so much as covet his neighbour's wife; for even his heart was not deceived by a woman. The beauty of another man's wife did not kindle in him any unchaste desires, nor was he ever moved by the allurements of an adulterous woman, such as is described, Pro 7:6, etc. See the original of all the defilements of the life…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 31:12
(Pro 6:27-35; Pro 8:6-23, Pro 8:26-27). No crime more provokes God to send destruction as a consuming fire; none so desolates the soul.
John Gill on Job 31:12
For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction,.... Referring either to the nature of the sin of uncleanness; it is inflammatory, a burning lust, a fire burning in the breast; see 1 Corinthians 7:9; or to the effect of it, either the rage of jealousy in the injured person, which is exceeding fierce, furious, and cruel, like devouring fire, not to be appeased or mitigated, Proverbs 6:34; or else it may respect the punishment of this sin in the times of Job, and which we find was practised among the Gentiles, as the Canaanites, Job's neighbours, burning such delinquents with fire; see Genesis 38:24; or rather the wrath of God for it, which is poured forth as fire, and burns to the lowest hell,…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Job 31:9-12
9 If my heart has been befooled about a woman,
And if I lay in wait at my neighbour's door:
10 Let my wife grind unto another,
And let others bow down over her.
11 For this is an infamous act,
And this is a crime to be brought before judges;
12 Yea, it is a fire that consumeth to the abyss,
And should root out all my increase.
As he has guarded himself against defiling virgin innocence by lascivious glances, so is he also conscious of having made no attempt to trespass upon the marriage relationship of his neighbour (רע as in the Decalogue, Exo 20:17): his heart was not persuaded, or he did not allow his heart to be persuaded (נפתּה like πείθεσθαι), i.e., misled, on account of a woman (אשּׁ…
