פירוש על איוב 31:48

I made a covenant with my eyes not to gaze upon a married woman.

Job’s final solemn and awesome declaration of his innocence. He once again denies that he has sinned; on the contrary, he has led a virtuous and upright life. And so he repeats his demand that God answer his call for He surely knows the truth of this.

and why should I gaze upon a virgin? Why should I gaze upon her? Such was Job’s piety, not to lay an eye even on an unmarried woman. [He would say,] “Perhaps, after a time, she will be married, and I will find myself attracted to her.” So is [this verse] explained in Avoth D’Rabbi Nathan (2:5).

Now what is the portion etc. that He recompensed me so?

Is not misfortune, for the unjust He deserves it, not I.

and deliverance Heb. ונכר, after the pattern of (Obadiah 1:12) “[And] you should not have looked on the day of your brother on the day of his being delivered (נכרו).”

and count all my steps and see whether I went with falsehood.

At times, men may have to avert their eyes to preserve themselves from sin. But that cannot be true of God: He surely sees everything? He must therefore have seen how righteous Job really was. Why then did He make him suffer so dreadfully? And why is He still avoiding him?

hastened Heb. ותחש, and hurried, like (Isa. 60:22), “I will hasten it (אחישנה)”; (Ps. 90:10) “for it is soon (חיש) cut off.”

wrong Heb. מאום, that is a blemish, a shameful thing. This “alef” is written but not read, in the Great Masorah, and it is of the form of (Exod. 5:7), “You shall not continue (תאספון).” If I did this, I would deserve that this curse come upon me.

may I sow and another eat, and my produce be uprooted their roots should be torn up.

and if I lurked at my neighbor’s doorway for his wife, He should requite me...

Job avows that he has never committed adultery.

may my wife grind for someone else Our Sages explained this as an expression of sexual intercourse, as in (Jud. 16:21), “and he did grind in the prison house.”

For that is lewdness and I feared that if I committed it, that it is iniquity deserving punishment iniquity for which judgment of suffering is fit to come.

and it uproots all my grain i.e., this fire. Therefore, I refrained from committing [this sin]. When he speaks with an expression of uprooting, he says תְּשָרֵש, and to express roots, he also uses תְּשָרֵש. Similarly, יְשׁרָשוּ is an expression of uprooting and יְשׁרָשוּ is an expression of a root.

Job was a considerate master who recognized the rights of his slaves; that they too are human beings. Had he not done so, how could he have faced God were He to reply to his suit?

then what will I do etc. I took this to heart, and when He visits, what will I answer Him?

and form us both in the womb? I in my mother’s womb and he in his mother’s womb—did not One creator form us?

I cause...to fail in that I did not fulfill her desire, which is “failure of the eyes.” One who desires and does not achieve is called “failure of the eyes.”

For, from my youth it raised me This virtue [raised me] as a father who raises me and teaches me. So did the uprightness of my heart teach me from my youth.

The meaning of this verse - כי מנעורי גדלני כאב ומבטן אמי אנחנה - presents many problems. Noting that biblical commentators have difficulties with this verse, Malbim posits that Job was a fatherless orphan who was cared for and brought up by God and that he in turn had cared for his widowed mother from childhood. The suggestion that Job was orphaned at an early age is totally original.
Intriguingly, the interpretation Malbim gives to the verse is reminiscent of his own personal experiences. An only son, his father died when he was just six years old. His mother subsequently married the local Rabbi, who was probably also his teacher. His devotion to both of them is recorded in the Preface to his first book - ארצות החיים - The Lands of the Living, (Breslau, 1836).

and from my mother’s womb I led it This trait.

Job had been a merciful judge.

from its shoulder blade That is the width of the shoulder.

from its bone That is the upper bone, which is round as a reed (קנה), and because it is round as a reed, it is called so.

fear to me His misfortune, which He brought upon the wicked, was fear in my eyes; therefore, I refrained from doing it.

my hope Heb. כסלי, like (8:14), “whose confidence (כסלו) shall be cut off.” My hope and my thought, and because the kidneys are on the flanks (כסלים), and the kidneys advise, the thought is called כֶּסֶל.

Job had kept faith with God.

and to jewelry A gathering of gold and treasures.

I said, ‘My confidence.’ therewith to strengthen myself over the poor.

If I rejoiced because my wealth I did not behave with joy in the presence of the poor so as not to make them envious of me.

If I saw light shining The sun in the orbit of its might, and its brightness.

and the moon becoming brighter Heb. יקר. Progressively brighter, like (Zech. 14:6), “bright (יקרות) light”; (Ps. 37:20), “like the glory (כיקר) off the meadows.”

And my heart was secretly enticed to the sun and the moon, saying that they are gods, like some heathens, who have gone astray (and worship) all the host of heaven.

Job’s conduct towards his fellows had also been blameless. He never sought the downfall of anyone, not even of his enemies.

but I did not allow my palate to sin to provoke my enemy and to sue him for money that he does not owe me, in order to adjure him and to ask for the soul of my enemy with an oath.

We will not be sated Because of the hatred that they bore against me for burdening them with hospitality toward guests.

to the road The doors of my house were not inside and enclosed by a gatehouse outside, or surrounded by corners to stop the wayfarers from coming, but open to the crossroads so that whoever wishes to come may do so.

Job’s home was open to all.

in my hiding place Heb. בחבי, like בְּמַחַבוֹאִי.

Job had not sinned in secret and hidden this fact.

For I would subdue Originally I would subdue a great multitude of wicked men, but now, even among the Chaldeans—“This people has never been” (Isa. 23:13).

behold my inscription; may the Almighty bear witness for me Would that the Omnipresent bear witness for me in judgment, as He wrote concerning me (1:8): “For there is none like him on earth, a sincere and upright man, God-fearing.” Also Moses, who wrote his Book and my Book, will bear witness concerning me. (Another explanation:) This is what Job says, “Give it to inscribe me and my virtue.”

Pointing to the sores on his body, Job demands to know if they are really God’s handiwork.

may the Almighty answer me for this request.

and may my opponent write a book May he too write a book to contend with me.

Would I not carry him The writer of the book.

bind it I will bind the book to me as crowns.

I will tell him the number of my steps to that man.

If my soil complains about me concerning the gleanings, the forgotten sheaves, and the end [of the field], as well as tithes, [claiming] that I did not extract tithes properly.

Job’s lands, that once supported all his wealth and possessions, are now empty. The sheep, the camels, the oxen and the asses, together with their handlers and Job’s own children, are all gone. In his final desperate cry, Job calls on the land, his last refuge, to become barren too.

and its furrows weep together that I plowed with an ox and with a donkey together.

without money to hire workers and to oppress them [by not paying them]. Another explanation. This refers to the second tithe, concerning which it is written (Deut. 14:25): “And you shall tie the money in your hand.”

and I caused pain to its owner The sharecropper who tills it.

noisome weeds Heb. באשה, (a malodorous plant) like בְּאֻשִׁים (Isa. 5:2). And if I did not do so, may thistles emerge instead of wheat. (Rabbi Oshia taught: The Torah teaches you practical advice, that in a field beset with thistles it is advisable to sow wheat, and in a field beset with weeds, it is advisable to sow barley. This is the reading of Yalkut.) Now what is the reason? “Instead of wheat, thistles shall emerge.”

Until this point, he repeatedly prophesies many prophecies, and you say: Job’s words are ended? Rather, Job says as follows, “If I have not done so, may Job’s words be ended, and may he have no pretext for saying before You (Deut. 26:13), ‘I have cleared away what is holy.’” I saw this in the Pesikta of the portion עשר תעשר (ibid. 14), explained in this manner from these verses.