Job 23:11

My foot hath held his steps,.... Trod in the steps he has walked in; he followed God closely, imitated him in acts of holiness and righteousness, of mercy, kindness, and beneficence; and he continued

My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Held - fast by His steps.

My foot hath held, i.e. made a free and fixed choice, and taken fast hold of them; been firmly and strongly settled, and resolved to continue in them, as the word signifies. His steps; either, 1. Actively, the steps or ways in which God himself walks; the paths of holiness, justice, mercy, &c., wherein he walked with or after God, as the phrase is, , following his example. Or, 2. Passively, the steps or paths which God hath appointed men to walk in, as . His way have I kept, and not declined; the same thing with that in the former part of the verse, in different expressions.

Job 23:11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.Ver. 11. My foot hath held his steps] I have followed God step by step, walking as I had him for an example, and pressing his footsteps. This Job speaketh of himself, not as vaunting, but as vindicating and defending his own innocence; and as giving Eliphaz to know, that he had already done, and still continued to do, as he had in the former chapter exhorted him, Job 22:21-22. Acquaint now thyself with God, &c. That is not now to do, saith Job; for my foot hath held his steps. Be at peace. I am so, saith he, for his way have I kept and not declined. Now, can two walk together, and they not be agreed? Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth. What else have I done, saith Job, when as I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips? Lay up his words in thine heart. This I have done ex instituto, saith he; vel prae demenso, more than my necessary food, have I esteemed the words of his mouth. So exact a pattern of the rule was Job; so consonant to Eliphaz’ s good counsel. Plain things will join in every point one with another; not so round and rugged things: so do plain spirits close with holy counsels: not so such as are proud and unmortified. Let these be touched never so gently, nettle like, they will sting you. Deal with them roughly and roundly, they swagger, as that Hebrew did with Moses, saying, Who made thee a man of authority? &c., Exodus 2:14. Good Job was of another spirit with God, as it is said of Caleb, Numbers 14:24, and followed him fully; ornavit doctrinam coelestem piis officiis, adorned the heavenly doctrine with his pious office, heavenly doctrine was as the mould, and he as the metal, which takes impression from it in one part as well as another. His constant endeavour was to express God to the world, and to preach forth his virtues or praises by a suitable practice, 1 Peter 2:9. Gressum eius retinuit pes meus. His way have I kept, and not declined] sc. In excess or defect, and therefore I am no such flagitious person as thou, Eliphaz, wouldst make of me.

Verse 11. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept] I have carefully marked his providential dealings; and in his way - his pure and undefiled religion - have I walked. I have not only been generally but particularly religious: I have attended carefully to the weightier matters of the law, and have not forgotten its slightest injunctions. Coverdale is curious: - Nevertheles my fete kepe his path, his hye strete have I holden, and not gone out of it. The hye strete is highway, the causeway, or raised road; formed, as they anciently were, by stones in the manner of pavement. It has its name from the Latin strata, paved, via being understood: via lapidibus strata, "a way paved with stones:" hence street, a raised road or pavement either in town or country. And hence the four grand Roman or British roads which intersected this kingdom: viz. Watling street, Icknild or Ricknild street, Ermin street, and Fosse street. Some say these streets or roads were made by Bellinus, a British king. Fosse street began in Cornwall, passed through Devonshire, Somersetshire, and along by Titbury upon Toteswould, beside Coventry, unto Leicester; and thence by the wide plains to Newark and to Lincoln, where it ends. Watling street begins at Dover, passes through the middle of Kent, over the Thames by London, running near Westminster, and thence to St. Alban's, Dunstable, Stratford, Towcester, Weden, Lilbourn, Atherston, Wreaken by Severn, Worcester, Stratton, through Wales unto Cardigan, and on to the Irish sea. Ermin, or Erminage street, running from St. David's in Wales, to Southampton. Ricknild, or Icknild street, running by Worcester, Wycomb, Birmingham, Lichfield, Derby, Chesterfield, and by York, into Tynemouth. See Camden, Holinshed, and Minshieu.

11–12. Fuller particulars given by Job of “the way that is with him”—his innocent, upright life.

My foot hath held his steps - Roberts, in his Oriental Illustrations, and the Editor of the Pictorial Bible, suppose that there is an allusion here to the active, grasping power which the Orientals have in their feet and toes.

11. Held his steps — The primary meaning of the word àçæ, rendered held, is to seize, to lay fast hold of; upon which Kitto (Pic.