Job 31:31

If the men of my tabernacle,.... Either his friends, that came to visit him, and take a meal with him, and would sometimes tarry awhile with him in his house, being very free and familiar with him;

If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. i.e., Job's household said, Oh that we had Job's enemy to devour! We cannot rest satisfied until we have.

The men of my tabernacle, i.e. my domestics and familiar friends, who were much conversant with me in my house, and were witnesses of my carriage to others, and of their carriages to me, and therefore best able to judge in the case. Of his flesh; either, 1. Of Job’ s flesh, which is thought to be an expression either, 1. Of their fervent love to him, caused by his great tenderness and kindness to them. But his meek and gentle carriage to his servants he had expressed before in plain terms, ; and therefore it is not likely he would repeat it, at least in such an obscure and ambiguous phrase, as is no where used in this sense, and is used in a contrary sense, . Or, 2. Of their hatred and rage against him, for the excessive trouble he put upon them in the entertainment of strangers, which follows, . But it is very improbable, either that so just and merciful a man as Job would put intolerable burdens upon his servants; or that some extraordinary trouble brought upon them by hospitality would inflame them to such a height of rage as this phrase implies, against so excellent and amiable a master. Or, 2. Of the flesh and other provisions made by Job for strangers: He feeds them liberally, but scarce alloweth us time to satisfy ourselves therewith; which also is very unlikely. Or rather, 3. Of the flesh of Job’ s enemy, of whom he last spoke, ,30. And so this is an amplification and further confirmation of Job’ s charitable disposition and carriage to his enemy, although his cause was so just, and the malice of his enemies was so notorious and unreasonable, that all who were daily conversant with him, and were witnesses of his and their mutual carriages, did condemn and abhor them for it, and were so concerned and zealous in Job’ s quarrel, that they protested they could eat their very flesh, and could not be satisfied without it. And yet notwithstanding all these provocations of others, he restrained both them and himself from executing vengeance upon them, as David afterwards did in a like case, ,10. We cannot be satisfied, to wit, without eating his flesh.

Job 31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.Ver. 31. If the men of my tabernacle said not] Contubernales, sive domestici; those of my family and familiarity. A man is to take heed of the iniquity of his heels, that is, of his followers and attendants at the heels, as some sense that text, Psalms 49:5, for these will be apt enough to put a man upon courses of revenge, as they dealt by David, 1 Samuel 24:4; 1 Samuel 26:8 2 Samuel 16:9, and by the Son of David, Luke 9:54. And thus Isidore, Cajetan, and others, interpret these words, as if they were added to the former, Job 31:29-30, further to commend Job’ s love to those that hated him. For although he were put on by his domestics, who seeing their master despitefully used, would have torn those of his enemies in pieces; yet he was not moved thereby, but contained and kept them in from such violence. Beza thus paraphraseth this text: And yet I protest that I wanted not besetters on, even among mine own household servants, who still persuaded me to requite those injuries which I received with most bitter revenge: nay, their minds were so incensed, that they cried out, That they should never be satisfied on them, no, not though they had eaten them up quickly. Oh that we had of his flesh!] So barbarous and brutish is revenge. See Psalms 27:2. Erasmus telleth of a friar, Augustine of Antwerp, that he openly in the pulpit wished that Luther were there, that he might bite out his throat with his teeth (Epist. lib. 16, ad obtrectat.). I can hardly forbear with these nails of mine to be thy death, said Friar Brusierd to Bilney the martyr. At the town of Barr, in France, the Italians, in hatred of Lutheranism, broke forth into such fury, that they ripped up a living child, took out his liver, being as yet red hot, and ate it as meat. Christian, king of Denmark, pulled the dead body of his enemy Stevon, the Swedish general, out of the grave, inusitataque rabie dentibus adpetiit, and, like a mad dog, tore it with his teeth (Val. Max. Christian. 138). The Jews, in Trajan’ s time, having one Andrew for their captain, cut in pieces, about Cyrene, many Greeks and Romans, eating their flesh, besmearing themselves with their blood, and clothing themselves with their skins. The like they did also about Cyprus, and in Egypt, to the slaughtering of over four hundred thousand people. Tacitus noteth of the Jews in general, that they are very kind among themselves, but contra omnes alios hostile odium, against all others they bear hostile hatred. Homo homini daemon. We cannot be satisfied] But with his heart blood. It is as easy to quench the fire of Etna as the thoughts fired by revenge, Plane inexplebile est viudictae desiderium (Mercer). See Psalms 124:3; Psalms 1:4.

(31) Oh that we had of his flesh!—We should never be satisfied therewith. (Comp. the similar expression, Job 19:22.)

Verse 31. If the men of my tabernacle said] I believe the Targum gives the best sense here: - "If the men of my tabernacle have not said, Who hath commanded that we should not be satisfied with his flesh?" My domestics have had all kindness shown them; they have lived like my own children, and have been served with the same viands as my family. They have never seen flesh come to my table, when they have been obliged to live on pulse. Mr. Good's translation is nearly to the same sense: - "If the men of my tabernacle do not exclaim, Who hath longed for his meat without fulness?" "Where is the man that has not been satisfied with his flesh?" i.e., fed to the full with the provisions from his table. See Proverbs 23:20; Isaiah 23:13, and Daniel 10:3.

31. The verse appears to mean, If the men of my tent have not said, Would that we could find any not filled with his flesh! The men of his tent are of course his servants. The verse describes Job’s princely hospitality; his servants are represented as expressing the wish that they could find any one who has not yet (like others) been filled from Job’s rich table—hence the particular word flesh is used instead of the more general “meat,” flesh being served chiefly on occasions of entertainment in the East. The servants were well aware of their master’s generosity, and did their best to give it effect. The language might appear exaggerated were it not a question of Oriental manners. In the story of the Banker of Bagdad in the Arabian Nights the servants are introduced speaking in the same way. The Caliph Elmo‘taddid and his companion Ibn Hamdoon went out one day, disguised as merchants, to divert themselves among the people; and being overpowered by the heat of the sun they sat down to rest at the door of a large mansion. Out of this house there came a servant, accompanied by another, like a piece of the moon; and the one said to the other, Our master will be sad to-day, for it is already this time of day and no one has come to him, and he loves to have guests. The Caliph was surprised at his words and said, This is proof of the generosity of the owner of this mansion, we must go in, &c.

If the men of my tabernacle - The men of my tent; or those who dwell with me. The reference is doubtless to those who were in his employ, and who, being constantly with him, had an opportunity to observe his manner of life.

31. Oh that we had, etc. — Rather, Who can show any one not satisfied with his meat.