Job 31:20

20 And they didn't give me their blessing when I warmed them with wool from my sheep.

Job 31:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 31:20

If his loins have not blessed me
Which were girded and covered with garments he gave him; which, as often as he put on and girded his loins with, put him in mind of his generous benefactor, and this put him upon sending up an ejaculatory wish to heaven, that all happiness and blessedness might attend him, who had so comfortably clothed him; see ( Job 29:13 ) ;

and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
not with a fleece of wool as taken off the back of the sheep, or with a sheep's skin, having the wool on it, but with it, as made up into cloth; with a woollen garment, which was a kind of clothing that very early obtained, and is what is warm and comfortable, see ( Deuteronomy 22:11 ) . Job clothed the naked, not with gay apparel, which was not necessary, but with decent and useful raiment, and not with the fleece of other men's sheep, but with the fleece of his own sheep, or with cloth made of the wool of his own flock, giving what was his own and not others; which always should be observed in acts of charity; see ( 2 Samuel 12:4 ) . Thus Christ, the antitype of Job, feeds the poor and the fatherless whom he finds, though he does not leave them so; it is at his own table, and with his own bread, with provisions of his own making; and clothes them with the robe of his righteousness, and garments of salvation, which is a clothing and a covering to them, and secures them from perishing, and causes joy and gladness in them, ( Isaiah 61:10 ) .

Job 31:20 In-Context

18 From the time I was young, I've helped those widows. I've raised those children as a father would.
19 Suppose I've seen people dying because they didn't have any clothes. I've seen needy people who had nothing to wear.
20 And they didn't give me their blessing when I warmed them with wool from my sheep.
21 Suppose I've raised my hand against children whose fathers have died. And I did it because I knew I had power in the courts.
22 Then let my arm fall from my shoulder. Let it be broken off at the joint.
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