If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
Ver. 7. If my step hath turned out of the way] sc. Of justice and equity, in trading and trafficking to get the mammon of unrighteousness. No; the sun might sooner be turned out of his course (as it was once said of Fabricius) than Job out of the track of truth and honesty; he had laid laws upon his feet, his eyes, and his hands too; binding them all to the good behaviour: witness the next words.
And mine heart walked after mine eyes] As it doth too often, to coveting other men's goods; which St John calleth the lust of the eyes, 1 John 2:16. Alexander the Great called the Persian maids Dolores oculorum, the griefs of the eyes. The wedge of gold and Babylonish garment proved to be so to covetous Achan, Joshua 7:21, and Naboth's vineyard to that no good Ahab, 1 Kings 21:2. He was even sick of it, and could not be cured but by a salad out of it. Hence the law flatly forbiddeth men to go after the sight of their eyes and the lust of their hearts; for these are seldom sundered, Num 15:39 Ecclesiastes 11:9. Unruly eyes, like Jacob's sheep, too firmly fixed on unlawful objects, make the affections bring forth spotted fruit. Job would, therefore, set a guard upon them, lest they should prove brokers of wickedness to the heart; as that hang by Hiram, the Adullamite, was to Judah, Genesis 38:20. There is an easy passage for evil through the eyes into the heart, saith Quintilian, Oculus et cor sunt proxenetae peccati (Hebr. Proverb).
And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands] If I have been fingering that which was not fit for me to meddle with; viz. evil gotten goods, whether by bribery, usury, deceit, or the like; the very touching whereof will blot aud benumb the hands, as Pliny writeth of the fish torpedo; and as scholars know that Demosthenes, a great lawyer, by poising Harpalus's goblet, was tempted and swayed to favour his cause, to the great danger of his country, and his own indelible infamy.