“For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.”
My Notes
What Does Job 31:23 Mean?
Job explains why he feared God: "Destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure." His fear of God wasn't theoretical reverence. It was genuine terror — the awareness that God's power could destroy him, and God's majesty was too much for a human to bear.
The word "destruction" (ed) means disaster, calamity, ruin. Job feared God's capacity for destruction — not because God is cruel, but because God is powerful. The awareness that the sovereign God has the ability to destroy at will was the engine of Job's reverence.
"By reason of his highness I could not endure" means God's exaltation was overwhelming. The sheer height of God — His transcendence, His otherness, His distance above human capacity — was more than Job could process. The fear wasn't emotional weakness. It was the rational response of a finite being to an infinite reality.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Do you fear God in Job's sense — genuine terror at His capacity for destruction — or have you sanitized the concept?
- 2.How does the fear of God (terror at His power) produce righteousness rather than paralysis?
- 3.Is your 'fear of the Lord' the beginning of wisdom — or just a theological concept you affirm without feeling?
- 4.Does Job's description (God's highness overwhelming, God's destruction terrifying) match your experience of God?
Devotional
I feared God because He could destroy me. And His height was more than I could bear.
Job's fear of God isn't the sanitized 'reverent awe' of Sunday school. It's terror. Real, gut-level awareness that the being he's dealing with has the power to annihilate him. "Destruction from God was a terror to me" — the word terror means exactly what it says. Job trembled before God's capacity for calamity.
This isn't dysfunction. It's accurate perception. God CAN destroy. The flood proved it. Sodom proved it. The plagues proved it. And Job — who knew these stories — lived with the awareness that the same power that built his life could demolish it. Which, in fact, it just did.
"By reason of his highness I could not endure" — God's transcendence was overwhelming. The gap between God and Job — infinite being and finite dust — was too vast to contemplate without collapse. God's highness (se'et — exaltation, majesty) wasn't inspiring in the comfortable sense. It was crushing. You can't stand in the presence of something that far above you and remain composed.
This is the fear of the LORD that Proverbs calls the beginning of wisdom (9:10). Not gentle respect. Terrified awareness of who you're dealing with. The knowledge that the God you worship is the God who could unmake you. And the choice to worship anyway.
Job's fear produced his righteousness. The terror of destruction drove him to put on the robe (verse 14). The awareness of God's highness produced the humility that made him 'perfect and upright' (1:1). The fear was the engine. The righteous life was the result.
Do you fear God? Not respect Him. Not appreciate Him. Fear Him. The way Job did — with the awareness that His capacity for destruction is as real as His capacity for blessing. That fear is the beginning of everything.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
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Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture