Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
And my heart hath been secretly enticed - That is, away from God, or led into sin.
Or my mouth hath kissed my hand - Margin, my hand hath kissed my mouth. The margin accords with the Hebrew. It was customary in ancient worship to kiss the idol that was worshipped; compare I Kings 19:18, "I have left me seven thousand in Israel - and every mouth which hath not kissed him." See, also, Hosea 13:2. The Muslims at the present day, in their worship at Mecca, kiss the black stone which is fastened in the corner of the Beat Allah, as often as they pass it, in going round the Caaba. If they cannot come near enough to kiss it, they touch it with the hand, and kiss that. An Oriental pays his respects to one of a superior station by kissing his hand and putting it to his forehead. Paxton. See the custom of kissing the hand of a Prince, as it exists in Arabia, described by Niebuhr, Reisebeschreib. 1, S. 414. The custom prevailed, also, among the Romans and Greeks. Thus, Pliny (Hist. Nat. 28:2) says, Inter adorandum dexterarm AD osculum referimus, et totum corpus circumagimus. So Lucian in the book, ̀ ̓́ peri orchēseōs , says, "And the Indians, rising early, adore the sun - not as we, kissing the hand - ̀ ́ ́ tēn cheira kusantes - think that our vow is perfect." The foundation of the custom here alluded to, is the respect and affection which is shown for one by kissing; and as the heavenly bodies which were worshipped were so remote that the worshippers could not have access to them, they expressed their veneration by kissing the hand. Job means to say, that he had never performed an act of homage to the heavenly bodies.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Job 31:27:
1 Kings 19:18
2 Kings 17:16
Psalms 2:12
Ezekiel 8:16
Hosea 13:2
Revelation 13:4
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