Job's Oath That His Land Never Cried Out Against Him

[7] "If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together" (Job 31:38). They said to Job: do you have anything upon it [the earth] except three cubits at the hour of your death, that you say, "If my land cries out against me" (ibid.), as though it were yours? Rabbi Chiyya the Great said: it is like a man who was selling a cloak in the market, and another passed by and saw it and said, "It is mine." He said to him, "Wrap yourself in it; if it fits you, it is yours, and if not, it is not yours." So the Holy One said to Job: am I not the One of whom it is written, "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" (Jeremiah 23:24), and you say, "If my land cries out against me" (Job 31:38), as though it were yours? And Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta said: it is like a man who was selling a maidservant in the market, and another passed by and saw her and said, "She is mine." He said to him, "Rebuke her; if she obeys you, she is yours, and if not, she is not yours." So the Holy One said to Job: am I not the One of whom it is written, "He looks at the earth and it trembles, He touches the mountains and they smoke" (Psalms 104:32), and you say, "If my land cries out against me" (Job 31:38), as though it were yours? In that hour Job said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the worlds, I did not speak before You thus; rather in this manner I spoke before You, "If my land cries out against me" (Job 31:38), if I did not bring out its tithes as is fitting. "And its furrows weep together" (ibid.), if I sowed it with forbidden mixtures. "If I ate its strength without money" (Job 31:39), this is the second tithe, of which it is written, "and you shall turn it into money and bind up" and so forth (Deuteronomy 14:25). "And caused the life of its owners to expire" (Job 31:39), this is the tithe of the poor. "And if I did not do so, let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley; the words of Job are ended" (Job 31:40). Rabbi Hoshaya taught: the Torah has taught you proper conduct, that a field which brings up thorns is good to sow with wheat, and a field which brings up foul weeds is good to sow with barley. And what is the reason? "Instead of wheat let thorns come forth" (ibid.). Until now he goes on prophesying many prophecies, yet you say, "the words of Job are ended" (ibid.)? Rather Job said: if I did not do so, let my words be ended and let me have no opening of the mouth to say before You, "I have removed the holy thing from the house" (Deuteronomy 26:13). Therefore Moses warns Israel and says to them, "You shall surely tithe" (Deuteronomy 14:22).