ON THE VANGUARD

COVENANT OF THE EYES
“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.”
Job 31:1

For today’s devotional, I want to take the time to do a little Hebrew lesson. I realize that to some degree it may be slightly boring, but as God has been showing me, I cannot understand the New Testament without first understanding the words and culture of the Old Testament. With that said, let us dive into the words found in Job 31:1.
In the NIV version, the verse reads, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” This verse was first pointed out to me by a chaplain friend in college. As we pondered this verse together it was clear that God was speaking to us to not look at another person in lust. Simple, right? I recall that my youth pastor while growing up stated that it is not sinful to look at a woman and find her attractive. However, it is the second look, the one done in lust, which becomes sin. I equate this to those old cartoons where a scantily dressed cartoon female would come out and the men watching her sing her jazz tune would turn into wolves and start to act crazy with whistling and drooling. It is a funny relation, but is it not true? I know from my own days of battling this that the spirit of lust is real, and when I am weak it is able to come over me and drive me to do things I look back on and question. It is for this reason alone that Job says, “I made a covenant…”
But let us also take a moment to read this verse in the KJV, which reads, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” Do you see the difference? The beginning segment is the same as they both read a covenant was made with the eyes. If we break this portion down we understand that Job made a BARIYTH, an alliance or pledge, with his ‘AYIN, eyes. That seems straight forward.
Now look at the word for made, KARATH. It means to cut off, as in the cutting off of a body part, to eliminate. If we read this in the Hebrew language, we read, “I cut off (as cutting a body part) as an act of the alliance I made with my eyes…” It takes on a deeper meaning, I think. It is no longer words, but actions…strong actions at that. This is not self-mutilation, but rather a strong visual decree that others see as an agreement we made with God. And it makes more sense when we view it in relation to Jesus’ words concerning adultery in Matthew 5:28-29. “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
The verse continues, though, and states, “…why then should I think upon a maid?” These two translations differ at this point, but the message is the same. While the NIV uses the word ‘look’, KJV uses the word ‘think’. Thinking is translated as BIYN, and is defined as an understanding, consideration, regard, discernment, or instruction. So then, Job tells us his stance taken by letting us know he has “…cut off this temptation as if it were a body part, as an act of the alliance he made with his eyes to not lustfully concern himself with a female”
Our temptation may not be the lustful looking at a person, but rather the lustful looking at anything. We can lust after money, drugs, or possessions. The end is limitless. But here, right now, is the time in which we need to draw the line in the sand. We need to make a covenant with our eyes that we will choose to make an alliance with God that our eyes will not hunger for anything that God does not allow. It is in this time that we must cut off our relationship with the enemy once and for all, as if cutting off our finger or gouging out our eye. It is time we take such a stance against the devil that he knows we are no longer easy bait for him to prey on. It is time that Job 31:1 becomes our battle cry against the shiny, glitter covered, temptations we daily face.
Who will join me in this battle?