Job 31:17

“Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, etc.] Though he had kept no doubt a plentiful table in the time of his prosperity suitable to his circumstances, yet had been no luxurious person, and therefore calls provisions a “morsel”; however, be it what it would, more or less, he did not eat it alone; what he had for himself the poor had a share of it with him, and the same he ate himself he gave to them: and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof: meaning the poor fatherless: for as to the rich fatherless, it was no charity to feed them: this verse contradicts the charge exhibited against him, (<182207>Job 22:7).”

“Arabian rules of hospitality require the stranger to be helped first, and to the best.”

“Or have eaten my morsel myself alone - If I have not imparted what I had though ever so small, to others. This was in accordance with the Oriental laws of hospitality. It is regarded as a fixed law among the Arabians, that the guest shall always be helped first, and to that which is best; and no matter how needy the family may be, or how much distressed with hunger, the settled laws of hospitality demand that the stranger-guest shall have the first and best portion. Dr. Robinson, in his “Biblical Researches,” gives an amusing instance of the extent to which this law is carried, and the sternness with which it is executed among the Arabs. In the journey from Suez to Mount Sinai, intending to…”

“have: Deu 15:11, Deu 15:14; Neh 8:10; Luk 11:41; Joh 13:29; Act 4:32 the fatherless: Job 29:13-16; Eze 18:7, Eze 18:16; Rom 12:13; Jam 1:27; Jo1 3:17 Job 31:18”