Job 27:5–6

He still holds to it that all their imagination was false. He said now more solemnly than ever — it was like taking an oath — as God lives, this is true. "God forbid that I should justify you." Now he turns on them; he says, "You are the culprits, not I." "Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." They were, on the contrary, charging him with what was very bad in most of their speeches.

The word translated "justify" occurs in that precise form of the verb only in Exodus 23:7: "I will not acquit the wicked"; that is, God will not make or declare a wicked man a just man. Again, "God forbid that I should justify you" (Job 27:5); that is, acknowledge you to be just in what you have spoken.

Whatever the three friends allege, he will not admit a false charge (v. 5). Despite their harsh judgment, he is determined to pursue the integrity of all his former life to the day of his death. In this setting he says, "My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go." That is, nothing could turn him to turn from what he knew to be right. He therefore adds, "My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." He was for keeping a good conscience all his days, like Paul later.

He points out their failures faithfully. He records the details that men would have hidden. But He will not allow others to speak against them. If a Balaam would curse them, he must bless instead. If Satan would harm Job, God would speak of him as "my servant Job — none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil; and he still holds fast his integrity."

He will not allow himself to bear false witness; till he dies he will hold fast his integrity. His heart does not condemn him. Looking back over his past life, there is not a day whose record gives ground for reproach... But there is a sound of self-righteousness that does not fit with knowing yourself in the presence of God. Job is not there yet. It is the cry of an honest soul that does not yet fully see the light. Is there any unrighteousness? — it is in his enemy, not in himself. We see, then, that Job was speaking as between man and man.

He would by no means surrender his integrity, he would by no means let go his righteousness. But, as Elihu puts it, his "righteousness," or his "uprightness," would now be to bow under God's hand, to trust the searching of His discipline, and to learn the lesson God would teach. In short, it would be to look away from himself to God, and to live on that new principle before Him, centred in the Lord and no longer in self.

He still stands by it that all their imagining was false. He said now more solemnly than ever — it was a kind of swearing to it — as God lives, this is true. "God forbid that I should justify you." Now he turns on them; he says, "You are the culprits, not I."

That reading is unlikely on the face of it. The righteousness of God in the gospel sense was not revealed until the gospel came. Satan was allowed to test Job, but not to discover whether he had soul-salvation and a righteous footing before God. The test was whether Job feared God because of his prosperity and material advantages, which Satan claimed were quite enough to produce piety in a man.

In this setting he says, "I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go." Nothing could make him turn from what he knew to be right. So he adds, "my heart does not reproach me for any of my days." He was for keeping a good conscience all his days, like Paul later.

He will not let himself bear false witness; until he dies he will hold fast his integrity. His heart does not condemn him. Looking back over his past life, there is not a day whose record gives ground for reproach… We must take this as the sober statement of a man who had "lived in all good conscience." But there is a sound of self-righteousness that does not match knowing yourself in the presence of God. Job is not there yet. It is the cry of an honest soul that does not fully see the light.

Job had these spiritual affections, but they did not stop him. He turned this consciousness of integrity into a robe of self-righteousness. It hid God from him, and even hid him from himself. He declares himself to be more righteous than God.

This "righteousness," as Job 29 will show us, had to do with his outward conduct, for as yet the searching light of God had not entered his soul. He had been charged with being a deceiver and a hypocrite. He knew he was not, and he was not going to plead guilty to it for a moment. We too know that he was not, but outward correctness does not in itself count for righteousness in the presence of God.

Now we do need practical righteousness and a good conscience as well as faith to resist the enemy, as we see in Ephesians 6. But we want something far brighter than this armour as a robe before God; we want divine righteousness here; and this Job had to learn. He had confused the two things, as many a believer does today, to his own loss and to God's dishonour.

He would by no means surrender his integrity, he would by no means let go his righteousness. But, as Elihu puts it, his "righteousness," or his "uprightness," would now be to bow under God's hand. It would be to trust the searchings of His discipline, and to learn the lesson God would teach. In short, it would be to look away from himself to God, and to live on that new principle before Him, centred in the Lord and no longer in self.