Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; but Jehovah weigheth the hearts.
Two verdicts stand side by side in this proverb. One is the verdict a person passes on his own conduct. The other is God's, and He reaches it by weighing the heart behind the conduct. The gap between the two raises a question no one escapes: whose scales am I using?
Conscience does object at times. But a person can argue his way past it. One writer traces how, and points to the scales that would end the argument.
"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes" (v. 2). Even though a man's conscience will trouble him in many things, he is skilled enough to silence that irritation. He does it by clever reasoning that makes evil appear to be good. How much wiser he would be to use the Lord's scales, and so be brought to repentance. For "the Lord weighs the hearts."
Another writer asks why we resist a bad report about ourselves, and where wisdom goes for a second opinion.
There is nothing a man dislikes more than thinking badly of himself, unless it is believing good of God. Truly the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. The wise man distrusts himself and listens to counsel. He does not cheat God and his conscience by asking advice from the weak and easy-going; he asks the godly.
The second half of the verse moves the examination deeper than conduct.
It is natural for man as he is to count every way of his own as right. But the solemn truth for everyone is that the LORD weighs not only the acts, but the heart. Everything lies naked and exposed before the eyes of the One we must answer to. Let us never forget it.
Another writer sets God's weighing against a different way of assessing a life.
God will remember everything and assess it Himself. "The LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed" (1 Samuel 2:3). Not "counted," as if quantity were everything with God, but "weighed"; quality is the chief thing with Him.
God tests the source of an action. So His verdict can differ from ours even when the action looks fine.
By Him actions are weighed with unerring accuracy; for He does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Only in this way is it possible to discover the true character of our works. On the outside they may often seem good and beautiful. But if the motive they sprang from were revealed, it might change our estimate completely. The Father's eye rests on the innermost springs of our conduct, and so He is never deceived.
If our own judgment is unreliable, we need a measure from outside ourselves. One writer names it, and shows the excuses we use to dodge it.
In these things we are all too likely to deceive ourselves. To keep our self-respect, we try to persuade ourselves that our motives are better than they are. Or we hide our real intentions and desires behind the plausible cover of saying we want the Lord's leading! But let us honestly read the Word of God, and it will expose these secret workings to us. How little does man suspect the real deceit of his own heart! May God give us to judge ourselves by His Word, the only trustworthy standard. It can be a grievous snare to assume our preferences agree with the Word of God. Then, when the Word comes to us against them, we object that it must be a wrong translation or interpretation, and we dismiss it without honest inquiry.
A person can be completely sincere and still fail to judge himself. One writer names the only thing that keeps self-judgment real.
Nothing but the sense of the presence of God can keep us in self-judgment; we may be ever so sincere, but self is not judged except in the presence of God.
The answer to the proverb is a prayer. One writer closes with the words of a man who invited God's search.
The heart-searching God knows the true motives of every heart, and judges righteously. Such things as we have considered were written so that we might be found before God, judging what is of the flesh. By God's grace we try to act in love, saying like one of old, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" (Psalm 139:23-24).
- Two scales. Every person weighs himself on his own scales and passes. The verse sets God's scales beside them, and only His weigh the heart.
- Weighed, not counted. God does not add up how much we did. He tests quality — the motive our actions came from, and He is never deceived by appearances.
- Self-argued. Conscience protests, but clever reasoning silences it and makes evil look good. The wiser course is to use the Lord's scales and repent.
- One standard. The Word of God is the only trustworthy measure. The test of honesty is simple: do we accept it when it crosses what we wanted?
- In His presence. Sincerity is not enough. Self is judged only in God's presence. So the wise response is to ask God to search us.
To exercise justice and judgment is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice.
This proverb puts two good things side by side and ranks them: doing right by other people, and bringing sacrifice to God. The sharp question is why God would ever rate plain honest dealing above the offerings brought to Him in worship.
People naturally count their own ways right. God's measure goes deeper than the act.
It is natural for man as he is to count every way of his own right. But the solemn truth for everyone is that Jehovah weighs not only the acts, but the heart. Everything is uncovered and exposed to the eyes of the God we must answer to. Let us never forget it.
Offerings can rank below justice because people use them to settle accounts while they keep on doing wrong. Kelly sets that misuse against the sacrifice God Himself provided.
Unless men are utterly hardened, they tend to be religious in some way and to some degree. Their sacrifices are too often a way of letting themselves keep on sinning. The sacrifice to God who gave Christ to suffer for our sins is a wholly different matter — the resting place of faith and the start of holiness. Doing what is just and right flows out of it, and it truly is acceptable to God when it comes with faith. Sacrifice without faith is sickening and presumptuous.
An offering can be a bid for applause rather than an approach to God. Pride has its own reason for giving.
Pride will lead a man to offer a sacrifice so that someone else overlooks his guilty actions, as in verse 3. But what he wants is credit for his (pretended) generosity. It looks like honest work, yet such things are works of the flesh, and so they are sin.
This is not an isolated saying. The same truth runs through 1 Samuel, through the prophets, and through the words of Jesus.
To do righteousness and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice (verse 3). Compare this with 1 Sam. 15:22, Hosea 6:6, and Micah 6:6-8. The words of our Lord in the Gospel of Matthew give the same truth: "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice'" (Matt. 9:13).
Commentators differ over the point of that line in Matthew. Some read it as a rebuke of empty religious form. Others hear God promising mercy to people who have nothing to bring.
The Lord defended His welcome of the moral outcasts by quoting that same line from the prophet Hosea (Matt. 9:13; Hosea 6:6). God had promised that when man was helpless, He would use His right to show mercy. So the Lord was among Israel not to receive sacrifice but to show mercy. The suggestion is that this is what the passage means, rather than a rebuke of formalism and religious ceremony, which some see in it.
The proverb also sets an order. How a person treats others is the clothing they must wear before they bring anything to God.
This teaches us that right ways in daily life are the clothes that those who would be worshippers must put on first. Anyone who brings a gift to God must be marked by turning from evil and following righteousness… Without obedience and practical righteousness, God can take no pleasure in outward ceremony and lip worship. He desires mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6). Obedience is better than sacrifice. God looks at the heart; His searching eye sees straight through the mask of outward appearance. What He wants from His people is that they do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. This principle holds good for us as well as Israel.
- Weighed — God measures the heart behind the act, not the act alone; everything lies open before Him.
- Substituted — An offering that buys off guilt instead of judging it turns religion into a cover for sin.
- Exposed — Pride offers a sacrifice to get its guilty actions overlooked, and wants credit for the generosity.
- Echoed — The same word sounds through 1 Samuel, through Hosea and Micah, and from Jesus: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice."
- Ordered — Right dealing is the clothing a worshipper puts on first. The sacrifice God gave in Christ is where faith rests, and just dealing flows out of it.