“If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;
Job's last long speech ends with a sworn defence of his life. Here he denies two things: living by falsehood, and running after deceit. He puts it as a challenge — let God test the claim and see. So one question stands over the verse: can a clean record before men carry a man through God's scales?
An oath, not an argument
By this point Job has stopped reasoning with his friends and started swearing before God. One writer reads the whole chapter as a set of denials, aimed at the charges his friends had laid.
F. B. HoleAfter these sorrowful complaints, Job closed his long speech, as we see in Job 31, with a series of statements that almost amount to oaths. His friends had accused him of definite sins and wrongdoing. As to these things his conscience was clear, though, as we have seen, he admitted he was not pure in the sight of God. So he strongly affirmed that he had not committed the kinds of evil that were alleged or hinted at.
Falsehood ranked with impurity
The verse comes straight after Job's vow about his eyes. He puts lying in the same class as unclean desire — and he weighs both by the God who watches him.
William KellyHe judges unclean desires as well as actions. He does this in the fear of Him who had power to cast soul and body into hell. And all the while, that same God took notice of every step he took. Vanity or falsehood, too, was just as far from Job's spirit and ways as impurity. Men who judged by appearances might think what they liked. Job could still ask God to weigh him in a just balance, to test whether he had used deceit or turned aside from the way.
Every step counted
The verse speaks of walking, and of a foot running. Job has just said that God sees his ways and counts his steps. So he makes his denial to the One who already holds the record.
Leslie M. GrantHe says he had made a covenant with his eyes (v.1). That is, he had decided he would not be led astray by what his eyes saw. He recognised that God above knew every thought of his heart, for the Almighty was high above Job (v.2). So destruction was not for Job, but for those who do evil (v.3). Job knew that God watched his ways and counted every detail of his steps (v.4).
The balance he asked for
Job's denial comes with a demand: put me on honest scales. Anyone who asks for that should know what such a weighing takes in.
G. V. WigramIf you are standing on that ground before God, take care! He will not let one single sin pass without a just penalty, and you must receive it. If I go before Him to prove my own righteousness, He must weigh me in His scales — He must weigh every thought and imagination of my heart.
More than a clear conscience
Job's conscience really was clear. That still did not settle his case. What he lacked was not innocence but self-judgment.
William KellyHe had a perfectly good conscience, but that is not enough. There is the great principle of self-judgment. There is also the grand principle of full submission to God, and of vindicating Him. He is right and wise in everything — not only in what He does, but in what He allows. It is all for good. It may be very bad on the part of others, as it was on the part of Job's friends, but God had a good purpose for Job in it all.
Uprightness turned into a claim
The danger here is subtle. Job's life really was upright. The trouble started when he made that uprightness his standing before God.
J. N. DarbyJob was upright, but he began to make this his righteousness. That is plain proof that he had never really been in the presence of God... In Job 29 we also see that his heart had dwelt on his upright and generous life with self-satisfaction. He commended himself, and fed his self-love with it. "When the eye saw me it gave witness to me." God was bringing him to say, "Now my eye sees You and I abhor myself."
Another writer states where each road ends. There is "nothing but wrath for the self-righteous — nothing but grace for the self-judged" (C. H. Mackintosh).
Summary
- Sworn. Job's denial of falsehood and deceit belongs to a closing series of statements that almost amount to oaths. It answers the charges his friends made.
- Weighed. He asks God for honest scales. But that weighing takes in every thought and imagination of the heart, not just outward acts.
- Watched. God watches his ways and counts every step. Job hides nothing, because nothing can be hidden.
- Wide. Lying is no lesser fault. Falsehood was as far from Job's spirit as impurity, and God judges desires along with actions.
- Wanting. A good conscience is not enough. Uprightness turned into a claim becomes self-righteousness. The self-righteous meet wrath; the self-judged meet grace — and this man ends up saying, "now my eye sees You and I abhor myself."