(Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)
Job is still in pain and still accused. Here he answers his friends by putting himself on trial: weigh me, and see. The challenge is bold. It also raises the question the rest of the book will answer: can any man survive God's weighing?
Honest Scales
The image comes from the marketplace. Job asks for scales nobody has rigged — older translations call this an "even balance."
Morrish Bible DictionaryA pair of balances or scales: you can see them on the Egyptian monuments, with the weights in one scale and the goods in the other. People also needed them in early days for weighing money... Job asked to be weighed in an even balance, Job 31:6, because men contrived to falsify the balance, as well as the weights, which was an abomination to the Lord.
So Job asks for accuracy, not a favour — no thumb on the scale, no guesswork from his friends.
A Test Few Would Dare
The verse sits inside a self-examination that runs through the whole chapter. Job does not limit it to what people could see. He includes desires, and his duty toward God.
William KellyJob tests himself formally and in detail against a very long list of offences. He does this toward God as well as man, by failure in good as well as by self-gratification or other sins. We may be sure that not one of the friends who in effect put him on trial could have afforded to test himself as Job does here. He judges unclean lusts as well as actions... Men drew their conclusions from appearances. Whatever they thought, he could ask God to weigh him in a just balance.
Clear, But Not Cleared
Job's request is honest, and his conscience is clear. Commentators add that a clear conscience is not enough.
William KellyHe had a perfectly good conscience, but that is not enough. There is the great principle of self-judgment. There is also the great principle of complete submission to God, and of vindicating Him — that He is right and wise in all, not only in what He does, but in what He allows.
A man can be sure of himself and still measure by the wrong weights.
C. H. MackintoshIt is a very grave error to suppose that, provided a man acts up to the dictates of his conscience, he is all right and safe. Peace resting on such a foundation will be destroyed for ever when the light of the judgement-seat shines in on the conscience. God could never lower His claim to such a level. The balances of the sanctuary work by a very different scale from the one the most sensitive conscience gives.
Conduct Weighed, Heart Unweighed
Job's friends had called him a hypocrite. He was not, and he refused to confess a sin he had not committed. Yet something in him still needed God's light.
F. B. HoleIn affirming his own integrity and truth, he charged his friends with being the ones who spoke falsehood and deceit. All the while he held fast his righteousness with the utmost resolution. This "righteousness"... was concerned 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 this, 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 before God.
The Trouble Was The Speaker
As a description of a life, Job 31 is admirable. The problem was who was delivering it.
William KellyThere is as fine a description as you could have of an admirable saint, in Job 31. But the trouble is, it was Job talking about himself. It is a fine thing to be eloquent about other people's goodness. But it is not a fine subject for oneself, and that is what betrayed Job.
The Weighing He Did Not Expect
Job got his hearing. When God answered, it was not Job's record that came to light, but his pride.
F. A. HughesHe suffered intensely under the hand of the adversary, and through the misunderstanding of men. But his real difficulty was the pride of the flesh — whose actions gave him importance before men. It was something that had never been judged in the presence of God. God's dealings with Job were about this, and how successful those dealings were! The moment came when Job said, "I had heard of you... but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes"... All pride of self has gone, and God is free to bless him abundantly.
Summary
- Weighed fairly. Job asks for honest weights, not mercy. The picture is a balance no trader has rigged, since God hated false scales.
- Weighed thoroughly. He tests himself on desires as well as deeds, toward God as well as men — a test none of his accusers could have survived.
- Weighed by conscience. His conscience was clear, but a clear conscience is not enough. The sanctuary's balances use a different scale from the most sensitive conscience.
- Weighed only outwardly. His record of conduct was true. But outward correctness is not righteousness before God, and the searching light had not yet reached his soul.
- Weighed at last. When God answered, the pride Job had never judged came to light. He despised himself and repented — and then God was free to bless him.