And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go;
My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live." vv.2-6
Read chapter 27
Is Job here in his arrogance or in his confidence of his goodness and of God's? Job with the solemnity of an oath by God declares that he speaks in sincerity when affirming his innocence. Till he dies he will not admit his guilt. Job swears that he is sincere and speaks truly. He will not lower his standards and admit that his friends are right. "To admit the wickedness with which his friends charged him would have been to justify them" (Ellicott's Commentary). But what about Job's heart? We know from Proverbs that the heart is deceitful among all things yet Job here says his heart will not reproach him as long as he lives. "Property may leave a man; friends may forsake him; children may die; disease may attack him; slander may assail him; and death may approach him; but still he may have in his bosom one unfailing source of consolation; he may have the consciousness that his aim has been right and pure. That nothing can shake; of that, no storms or tempests, no malignant foe, no losses or disappointment, no ridicule or calumny, can deprive him."
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