Job 13:26

_FOR THOU WRITEST BITTER THINGS AGAINST ME, AND MAKEST ME TO POSSESS THE INIQUITIES OF MY YOUTH._ Writest - a judicial phrase, to note down the determined punishment. The sentence of the condemned used to be written down (Isaiah 10:1; Jeremiah 22:30; Psalms 149:9). (Umbreit.) BITTER THINGS - bitter punishments. MAKEST ME TO POSSESS - or inherit. In old age he receives possession of the inheritance sin thoughtlessly acquired in youth. 'To inherit sins' is to inherit the punishments inseparably connected with them in Hebrew ideas (Psalms 25:7)....

23-28 Job begs to have his sins discovered to him. A true penitent is willing to know the worst of himself; and we should all desire to know what our transgressions are, that we may confess them, and guard against them for the future. Job complains sorrowfully of God's severe dealings with him. Time does not wear out the guilt of sin. When God writes bitter things against us, his design is to make us bring forgotten sins to mind, and so to bring us to repent of them, as to break us off from them. Let young persons beware of indulging in sin. Even in this world they may so possess the sins of their youth, as to have months of sorrow for moments of pleasure. Their wisdom is to remember their Creator in their early days, that they may have assured hope, and sweet peace of conscience, as the solace of their declining years. Job also complains that his present mistakes are strictly noticed....

Verse Job 13:26. _THOU WRITEST BITTER THINGS AGAINST ME_] The indictment is filled with bitter or grievous charges, which, if proved, would bring me to bitter punishment. _THE INIQUITIES OF MY YOUTH_] The levities and indiscretions of my _youth_ I acknowledge; but is this a _ground_ on which to form charges against a man the integrity of whose _life_ is unimpeachable?...

FOR THOU WRITEST BITTER THINGS AGAINST ME - Charges or accusations of severity. We use the word “bitter” now in a somewhat similar sense. We speak of bitter sorrow, bitter cold, etc. The language here is all taken from courts of justice, and Job is carrying cut the train of thought on which he had entered in regard to a trial before God. He says that the accusations which God had brought against him were of a bitter and severe character; charging him with aggravated offences, and recalling the sins of his youth, and holding him responsible for them. Rosenmuller remarks that the word “write” here is a judicial term, referring to the custom of writing the sentence of a person condemned (as in Psalms 149:9; Jeremiah 22:30); that is, decreeing the punishment. So the Greeks used

EXPOSITION JOB 13:1, JOB 13:2 The first two verses of Job 13:1. are closely connected with Job 12:1; forming the natural termination to the first section of Job's argument, that all results, whether good or evil, must be referred to God. Job 13:1 is little more than a repetition of Job 12:9 and Job 13:2 of...

FOR THOU WRITEST BITTER THINGS AGAINST ME,.... Meaning not sins and rebellions, taken notice of by him, when his good deeds were omitted, as Jarchi; sin is indeed an evil and a bitter thing in its own nature, being exceeding sinful and abominable, and its effects and consequences; being what provokes God to anger most bitterly, and makes bitter work for repentance; as it did in Peter, who, when made sensible of it, wept bitterly, Matthew 26:75; sooner or later, sin, though it is a sweet morsel rolled about in the mouth for a while, yet in the issue proves the gall of asps within, Job 20:14, bitter and distressing; and this God also puts down in the book of his remembrance, yea, writes it as with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond,...

CHAPTER S 12-14 JOB'S ANSWER TO ZOPHAR _ 1. His sarcasm (Job 12:1)_ 2. He describes God's power (Job 12:7) 3. He denounces his friends (Job 13:1) 4. He appeals to God (Job 13:14) 5. The brevity and trouble of life (Job 14:1) 6. The ray of light through hope of immortality (Job 14:7) Job 12:1. He answers not only Zophar but the others as well. Before this Job had expressed his

Job 13:22 to Job 14:22. Job pleads his cause before God Having ordered his cause and challenged his friends to observe how he will plead, Job now enters, with the boldness and proud bearing of one assured of victory, upon his plea itself. There is strictly no break between the passage which follows and the foregoing; the division is only made here for convenience" sake. It would scarcely be according to the author's intention to make Job 13:23 the plea, and assume that, as God did not answer the demand there made, Job's plea took another turn. The question whether Job actually did expect that he would be replied to out of heaven can hardly be answered. We must, however, take into account the extreme excitation of his mind, and the vividness

THOU WRITEST BITTER THINGS AGAINST ME— The author of the Divine Legation, zealous to support his allegorical scheme, is always desirous, for that end, to point out inconsistencies in this book. "The great point Job insists upon (says he) throughout the whole book is, his innocence; and yet, to our surprize, we hear him thus expostulating with God: _Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth._ This can be accounted for no otherwise than by understanding it of the Jewish people:"—but why so? May not the best man that ever lived find something to condemn in the levities and sins of his youth, or when he was a boy or child? for the Hebrew word נעורי _neuraii,_ sometimes denotes a state of childhood. See Schultens and Grey. We may certainly allow him to have had respect to some _actual_ sins of his youth, without any detriment to his argument, d...

6. He calls on God for an arraignment. (Job 13:20-28) TEXT 13:20-28 20 Only do NOT TWO THINGS UNTO ME: Then will I not hide myself from thy face: 21 WITHDRAW THY HAND far FROM ME; And let not thy terror make me afraid. 22 Then call thou, and I will answer; Or let me speak, and answer thou me. 23 How MANY ARE MINE INIQUITIES AND SINS? Make me to know my transgression and MY sin. 24 WHEREFORE HIDEST THOU THY FACE, And holdest me for thine enemy? 25 Wilt THOU HARASS A DRIVEN LEAF? And wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? 26 For thou writest bitter things AGAINST ME, And makest me to inherit THE iniquities OF MY YOUTH: 27 THOU PUTTEST MY FEET ALSO IN THE STOCKS, And markest all my paths; Thou settest a bound to th