For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
Job turns from arguing with his three friends to speaking straight to God, and he reads his suffering as a bitter charge written against him. Two questions press: is God dragging up sins from decades back, and what does it mean to inherit them now?
A record written in pain
Job has no scroll in front of him. He reads his wounds as though they were words.
Leslie M. GrantBecause God did not respond, it seemed to Job that God counted him as an enemy (v. 24)… He felt that God was writing bitter things against him — not literally, but at least in effect. He also felt that God was bringing up the sins of his youth, since his more recent sins would not be as blatant as those of his youth (v. 26).
Sins coming upon him now
One writer takes the line to mean that Job feared his old sins were landing on him at that moment. He sets that beside what Job still had to learn about himself.
William KellySadly he had rested in being clean in his own eyes, and in other people's eyes. But he had to learn that being clean in God's eyes was a very different thing… "For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth" — it may be that they are coming upon me now.
The admission hidden in the complaint
Job means the line as an accusation against God. But he cannot make it without admitting something about himself.
Samuel RidoutAnd yet at once he renews his charges against God. He is not yet ready for God to strip away all his imagined righteousness… God accuses him of those almost forgotten sins of youth (ah, Job, it seems that even you must admit there have been sins). He watches him, and makes his imagined robe of righteousness look like a moth-eaten garment.
Grace he did not recognise
Job wanted to know what was wrong in him. One writer points out what Job could not see while it was happening.
William KellyHe wished to find out all that was wrong in himself, and begged to know why he was driven back and forth like a leaf or dry stubble. He did not yet know the grace that was giving him self-judgment. He sees only a record kept of bitter things, and himself made to inherit the iniquities of his youth.
What Job lacked and we have
Job wanted to put his case to God, but had no one to stand between. One writer hears that cry in these words.
Samuel RidoutHow these words, beautiful in their very anguish, cry aloud for the blessed go-between, the Mediator! Blessed be God, we can come with confidence to the throne of grace, to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Job could only grope in the dark.
The prayer Job did not pray
Job complains that God charges his youth against him. A psalm prays about the same sins of youth, and asks God not to remember them.
Leslie M. Grant"Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old" (v. 6)… And He will answer too the prayer that follows, "Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions" (v. 7). Where there is faith that depends on Him, He will not remember the sins of our youth against us. Nor will He remember our transgressions against us.
Summary
- Written — Job reads his suffering as a charge God is drafting against him. The writing is not literal, but it is real in effect.
- Inherited — he fears the sins of his youth are landing on him now, since his later sins were not as blatant as those early ones.
- Exposed — the complaint hides a confession. Even Job has to admit there were sins, and his imagined robe of righteousness starts to look moth-eaten.
- Misread — the bitter things were grace at work, giving him self-judgment. Job did not yet know it.
- Answered — Job groped in the dark for a mediator. We can come to God with confidence, and where faith depends on Him, He will not remember the sins of our youth against us.