Job 13:20-28

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 the soles of my feet:

28 Though I am like a rotten thing that consumeth,

Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

COMMENT 13:20-28

Job 13:20Spare me two things: (1) one request is negative, (2) one positive. The substance of Job's present request has been presented before in Job 9:34; see also Isaiah 51:19; Jeremiah 2:13. God first gives Job peace in suffering before relief from suffering. Job addresses God directly throughout the remainder of his speech.

Job 13:21Job's two-pronged request is here stated: (1) withdraw your hand (yadecha) used in both positive sense of protection, and negative sense of afflicting pain and suffering (Exodus 33:22; and (2) do not use your sovereign power to terrify me.

Job 13:22The imagery is that of a law court where Job offers to appear as either appellant or respondentJob 14:15. The call is for either fellowship or indictment.

Job 13:23Job boldly asks for God to list the number and nature of his sins.[159] There are three different Hebrew words for sin used here: (1) root meaning to deviate from prescribed course; (2) root to miss attaining a goal or fulfilling an intentionally chosen goal; and (3) root form to revolt, freely rebel (Psalms 51).

[159] See G. Quell, G. Bertram, G. Stahlin, and W. Grundmann's article in TWNT, Vol. I, E. T. Eerdmans; and K. Menninger, Whatever Became of Sin? (Hawthorn, 1973.)

Job 13:24God does not break His silence.

Job 13:25The A. V. harass should be translated something like terrify. Why should God, as sovereign of the universe, assail one so trivial and impotent to meet His challengePsalms 1:4?

Job 13:26Has some sin in my youth brought on your bitter punishment? (Psalms 25:7) The word translated bitter is used of poison Job 20:14, and gall bladder in Job 20:25.

Job 13:27The three images employed here suggest arrest and the impossibility of escape (Job 33:11). God draws a line and no one can step beyond it. Slaves were identified by markings on various parts of the body (Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 49:16), apparently also on the sole of the slaves-' feet, in order to make tracking easier.

Job 13:28His life is rotten and like a pest-eaten vine decaying with no hope of recovery. This is despair conceived in the womb of pessimism and fathered by manacles of the mind.