Job 14:17

My transgression [is] sealed up in a bag,.... Denoting either the concealment of it, as in Hosea 13:12; not from God; nor in such sense sealed up as sin is by the sacrifice and satisfaction of

My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. Sealed up - (Job 9:7). Is shut up in eternal oblivion - i:e., God thenceforth will think no more of my former sins.

Sealed up in a bag; as writings or other choice things, that they may be safely kept, and all of them brought forth upon occasion, and not one of them forgotten or lost. Compare . Thou sewest up mine iniquity, i.e. thou keepest all my sins in thy memory, and fastenest the guilt of them upon my conscience. Or, thou addest to my sin, one sin to another; the follies of my youth, , to those of my riper years. Or, thou addest to my punishment, i.e. thou punishest me more than mine iniquities deserve, all things considered. For this sinful thought seems sometimes to have risen in Job’ s mind, as may be gathered from divers parts of this book; which therefore Zophar decries and disproves, .

Job 14:17 My transgression [is] sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.Ver. 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag] As the writings or informations of a process which is ready to be sentenced, Deuteronomy 32:34 Hosea 13:12. Thou hast, as it were, sealed up and made sure work with all my sins, saith Job, to have them forthcoming for the increase of my punishment. Look how the clerk of assizes (saith one) seals up the indictments of men, and at the assizes brings his bag, and takes them out to read the same against them; so God dealt with Job, in his conceit at least. The truth is, God had not sealed his transgressions in a bag, but had cast them behind his back. A bag God hath for men’ s sins, and a bottle he hath for their tears, Psalms 56:8. Now Job was one of those penitents that helped to fill God’ s bottle, and therefore he saw at length (though now he was benighted) all his sins, bag and all, thrown in the sea, and sinking as a weighty millstone in those mighty waters of free grace and undeserved mercy. And thou sewest up mine iniquity] Adsuesne aliquid iniquitati meae? so the Tigurines translate, i.e. Wilt thou sow or add anything to mine iniquity? wilt thou tie to it that tag (as a martyr phraseth it) of the law’ s malediction, conjoining the punishment to the sin? Adsuere ad iniquitatem, est poenas poenis continenter adiungere (Merl.). Some make this an explication of the former; q.d. the bag is not only sealed, but, for more surety, sewed too, and that purposely for a purchase of punishment, as some sense it.

Verse 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag] An allusion to the custom of collecting evidence of state transgressions, sealing them up in a bag, and presenting them to the judges and officers of state to be examined, in order to trial and judgment. Just at this time (July, 1820) charges of state transgressions, sealed up in a GREEN BAG, and presented to the two houses of parliament, for the examination of a secret committee, are making a considerable noise in the land. Some suppose the allusion is to money sealed up in bags; which is common in the East. This includes two ideas: 1. Job's transgressions were all numbered; not one was passed by. 2. They were sealed up; so that none of them could be lost. These bags were indifferently sewed or sealed, the two words in the text.

17. Figures expressing the carefulness with which God treasures up a man’s sins lest any of them should be lost, in order to visit the full tale of them upon him.

My transgression is sealed up - The verb rendered sealed up (חתם châtham) means to seal, to close, to shut up; see the notes at Isaiah 8:16; compare the notes at Job 9:7.

17. Sealed… in a bag — The money that is collected together in the treasuries of eastern princes is told up in certain equal sums, put into bags, and sealed. (Chardin.) The ancients used a seal where we use a lock.