Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 16:13
His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
13. The second figure Job has been set up by God as a mark for His arrows.
his archers ] Rather, his arrows, cf. ch. Job 6:4. These arrows fly about him and cleave his vital parts and pour out his life to the ground. The Oriental speaks of the gall and gall-bladder where we might refer to the blood and the heart.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His archers – He does not come alone to shoot at me; he has employed a company of bowmen, who also direct their arrows against me. The word used here rab means properly much, large, great; and is applied to that which is powerful or mighty. It is nowhere else used in the sense of archers, and might be rendered his many; that is, his bands, hosts, or armies. But as all the ancient versions render it arrows, or archers, probably that sense is to be retained. Allusion is here made to those who claimed to be the friends of Job, but who now showed to his apprehension that they were merely sharp-shooters under the control of God, to deepen his woes.
He cleaveth my reins asunder – With his arrows. They penetrate quite through me.
He poureth out my gall – The word gall means the bile – the yellowish green bitter fluid secreted in the liver. A similar figure occcurs in Lam 2:11, My liver is poured upon the earth. Among the pagan poets, also, the liver is represented as pierced, and as pouring out gore. Thus, Aesch. Agam. 442: thinganei pros hepar. So also 801: Degma lupes eph’ hepar prosikneitai. So in the Iliad, xiii. 412, xx. 469, 470. The meaning here is, I am transfixed with a deadly wound, and must die. God has come upon me as an armed man, and has pierced my vitals.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. His archers compass me] rabbaiv “his great ones.” The Vulgate and Septuagint translate this his spears; the Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee, his arrows. On this and the following verse Mr. Heath observes: “The metaphor is here taken from huntsmen: first, they surround the beast; then he is shot dead; his entrails are next taken out; and then his body is broken up limb by limb.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
His archers, i.e. his plagues or judgments, elsewhere compared to arrows, and here to archers.
He cleaveth my reins asunder with his arrows, i.e. he wounds me inwardly, and mortally, and incurably; which also is noted by pouring out the gall; such wounds being deadly.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. his archersThe image ofJob 16:12 is continued. God,in making me His “mark,” is accompanied by the threefriends, whose words wound like sharp arrows.
gallput for a vitalpart; so the liver (La 2:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His archers compass me round about,…. Satan and his principalities and powers casting their fiery darts at him; or rather, his friends shooting their arrows, even bitter words, reproaches, and calumnies; or the various diseases of his body, his boils and ulcers, which were so many arrows shot into him, in every part of him all around, and gave him exquisite pain and anguish; besides the arrows of the Almighty, or that painful sensation he had of the wrath of God. This also is true of Christ, the antitype of Job and of Joseph; of the latter of which it is said, “the archers sorely grieved him, and shot at him, but his bow abode in strength”, Ge 49:23; so Satan and his ministers threw their fiery darts at Christ when on the cross, and the scribes and priests, his emissaries, surrounded him there, and shot out their reproachful and blasphemous words at him, and the justice of God smote him, and the law of God cast its curses on him. Gussetius renders the words, “his great ones” g; and such Job’s friends were, men of great substance, and lived in great credit and honour; some have supposed them to be kings, and such were those that opposed Christ, and distressed him, the rulers of the people, civil and ecclesiastic:
he cleaveth my reins asunder; by causing his arrows to enter into them, La 3:13; the consequence of which must be death; a man cannot live, at least long, after this is his case; though some think this is to be understood of the disorder of the stone in his reins or kidneys, which was very distressing to him:
and doth not spare; shows no mercy or pity, though in such sad circumstances and dreadful agonies; thus God spared not his own son, Ro 8:32;
he poureth out my gall upon the ground; which is done by piercing the gall bladder with the sword, or any such instrument, see Job 20:25; which must issue in death; and the design of both these clauses is to show, that Job looked upon his case irretrievable, and he here makes use of hyperbolical expressions to set it forth by.
g “Ejus magnates”, Comment. Ebr. p. 773. “ejus magni”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. My reins The kidneys. “The Scriptures bring the tenderest and the most inward experience of a manifold kind into association with them.” DELITZSCH, Bib. Psychology, pp. 317-319. Here, in strong figurative language, cutting affliction cleaves the kidneys asunder; language akin to that of our own, “a broken heart.” The psalmist supplicates God to try his reins and his heart, (Job 26:2.) The ancients said the reins give counsel, but the heart carries it into execution.
My gall upon the ground Used figuratively; the Hebrew doctors understand it literally, and say that Job was sustained in being by a miracle.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 16:13-14. His archers compass me, &c. The metaphor is here taken from huntsmen. First they surround the beast; then he is shot dead; his entrails are next taken out; and then his body is broken up limb from limb. Heath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 16:13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
Ver. 13. His archers compass me round about ] i.e. His instruments of my woe, whether persons or things, but especially my grievous sores putting me through intolerable pain; these are God’s arrows or archers, and do make my poor body not unlike that shield of Sceva, at the siege of Dyrrachium, which had two hundred and twenty darts sticking in it, when Caesar came to his rescue, Densamque ferens in pectore silvam (Luc.).
He cleaveth my reins asunder
He poureth out my gall upon the ground
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
archers: Job 6:4, Gen 49:23, Psa 7:12, Psa 7:13
he cleaveth: Job 19:27, Lam 3:13
doth: Job 6:10, Deu 29:20, Eze 5:11, Rom 8:32, 2Pe 2:5
poureth: Job 20:25, Lam 2:11
Reciprocal: Job 19:22 – persecute Job 34:6 – wound Psa 21:12 – make Psa 73:21 – in my Psa 88:17 – They Lam 3:11 – pulled Lam 3:12 – bent
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 16:13-14. His archers compass me round about His plagues or judgments, elsewhere compared to arrows, and here to archers, surround me on all sides, and assault me from every quarter. Whoever are our enemies, we must look on them as Gods archers, and see him directing the arrow. He cleaveth my reins asunder He wounds me inwardly, mortally, and incurably; which is also signified by pouring out the gall; such wounds being deadly. The metaphor, says Heath, is here taken from huntsmen. First they surround the beast; then he is shot dead; his entrails are next taken out; and then his body is divided limb from limb. He breaketh me with breach upon breach My indignities and miseries have no interruption, but one immediately succeeds another; he runneth upon me like a giant Who falls upon his enemy with all his might, that he may overthrow and kill him. He assaults me in so violent and powerful a manner, that I can make no more resistance than a dwarf against a giant.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:13 His {n} archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall {o} upon the ground.
(n) His manifold afflictions.
(o) I am wounded to the heart.