Job 20:25

20:23-29 Zophar, having described the vexations which attend wicked practices, shows their ruin from God's wrath. There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only Covert from the storm and tempest, Isa 32:2. Zophar concludes, This is the portion of a wicked man from God; it is allotted him. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explanation, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves, to stand in awe and sin not. One view of Jesus, directed by the Holy Spirit, and by him suitably impressed upon our souls, will quell a thousand carnal reasonings about the suffering of the faithful.

It is drawn, and cometh out of the body,.... That is, the arrow with which a wicked man is stricken through; either it is drawn, and comes out of the quiver, as Broughton; or rather is drawn out of the body of a wicked man, being shot into it, and that in order that he may be cured of his wound if possible, but to no purpose, since it follows: yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall; being thrust into it, which being pierced and poured out, is certain and immediate death, see Job 16:13. Some render it, yea, "the glittering sword out of his gall, he shall go away", or "is gone" (f); that is, he shall die, or is a dead man, there is no hope of him, when the arrow has transfixed his body, and the sword has penetrated into his gall, and divided that: terrors are upon him; the terrors of death, the plain symptoms of it being upon him; the terrors of an awful judgment, which follows after it; the terrors of the dreadful sentence of condemnation that will then be pronounced, "go, ye cursed", &c. and the terrors of hell and eternal death, signified by utter darkness, unquenchable fire, and the never ceasing torments of it. Some by them understand devils, those terrible spirits which haunt wicked men in their dying moments, and are ready to carry them to the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, where they are to be companions with them for ever.

The word is sometimes used of gigantic persons, who are sometimes terrible to others; and since these are mentioned along with weapons of war, Bar Tzemach interprets them of men of strength and power, men of war or soldiers, whose fear falls on others. (f) "abibit e vivis"; so some in Michaelis; "abit", Schultens.

25 . It is drawn ] Rather, he draweth it forth —that is, the arrow ( Job 20:24 ). the glistering sword ] Rather, the glittering shaft ( Isaiah 49:2 ), or, more generally, the glittering steel; what is meant is the arrow that strikes the sinner through ( Job 20:24 ). He draws it out hoping to save himself, not knowing that he is mortally stricken, but with the drawing of it out there fall on him the terrors of death. The picture, particularly the last isolated sentence “terrors are upon him,” is graphic.

Verse 25. - It is drawn, and cometh out of the body ; rather, he draweth it forth and it cometh out of his body (see the Revised Version). The stricken man draws the arrow from his flesh, the natural action of every one so wounded. If the arrow was simply tipped with a smooth iron point, it would be easy to withdraw it; but a barbed arrow could only be cut out. Yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall ; rather, the glittering point. The arrow is supposed to have pierced the gall-bladder, and to be drawn forth from it. There would be little chance of recovery in such a case. Hence terrors are upon him. Job 20:25

25. It is drawn—Rather, "He (God) draweth (the sword, Jos 5:13) and (no sooner has He done so, than) it cometh out of (that is, passes right through) the (sinner's) body" (De 32:41, 42; Eze 21:9, 10). The glittering sword is a happy image for lightning. gall—that is, his life (Job 16:13). "Inflicts a deadly wound." terrors—Zophar repeats Bildad's words (Job 17:11; Ps 88:16; 55:4).

It is drawn; either, 1. A sword, which may be understood out of this Hebrew verb, which is for the most part used of that weapon, as Numbers 22:23,31 Jud 8:20 , &c., and out of the following branch of the verse. Or, 2. The arrow last mentioned, which had entered into his body, and now was drawn out of it either by himself, or by some other person, as is frequent in that case, if peradventure he might be cured. Out of the body; or, out of his body , i.e. the body of the wounded man; as appears both by the next clause of the verse, which is added to explain the former; where it is out of his gall; and from the use of this Hebrew word, which signifies a man’s body or carcass, as Judges 14:8 1 Samuel 31:12 Isaiah 5:25 Nahum 3:3 . The glittering sword: the word properly signifies lightning , and thence a glittering weapon , the bright sword or spear, as Deu 32:41 Ezekiel 21:10,15 Na 3:3 Habakkuk 3:11 ; whereby it is implied that he was doubly wounded; first, by the arrow, and then, to make more sure work, with the sword or spear thrust into him. But the word may as well signify the bright and sharp point of an arrow , of which he spoke hitherto; and having in the general said that it came out of his body , now he determines the part of the body, the gall ; which showeth that the wound was both deep and deadly, as they are in that part. It is probable he mentions this in reference to the like expression of Job, Job 16:13 .

Cometh out of his gall; into which it had entered, and wherewith it was coloured. Terrors are upon him, to wit, the terrors of death, because he perceived by the tincture of his gall upon the weapon that his wound was incurable; or horrors of conscience, because he cannot live, and dare not die.

It is drawn - Or rather, "he draws" - that is, he draws out the arrow that has been shot at him; or it may mean, as Prof. Lee supposes, that he draws, that is, "someone" draws the arrow from its quiver, or the sword from its sheath, in order to smite him. The object is to describe his death, and to show that he should be certainly overtaken with calamity. Zophar, therefore, goes through the process by which he would be shot down, or shows that he could not escape. And cometh out of the body - That is, the arrow, or the glittering blade. It has penetrated the body, and passed through it. He shall be pierced through and through. The glittering sword - Hebrew ברק bârâq - "the glittering;" scil. thing, or weapon, and is given to the sword, because it is kept bright. Cometh out of his gall - Supposed to be the seat of life. See the notes, Job 16:13. Terrors are upon him - The terrors of death.

The two futt. may be arranged as in a conditional clause, like Psalm 91:7 , comp. Amos 9:2-4 ; and this is, as it seems, the mutual relation of the two expressions designed by the poet (similar to Isaiah 24:18 ): if he flee from the weapons of iron, i.e., the deadly weapon in the thick of the fight, he succumbs to that which is destructive by and by: the bow of brass (נחוּשׁה poet. for נחשׁת, as Psalm 18:35 , although it might also be an adj., since eth, as the Arab. qaws shows, is really a feminine termination) will pierce him through (fut. Kal of חלף, Arab. chlf, to press further and further, press after, here as in Judges 5:26 ). The flight of the disheartened is a punishment which is completed by his being hit while fleeing by the arrow which the brazen bow sends with swift power after him. In Job 20:25 the Targ. reads מגּוהּ with He mappic., and translates: he (the enemy, or God) draws (stringit), and it (the sword) comes out of its sheath, which is to be rejected because גּו cannot signify vagina. Kimchi and most Jewish expositors interpret מגּוה by מגּוּף; the lxx also translates it σῶμα. To understand it according to גּו (back), of the hinder part of the body, gives no suitable sense, since the evil-doer is imagined as hit in the back, the arrow consequently passing out at the front; (Note: Thus sings the warrior Cana'an Tjr (died about 1815) after the loss of his wife: - "My grief for her is the brief of him whose horse is dashed in pieces in the desert.