Job 6:4

For the arrows of the Almighty [are] within me,.... Which are a reason proving the weight and heaviness of his affliction, and also of his hot and passionate expressions he broke out into; which

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Arrows ... within me - have pierced me.

Arrows; so he fitly calls his afflictions, because, like arrows, they came upon him swiftly and suddenly, one after another, and that from on high, and they wounded him deeply and deadly. Of the Almighty; so he calls them, either generally, because all afflictions come from him; or particularly, because God’ s hand was in a singular manner eminent and visible in his miseries, Job 1; or yet more especially, because they were immediately shot by God into his spirit, as it follows. Are within me; besides those evils which are past, Job 1, there are other miseries that are constant and fixed in me, the sharp pains of my body, and dismal horrors of my mind. The poison whereof; implying that these arrows were more keen and pernicious than ordinary, as being dipped in God’ s wrath, as the barbarous nations then and since used to dip their arrows in poison, that they might not only pierce, but burn up and consume the vital parts. Drinketh up my spirit, i.e. exhausteth and consumeth, either, 1. My vital spirits, together with my blood, the seat of them, and my heart, the spring of them, as poison useth to do. But I doubt the Hebrew word ruach is never used in that sense. Or, 2. My soul, which is commonly the spirit, my mind and conscience. So he tells them, that besides the miseries which they saw, he felt others, and far greater, though invisible, torments in his soul, which if they could see, they would have more pity for him. And in this sense this place is and may very well be otherwise rendered, whose poison my spirit drinketh up, i.e. my soul sucks in the venom of those calamities, by apprehending and applying to itself the wrath of God manifested and conveyed by them. The terrors of God; either, 1. Great terrors; or, 2. God’ s terrible judgments; or rather, 3. These terrors which God immediately works in my soul, either from the sense of his wrath accompanying my outward troubles, or from the sad expectation of longer and greater torments. Set themselves in array; they are like a numerous and well-ordered army, under the conduct of an irresistible general, who designs and directs them to invade me on every side.

Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty [are] within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.Ver. 4. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me] What marvel, then, though his flesh had no rest, but he was troubled on every side, since without were fightings, within were fears? 2 Corinthians 7:5. The arrows, not of a mighty man, as Psalms 127:4, but of an Almighty God; troubles without and terrors within. David felt these arrows, and complaineth of them heavily, Psalms 38:1-2. "He shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded," saith he of his enemies who had bent their bow and shot their arrows at him, even bitter words, Psalms 64:3; Psalms 64:7. God will make his arrows drunk with the blood of such persons, Deuteronomy 32:42. But the arrows Job here complains of were poisoned or envenomed arrows. The poison whereof drinketh up my spirits] Drieth them up, and corrupts the blood in which the spirits are, sprinkling in my veins a mortal poison, working greatest dolour and distemper. The Scythians and other nations used to dip their darts in the blood and gall of asps and vipers, the venomous heat of which, like a fire in their flesh, killed the wounded with torments, the likest hell of any other; and hereunto Job alludeth. The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me] i.e. The terrible strokes of God, who seemeth to fight against me with his own hand, to rush upon me as the angel once did upon Balaam, with a drawn sword in his hand, threatening therewith to cut off my head, as David did Goliath’ s, yea, to send me packing to hell, in the very suburbs whereof, methinks, I feel to be already; and shall not I be suffered to complain? A galled shoulder will shrink under a load, though it be but light; and a little water is heavy in a leaden vessel. But the word here used for terrors noteth the most terrible terrors, hellish terrors, and worse, for they are the terrors of God, surpassing great, 2 Corinthians 5:11, which made Jeremiah pray so hard, Be not thou a terror to me, O Lord, and then I care not greatly what befalleth me. "While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted," saith Heman, Psalms 88:15. Add hereunto that these terrors of God had set themselves in array, they were in a military manner marshalled and imbattled against him, as Jeremiah 50:9. God afflicted Job methodically and resolvedly; he led up his army, as a reverend man phraseth it, exactly formed to a pitched battle against him, and this was truly terrible; for who, saith Moses, knoweth the power of his wrath?

(4) The poison whereof drinketh up my spirit.—Rather, the poison whereof my spirit imbibeth, the rendering of the Authorised Version being ambiguous.Do set themselves in array against me.—Like hosts marshalling themselves for battle. “If the ox or the ass will not low or bray so long as he is satisfied, so neither should I complain if I had no valid cause. My groaning is the evidence of a great burden, and consequently the disdainful way in which you treat it is insipid and distasteful to me—my soul refuseth to touch your proffered remedies; they are as loathsome meat to me.” According to some, the words rendered “the white of an egg” mean the juice of purslain.

Verse 4. The arrows of the Almighty] There is an evident reference here to wounds inflicted by poisoned arrows; and to the burning fever occasioned by such wounds, producing such an intense parching thirst as to dry up all the moisture in the system, stop all the salivary ducts, thicken and inflame the blood, induce putrescency, and terminate in raging mania, producing the most terrifying images, from which the patient is relieved only by death. This is strongly expressed in the fine figure: The POISON DRINKETH UP my SPIRIT; the TERRORS of GOD SET THEMSELVES in ARRAY against me. That calamities are represented among the Eastern writers as the arrows of the Almighty, we have abundant proofs. In reference to this, I shall adduce that fine saying attributed to Aaly, the son-in-law of Mohammed in the Toozuki Teemour; which I have spoken of elsewhere. "It was once demanded of the fourth caliph (Aaly,) 'If the canopy of heaven were a bow; and if the earth were the cord thereof; and if calamities were the arrows; if mankind were the mark for those arrows; and if Almighty God, the tremendous and glorious, were the unerring Archer; to whom could the sons of Adam flee for protection?' The califf answered, 'The sons of Adam must flee unto the Lord.'" This fine image Job keeps in view in the eighth and ninth verses Job 6:8; Job 6:9, wishing that the unerring marksman may let fly these arrows, let loose his hand, to destroy and cut him off.

4. the arrows of the Almighty] This explains his bearing and excuses it. Everywhere Job says that it is not his afflictions in themselves that terrify him, it is that they come from God; it is the moral problem that lies under his calamities and that God has become his enemy that makes his heart “soft” (ch. Job 23:15 seq.). The “arrows” of God are the plagues, diseases and pains with which He assails men, ch. Job 16:12 seq.; cf. Psalms 38:2 seq.; Deuteronomy 32:23. So Hamlet, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. the poison whereof drinketh] Rather, the poison of which my spirit drinketh in. God’s arrows are poisoned arrows, the poison of which the spirit sucks in and becomes enervated and paralysed. This is the idea, rather than maddened. The figure in the end of the verse is that of a beleaguering army; this host is composed of “terrors” from God. The reference is again not to Job’s mere physical pains, but to the perplexing thoughts and fears which they occasioned.

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me - That is, it is not a light affliction that I endure.

4. The arrows of the Almighty — The various calamities, such as sickness, pain, bereavements, and sorrows, (Deuteronomy 32:23; Psalms 38:2,) which the great Archer had sent.