his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
Job's friends have insisted that his suffering proves hidden guilt. He answers by describing his ruin as a military assault, with himself as the target. The hard question the verse forces is whether the hand Job feels behind these arrows is really the hand of an enemy.
The Picture Behind the Words
One writer follows the whole run of images, and notes what Job sets beside them at the end:
William KellyNothing can exceed the vivid power with which he describes his troubles. He was at ease, then seized by the neck, smashed and broken in pieces, and set up as a target to be shot at. Arrows whirred round him. His kidneys were split without mercy and his gall poured out on the earth. He was broken by one breach after another, as was bound to happen if such a warrior ran at him. So he came down to the last degree of misery and disgrace, grief upon grief, with nothing but the shadow of death before his eyes. Yet no violence stained his hand, and his prayer was pure.
Kidneys and Gall
Two words in the verse carry meaning beyond the body. The kidneys stand for something deeper than an organ:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe kidneys, used symbolically for the inward thoughts and feelings.
The second word is the gall:
Morrish Bible DictionaryMerorah: the gall or bile of animals. It is a symbol of "bitterness."
So the arrows do not just wound Job's body. They open his inmost feelings and pour his bitterness out for all to see.
Job Traces It to God
Job could have blamed raiders or bad luck. He does not. One writer weighs what that shows, and what Job still got wrong:
Leslie M. GrantStill, it is commendable that Job recognised that in the final analysis he was dealing with God, so that he looks beyond his friends to see that God was behind everything coming upon him. This shows he was a true believer. But the conclusions he drew were wrong, because he was in effect blaming God, as though God was doing wrong.
Another writer names what Job refused to blame, and what he still could not see:
William KellyHe does not lay his ruin on the Chaldeans, or other secondary causes. He does not explain it away by the means that were used. He saw God's hand, but he did not enter at all into God's mind about the trial, still less into His love. That was the very reason why everything was so unexplainable to his soul at the time.
The Mistake in the Complaint
Seeing God's hand is one thing. Deciding that hand is against you is another. Job crossed that line:
Samuel RidoutTurning to God, in whom he should have found abundant consolation, Job charges Him as the author of his misery and suffering. But his complaint and hot words give him no relief… He sees only bitter suffering with no cause behind it, and he is unwilling or unable to trust God in the dark. This is Job's great error.
Another writer traces the arrows to a different archer:
Charles StanleyThis was a great mistake. They were the arrows of Satan. God was not against Job. If only Job had known it, God was for him.
Commentators differ. Some stress that God allowed the affliction; others that the arrows came from the enemy.
A Sufferer Who Did Not Charge God
Job says his tormentors gaped at him. The Psalms use the same picture of Christ on the cross:
William KellyWho in the Psalms speaks of their gaping like a ravening lion? It is the Lord on the cross. But what a difference! "Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel." Not a word of this is heard on Job's part.
Another writer shows what that trust cost Him:
Samuel RidoutOut of the gloom and thick darkness of God's forsaking, we hear a cry reaching the throne of the Eternal: "YOU ARE HOLY." Blessed be God for One who suffered like this for us. He never swerved from perfect trust in Him who had forsaken Him for our sakes.
Summary
- Arrows. Job feels himself ringed by archers, pierced without mercy, his bitterness poured on the ground.
- Kidneys. They stand for the inward thoughts and feelings. The wound is not skin-deep; it reaches what a man is inside.
- Faith. He blames no raiders and no circumstances. He traces everything to God's hand — the mark of a true believer.
- Error. He traces the hand rightly, then reads it wrongly, charging God with doing him wrong because he will not trust Him in the dark.
- Contrast. A greater Sufferer hung surrounded, pierced and forsaken. He still cried, "You are holy." That trust never swerved.