He teareth me in his wrath - The language here is all taken from the ferocity of wild beasts; and the idea is, that his enemy had come upon him as a lion seizes upon its prey. Rosenmuller, Reiske, and some others suppose that this refers to God. Cocceius refers it to Satan. Schultens, Dr. Good, and some others, to Eliphaz, as the leading man among his adversaries. I have no doubt that this is the true reference. The connection seems to demand this; and we ought not to suppose that Job would charge this upon God, unless there is the clearest evidence. The whole passage is a description of the manner in which Job supposed his friends had come upon him. He says they had attacked him like wild beasts. Yet it must be admitted that he sometimes attributes these feelings to God, and says that he came upon him like a roaring lion see Job 10:16-17.
Who hateth me - Or rather, “and persecutes me, or is become my adversary,” for so the word used here (שׂטם śâṭam) means; see the notes at Job 30:21.
He gnasheth upon me with his teeth - As an enraged wild animal does when about to seize upon its prey. A similar figure occurs in Otway, in his “Orphan:”
- For my Castalio’s false;
False as the wind, the water, or the weather:
Cruel as tigers o’er their trembling prey:
I feel him in my breast, he tears my heart,
And at each sigh he drinks the gushing blood.
And so Homer, when he describes the wrath of Achilles as he armed himself to avenge the death of Patroclus, mentions among other signs of wrath his gnashing his teeth:
Τοῦ καὶ ὀδόντων μὲν καναχὴ πέλε.
Tou kai odontōn men kanachē pele.
Iliad xix. 364.
So Virgil describes his hero as
furens animis, dentibus infrendens.
Aeneid viii. 228.
Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me - Looks fiercely; watches me narrowly - as an animal does his victim when about to seize upon it. The image is probably drawn from the intense gaze of the lion when about to pounce upon his prey. “He darts piercing looks at me; or looks at me with a fierce and penetrating eye.”