It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors [are] upon him.
Ver. 25. It is drawn, and cometh out of the body] That is, the arrow out of the quiver, or the sword out of the sheath, as the Vulgate translateth it. By a like metaphor the body is called the soul's sheath, Daniel 7:15. But I rather take it properly: It cometh out of his body that is, out of the wicked man's body, who is under such a deep and deadly wound as Jehoram was, whom Jehu shot through the heart; and as William Rufus was by Walter Tyrrel, who in hunting mistook him for a deer.
Yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall] And so the wound must needs be mortal, since none can come at the gall to cure it. The wicked shall be double slain (first with God's bow, and then with his sword), rather than he shall escape. How much better were it to fall down as Paul did, Romans 7:11, slain with the sword of the Spirit! Bernard told his brother, a soldier, that because he would not listen to the word of exhortation, God would shortly open a way to his hard heart by his glistering sword; which accordingly befell him.
Terrors are upon him] Heb. The terrible upon him; which some interpret of devils or hell hags. The Vulgate rendereth it, Then horrible ones shall come upon him. The word is used for giants, Deuteronomy 2:10. The Emims shall fall upon him, that is, men of fierce and cruel spirits. But better take it for terrors, as we render it; and so the sense is, That the wicked, when he sees he must needs die, is surprised with greatest anxieties and perplexities of spirit, as beholding that threefold dreadful spectacle, death, judgment, hell, and all to be passed through by his poor soul.