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? since the apprehension and approach of it was so terrible to an upright-hearted Job, to a heroical Luther, upon whom God's terrors were so heavy for a time, ut nec calor, nec sanguis, nec sensus, nec vox superesset (In epist. ad Melancth.), that neither heat, nor blood, nor sense, nor voice remained, but his body seemed dead, as Justus Jonas, an eye-witness, reporteth: agreeable whereunto is that memorable speech of Luther, Nihil est tentatio vel universi mundi, et totius inferni in unum conflata, &c., The temptation and terror of all the world, nay, of all hell put together, is nothing to that wherein God setteth himself in battle-array against a poor soul; in which case that in excellent counsel that one giveth in these words, When thy sins and God's wrath meeting in thy conscience make thee deadly sick, as Isaiah 33:1,24, then pour forth thy soul in confession; and as it will ease thee (as vomiting useth to do), so also it will move God to pity, and to give thee cordials and comforts to restore thee.