Job 16

12. I was at ease--in past times ( Job 1:1-3 ).
by my neck--as an animal does its prey (so Job 10:16 ).
shaken--violently; in contrast to his former "ease" ( Psalms 102:10 ). Set me up (again).
mark--( Job 7:20 , Lamentations 3:12 ). God lets me always recover strength, so as to torment me ceaselessly.

13. his archers--The image of Job 16:12 is continued. God, in making me His "mark," is accompanied by the three friends, whose words wound like sharp arrows.
gall--put for a vital part; so the liver ( Lamentations 2:11 ).

14. The image is from storming a fortress by making breaches in the walls ( 2 Kings 14:13 ).
a giant--a mighty warrior.

15. sewed--denoting the tight fit of the mourning garment; it was a sack with armholes closely sewed to the body.
horn--image from horned cattle, which when excited tear the earth with their horns. The horn was the emblem of power ( 1 Kings 22:11 ). Here, it is
in the dust--which as applied to Job denotes his humiliation from former greatness. To throw one's self in the dust was a sign of mourning; this idea is here joined with that of excited despair, depicted by the fury of a horned beast. The Druses of Lebanon still wear horns as an ornament.

16. foul--rather, "is red," that is, flushed and heated [UMBREIT and NOYES].
shadow of death--that is, darkening through many tears ( Lamentations 5:17 ). Job here refers to Zophar's implied charge ( Job 11:14 ). Nearly the same words occur as to Jesus Christ ( Isaiah 53:9 ). So Job 16:10 above answers to the description of Jesus Christ ( Psalms 22:13 , Isaiah 50:6 , and Job 16:4 to Psalms 22:7 ). He alone realized what Job aspired after, namely, outward righteousness of acts and inward purity of devotion. Jesus Christ as the representative man is typified in some degree in every servant of God in the Old Testament.

18. my blood--that is, my undeserved suffering. He compares himself to one murdered, whose blood the earth refuses to drink up until he is avenged ( Genesis 4:10 Genesis 4:11 , Ezekiel 24:1 Ezekiel 24:8 , Isaiah 26:21 ). The Arabs say that the dew of heaven will not descend on a spot watered with innocent blood (compare 2 Samuel 1:21 ).
no place--no resting-place. "May my cry never stop!" May it go abroad! "Earth" in this verse in antithesis to "heaven" ( Job 16:19 ). May my innocence be as well-known to man as it is even now to God!

19. Also now--Even now, when I am so greatly misunderstood on earth, God in heaven is sensible of my innocence.
record--Hebrew, "in the high places"; Hebrew, "my witness." Amidst all his impatience, Job still trusts in God.

20. Hebrew, "are my scorners"; more forcibly, "my mockers--my friends!" A heart-cutting paradox [UMBREIT]. God alone remains to whom he can look for attestation of his innocence; plaintively with tearful eye, he supplicates for this.

21. one--rather, "He" (God). "Oh, that He would plead for a man (namely, me) against God." Job quaintly says, "God must support me against God; for He makes me to suffer, and He alone knows me to be innocent" [UMBREIT]. So God helped Jacob in wrestling against Himself (compare Job 23:6 , Genesis 32:25 ). God in Jesus Christ does plead with God for man ( Romans 8:26 Romans 8:27 ).
as a man--literally, "the Son of man." A prefiguring of the advocacy of Jesus Christ--a boon longed for by Job ( Job 9:33 ), though the spiritual pregnancy of his own words, designed for all ages, was but little understood by him ( Psalms 80:17 ).
for his neighbour--Hebrew, "friend." Job himself ( Job 42:8 ) pleaded as intercessor for his "friends," though "his scorners" ( Job 16:20 ); so Jesus Christ the Son of man ( Luke 23:34 ); "for friends" ( John 15:13-15 ).

22. few--literally, "years of number," that is, few, opposed to numberless ( Genesis 34:30 ).