Albert Barnes Commentary Job 15:26

"He runneth upon him with a [stiff] neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;" — Job 15:26 (ASV)

He runs upon him — That is, upon God. The image here is taken from the way people rushed into battle. They rushed with a violent concussion, and usually with a shout, to intimidate their foes and overcome them initially with the violence of the shock. The way warfare is conducted has now changed, and it is the boasted excellence of modern warfare that armies now proceed deliberately and calmly to put each other to death.

Even “on his neck” — literally, “with the neck”—בצואר betsavā'r. Vulgate, “With erect neck—erecto collo.” Septuagint, contemptuously, or with pride—ὕβρει hubrei. The idea seems to be, not that he ran “upon the neck” of his adversary—as our translation seems to imply—but that he ran in a firm, haughty, confident manner, with his head erect and firm, as an indication of self-confidence and a determined purpose to overcome his foe. See Schultens on this passage.

Upon the thick bosses — The word 'boss' for us means a knob—a protuberant ornament of silver, brass, or ivory on a harness or a bridle; then a protuberant part, a prominence, or a round or swelling body of any kind. The Hebrew word used here (גב gab) properly means anything gibbous, convex, or arched; and therefore, “the back”—as of animals. Applied to a shield, it means its convex part or back—the part presented to an enemy, which was made swelling and strong, called by the Greeks ὀμφαλὸς omphalos—or μεσομφάλιον mesomphalion.

Gesenius supposes that the metaphor here is taken from soldiers who joined their shields together and thus rushed upon an enemy. This was one method of ancient warfare, where an army or a phalanx united their shields in front so that nothing could penetrate them, or united them over their heads when approaching a fortress so they could safely march under them as a covering.

This was commonly practiced among the Romans and Greeks when approaching a besieged town. One form of the testudo—the χελώη στρατιωτῶν chelōnē stratiōtōn of the Greeks—was formed by soldiers pressed close together, holding their shields over their heads in such a way as to form a compact covering. John H. Eschenburg, Manual of Classical Literature. by N. W. Fiske, pt. III, section 147. The Vulgate renders this, “and he is armed with a fat neck”—pingui cervice armatus est.

Schultens expresses the idea adopted by Gesenius and refers to Arabic customs to show that shields were united in this way to defend an army from a foe or to make an attack on them. He also says that it is a common expression—a proverb—among the Arabs, “he turns the back of his shield,” to denote that one is an adversary. He quotes a passage from Hamasa: “When a friend meets me with base suspicions, I turn to him the back of my shield”—a proverb whose origin is derived from the fact that a warrior turns the back of his shield to his foes.

Paxton supposes that the expression here is taken from single combat, which prevailed early on. However, the idea here is not what our translation seems to convey. It is not that he rushes upon or against the hard or thick shield “of the Almighty”—and that, therefore, he must meet resistance and be overcome.

Instead, the meaning is that he rushes upon God with his own shield. He puts himself in the attitude of a warrior. He turns the boss of his own shield against God and becomes His antagonist; he is His enemy.

The omission of the word “with” in the passage—or the preposition that is in the Hebrew (ב b)—has led to this erroneous translation. The passage is often quoted popularly to denote that the sinner rushes upon God “and must meet resistance” from His shield, or be overcome.

It should be quoted only to denote that the sinner places himself in an attitude of opposition to God and is His enemy.

Of his bucklers — Of his shields (מגניו megı̂nāy), that is, of the shields that the sinner has, not the shields of God. The shield was a well-known instrument of war, usually made with a rim of wood or metal, and covered with skins, and carried on the left arm; see the notes at (Isaiah 21:5). The outer surface was made rounding from the center to the edge and was smoothly polished, so that darts or arrows would glide off and not penetrate.