Job 13:14

Second section JOB RESOLVES TO APPEAR BEFORE GOD WITH HIS APPEAL, EVEN AT THE RISK OF HIS LIFE, Job 13:13-22. (Compare Exodus 33:20; Judges 13:22.)

First strophe His extreme fear of God on the one hand, and his deep-rooted consciousness of innocence on the other, involve him in a painful oscillation of mind ere he reaches the full decision to cite God to judgement, Job 13:13-16

14. Take my flesh in my teeth The second member of this verse helps to determine the meaning of the first. The “taking of one’s life in one’s hand” means its voluntary exposure to great danger, (Judges 12:3; 1 Samuel 19:5, etc.) “To take one’s flesh in his teeth” is probably a similar proverb for an imminent risk knowingly incurred; perhaps kindred to that cited by Schultens from the Arabic, “His flesh is on the butcher’s block.” Munster observes, “He who exposes his life to perils does not spare himself; thus he does not spare himself who bites his own flesh with his teeth.”