Job 18

The Second Speech of Bildad

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied,

2 "Job, when will you stop these speeches of yours? Be reasonable! Then we can talk.

3 Why do you look at us as if we were cattle? Why do you think of us as being stupid?

4 Your anger is tearing you to pieces. Does the earth have to be deserted just to prove you are right? Must all of the rocks be moved from their places?

5 "The lamps of sinful people are blown out. Their flames will never burn again.

6 The lights in their tents become dark. The lamps beside those who are evil go out.

7 They walk more slowly than they used to. Their own evil plans make them fall.

8 Their feet take them into a net. They wander right into it.

9 A trap grabs hold of their heels. It refuses to let them go.

10 A trap lies in their path. A rope to catch them is hidden on the ground.

11 Terrors alarm them on every side. They follow them every step of the way.

12 Trouble would like to eat them up. Danger waits for them when they fall.

13 It eats away parts of their skin. Death itself feeds on their arms and legs.

14 They are torn away from the safety of their tents. They are marched off to the one who rules over death.

15 Fire races through their tents. Burning sulfur is scattered over their homes.

16 Their roots dry up under them. Their branches dry up above them.

17 No one on earth remembers them. Their names are forgotten in the land.

18 They are driven from light into darkness. They are thrown out of the world.

19 Their family dies out among their people. No one is left where they used to live.

20 What has happened to them shocks the people in the west. It terrifies the people in the east.

21 Now you know what the homes of sinners are like. Those who don't know God live in places like that."

Job 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

Bildad reproves Job. (1-4) Ruin attends the wicked. (5-10) The ruin of the wicked. (11-21)

Verses 1-4 Bildad had before given Job good advice and encouragement; here he used nothing but rebukes, and declared his ruin. And he concluded that Job shut out the providence of God from the management of human affairs, because he would not admit himself to be wicked.

Verses 5-10 Bildad describes the miserable condition of a wicked man; in which there is much certain truth, if we consider that a sinful condition is a sad condition, and that sin will be men's ruin, if they do not repent. Though Bildad thought the application of it to Job was easy, yet it was not safe nor just. It is common for angry disputants to rank their opponents among God's enemies, and to draw wrong conclusions from important truths. The destruction of the wicked is foretold. That destruction is represented under the similitude of a beast or bird caught in a snare, or a malefactor taken into custody. Satan, as he was a murderer, so he was a robber, from the beginning. He, the tempter, lays snares for sinners wherever they go. If he makes them sinful like himself, he will make them miserable like himself. Satan hunts for the precious life. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare for himself, and God is preparing for his destruction. See here how the sinner runs himself into the snare.

Verses 11-21 Bildad describes the destruction wicked people are kept for, in the other world, and which in some degree, often seizes them in this world. The way of sin is the way of fear, and leads to everlasting confusion, of which the present terrors of an impure conscience are earnests, as in Cain and Judas. Miserable indeed is a wicked man's death, how secure soever his life was. See him dying; all that he trusts to for his support shall be taken from him. How happy are the saints, and how indebted to the lord Jesus, by whom death is so far done away and changed, that this king of terrors is become a friend and a servant! See the wicked man's family sunk and cut off. His children shall perish, either with him or after him. Those who consult the true honour of their family, and its welfare, will be afraid of withering all by sin. The judgments of God follow the wicked man after death in this world, as a proof of the misery his soul is in after death, and as an earnest of that everlasting shame and contempt to which he shall rise in the great day. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot, Pr. 10:7 . It would be well if this report of wicked men would cause any to flee from the wrath to come, from which their power, policy, and riches cannot deliver them. But Jesus ever liveth to deliver all who trust in him. Bear up then, suffering believers. Ye shall for a little time have sorrow, but your Beloved, your Saviour, will see you again; your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh away.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 18

In this chapter is Bildad's second reply to Job, in which he falls with great fury upon him, very sharply inveighs against him, and very highly charges him; the charges he brings against him are talkativeness and inattention to what was said to him, Job 18:1,2; contempt of his friends, impatience under his affliction, and pride and arrogance, as if the whole world, the course of nature and providence, and God himself all must give way to him, Job 18:3,4; nevertheless, he is assured of the miserable state of a wicked man, sooner or later, which is described by the extinction of his light of prosperity, Job 18:5,6; by the defeat of his counsels, being ensnared in a net laid for him, Job 18:7-10; by the terrible judgments of the sword, famine, and pestilence, by one or the other of which he is brought to death, the king of terrors, Job 18:11-14; by the destruction of his habitation and of his posterity, so that he has none to hear his name, or perpetuate his memory, Job 18:15-17; by his being driven out of the world, leaving no issue behind him, to the astonishment of all that knew him, Job 18:18-20; and the chapter is closed with this observation, that this is the common case of wicked and irreligious persons, Job 18:21.