Job 18 Study Notes

18:11-13 The dangers that the wicked person encounters bring constant terror, including the prospect of death. In Job’s plight, Bildad saw signs that the fate of the wicked lay before Job. Death’s firstborn means either the plague or the most terrible manner of death.

18:14 Finally the wicked person will lose everything and will be claimed by death, the last enemy (1Co 15:26) and the king of terrors. The language is reminiscent of the Canaanite deity Mot (death), whose appetite was insatiable and whose mouth and throat were always open to receive his victims. Death is similarly portrayed in the OT (Is 5:14; Hab 2:5). Paul pointed out that humans have victory over death through Christ (1Co 15:57; cp. Is 25:3-8).

18:15 The wicked person’s tent (home) is destroyed by others. The scattering of burning sulfur over it ensured that it would never be rebuilt and occupied.

18:16 Like a dead tree whose roots dry up and branches wither away, the wicked will leave nothing behind (14:2-7; 15:30; 19:10).

18:17-20 The wicked person’s family will also disappear, leaving no memory of him. It is as though he never existed. So total and devastating are the wicked person’s demise and loss that people will tremble at his horrible end. Bildad built upon language used by Job in describing public reaction to his condition (17:7-8). West and east is a merismus (the use of two parts to represent the whole) to designate people everywhere.