1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 2How long till you put an end to words? Consider, and afterward we will speak. 3Why are we counted as beasts, and considered vile in your eyes? 4You who tear yourself in anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place? 5The light of the wicked shall be extinguished, and the flame of his fire shall not shine. 6The light shall be dark in his tent, and his lamp beside him shall be extinguished. 7The steps of his strength shall be shortened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. 8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks into a netting. 9The snare takes him by the heel, and the noose takes hold of him. 10A rope is hidden for him on the ground, and a trap for him in the path. 11Terrors frighten him on every side, and have scattered him to his feet. 12His strength is starved, and calamity is ready at his side. 13It devours parts of his skin; the firstborn of death devours parts of his body. 14He is drawn out of the security of his tent, and marched before the king of terrors. 15What is not his dwells in his tent; brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. 16His roots are dried up below, and his branch above is cut off. 17The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name on the face of the street. 18He is driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. 19He has neither offspring nor posterity among his people, nor any survivors in his dwellings. 20Those in the west are astonished at his day, and those in the east are seized with horror. 21Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know the Mighty God.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 2 REPLY OF BILDAD. (Job 18:1-21)
ye--the other two friends of Job, whom Bildad charges with having spoken mere "words," that is, empty speeches; opposed to "mark," that is, come to reason, consider the question intelligently; and then let us speak.
3 beasts--alluding to what Job said (
Job 12:7; so
Isa 1:3).
vile--rather from a Hebrew root, "to stop up." "Stubborn," answering to the stupidity implied in the parallel first clause [UMBREIT]. Why should we give occasion by your empty speeches for our being mutually reputed, in the sight of Job and one another, as unintelligent? (
Job 17:4,
Job 17:10).
4 Rather, turning to Job, "thou that tearest thyself in anger" (
Job 5:2).
be forsaken?--become desolate. He alludes here to Job's words as to the "rock," crumbling away (
Job 14:18-
Job 14:19); but in a different application. He says bitterly "for thee." Wert thou not punished as thou art, and as thou art unwilling to bear, the eternal order of the universe would be disturbed and the earth become desolate through unavenged wickedness [UMBREIT]. Bildad takes it for granted Job is a great sinner (
Job 8:3-
Job 8:6;
Isa 24:5-
Isa 24:6). "Shall that which stands fast as a rock be removed for your special accommodation?"
5 That (
Job 18:4) cannot be. The decree of God is unalterable, the light (prosperity) of the wicked shall at length be put out.
his fire--alluding to Arabian hospitality, which prided itself on welcoming the stranger to the fire in the tent, and even lit fires to direct him to it. The ungodly shall be deprived of the means to show hospitality. His dwelling shall be dark and desolate!
6 candle--the lamp which in the East is usually fastened to the ceiling. Oil abounds in those regions, and the lamp was kept burning all night, as now in Egypt, where the poorest would rather dispense with food than the night lamp (
Ps 18:28). To put out the lamp was an image of utter desolation.
7 steps of his strength--Hebrew, for "His strong steps." A firm step marks health. To be straitened in steps is to be no longer able to move about at will (
Pro 4:12).
his own counsel--Plans shall be the means of his fall (
Job 5:13).
8 he walketh upon--rather, "he lets himself go into the net" [UMBREIT]. If the English Version be retained, then understand "snare" to be the pitfall, covered over with branches and earth, which when walked upon give way (
Ps 9:15;
Job 35:8).
9 robber--rather answering to "gin" in the parallel clause, "the noose shall hold him fast" [UMBREIT].
11 Terrors--often mentioned in this book (
Job 18:14;
Job 24:17; &c.). The terrors excited through an evil conscience are here personified. "Magor-missabib" (
Jer 20:3).
drive . . . to his feet--rather, "shall pursue" (literally, "scatter,"
Hab 3:14) him close "at his heels" (literally, "immediately after his feet,"
Hab 3:5;
1Sam 25:42; Hebrew). The image is that of a pursuing conqueror who scatters the enemy [UMBREIT].
12 The Hebrew is brief and bold, "his strength is hungry."
destruction--that is, a great calamity (
Pro 1:27).
ready at his side--close at hand to destroy him (
Pro 19:29).
13 UMBREIT has "he" for "it," that is, "in the rage of hunger he shall devour his own body"; or, "his own children" (
Lam 4:10). Rather, "destruction" from
Job 18:12 is nominative to "devour."
strength--rather, "members" (literally, the "branches" of a tree).
the first-born of death--a personification full of poetical horror. The first-born son held the chief place (
Gen 49:3); so here the chiefest (most deadly) disease that death has ever engendered (
Isa 14:30; "first-born of the poor"--the poorest). The Arabs call fever, "daughter of death."
14 confidence--all that the father trusted in for domestic happiness, children, fortune, &c., referring to Job's losses.
rooted out--suddenly torn away, it shall bring--that is, he shall be brought; or, as UMBREIT better has, "Thou (God) shalt bring him slowly." The Hebrew expresses, "to stride slowly and solemnly." The godless has a fearful death for long before his eyes, and is at last taken by it. Alluding to Job's case. The King of terrors, not like the heathen Pluto, the tabled ruler of the dead, but Death, with all its terrors to the ungodly, personified.
15 It--"Terror" shall haunt, &c., and not as UMBREIT, "another," which the last clause of the verse disproves.
none of his--It is his no longer.
brimstone--probably comparing the calamity of Job by the "fire of God" (
Job 1:16) to the destruction of guilty Sodom by fire and brimstone (
Gen 19:24).
16 Roots--himself.
branch--his children (
Job 8:12;
Job 15:30;
Mal 4:1).
17 street--Men shall not speak of him in meeting in the highways; rather, "in the field" or "meadow"; the shepherds shall no more mention his name--a picture from nomadic life [UMBREIT].
18 light . . . darkness--existence--nonexistence.
19 nephew--(so
Isa 14:22). But it is translated "grandson" (
Gen 21:23); translate "kinsman."
20 after . . . before--rather, "those in the West--those in the East"; that is, all people; literally, "those behind--those before"; for Orientals in geography turn with their faces to the east (not to the north as we), and back to the west; so that before--east; behind--north (so
Zech 14:8).
day--of ruin (
Obad 1:12).
affrighted--seized with terror (
Job 21:6;
Isa 13:8).
21 (
Job 8:22, Margin).