Chapter 18

1 Bildad reproveth Job of presumption and impatience. 5 The calamities of the wicked.

1. Then answered Bildad. Greatly irritated that Job should treat the advice of his friends with so much contempt, Bildad is no longer able to restrain his emotions. He heaps scornful abuse upon Job, and tries to terrify him into compliance. He draws a more terrible picture of the final end of the wicked than any preceding; and insinuates that Job has still worse to expect if he does not change his ways. To Bildad, Job has become a wicked man (vs. 5, 21), an embodiment of evil. No punishment is too severe for one so reprobate.

2. How long will it be? Bildad reproaches Job for his many words. In his former speech he had done likewise (ch. 8:2). The reason for the second person plural in this and the following verses is not clear. Perhaps Bildad regards Job as having supporters among the lookers on, of whom there may have been several, or he is addressing not only Job but those also who believed as Job did.

Mark. That is, observe, give heed to, consider. Think a little instead of talking. Then, calmly and without hurry, we will proceed to reply to what you have said.

3. Beasts. Bildad may be referring to what Job said in ch. 12:7, that even the beasts could give these friends information about God. The general idea seems to be that Job had not treated their views with the regard they felt such wisdom deserved.

Vile. Job had not used this term to describe his friends. The accusation was a misrepresentation of the facts.

4. He teareth himself. The Hebrew language permits rapid transitions from the second to the third person, and vice versa. There may be in these words an allusion to ch. 16:9, where Job represented God as tearing him “in his wrath.”

Be forsaken for thee. Shall the course of the world be altered to meet your wishes? Job had wished for some impossible things (see ch. 3:3–6). Bildad’s reproach is not wholly unjust, but he fails to take into account the effects that Job’s suffering has had on his thinking.

5. Shall be put out. This verse begins a series of apparently proverbial sayings, showing that calamity is sure to overtake the wicked. The words here may refer to the customs of Arab hospitality, in which fires were kept burning for the benefit of strangers and guests (see Prov. 13:9; 24:20).

6. His candle. The putting out of a lamp is, to the Orientals, an image of utter desolation. The light burning in the house and the fire burning on the hearth are symbols that the fortunes of the owner are still intact. When those fortunes are broken the light goes out (see ch. 21:17).

7. Shall be straitened. A figurative way of saying that his sphere of activity shall be narrowed, his activities restricted, his powers confined.

His own counsel. See Job 5:13; Ps. 7:14–16; 9:16; 10:2; Hosea 10:6.

Some have seen in vs. 7–13 an allusion to various arts and methods practiced in hunting. In v. 7, a number of persons extend themselves in a forest, and drive the game before them, narrowing the space from a broad base to a narrow point. Verses 8–10 describe nets, gins, and pitfalls prepared for the prey. Verse 11, according to this theory, alludes to the howling dogs that drive the game unmercifully. Verses 12 and 13 describe the eventual capture of the victims. The interpretation appears somewhat fanciful. Bildad probably had no more in mind than to heap figures together that would emphasize the inevitability of ultimate capture.

8. Net. See Ps. 7:15; 9:15; 35:8; 57:6; Prov. 26:27. The wicked ruin themselves while plotting the ruin of others.

9. Gin. A birdtrap.

Robber. Better, “a mantrap,” such as was set to catch and hold thieves.

10. The snare. Bildad heaps together every word that he can think of that is descriptive of the art of snaring. A great variety of contrivances for snaring are represented in the early monuments.

b12. Hungerbitten. To the other sufferings of the wicked man shall be added the pangs of hunger.

13. Strength of his skin. Literally, “the parts of his skin,” that is, the limbs or members of the body.

Firstborn of death. It seems that diseases are referred to as sons of death, that is, sons causing death. In this event the “firstborn of death” would be a disease of a particularly grievous nature. There is probably a direct reference to Job and his affliction.

14. Out of his tabernacle. That is, out of his tent. The security of the home is lost.

King of terrors. Probably a reference to death.

15. It shall dwell. An obscure passage. Probably a reference to strangers dwelling in his house.

Brimstone. A possible reference to the destruction of the cities of the plain (Gen. 19:24); or it may be an allusion to the destruction of Job’s property by the so-called “fire of God” (Job 1:16); or simply a reference to brimstone as a symbol of desolation.

16. Dried up. See ch. 14:8. Another image of complete desolation.

17. Remembrance. The world will feel no loss when the wicked man is gone (see Ps. 34:16; 109:13).

In the street. That is, in the world without.

18. Into darkness. What Job represents as a welcome retreat (see chs. 10:21, 22; 17:16), whither he would gladly withdraw himself, Bildad depicts as a banishment, into which Job will be driven on account of his sins.

19. Son nor nephew. The wicked man shall be a vagabond without a home, sojourning now here, now there. Neither among his own people nor in the places of his temporary abode shall he leave any descendants. Bildad probably refers to the destruction of Job’s children.

20. They that come after. This clause has been interpreted to mean, “descendants.” The parallel clause, “they that went before,” is from the Heb. qadam, which may mean “to be in front,” “to be facing,” hence the interpretation, “contemporaries.” Some render the two clauses, “they from the West,” and “they from the East.” This is a possible translation, but the adjectives so translated are nowhere else used of dwellers in these areas.

21. Surely such are. Bildad adds nothing startlingly new in the outburst of denunciation found in this chapter. He expresses with fresh vehemence his conception that Job’s calamities are the result of his sins. It may be that the renewed fury of Bildad’s attack was due in part to the frustration he felt as a result of the fact that his earlier admonitions had fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps Bildad had run out of logic and was now relying on vehemence to supply the lack.

Ellen G. White comments

8        AH 72