Job 18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 18:16

His roots shall be dried up beneath ,.... Wicked men are sometimes compared to trees; to trees of the wood, barren, and unfruitful; to trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; and sometimes to green bay trees, very flourishing for a while, and which on a sudden perish, and come to nothing, see Song of Solomon 2:3 , Judges 1:12 ; and such a simile is here used; and by his roots may be meant his family, from whence he sprung, which now should be extinct with him, see ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 18:17

His remembrance shall perish from the earth ,.... Not only are the wicked forgotten of God in heaven, and are as the slain he remembers no more, unless it be to pour out his wrath upon them, and punish them for their sins, for which great Babylon will come up in remembrance before him; but of men on earth, and in the very places where they were born, and lived all their days, Ecclesiastes 8:10 ; yea, those places, houses and palaces, towns and cities, which they have built to perpetuate... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 18:18

He shall be driven from light into darkness ,.... Either from the light of outward prosperity, formerly enjoyed by him, into the darkness of adversity; or rather from the light of the living, the light of the present life, to the darkness of death, and the grave, the land of darkness, and of the shadow of death, Job 10:21 ; and even into utter darkness, blackness of darkness, the darkness of hell, eternal darkness; opposed to the light of the divine Presence, and the inheritance of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 18:19

He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people ,.... Neither son, nor son's son, or grandson; so the Targum, Jarchi, and Bar Tzemach; that is, he shall be childless, and have no heirs, successors, or survivors, to inherit his estate, bear and perpetuate his name among the people of his country, city, or neighbourhood. Bildad respects no doubt the present case of Job, who had lost all his children; but he was mistaken if he thought he should die so, for he had after this as many... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 18:20

They that come after him shall be astonished at his day ,.... At the day of his calamity and distress, ruin and destruction, see Psalm 37:13 ; it would be extremely amazing to them how it should be, that a man who was in such flourishing and prosperous circumstances, should be brought at once, he and his family, into such extreme poverty, and into such a distressed and forlorn condition; they should be, as it were, thunderstruck at it, not being able to account for it: by these are meant... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 18:21

Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked ,.... As before described; as that the light should be dark in them; a wicked man's confidence should be rooted out of them; everything shocking and dreadful should dwell in them; brimstone should be scattered on them, they should be utterly consumed, and none remaining in them, Job 18:6 . The Targum represents these as the words of the persons astonished and frightened, who at the sight of such a dismal spectacle should utter them, prefacing... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 18

Bildad, in a speech of passionate invective, accuses Job of impatience and impiety, Job 18:1-4 ; shows the fearful end of the wicked and their posterity; and apparently applies the whole to Job, whom he threatens with the most ruinous end, vv. 5-21. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 18:1

Then answered Bildad - The following analysis of this speech, by Mr. Heath, is judicious: "Bildad, irritated to the last degree that Job should treat their advice with so much contempt, is no longer able to keep his passions within the bounds of decency. He proceeds to downright abuse; and finding little attention given by Job to his arguments, he tries to terrify him into a compliance. To that end he draws a yet more terrible picture of the final end of wicked men than any yet preceding,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 18:2

How long will it be ere ye make an end - It is difficult to say to whom this address is made: being in the plural number, it can hardly be supposed to mean Job only. It probably means all present; as if he had said, It is vain to talk with this man, and follow him through all his quibbles: take notice of this, and then let us all deliver our sentiments fully to him, without paying any regard to his self-vindications. It must be owned that this is the plan which Bildad followed; and he amply... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 18:3

Counted as beasts - Thou treatest us as if we had neither reason nor understanding. read more

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