Job 18

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:4

He teareth himself in his anger . The Hebrew idiom, which allows of rapid transitions from the second to the third person, and vice versa , cannot be transferred without harshness to our modern speech. Our Revisers have given the true force of the original by discarding the third person, and translating, "Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger." There is probably an allusion to Job 16:9 , where Job had represented God as "tearing him in his wrath." Bildad says it is not God who tests... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:4

The individual need and the universal order. Bildad accuses Job of being unreasonable in expecting that the universal order should bend to suit a man's individual need. He suggests a common difficulty in regard to the harmony between the particular and the general in the dispensations of Providence. I. THE INDIVIDUAL MAN IS TEMPTED TO THINK SUPREMELY OF HIS OWN NEED . We are all naturally self-centred, and trouble magnifies our sense of personality and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:5

Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out . Whatever the wicked man may at any time have acquired of splendour, glory, honour, wealth, or prosperity, shall be taken from him, and as it were extinguished. And the spark of his fire shall not shine . Not a single trace of his splendour, not a spark, not a glimmer, shall remain. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:5-6

The light extinguished. This is a favourite idea of Bildad's, that occurs more than once in his harangue ( e.g. Job 18:18 ). As usual, we may here follow the imagery of the Shuhite without applying it to Job. Wickedness extinguishes light. I. THE LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE . Bad men may be learned and good men may be ignorant in regard to the knowledge of the schools and the world. But there is a deeper knowledge from which sin excludes, a light to which wickedness simply blinds the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:5-14

The fruits of impiety. Again Bildad speaks. He is not the sufferer, hut the judge. Be who came as a comforter utters but miserable words in the ears of the afflicted one. His words are true in themselves, but wrongly applied. Justly he describes the fruits of impiety. I. To THE IMPIOUS THE LIGHT OF PROSPERITY IS EXCHANGED FOR THE DARKNESS OF MISFORTUNE . His "lamp is put out." Sorrowfulness, sooner or later, overtakes him. For a time he is in great prosperity;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:5-21

Bildad, from this point, turns wholly to denunciation. He strings together a long series of menaces—probably ancient saws, drawn from "the wisdom of the Beni Kedem" ( 1 Kings 4:30 ), and descriptive of the wretched fate of the wicked man, with whom he identifies Job. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:6

The light shall be dark in his tabernacle . This is not, as Rosenmuller asserts, a mere repetition of the thought contained in the preceding verse with a change of terms, and a variation of metaphor. It is a denunciation of woe to the whole house of the ungodly man, not to himself only. As Schultens says, "Lumen ob-tenebratum in tentorio est fortuna domus extincta." And his candle shall be put out with him ; rather, as in the Revised Version, his!amp above him shall be put out ; ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:7

The steps of his strength shall he straitened . In the time of his prosperity the wicked man had a wide sphere within which to exercise his activity, and strode hither and thither at his pleasure. When punishment falls on him, his "steps will be straitened," i.e. his sphere narrowed, his activity cramped, his powers "cabined, cribbed, confined." And his own counsel shall cast him down (see Job 5:13 ; and comp. Psalms 7:14 ,-16; Psalms 9:16 ; Psalms 10:2 ; Hosea 10:6 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:8

For he is cast into a net by his own feet. He walks of his own accord into a snare, not necessarily into one that he has himself set for others, as in Psalms 7:15 ; Psalms 9:15 ; Psalms 35:8 ; Psalms 57:6 ; and Proverbs 26:27 ; but either into one of his own setting, or into one laid for him by others (see Proverbs 26:10 ). And he walketh upon a snare . A mere repetition of the idea expressed in the preceding hemistich. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 18:8-10

The sinner entrapped by his own feet. According to Bildad's representation, the wicked man needs no huntsman to run him to earth. His own fatuous course will lead him to ruin. his own foolish feet walk into the snare. I. THE READY SNARE . "The snare is laid for him in the ground." 1 . Its author. It is laid for him. He does not make and set it; he does not know where it is. If he knew, of course he would avoid it. He does not even think of its existence. Were he to do so,... read more

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