Job 18:5-21

TEXT 18:5-21

5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out,

And the spark of the fire shall not shine.

6 The light shall be dark in his tent,

And his lamp above him shall be put out.

7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened,

And his own counsel shall cast him down,

8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet.

And he walketh upon the toils.

9 A gin shall take him by the heel,

And a snare shall lay hold on him.

10 A noose is hid for him in the ground,

And a trap for him in the way.

11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,

And shall chase him at his heels.

12 His strength shall be hunger-bitten,

And calamity shall be ready at his side.

13 The members of his body shall be devoured,

Yea, the first-born of death shall devour his members.

14 He shall be rooted out of his tent wherein he trusteth;

And he shall be brought to the king of terrors.

15 There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his:

Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

16 His roots shall be dried up beneath,

And above shall his branch be cut off.

17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth,

And he shall have no name in the street.

18 He shall be driven from light into darkness,

And chased out of the world.

19 He shall have neither son nor son's son among his people,

Nor any remaining where he sojourned.

20 They that come after shall be astonished at his day,

As they that went before were affrighted.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,

And this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

COMMENT 18:5-21

Job 18:5This verse initiates the second part of Bildad's speech. Job's sole remaining possession is the horrible memory of his past prosperity and present agony. The Hebrew tenses convey the meaning that this is a condition which is continuous. The light burning in a house is symbolic of continuous prosperityJob 21:17; 1 Kings 11:36; Proverbs 13:9; Proverbs 20:20; and Proverbs 24:20. The extinction of these symbols of happiness and prosperity is a mark of judgment on the household. Failing light is a sign of disaster, (cf. Jesus said that I am the light of the world, John 8:12).

Job 18:6The tent implies that the event is occurring in the patriarchal age (see discussion of possible date for authorship)Job 5:24; Job 8:22; Job 12:6; and Job 15:34. Bildad's speech progresses with the use of proverbial sayings: (1) Job 18:5-7sinner's light goes out; (2) Job 18:8-11deterioration to downfall; (3) Job 18:12-14final condition; (4) Job 18:15, Job 18:15extinction of his race and names; and (5) Job 18:18-21horror of his fate. His home is engulfed by darknesshis lamp above him shall be put out.

Job 18:7Like the strength of an aging man, the fortunes of the wicked will fail. Metaphorically, the steps of his strength expresses the confident stride of a prosperous manPsalms 18:36. The evil motives of an unrighteous man will ultimately throw him down, i.e., bring him to calamity and ruin.

Job 18:8-9This verse and the next develop the image of the perils in the path of the wicked. Bildad uses a variety of terms for the traps and snares which the wicked will encounter in life. The steps of the unrighteous man are reduced to a feeble hobble, then ensnared by his own evil motives. The net (for catching birdsProverbs 1:17; Psalms 140:5) and toils (lit. network, webbingthings interwoven) are means of his own destruction.[199] Probably the latter snare has reference to webbing placed over a pit to catch an animalsuddenly and unawares. This is Bildad's description of Job's ensnaring himself. In Job 18:9 the world of an evil man is full of traps. The gin is a fowlers trapHosea 9:8. The term snare comes from a root meaning veilIsaiah 47:2. Probably it refers to a trap made from some kind of mesh.

[199] G. Gerleman, Journal of Semitic Studies, 4, 1958, 252-254, for interpretation of beragloywwith his feet as an idiomatic phrase meaning on the spot, or immediately. But this hardly fits the context.

Job 18:10A rope, or cord, lies hidden in the groundIsaiah 8:14; Jeremiah 48:44; Psalms 74:7; Psalms 140:6; and Proverbs 5:22. This type is used to ensnare birds and smaller animals. The term trap (root means to capture) in the second line is found only here and probably is a general descriptive word for any catching device.

Job 18:11Bildad is here referring to an actual experience which a wicked person will have, not one caused by a fearful conscience. The verb translated chase is usually employed to denote the scattering of a group, but here of an individual. The image suggests bewilderment and almost total emotional and intellectual confusion.[200]

[200] M. Dahood, Psalms, Vol. I, Anchor, on Psalms 38:18.

Job 18:12Trouble and calamity, about to seize him, are ravenously hungry. The Hebrew text can be saying Let his strength be hungry. Dahood's emendations suggest hungry one is an epithet of motdeath. The second line literally says to or for his rib which, as the Targums suggested, can mean wife. But the general sense is that misfortune is always ready and able to bring him to destruction.

Job 18:13Here is a cryptic reference to the lethal disease that is consuming Job's body. The Hebrew texts make no senselit. It shall consume the limbs of his skin. Perhaps the late G. E. Wright's suggestion at least produces a meaningful lineBy disease his skin is consumed. Wright's suggestion, reinforced by the one provided by Sarna, reveals the essence of the meaning of this verse. The firstborn of mot will devour his skin with two hands, yea with his two hands he will devour (him).[201] The firstborn of death is probably a metaphor for Job's deadly disease. Death is firstbornbekor, i.e., heir with rights of primogeniturePsalms 89:28. Disease is death's firstborn.

[201] N. Sarna, JBL, 1963, p. 317, suggests that badde here means two hands and baddayw in Job 18:14 means with his two hands.

Job 18:14The wicked is marched[202] from the security of his own tent, then conducted into the presence of the King of Terror. This phrase is a personification of death, as firstborn is of disease.

[202] W. Moran, Biblica, 1964, p. 82, n. 1.

Job 18:15The Hebrew literally states In his tent no trace of him remains.. -'Perhaps the brimstone or sulphur is to be understood as disinfectant.[203]

[203] This verse is grammatically corrupt, so see suggestions of M. Dahood, Biblica, 37, 1956, 339; and his Biblica, 38,1957, 312ff; and G. R. Driver, Vetus Testamentum, 1955, p. 79.

Job 18:16Bildad returns to his metaphor based on vegetable lifeJob 8:11 ff; Job 14:7 ff. Destruction of root and fruit is proverbialAmos 2:9. Here the image refers to progeny and posterity. Branches is a collective term as in Job 14:9, and they shall be cut off. Nothing will remain of Job's household.

Job 18:17Job and his posterity will be completely cut off from the earth. His children are destroyed, and even his name will be erased from memoryPsalms 9:6; Psalms 34:16; and Psalms 109:15 b.

Job 18:18The Hebrew word found here and translated as world expressed the finality, totality, and cosmic absence of his name. The verbs are in the indefinite third person and are equivalent to the passive voice, meaning They shall chase or drive him from light into darknessJob 3:20 and Job 17:13.

Job 18:19The feared fate of the extinction of the family is set before Job. Nothing could be more disastrous than the demise of a man's household. A lack of progeny is a lack of God's blessings.[204]

[204] M. Buttenweiser, The Book of Job, 1922.

Job 18:20The day is his final day or fate1 Samuel 26:10; Jer. 1:27; Ezekiel 21:29; and Psalms 37:13. The words translated before and after are literally behind and beforemeaning followers and predecessors. The A. V. were affrighted is literally they laid hold on horror, Job 21:6laid hold on shuddering. Perhaps the best translation would be over his end coming generations will be appalled, and his contemporaries will be seized with shuddering.-

Job 18:21Bildad summarily assures Job of his fate, as a member of the class of the wicked. Job, can you not see the irrefutable proof that you are a godless man? Here again Bildad's truth is half a lie. Severity, not sympathy flows from his lips. Violent indignation, but no mercy, is heaped upon Job's pitiful head. Is there no grace in a world of suffering? Surely Job will later cryIn my hands no price I bring; simply to the cross I cling. But not yet!