Job · Chapter 18

Verse 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, throwing in all the circumstances of Job’s calamities, that he might plainly perceive the resemblance, and at the same time insinuating that he had much worse still to expect, unless he prevented it by a speedy change of behaviour. That it was the highest arrogance in him to suppose that he was of consequence enough to be the cause of altering the general rules of Providence, Job 18:4. And that it was much more expedient for the good of the whole, that he, by his example, should deter others from treading in the same path of wickedness and folly;” Job 18:5-7.

Verse 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite — 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 a wicked man than any preceding; throwing in all the circumstances of Job’s calamities, that he might plainly perceive the resemblance; and, at the same time, insinuating that he had much worse still to expect, unless he prevented it by a speedy change of behaviour. That it was the highest arrogance in him to suppose that he was of consequence enough to be the cause of altering the general rules of providence, And that it was much more expedient for the good of the whole, that he, by his example, should deter others from treading in the same path of wickedness and folly. — Heath.

1. Then answered Bildad — The wicked man, inflated with vanity, may rage like a wild beast, but nature will keep on in her course. God, however, does not forget or neglect him, as is evident in the extinction of the lamp within his home and in the many snares laid for his ruin. Bildad proceeds to paint the doom of a miserable sinner — his darkest colours he draws out of the misfortunes of Job. That doom is inevitable, full of terror, overwhelming. Heaven fights against him with its fires, destroys his children, crushes all hope, chases him into the outer darkness, and sets him as a monument of perpetual desolation. “The description is terribly brilliant, solemn, and pathetic, as becomes the stern preacher of repentance, with haughty mien and pharisaic self-confidence,… a masterpiece of the poet’s skill in poetic idealizing.” — Delitzsch. Introduction. Bildad retorts Job’s charges of folly by comparing him to a self-devouring brute, who in his madness would unsettle the eternal principles of God’s moral government, 2-4.

V. 2. Ye-Thou, O Job; of whom he speaks here, as also ver. 3, in the plural number, as was a common idiotism of the Eastern language, to speak thus of one person, especially where he was one of eminency. Mark-Consider the matter better.

Verse 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 unburdens a mind that was labouring under the spirit of rancour and abuse. Instead of How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? Mr. Good translates: “How long will ye plant thorns (irritating, lacerating, wounding invectives) among words?” translating the unusual term yxnq kintsey, thorns, instead of bounds or limits. The word yxnq kintsey may be the Chaldee form for yxq kitsey, the n nun being inserted by the Chaldeans for the sake of euphony, as is frequently done; and it may be considered as the contracted plural from xq kats, a thorn, from xq kats, to lacerate, rather than xq kets, an end, from hxq katsah, to cut off.

Schultens and others have contended that xnq kanats, is an Arabic word, used also in Hebrew; that [Arabic] kanasa, signifies to hunt, to lay snares; and hence [Arabic] maknas, a snare: and that the words should be translated, “How long will you put captious snares in words?” But I prefer yxnq kintsey, as being the Chaldee form for yxq kitsey, whether it be considered as expressing limits or thorns; as the whole instance is formed after the Chaldee model, as is evident, not only in the word in question, but also in למלינ lemillin, to words, the Chaldee plural instead of למלים lemillim, the Hebrew plural.

Verse 2. How long will it be ere you wake an end — How long shall we continue this dispute? Why do not you, my brethren, give over discoursing with Job, who is so transported by his passions, as not to be fit to be discoursed with? At least, forbear to proceed till both you and he shall better understand the subject? For, if Bildad be considered as addressing himself to his two companions, he must have meant to reprove them for making use of too long discourses, and to advise them first to consider the subject well, and then to speak directly to the purpose. But many commentators understand him as addressing Job; using here, as also verse 3, the plural number, according to the common idiom of the eastern language: which was to speak thus to, or of one person, especially if he were of great eminence. In this case he must have intended to censure Job for puzzling the cause with cavils and exceptions, and to call upon him to produce a plain instance, in which a righteous man was known to have had punishment inflicted on him, or else to own the truth of the established maxim, that punishment was a sure mark of wickedness. Mark, and afterward we will speak — Consider the matter better, and then we shall speak concerning it to more advantage. Or, inform us: Hebrew wnybt, tabinu, make us to understand. Seeing thou lookest upon us as ignorant and brutish men, as it follows, verse 3, do thou instruct and inform us. Cease cavilling, and produce thy strong reasons, that we may consider and yield to their weight, or answer them.

2. An end of words — How long will ye set snares for words? We have a like phrase, “hunt for words.” His former speech commenced (Job 8:2) with a similar outburst of impatience, and in the same words, “how long.”

V. 3. Beasts-Ignorant, and stupid men, Job 17:4,10.

Verse 3. Counted as beasts] Thou treatest us as if we had neither reason nor understanding.

Verses 3, 4. Wherefore are we counted as beasts? — That is, ignorant and stupid men, Job 17:4, 10; and reputed vile in your sight — Hebrew, wnmcn, nitmeinu, polluted or unclean; that is, not fit to be conversed with, or contemptible, as such things are. He teareth himself in his anger — That is, Job does, as if he had said, O thou that tearest thyself, thou complainest of us for vexing thee with our speeches, when, in truth, thou art thy own greatest tormentor. Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? — Shall God, for thy sake, or to prevent thy complaints and clamours, give over the government of the earth and men and things in it, and suffer all things to fall out by chance and promiscuously, to good and bad men, without any regard to his truth, wisdom, or justice? And shall the rock be removed out of its place? — Shall the counsels of God, which are more firm and immoveable than rocks, and the whole course of his providence, be altered to comply with thy fancies or humours?

3. As beasts — Only by implication, Job 12:7, 8; 17:4. Vile — Stupid.

V. 4. He-Job. Thou art thy own tormentor. Forsaken-Shall God give over the government of the earth for thy sake, to prevent thy complaints and clamours? Shall the counsels of God, which are more immoveable than rocks, and the whole course of his providence be altered to comply with thy humours?

Verse 4. He teareth himself in his anger] Literally, Rending his own soul in his anger; as if he had said, Thou art a madman: thy fury has such a sway over thee that thou eatest thy own flesh. While thou treatest us as beasts, we see thee to be a furious maniac, destroying thy own life. Shall the earth be forsaken for thee?] To say the least, afflictions are the common lot of men. Must God work a miracle in providence, in order to exempt thee from the operation of natural causes? Dost thou wish to engross all the attention and care of providence to thyself alone? What pride and insolence!

Verses 3, 4. Wherefore are we counted as beasts? — That is, ignorant and stupid men, Job 17:4, 10; and reputed vile in your sight — Hebrew, wnmcn, nitmeinu, polluted or unclean; that is, not fit to be conversed with, or contemptible, as such things are. He teareth himself in his anger — That is, Job does, as if he had said, O thou that tearest thyself, thou complainest of us for vexing thee with our speeches, when, in truth, thou art thy own greatest tormentor. Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? — Shall God, for thy sake, or to prevent thy complaints and clamours, give over the government of the earth and men and things in it, and suffer all things to fall out by chance and promiscuously, to good and bad men, without any regard to his truth, wisdom, or justice? And shall the rock be removed out of its place? — Shall the counsels of God, which are more firm and immoveable than rocks, and the whole course of his providence, be altered to comply with thy fancies or humours?

4. He (meaning Job) teareth himself — Of a terrible nondescript wild beast, “the strongest of all others,” Diodorus Siculus, (iii, ch. 2,) says, “if he fall into a pit, or be taken any other way by snares or gins laid for him, he chokes and stifles himself with his unruly rage.” Shall the earth, etc. — When the Orientals would reprove the pride or arrogance of any person, it is common to taunt him with such apothegms as, “What though Mohammed were dead! his imaums (ministers) conducted the affairs of the nation; the universe shall not fall for his sake. The world does not subsist for one man alone.” — LOWTH, Lec. 34. Forsaken for thee — In the sense of being depopulated. Leviticus 26:43. The rock be removed, etc. — A literal citation from Job 14:18. Art thou of so much consequence that the most stable things of nature shall move because of thee? Or, for love of thee shall the foundations of the moral world be upheaved? Such must be Job’s expectations if he deny the unfailing connexion of sin and retribution. If so, Job must be one of heaven’s fondlings. The sneer of Pope as to “the loose mountain,” etc., is a reproduction of Bildad.

THE DIVINE ORDER OF THE WORLD IS DISPLAYED IN THE INEVITABLE PUNISHMENT OF INCORRIGIBLE SINNERS. 5-21.

Hengstenberg divides the section into a Heptade, 5-11; and a Decade, 12-21.

All things — nets, pitfalls, gins, nooses, snares, and traps — conspire to carry into effect the law of retribution established by God, 5-11.

Verse 5. The light of the wicked shall be put out] Some think it would be better to translate the original, “Let the light of the wicked be extinguished!” Thou art a bad man, and thou hast perverted the understanding which God hath given thee. Let that understanding, that abused gift, be taken away. From this verse to the end of the chapter is a continual invective against Job.

Verses 5-7. Yea — Depend upon it, the thing is true and certain, notwithstanding thy dissatisfaction and opposition to it; the light of the wicked shall be put out — All their glory and felicity shall perish: and the spark of his fire shall not shine — His light is but a spark, which shines briskly for a moment, and is soon extinguished. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle — That is, in his family. Instead of his former splendour, both he and his children shall fall into extreme contempt and misery. And his candle shall be put out with him — His glory shall not descend to his posterity, as he designed and hoped it should, but die with him. The steps of his strength — His strong steps, by a vulgar Hebraism: his attempts and actions; such of them as seem to be contrived with the greatest strength of understanding, and carried on with the greatest resolution; shall be straitened — Shall be hindered and entangled. He shall be cast into difficulties and perplexities, so that he shall not be able to proceed, and to accomplish his enterprises. And his own counsel shall cast him down — He shall be undone by his own contrivances; either because God will give him up to dangerous and destructive mistakes, or because he will oppose him and turn his own devices against him.

5. The spark, etc. — The flame of his fire. There may be an allusion to the fires of hospitality which the wealthy Arabs were wont to light upon the tops of hills, to direct travellers to their houses for entertainment. An Arabian poet, cited by Scott, thus expresses the permanent prosperity of his family: “Neither is our fire, lighted for the benefit of the night stranger, extinguished.” The flame of fire is a common Oriental figure for splendid fortune. The extinction of the one implied that of the other.

Verse 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle] His property shall be destroyed, his house pillaged, and himself and his family come to an untimely end.

His candle shall be put out] He shall have no posterity.

Verses 5-7. Yea — Depend upon it, the thing is true and certain, notwithstanding thy dissatisfaction and opposition to it; the light of the wicked shall be put out — All their glory and felicity shall perish: and the spark of his fire shall not shine — His light is but a spark, which shines briskly for a moment, and is soon extinguished. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle — That is, in his family. Instead of his former splendour, both he and his children shall fall into extreme contempt and misery. And his candle shall be put out with him — His glory shall not descend to his posterity, as he designed and hoped it should, but die with him. The steps of his strength — His strong steps, by a vulgar Hebraism: his attempts and actions; such of them as seem to be contrived with the greatest strength of understanding, and carried on with the greatest resolution; shall be straitened — Shall be hindered and entangled. He shall be cast into difficulties and perplexities, so that he shall not be able to proceed, and to accomplish his enterprises. And his own counsel shall cast him down — He shall be undone by his own contrivances; either because God will give him up to dangerous and destructive mistakes, or because he will oppose him and turn his own devices against him.

Verse 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle. Darkness is a most ancient figure of speech for all kinds of affliction. But to good men, “the Lord will make darkness light before them.” Isaiah 42:16. Yea, when they sit in darkness he will be their light. Micah 7:8.

6. His candle — The lamp above him shall be put out. The lamp suspended in the tent was kept burning all night. The poorest would rather dispense with part of their food than with a night lamp. The custom still prevails in Aleppo and Egypt. Schultens cites a common saying of the Arab, — “Misfortune has put out my lamp.” Hitzig does violence to the passage when he renders wyl[ with him, on the supposition that the torch (lamp) is one that the wicked carries with himself in his wanderings by night. The following verses, he says, would then describe the disastrous consequences of its extinction.

V. 7. Steps-His strong steps, by a vulgar Hebraism: his attempts and actions; such of them as seem to be contrived with greatest strength of understanding, and carried on with greatest resolution. Straitened-Shall be hindered and entangled. He shall be cast into difficulties and perplexities, so that he shall not be able to proceed, and to accomplish his enterprizes.

Verse 7. The steps of his strength] Even in his greatest prosperity he shall be in straits and difficulties.

His own counsel] He shall be the dupe and the victim of his own airy, ambitious, and impious schemes.

Verses 5-7. Yea — Depend upon it, the thing is true and certain, notwithstanding thy dissatisfaction and opposition to it; the light of the wicked shall be put out — All their glory and felicity shall perish: and the spark of his fire shall not shine — His light is but a spark, which shines briskly for a moment, and is soon extinguished. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle — That is, in his family. Instead of his former splendour, both he and his children shall fall into extreme contempt and misery. And his candle shall be put out with him — His glory shall not descend to his posterity, as he designed and hoped it should, but die with him. The steps of his strength — His strong steps, by a vulgar Hebraism: his attempts and actions; such of them as seem to be contrived with the greatest strength of understanding, and carried on with the greatest resolution; shall be straitened — Shall be hindered and entangled. He shall be cast into difficulties and perplexities, so that he shall not be able to proceed, and to accomplish his enterprises. And his own counsel shall cast him down — He shall be undone by his own contrivances; either because God will give him up to dangerous and destructive mistakes, or because he will oppose him and turn his own devices against him.

7. The steps of his strength — His strong steps. Schultens gives a trite Arabic phrase illustrative of sudden diminution of power: — “Whoso keepeth not within the bounds of strength, his widest steps shall be straitened.” Compare Proverbs 4:12. Large steps, free movement, etc., says Rosenmuller, are proverbial expressions among the Arabs to denote freedom, prosperity, etc.

V. 8. Feet-By his own designs and actions.

Verse 8. For he is cast into a net] His own conduct will infallibly bring him to ruin. He shall be like a wild beast taken in a net; the more he flounces in order to extricate himself, the more he shall be entangled. He walketh upon a snare.] He is continually walking on the meshes of a net, by which he must soon be entangled and overthrown.

Verse 8. He is cast into a net by his own feet — By his own choice, design, and actions. And he walketh upon a snare — Or, as the words may be rendered, runneth to and fro on the toils, and therefore must needs be entangled and destroyed. “The metaphor” says Heath, “is taken from a beast, which the hunters have driven into the toils. He runs hither and thither, striving to find a way out, but the net entangles him more and more, till at length it fastens upon him.”

8. Walketh upon a snare — His terra firma is but earth-covered “latticework” (hkbc) over a pitfall concealing an unfathomable abyss.

Verse 9. The gin shall take him] Houbigant reads the tenth before the ninth verse, thus: “The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.”

From the beginning of the seventh verse to the end of the thirteenth there is an allusion to the various arts and methods practiced in hunting. 1. A number of persons extend themselves in a forest, and drive the game before them, still straitening the space from a broad base to a narrow point in form of a triangle, so that the farther they go the less room have they on the right and left, the hunters lining each side, while the drovers with their dogs are coming up behind. “The steps of his strength shall be straitened,” Job 18:7. 2. Nets, gins, and pitfalls, are laid or formed in different places, so that many are taken before they come to the point where the two lines close. “He is cast into a net, he walketh upon a snare—the trap is laid for him in the way—the snare in the ground,” Job 18:8-10. 3. The howling of the dogs, with the shouts of the huntsmen, fill him with dismay, and cause him to run himself beyond his strength and out of breath. “Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet,” Job 18:11. 4. While spent with hunger and fatigue, he is entangled in the spread nets; and the huntsman either pierces him with an arrow or spear, or cuts the sinews of his legs, so that he is easily captured and destroyed. “The robbers shall prevail against him,” Job 18:9. “His strength is hunger-bitten, and destruction is ready at his side,” Job 18:12. This latter verse is thus paraphrased by the Chaldee: “Let his first-born son be famished; and affliction be prepared for his wife.”

Verses 9, 10. The gin shall take him by the heel — That is, take fast hold on him, so as to keep him in those distresses. And the robber shall prevail against him — Hebrew, µymx, tsammim, the horrible or terrible man, the huntsman that laid the snare for him shall come upon him, when he is insnared, take and spoil or kill him. The snare is laid for him in the ground — Where he did not discern nor expect it. The former snare he laid for himself, but this was laid for him by another.

9. The robber — The noose (ch. Job 5:5) shall take fast hold of him. In verses 8-10 six different modes of taking wild animals are alluded to. They do not differ much from those still prevailing among barbarous tribes. The variety of figure employed indicates the hopelessness of escape.

Verses 9, 10. The gin shall take him by the heel — That is, take fast hold on him, so as to keep him in those distresses. And the robber shall prevail against him — Hebrew, µymx, tsammim, the horrible or terrible man, the huntsman that laid the snare for him shall come upon him, when he is insnared, take and spoil or kill him. The snare is laid for him in the ground — Where he did not discern nor expect it. The former snare he laid for himself, but this was laid for him by another.

10. The snare — Literally, Hidden in the earth is his snare; and his net (is) on the foot-path. The continuation in verse 10 of the figure of the fowler declares that that issue of sinful life has been preparing long beforehand; the prosperity of the evildoer from the beginning tends toward ruin. (Delitzsch.)

Verses 11, 12. Terrors shall make him afraid — Both from men and from God, and also from his own unquiet mind and guilty conscience. And drive him to his feet — Shall force him to flee different ways, being safe nowhere, but pursued by terrors from place to place, which, as Houbigant renders it, shall be spread around his feet. His strength — Either his children, who are, and are called a man’s strength, Genesis 49:3; Psalm 127:4, or rather, his wealth, power, and prosperity; shall be hunger-bitten — Or famished, that is, utterly consumed. The Vulgate renders it, His strength shall be eaten by famine. And destruction shall be ready at his side — Shall attend him as a constant companion, or follow him at the heels as a diligent servant. Or, he may allude to an arrow fitted to a string, and ready to be discharged at him.

11. Drive him — Chase him at his feet. These terrors, personified, resemble the furies of the Greek poets — their pursuit of the wicked man is so close that they are said to be at his heels.

Decade, a. — Ravenous calamity, maiming disease, (see note Job 2:7,) and inexorable death — three insatiate furies — remand the wicked to the king of terrors, while the doom of Sodom falls upon his habitation, and all that remains to him, 12-16.

Verses 11, 12. Terrors shall make him afraid — Both from men and from God, and also from his own unquiet mind and guilty conscience. And drive him to his feet — Shall force him to flee different ways, being safe nowhere, but pursued by terrors from place to place, which, as Houbigant renders it, shall be spread around his feet. His strength — Either his children, who are, and are called a man’s strength, Genesis 49:3; Psalm 127:4, or rather, his wealth, power, and prosperity; shall be hunger-bitten — Or famished, that is, utterly consumed. The Vulgate renders it, His strength shall be eaten by famine. And destruction shall be ready at his side — Shall attend him as a constant companion, or follow him at the heels as a diligent servant. Or, he may allude to an arrow fitted to a string, and ready to be discharged at him.

12. His strength — This might better be read, his calamity shall be hungry, (for him,) though the older interpreters adopt the other meaning of na, strength. “Calamity” furnishes a more satisfactory parallel for “destruction,” dya, which is a stronger word, signifying literally “a load of suffering.” At his side — Others read “for his fall.” Destruction awaits the results which itself accomplishes.

V. 13. First-born-A terrible kind of death. The first-born was the chief of his brethren, and therefore this title is given to things eminent in their kind.

Verse 13. It shall devour the strength of his skin] This may refer to the elephant, or to the rhinoceros, whose skin scarcely any dart can pierce: but in the case referred to above, the animal is taken in a pitfall, and then the first-born of death—a sudden and overwhelming stroke—deprives him of life. See the account of hunting the elephant in the East at the end of the chapter. See Clarke “Job 18:21”. The Chaldee has: “The strength of his skin shall devour his flesh; and the angel of death shall consume his children.”

Verse 13. It shall devour, &c. — “Filthy ulcers shall consume his skin; an untimely death shall destroy his children. — Heath and Houbigant. This sarcasm was peculiarly adapted to the case of Job, whose skin was thus consumed, and whose children had been destroyed in this manner. The reader must have had occasion frequently to remark, in this book, how often, amidst the sublimity of the eastern metaphors, the author drops the metaphor and treats of his subject simply; as in the present case, having spoken of the wicked man under the metaphor of a wild beast caught in a snare, in this verse he considers him no longer in that view, but speaks of him immediately in his own character.” — Dodd.

Ver. 13. The firstborn of death. Chaldaic, “the angel of death;” others read “Satan,” who introduced sin and death into the world.

13. Strength — Hebrew, Baddim. The same word is used twice in this verse, and means parts or members. Skin stands here for body, as in Exodus 22:27. The discourse now becomes personal, for the disease Job had eats its way as Bildad describes. AEschylus speaks of “leprosies that assail the flesh with fierce fangs, and entirely eat away its original nature.” — Choephori, 279. Firstborn of death — Whatever is pre-eminent in its kind is called in the Scriptures “the firstborn.” If the Arab deems “fevers to be the daughters of death,” the terrible elephantiasis may well be called his firstborn. Death has his family, and at the head of the dismal brood stands, in the Semitic mind, this most dreaded disease.

V. 14. Confidence-All the matter of his confidence, his riches, and children. Terrors-To death, which even Aristotle called, The most terrible of all terribles. And this it will do, either because it will expose him to his enemies, who will kill him; or because the sense of his disappointments, and losses, and dangers, will break his heart.

Verse 14. His confidence shall be rooted out] His dwelling-place, how well soever fortified, shall now he deemed utterly insecure. And it shall bring him to the king of terrors.] Or, as Mr. Good translates, “And dissolution shall invade him as a monarch.” He shall be completely and finally overpowered.

The phrase king of terrors has been generally thought to mean death; but it is not used in any such way in the text. For twhlb Ëlml lemelech ballahoth, to the king of destructions, one of Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS. has Ëlmk kemelech, “as a king;” and one, instead of twhlb ballahoth, with w vau holem, to indicate the plural, terrors or destructions, has twhlb ballahuth, with w vau shurek, which is singular, and signifies terror, destruction. So the Vulgate seems to have read, as it translates, Et calcet super eum, quasi rex, interitis; “And shall tread upon him as a king or destroyer. Or as a king who is determined utterly to destroy him.” On this verse the bishop of Killala, Dr. Stock, says, “I am sorry to part with a beautiful phrase in our common version, the king of terrors, as descriptive of death; but there is no authority for it in the Hebrew text.” It may however be stated that death has been denominated by similar epithets both among the Greeks and Romans,

So Virgil, Æn. vi., ver. 100.

————Quando hic inferni janua regis

Dicitur.

“The gates of the king of hell are reported to be here.” And OVID, Metam. lib. v., ver. 356, 359.

Inde tremit tellus: et rex pavit ipse silentum.

Hanc metuens cladem, tenebrosa sede tyrannus

Exierat

“Earth’s inmost bowels quake, and nature groans;

His terrors reach the direful KING of HELL.

Fearing this destruction, the tyrant left his gloomy court.” And in SOPHOCLES, (Œdip. Colon., ver. 1628, edit. Johnson.) Ennuciwn anax,

Aidwneu.

“O Pluto, king of shades.” That is, the invisible demon, who dwells in darkness impenetrable.

Old COVERDALE translates: Very fearfulnesse shall bringe him to the kynge.

Verse 14. His confidence — That is, all the matter of his confidence, his riches, children, &c.; shall be rooted out of his tabernacle — That is, out of his habitation. And it — Namely, the loss of his confidence; shall bring him to the king of terrors — Either, 1st, Into extreme fears and horrors of mind; or, 2d, To death, which even Aristotle called the most terrible of all terribles. And this it will do, either because it will expose him to his enemies, who will kill him; or, because the sense of his disappointments, and losses, and dangers, will break his heart.

Ver. 14. It shall bring him to the king of terrors. The king of destruction; others read, the king of darkness. Ancient writers often array this king in the densest cloud of darkness, terror, and despair.

14. His confidence… his tabernacle — He shall be torn from his tent, his confidence; that on which he relies. As with us, his tent (house) may have been his castle; or, perhaps, the poet means his home, his children, which are the right arm of a man. Hitzig understands by TENT his body, (2 Peter 1:13; Isaiah 38:12,) “his strong, sound body, which promised a long life.” But the use of the same word in the next verse, as a habitation for others, is fatal to this view. It shall bring — It, the dark, unseen, unnamed power, shall make him to march. “Slowly march,” says Umbreit, with a view to the idea that the godless man has a fearful death before his eyes for a length of time — an evident allusion to the case of Job. The Assyrian monuments give striking pictures of captives bound in chains, marching in procession to death. “The Psalm of Life” has a like figure of “funeral marches to the grave.” King of terrors — Death, whose first-born has done his work. This personification of death rests, probably, upon an instinctive feeling that, for the wicked, death is no mere privation of consciousness, but the entrance into a state of unknown horror. (Canon Cook.) It has been conjectured by some that in this term “king of terrors.” (comp. Hebrews 2:14,) there is an allusion to Satan, who has “the power of death.” In Jewish theology, Satan is called the prince over thohu, or chaos.

V. 15. It-Destruction, expressed ver. 12, shall fix its abode with him. Because-Because it is none of his own, being got from others by deceit or violence. Brimstone-It shall be utterly destroyed, as it were, by fire and brimstone. He seems to allude both to the destruction of Sodom, which happened not long before these times, and to the judgment which befel Job, Job 1:16.

Verse 15. It shall dwell in his tabernacle] Desolation is here personified, and it is said that it shall be the inhabitant, its former owner being destroyed. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, so that, like Sodom and Gomorrah, it may be an everlasting monument of the Divine displeasure.

In the Persian poet Saady, we find a couplet which contains a similar sentiment:—

[Persic]

[Persic]

Purdeh daree meekund dar keesri Keesar ankeboot

Boomee Noobat meezund ber kumbed Afraseeab.

“The spider holds the veil in the palace of Cæsar;

The owl stands sentinel on the watchtower of Afrasiab.” The palaces of those mighty kings are so desolate that the spider is the only chamberlain, and the owl the only sentinel. The web of the former is all that remains as a substitute for the costly veil furnished by the chamberlain in the palace of the Roman monarch; and the hooting of the latter is the only remaining substitute for the sound of drums and trumpets by which the guards were accustomed to be relieved at the watchtower of the Persian king.

The word [Persic] Keesur, the same as Kaisar or Cæsar, is the term which the Asiatics always use when they designate the Roman emperor. Afrasiab was an ancient king who invaded and conquered Persia about seven hundred years before the Christian era. After having reigned twelve years, he was defeated and slain by Zalzer and his son, the famous Rustem. The present reigning family of Constantinople claim descent from this ancient monarch.

Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.] This may either refer to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, as has already been intimated, or to an ancient custom of fumigating houses with brimstone, in order to purify them from defilement. PLINY says, Hist. Nat., lib. xxxv., c. 15, speaking of the uses of sulphur, Habet et in religionibus locum ad expiandas suffitu domos; which Dr. Holland paraphrases thus: “Moreover brimstone is employed ceremoniously in hallowing of houses; for many are of opinion that the perfume and burning thereof will keep out all enchantments; yea, and drive away foul fiends and evil sprites that do haunt a place.”

OVID refers to the same, Deuteronomy Arte. Am., lib. ii. ver. 329. Et veniat, quæ lustret anus lectumque locumque:

Præferat et tremula sulphur et ova manu.

This alludes to the ceremony of purifying the bed or place in which a sick person was confined; an old woman or nurse was the operator, and eggs and sulphur were the instruments of purification.

On this and other methods of purgation see an excellent note in Servius on these words of Virgil, Æn. vi., ver. 740.

——————Aliæ panduntur inanes

Suspensæ ad ventos: aliis sub gurgite vasto

Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni.

“For this are various penances subjoin’d;

And some are hung to bleach upon the wind;

Some plunged in waters, others, plunged in fires.”

Unde etiam, says Servius, in sacris Liberi omnibus tres sunt istæ purgationes: nam aut taeda purgantur et sulphure, aut aqua abluuntur, aut ære ventilantur.

“These three kinds of purgation are used in the rites of Bacchus: they are purged by flame and sulphur, or washed in water, or ventilated by the winds.”

But it is most likely that Bildad, in his usual uncharitable manner, alludes to the destruction of Job’s property and family by winds and fire: for the FIRE OF GOD fell from heaven and burnt up the sheep and the servants, and CONSUMED them; and a great wind, probably the sulphureous suffocating simoom, smote the four corners of the house, where Job’s children were feasting, and killed them; see Job 1:16, 19.

Verse 15. It shall dwell in his tabernacle — Destruction, expressed verse 12, shall fix its abode with him. Because it is none of his — Because it is none of his own, being got from others by deceit or violence. Brimstone shall be scattered on his habitation — It shall be utterly destroyed, as it were, by fire and brimstone. He seems to allude both to the destruction of Sodom, which happened not long before these times, and to the judgment which befell Job, chap. 1:16. When the stranger hath taken and rifled his dwelling, he shall forsake it as an accursed place, and shall burn it with fire and brimstone, that there may be no monument of so vile a person left upon the earth. Heath’s interpretation of this verse is, “They shall take up their habitation in his tent, because he hath no surviver: brimstone shall be sprinkled upon his habitation. As much as to say, ‘Since he hath no one to survive him, his posterity is utterly exterminated: horror takes possession of his habitation, and it is sprinkled with brimstone, that no person may ever after inhabit it; but that it may remain an object of terror to future ages.’ The image is grand, and worthy of the tragic style.”

15. His tabernacle — After he has been snatched from it, there shall dwell in his tent that which is not his, to wit: wild beasts, (Isaiah 13:21,) or weeds and thorns, (Hosea 9:6, Dillmann,) or strangers and aliens, (Hitzig.) Brimstone — His doom shall be like that of Sodom and Gomorrah; the fires of heaven shall fall upon his habitation. The ancients fancied that lightning had the smell of brimstone. Thus Pliny, (35:1,) “Lightning and thunder are attended with a strong smell of sulphur, and the light produced by them is of a sulplhureous complexion.” “The desolation of his house is the most terrible calamity for the Semite.… For the Bedawi especially, although his hair tent leaves no mark, the thought of the desolation of his house, the extinction of his hospitable health, is terrible.” — WETZSTEIN, in Del. The ancients had a custom of fumigating houses with sulphur for purposes of purification and exorcism. But notwithstanding Dr. Adam Clarke’s great authority, its application to the text is very questionable. (See Clarke, in loc.)

Verse 16. His roots shall be dried up-his branch be cut off.] He shall be as utterly destroyed, both in himself, his posterity, and his property, as a tree is whose branches are all lopped off, and whose every root is cut away.

Verses 16-19. His roots shall be dried up, &c. — That is, he shall be destroyed, both root and branch; both himself and his posterity. His remembrance shall perish — Instead of that honour and renown which he designed and expected to have, both while he lived, and after his death, he shall not be so much as remembered, unless it be with contempt and reproach. He shall be driven from light into darkness, &c. — From a prosperous state to disgrace and misery, and to the grave, the land of darkness. He shall neither have son nor nephew, &c. — But if any such survive, they shall be in the hands and power of strangers, or rather of their enemies, and not among his own people.

16. Be cut off — Wither. The sarcophagus of Ashmanasar, king of the Sidonians, discovered in recent times, has inscribed upon it a curse against those who should “disturb him upon his resting place;” — “let him not have a root below or a branch above.” In the East, man is often compared to a tree, his destruction to the cutting off of its branches. (See Roberts, in loc.)

b. His name shall survive only to serve as a warning to subsequent generations, 17-21.

Verse 17. His remembrance shall perish] He shall have none to survive him, to continue his name among men.

No name in the street.] He shall never be a man of reputation; after his demise, none shall talk of his fame.

Verses 16-19. His roots shall be dried up, &c. — That is, he shall be destroyed, both root and branch; both himself and his posterity. His remembrance shall perish — Instead of that honour and renown which he designed and expected to have, both while he lived, and after his death, he shall not be so much as remembered, unless it be with contempt and reproach. He shall be driven from light into darkness, &c. — From a prosperous state to disgrace and misery, and to the grave, the land of darkness. He shall neither have son nor nephew, &c. — But if any such survive, they shall be in the hands and power of strangers, or rather of their enemies, and not among his own people.

Ver. 17. He shall have no name in the street, “in publico.” Schultens. No reputation; or if men pronounce his name on any occasion, it shall be with a beclouded countenance. But not so with Job. When the ear heard him, it blessed him; when the eye saw him, it gave witness to the pleasure and delight it felt at his presence.

17. Earth — Land. 1 Samuel 23:23. In the street — Literally, that which is outside, — open country. Hitzig renders, “on the common.” There shall be an utter extinction of his name: neither in town nor in the wilderness — nowhere — shall it be spoken.

V. 18. Darkness-From a prosperous life to disgrace and misery, and to the grave, the land of darkness.

Verse 18. He shall be driven from light] He shall be taken off by a violent death.

And chased out of the world.] The wicked is DRIVEN AWAY in his iniquity. This shows his reluctance to depart from life.

Verses 16-19. His roots shall be dried up, &c. — That is, he shall be destroyed, both root and branch; both himself and his posterity. His remembrance shall perish — Instead of that honour and renown which he designed and expected to have, both while he lived, and after his death, he shall not be so much as remembered, unless it be with contempt and reproach. He shall be driven from light into darkness, &c. — From a prosperous state to disgrace and misery, and to the grave, the land of darkness. He shall neither have son nor nephew, &c. — But if any such survive, they shall be in the hands and power of strangers, or rather of their enemies, and not among his own people.

18. Chased out of the world — He shall not be conducted out of life, as Plato expresses it, with funereal pomp, by a numerous train of mourning citizens and relations, but shall be cast out of human society like a malefactor, and thrown underground with infamy and execration. (Scott.) The terror is heightened by the vagueness of the expression, THEY shall chase him — an impersonal form for unknown agents, sent to drive him, like Adam from paradise, out of a world of which he is not worthy.

Verse 19. He shall neither have son nor nephew] Coverdale, following the Vulgate, translates thus: We shal neither have children ner kynss folk among his people, no ner eny posterite in his countrie: yonge and olde shal be astonyshed at his death.

Verses 16-19. His roots shall be dried up, &c. — That is, he shall be destroyed, both root and branch; both himself and his posterity. His remembrance shall perish — Instead of that honour and renown which he designed and expected to have, both while he lived, and after his death, he shall not be so much as remembered, unless it be with contempt and reproach. He shall be driven from light into darkness, &c. — From a prosperous state to disgrace and misery, and to the grave, the land of darkness. He shall neither have son nor nephew, &c. — But if any such survive, they shall be in the hands and power of strangers, or rather of their enemies, and not among his own people.

19. Son nor nephew — Literally, sprig nor sprout. Tyndale’s rendering is admirable — “He shall nether have chyldren nor kynsfolcks amonge hys people; noo, nor eny posterite in hys countrey” (places of sojourn). The original word for dwellings, according to Schultens, signified a refuge for strangers. The great men among the Arabs prided themselves upon the numbers of those who fled to them for protection. To such Schultens thinks Bildad may refer when he says, there shall be “no survivor in his dwellings.” Under the earlier economies the doctrine of the immortality of the soul being more or less obscured, the natural desire for an after life developed into a vehement passion for an immortal line of posterity. This intensified the calamity threatened by Bildad — the wholesale destruction of the progeny of the wicked. Job is goaded to bitter thoughts over his own bereavement.

V. 20. Astonied-At the day of his destruction. They shall be amazed at the suddenness, and dreadfulness of it. Before-Before the persons last mentioned. Those who lived in the time and place where this judgment was inflicted.

Verse 20. They that come after him] The young shall be struck with astonishment when they hear the relation of the judgments of God upon this wicked man. As they that went before. The aged who were his contemporaries, and who saw the judgments that fell on him, were affrighted, r[c wzja achazu saar, seized with horror—were horrified; or, as Mr. Good has well expressed it, were panic-struck.

Verses 20, 21. They that come after him — And hear the report of it, shall be astonied at his day — The day of his destruction. They shall be amazed at the suddenness and dreadfulness of it. As they that went before were affrighted — As his elders (so Heath renders it) were seized with horror; namely, those who lived in the time and place where this judgment was inflicted. Hebrew, r[c wzja, achazu sagnar, apprehenderunt horrorem, they took hold on horror, a beautiful metonymy, as if they took hold on their hair, which, by reason of the terror they were in, stood upright. Or, They were filled with horror, partly through humanity and compassion, and partly for fear lest the judgment should overtake them also. “The plain meaning of the verse seems to be, His elders, who saw so signal an instance of divine vengeance, were seized with horror; and whoever, in after times, should hear his story related, would be in amazement at it.” — Heath. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked — This is a just description of their miserable condition at last, and thus shall those who dishonour God be abased. Such, according to Eliphaz, was the unanimous sense of the patriarchal age, grounded on their knowledge of God and the many observations which they had made on the dispensations of his providence. And this is the place of him that knoweth not God — Who is not truly acquainted with him, and reconciled to him; who does not know him experimentally and practically, so as truly to fear, love, and serve him, or who, professing to know him, by works denies him. Here then we see what is the beginning and what is the end of the wickedness of mankind. The beginning of it is ignorance of God, which ignorance is wilful, for God has made to all men those discoveries of himself which are sufficient to render those of them for ever inexcusable who live and die ignorant of him and disobedient to him. The end of it is utter destruction. Such, so miserable, are the dwellings of the wicked. Vengeance will be taken on them that know not God, and obey not his revealed will, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. Let us therefore stand in awe, and not sin, for it will certainly be bitterness in the latter end: nay, let us acquaint ourselves with him and be at peace; for thereby good will come unto us, in time and in eternity.

20. They that come after him… they that went before — Ewald, Dillman, Zockler, read, “Men of the west;”… “Men of the east;” that is, Men of all lands; while others prefer the reading of the Authorized Version. The words µynmdq and µynrja signify things behind and before, and may be spoken either of time or of place. The Hebrew marked the points of the compass with his face to the east; the right hand signified the south; the left, the north; before, the east; behind, the west. His day — The day of a man’s doom is his day, for it is all that remains to him.

V. 21. The place-The condition.

Verse 21. Such are the dwellings] This is the common lot of the wicked; and it shall be particularly the case with him who knoweth not God, that is Job, for it is evident he alludes to him. Poor Job! hard was thy lot, severe were thy sufferings.

ON the elephant hunt to which I have referred, Job 18:13, I shall borrow the following account extracted from Mr. Cordiner’s History of Ceylon, by Mr. Good:—

“We have a curious description of the elephant hunt, which is pursued in a manner not essentially different from the preceding, except that the snares are pallisadoed with the strongest possible stakes, instead of being netted, and still farther fortified by interlacings. They are numerous, but connected together; every snare or inclosure growing gradually narrower, and opening into each other by a gate or two that will only admit the entrance of a single animal at a time.

“The wood in which elephants are known to abound is first surrounded, excepting at the end where the foremost and widest inclosure is situated, with fires placed on moveable pedestals, which in every direction are drawn closer and closer, and, aided by loud and perpetual shouts, drive the animals forward till they enter into the outer snare. After which the same process is continued, and they are driven by fear into a second, into a third, and into a fourth; till at length the elephants become so much sub-divided, that by the aid of cordage fastened carefully round their limbs, and the management of decoy elephants, they are easily capable of being led away one by one, and tamed. A single hunt thus conducted will sometimes occupy not less than two months of unremitting labour; and the entrance of the elephants into the snares is regarded as an amusement or sport of the highest character, and as such is attended by all the principal families of the country.” Account of Ceylon, p. 218-226.

JOB

Verses 20, 21. They that come after him — And hear the report of it, shall be astonied at his day — The day of his destruction. They shall be amazed at the suddenness and dreadfulness of it. As they that went before were affrighted — As his elders (so Heath renders it) were seized with horror; namely, those who lived in the time and place where this judgment was inflicted. Hebrew, r[c wzja, achazu sagnar, apprehenderunt horrorem, they took hold on horror, a beautiful metonymy, as if they took hold on their hair, which, by reason of the terror they were in, stood upright. Or, They were filled with horror, partly through humanity and compassion, and partly for fear lest the judgment should overtake them also. “The plain meaning of the verse seems to be, His elders, who saw so signal an instance of divine vengeance, were seized with horror; and whoever, in after times, should hear his story related, would be in amazement at it.” — Heath. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked — This is a just description of their miserable condition at last, and thus shall those who dishonour God be abased. Such, according to Eliphaz, was the unanimous sense of the patriarchal age, grounded on their knowledge of God and the many observations which they had made on the dispensations of his providence. And this is the place of him that knoweth not God — Who is not truly acquainted with him, and reconciled to him; who does not know him experimentally and practically, so as truly to fear, love, and serve him, or who, professing to know him, by works denies him. Here then we see what is the beginning and what is the end of the wickedness of mankind. The beginning of it is ignorance of God, which ignorance is wilful, for God has made to all men those discoveries of himself which are sufficient to render those of them for ever inexcusable who live and die ignorant of him and disobedient to him. The end of it is utter destruction. Such, so miserable, are the dwellings of the wicked. Vengeance will be taken on them that know not God, and obey not his revealed will, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. Let us therefore stand in awe, and not sin, for it will certainly be bitterness in the latter end: nay, let us acquaint ourselves with him and be at peace; for thereby good will come unto us, in time and in eternity.

21. That knoweth not God — These words, last in the Hebrew also, furnish a climax — a sneer at Job’s most solemn protestations. (Job 16:19.)