Hello everyone! Welcome to today’s Bible study on Job 18 – Bildad Talks About The Wicked’s Punishment. According to Bible scholars, the events of the book of Job took place approximately before 2100 B.C.
I encourage you to turn to Job 18 in your Bible. Kindly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read and study Job 18 with me. I mention this in all the Bible Studies because it is through the Holy Spirit that we get fresh revelation and knowledge to understand the word of God. I am using the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, just in case you want to know. All the scriptures that you find highlighted in purple in this post are from the NKJV.
In the Bible Study on Job 17, we read about Job’s hopelessness and how he sought relief from his suffering. Well, in this Bible study on Job 18, we will read about Bildad’s (one of Job’s friends) discourse on the punishment of the wicked. If you have already read the previous chapters, you might have already noticed that Bildad, in Job 8, asked Job to repent. This is Bildad’s second discourse in the book of Job. As I have already mentioned before, most of the chapters of the book of Job are conversations between Job and his friends.
Without any further delay, let us read and see what Job Chapter 18 is about, shall we?
Bildad Questions Job
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long till you put an end to words?
Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as beasts,
And regarded as stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in anger,
Shall the earth be forsaken for you?
Or shall the rock be removed from its place?
In Verses 2-4 of Job 18, Bildad, a Shuhite, questions Job on his endless lamentation and self-justification. He told Job to gain understanding before talking. Job’s discourse in the previous chapters didn’t make any sense to Job’s friends. Bildad questions Job as to why he counts them beasts (set out to tear him down on purpose) and considers them stupid (Job 17:4). To him, Job merely spoke from anger. The earth will continue to exist and the rock will remain in its place even though Job was angry. In other words, the world will not change just to accomodate Job’s anger as he was a nobody in his friends’ eyes.
Bildad’s Discourse On the Wicked Man’s Punishment
In Verses 5-21 of Job 18, Bildad talks about the punishment of the wicked. I have broken them under different subheadings, so that it is easier to study. Bildad has quite a lot to talk about the wicked man.
Darkness Surrounds The Wicked
5 “The light of the wicked indeed goes out,
And the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in his tent,
And his lamp beside him is put out.
In Verses 5-6 of Job 18, Bildad tells Job that the wicked have no light in their household and that their lamp is off. The light here is metaphoric for life, joy, hope, peace, wealth, prosperity and the like. Darkness, here, implies misery, trouble, suffering, hopelessness, loss of health, children, wealth, dignity and the like, to give a few examples.
A Snare Awaits The Wicked Man
7 The steps of his strength are shortened,
And his own counsel casts him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
And he walks into a snare.
9 The net takes him by the heel,
And a snare lays hold of him.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground,
And a trap for him in the road.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side,
And drive him to his feet.
In Verses 7-11, he explains that a wicked man’s strength does not endure or last. His own counsel/understanding pulls him down (the path of destruction). Wherever he turns, terror awaits him because of the traps he has set for himself.
According to Bildad, Job has set a trap for himself on every side by his own will as he lacks understanding and wisdom. And, Job’s rash speech and refusal to see his sin and repent worsened his illness.
The Health Of The Wicked Man
12 His strength is starved,
And destruction is ready at his side.
13 It devours patches of his skin;
The firstborn of death devours his limbs.
In Verses 12-13 of Job 18, Bildad speaks about the health of the wicked man. It is clear that the wicked man he is referring to is Job (the righteous man in the entire region in God’s eyes). According to Bildad, the health of the wicked deteriorates and destruction awaits him. It devours patches of his skin and limbs. He was referring to the boils that were eating up Job’s flesh and the weakness of Job’s limbs which was evident at that point through his lean stature.
A Wicked Man Has No Shelter
14 He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent,
And they parade him before the king of terrors.
15 They dwell in his tent who are none of his;
Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling.
In Verses 14-15 of Job 18, Bildad talks about how a wicked man is unable to sit in the shelter of his tent. It also means he has no shelter from trouble/evil. Here, Bildad refers to Job again because he sat among ashes scraping his wounds with a potsherd. He was unable to rest because of his illness. He was contantly in pain from the boils. Job was living in terror every day. These verses give us an idea of the extent to which Job suffered. Otherwise, Bildad wouldn’t be using such strong words to describe the destiny of a wicked man.
People who didn’t belong to Job dwelt in his house. Brimstone, in Verse 15, refers to literal fire and also trouble and misery.
A Wicked Man’s Memory And Name Perishes
16 His roots are dried out below,
And his branch withers above.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name among the renowned.
18 He is driven from light into darkness,
And chased out of the world.
In Verses 16-18, Bildad talks about how a wicked man’s name has no value among the dignified and renowned people in town. No one remembers a wicked man. The world shuns him as he continues to live in darkness. In Job 17, we read about how people treated Job and cursed him and even spit on his face because of his condition. Job’s society and community ignored him. It is to be noted that Job was the most renowned man in Northern Arabia.
A Wicked Man Has No Future Generation
19 He has neither son nor posterity among his people,
Nor any remaining in his dwellings.
20 Those in the west are astonished at his day,
As those in the east are frightened.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”
Lastly, in Verses 19-21 of Job 18, Bildad talks about how a wicked man has no future generation – he does not have any sons or daughters to leave an inheritance to or call as children. Here again he is talking about Job who lost all his children when satan attacked his family. The wicked man’s punishment (Job’s situation) astonished and frightened people in every direction. Bildad concludes this is what happens to a wicked man who does not know God.
Observation on Bildad’s Discourse
Bildad, on seeing Job’s worsening illness, his lean stature, and how people mocked him and spat on his face, his loss of family (including children), wealth, servants and dignity had come to a conclusion (based on what he saw) that Job was a wicked man. If not, these things would not have ever happened to Job in the first place, according to Bildad.
Bildad’s discourse about a wicked man’s punishment is right. However, he is wrong in assuming that Job is a wicked man. He judged Job based on what he saw had happened to Job with his own eyes based on outward appearances/experiences. He also claimed that Job did not know God. Bildad probably was angry that Job didn’t listen to him or his friends and repent for his sin. According to Job’s friends, only a wicked man suffers all that Job suffered.
Bildad and his companions, in condeming Job, made themselves self-righteous. They had zero idea/knowledge about what transpired between satan and God in the courts of heaven (Read Job 1 and Job 2 to understand where it all started). Job pleased God and he was righteous in God’s eyes. If Job’s friends were more righteous than Job, then God would have boasted about them to satan and not Job. In that case, it would have been them in Job’s place of trial.
Conclusion
This brings us to the end of the bible study on Job 18. Sometimes, the people who should be helping us are the first to judge and condemn us even when we are righteous in God’s eyes. We see this in the life of Job and how his friends treated him as a dumb and wicked man who words had no meaning to them. They judged his relationship with God. Just because he was facing a trial they concluded that he surely must have sinned. I hope you learnt something from this Bible study and found it helpful in your Bible study journey.
If you have any comments or questions for me, kindly leave them in the comments box below. I highly appreciate it. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Until Next Time!