---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Job 18"
description: "CHAPTER 18   SECOND
SERIES.   :-. REPLY OF
BILDAD. 2. ye—the other two friends of
Job, whom Bildad charges with having spoken mere \"words,\"
that is, empty"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/job/18"
---

CHAPTER 18

SECOND
SERIES.

. REPLY OF
BILDAD.

**2. ye**—the other two friends of
Job, whom Bildad charges with having spoken mere "words,"
that is, empty speeches; opposed to "mark," that is, come
to *reason,* consider the question *intelligently;* and
then let us speak.

**3. beasts**—alluding to what Job
said ([Job 12:7](../../../kjv/job/12/7); so [Job 12:7](../../../kjv/job/12/7)).
**vile**—rather from a
*Hebrew* root, "to stop up." "Stubborn,"
answering to the stupidity implied in the parallel first clause
[UMBREIT]. Why should we
give occasion by your empty speeches for our being mutually reputed,
in the sight of Job and one another, as unintelligent? ([Job 17:4](../../../kjv/job/17/4);
[Job 17:10](../../../kjv/job/17/10)).

**4.** Rather, turning to Job, "thou
that tearest thyself in anger" ().
**be forsaken?**—become
desolate. He alludes here to Job's words as to the "rock,"
crumbling away ([Job 14:18](../../../kjv/job/14/18);
[Job 14:19](../../../kjv/job/14/19)); but in a different
application. He says bitterly "for thee." Wert thou not
punished as thou art, and as thou art unwilling to bear, the eternal
order of the universe would be disturbed and the earth become
desolate through unavenged wickedness [UMBREIT].
Bildad takes it for granted Job is a great sinner ([Job 8:3-6](../../../kjv/job/8/3-6);
[Isaiah 24:5](../../../kjv/isaiah/24/5); [Isaiah 24:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/24/6)).
"Shall that which stands fast as a rock be removed for your
special accommodation?"

**5.** That () cannot be. The decree of God is unalterable, the light
(prosperity) of the wicked shall at length be put out.
**his fire**—alluding to
Arabian hospitality, which prided itself on welcoming the stranger to
the fire in the tent, and even lit fires to direct him to it. The
ungodly shall be deprived of the means to show hospitality. His
dwelling shall be dark and desolate!

**6. candle**—the lamp which in
the East is usually fastened to the ceiling. Oil abounds in those
regions, and the lamp was kept burning all night, as now in Egypt,
where the poorest would rather dispense with food than the night lamp
([Psalms 18:28](../../../kjv/psalms/18/28)). To put out the
lamp was an image of utter desolation.

**7. steps of his strength**—*Hebrew,*
for "His strong steps." A firm step marks health. To be
straitened in steps is to be no longer able to move about at will ().
**his own counsel**—Plans
shall be the means of his fall ().

**8. he walketh upon**—rather, "he
*lets himself go into* the net" [UMBREIT].
If the *English Version* be retained, then understand "snare"
to be the pitfall, covered over with branches and earth, which when
walked upon give way ([Psalms 9:15](../../../kjv/psalms/9/15);
[Psalms 35:8](../../../kjv/psalms/35/8)).

**9. robber**—rather answering to
"gin" in the parallel clause, "the *noose* shall
hold him fast" [UMBREIT].

**11. Terrors**—often mentioned in
this book ([Job 18:14](../../../kjv/job/18/14); [Job 24:17](../../../kjv/job/24/17);
c.). The terrors excited through an evil conscience are here
personified. "Magor-missabib" ([Job 24:17](../../../kjv/job/24/17)).
**drive . . . to his
feet**—rather, "shall pursue" (literally, "scatter,"
[Habakkuk 3:14](../../../kjv/habakkuk/3/14)) him close "at
his heels" (literally, "immediately after his feet,"
[Habakkuk 3:5](../../../kjv/habakkuk/3/5) [1 Samuel 25:42](../../../kjv/1-samuel/25/42);
*Hebrew*). The image is that of a pursuing conqueror who
scatters the enemy [UMBREIT].

**12.** The *Hebrew* is brief
and bold, "his strength is hungry."
**destruction**—that is, a
great calamity ([Proverbs 1:27](../../../kjv/proverbs/1/27)).
**ready at his side**—close
at hand to destroy him ([Proverbs 19:29](../../../kjv/proverbs/19/29)).

**13.** UMBREIT
has "he" for "it," that is, "in the rage of
hunger he shall devour his own body"; or, "his own
children" ([Lamentations 4:10](../../../kjv/lamentations/4/10)).
Rather, "destruction" from [Lamentations 4:10](../../../kjv/lamentations/4/10) is nominative to "devour."
**strength**—rather,
"members" (literally, the "branches" of a tree).
**the first-born of death**—a
personification full of poetical horror. The first-born son held the
chief place ([Genesis 49:3](../../../kjv/genesis/49/3)); so here
*the chiefest (most deadly) disease* that death has ever
engendered ([Isaiah 14:30](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/30);
"first-born of the poor"—the poorest). The Arabs call
fever, "daughter of death."

**14. confidence**—all that the
father trusted in for domestic happiness, children, fortune, c.,
referring to Job's losses.
**rooted out**—suddenly
torn away, it shall bring—that is, he shall be brought or, as
UMBREIT better has, "*Thou*
(God) shalt bring him *slowly.*" The *Hebrew*
expresses, "to stride slowly and solemnly." The godless has
a fearful death for long before his eyes, and is at last taken by it.
Alluding to Job's case. The King of terrors, not like the heathen
Pluto, the tabled ruler of the dead, but Death, with all its terrors
to the ungodly, personified.

**15. It**—"Terror"
shall haunt, &c., and not as UMBREIT,
"another," which the last clause of the verse disproves.
**none of his**—It is his
no longer.
**brimstone**—probably
comparing the calamity of Job by the "fire of God" () to the destruction of guilty Sodom by fire and brimstone
([Genesis 19:24](../../../kjv/genesis/19/24)).

**16. Roots**—himself.
**branch**—his children
([Job 8:12](../../../kjv/job/8/12); [Job 15:30](../../../kjv/job/15/30);
[Malachi 4:1](../../../kjv/malachi/4/1)).

**17. street**—Men shall not speak
of him in meeting in the highways; rather, "in the field"
or "meadow"; the shepherds shall no more mention his name—a
picture from nomadic life [UMBREIT].

**18. light . . .
darkness**—existence—nonexistence.

**19. nephew**—(so ). But it is translated "grandson" (); translate "kinsman."

**20. after . . . before**—rather,
"those in the West—those in the East"; that is, all
people; literally, "those behind—those before"; for
Orientals in geography turn with their faces to the east (not to the
north as we), and back to the west; so that *before*—east;
*behind*—north (so ).
**day**—of ruin ().
**affrighted**—seized with
terror ([Job 21:6](../../../kjv/job/21/6); [Isaiah 13:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/13/8)).

**21.** (, *Margin*).

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