mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 18.xml

<div2 id="Job.xix" n="xix" next="Job.xx" prev="Job.xviii" progress="9.35%" title="Chapter XVIII">
<h2 id="Job.xix-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xix-p0.2">CHAP. XVIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xix-p1">In this chapter Bildad makes a second assault upon
Job. In his first discourse (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.1-Job.8.22" parsed="|Job|8|1|8|22" passage="Job 8:1-22"><i>ch.</i> viii.</scripRef>) he had given him
encouragement to hope that all should yet be well with him. But
here there is not a word of that; he has grown more peevish, and is
so far from being convinced by Job's reasonings that he is but more
exasperated. I. He sharply reproves Job as haughty and passionate,
and obstinate in his opinion, <scripRef id="Job.xix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.1-Job.18.4" parsed="|Job|18|1|18|4" passage="Job 18:1-4">ver.
1-4</scripRef>. II. He enlarges upon the doctrine he had before
maintained, concerning the miser of wicked people and the ruin that
attends them, <scripRef id="Job.xix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.5-Job.18.21" parsed="|Job|18|5|18|21" passage="Job 18:5-21">ver. 5-21</scripRef>.
In this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of
the miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark,
bewildered, ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world.
"This," says Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and
therefore thou art one."</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.18" parsed="|Job|18|0|0|0" passage="Job 18" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.1-Job.18.4" parsed="|Job|18|1|18|4" passage="Job 18:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.18.1-Job.18.4">
<h4 id="Job.xix-p1.6">Second Address of Eliphaz. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xix-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xix-p2">1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
  2 How long <i>will it be ere</i> ye make an end of words?
mark, and afterwards we will speak.   3 Wherefore are we
counted as beasts, <i>and</i> reputed vile in your sight?   4
He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for
thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p3">Bildad here shoots his arrows, even bitter
words, against poor Job, little thinking that, though he was a wise
and good man, in this instance he was serving Satan's design in
adding to Job's affliction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p4">I. He charges him with idle endless talk,
as Eliphaz had done (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.15.2-Job.15.3" parsed="|Job|15|2|15|3" passage="Job 15:2,3"><i>ch.</i> xv.
2, 3</scripRef>): <i>How long will it be ere you make an end of
words?</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.2" parsed="|Job|18|2|0|0" passage="Job 18:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
Here he reflects, not only upon Job himself, but either upon all
the managers of the conference (thinking perhaps that Eliphaz and
Zophar did not speak so closely to the purpose as they might have
done) or upon some that were present, who possibly took part with
Job, and put in a word now and then in his favour, though it be not
recorded. Bildad was weary of hearing others speak, and impatient
till it came to his turn, which cannot be observed to any man's
praise, for we ought to be swift to hear and slow to speak. It is
common for contenders to monopolize the reputation of wisdom, and
then to insist upon it as their privilege to be dictators. How
unbecoming this conduct is in others every one can see; but few
that are guilty of it can see it in themselves. Time was when Job
had the last word in all debates (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.29.22" parsed="|Job|29|22|0|0" passage="Job 29:22"><i>ch.</i> xxix. 22</scripRef>): <i>After my words they
spoke not again.</i> Then he was in power and prosperity; but now
that he was impoverished and brought low he could scarcely be
allowed to speak at all, and every thing he said was as much
vilified as formerly it had been magnified. <i>Wisdom</i> therefore
(as the world goes) <i>is good with an inheritance</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.11" parsed="|Eccl|7|11|0|0" passage="Ec 7:11">Eccl. vii. 11</scripRef>); for <i>the poor man's
wisdom is despised,</i> and, because he is poor, <i>his words are
not heard,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.16" parsed="|Eccl|9|16|0|0" passage="Ec 9:16">Eccl. ix.
16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p5">II. With a regardlessness of what was said
to him, intimated in that, <i>Mark, and afterwards we will
speak.</i> And it is to no purpose to speak, though what is said be
ever so much to the purpose, if those to whom it is addressed will
not mark and observe it. Let the <i>ear be opened to hear as the
learned,</i> and then the tongues of the learned will do good
service (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.4" parsed="|Isa|50|4|0|0" passage="Isa 50:4">Isa. l. 4</scripRef>) and not
otherwise. It is an encouragement to those that speak of the things
of God to see the hearers attentive.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p6">III. With a haughty contempt and disdain of
his friends and of that which they offered (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.3" parsed="|Job|18|3|0|0" passage="Job 18:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>Wherefore are we counted as
beasts?</i> This was invidious. Job had indeed called them
<i>mockers,</i> had represented them both as unwise and as unkind,
wanting both in the reason and tenderness of men, but he did not
count them beasts; yet Bildad so represents the matter, 1. Because
his high spirit resented what Job had said as if it had been the
greatest affront imaginable. Proud men are apt to think themselves
slighted more than really they are. 2. Because his hot spirit was
willing to find a pretence to be hard upon Job. Those that incline
to be severe upon others will have it thought that others have
first been so upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p7">IV. With outrageous passion: <i>He teareth
himself in his anger,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.4" parsed="|Job|18|4|0|0" passage="Job 18:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. Herein he seems to reflect upon what Job had said
(<scripRef id="Job.xix-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.13.14" parsed="|Job|13|14|0|0" passage="Job 13:14"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 14</scripRef>):
<i>Wherefore did I take my flesh in my teeth?</i> "It is thy own
fault," says Bildad. Or he reflected upon what he said <scripRef id="Job.xix-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.16.9" parsed="|Job|16|9|0|0" passage="Job 16:9"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 9</scripRef>, where he seemed to
charge it upon God, or, as some think, upon Eliphaz: <i>He teareth
me in his wrath.</i> "No," says Bildad; "thou alone shalt bear it."
<i>He teareth himself in his anger.</i> Note, Anger is a sin that
is its own punishment. Fretful passionate people tear and torment
themselves. <i>He teareth his soul</i> (so the word is); every sin
wounds the soul, tears that, wrongs that (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.36" parsed="|Prov|8|36|0|0" passage="Pr 8:36">Prov. viii. 36</scripRef>), unbridled passion
particularly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p8">V. With a proud and arrogant expectation to
give law even to Providence itself: "<i>Shall the earth be forsaken
for thee?</i> Surely not; there is no reason for that, that the
course of nature should be changed and the settled rules of
government violated to gratify the humour of one man. Job, dost
thou think the world cannot stand without thee; but that, if thou
art ruined, all the world is ruined and forsaken with thee?" Some
make it a reproof of Job's justification of himself, falsely
insinuating that either Job was a wicked man or we must deny a
Providence and suppose that God has forsaken the earth and the rock
of ages is removed. It is rather a just reproof of his passionate
complaints. When we quarrel with the events of Providence we forget
that, whatever befals us, it is, 1. According to the eternal
purpose and counsel of God. 2. According to the written word. Thus
it is written that in the world we must have tribulation, that,
since we sin daily, we must expect to smart for it; and, 3.
According to the usual way and custom, the track of Providence,
nothing but what is common to men; and to expect that God's
counsels should change, his method alter, and his word fail, to
please us, is as absurd and unreasonable as to think <i>the earth
should be forsaken for us and the rock removed out of its
place.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xix-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.5-Job.18.10" parsed="|Job|18|5|18|10" passage="Job 18:5-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.18.5-Job.18.10">
<h4 id="Job.xix-p8.2">Miserable Condition of the
Wicked. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xix-p8.3">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xix-p9">5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out,
and the spark of his fire shall not shine.   6 The light shall
be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with
him.   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 a snare.   9 The gin
shall take <i>him</i> by the heel, <i>and</i> the robber shall
prevail against him.   10 The snare <i>is</i> laid for him in
the ground, and a trap for him in the way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p10">The rest of Bildad's discourse is entirely
taken up in an elegant description of the miserable condition of a
wicked man, in which there is a great deal of certain truth, and
which will be of excellent use if duly considered—that a sinful
condition is a sad condition, and that iniquity will be men's ruin
if they do not repent of it. But it is not true that all wicked
people are visibly and openly made thus miserable in this world;
nor is it true that all who are brought into great distress and
trouble in this world are <i>therefore</i> to be deemed and
adjudged wicked men, when no other proof appears against them; and
therefore, though Bildad thought the application of it to Job was
easy, yet it was not safe nor just. In these verses we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p11">I. The destruction of the wicked foreseen
and foretold, under the similitude of darkness (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.5-Job.18.6" parsed="|Job|18|5|18|6" passage="Job 18:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>): <i>Yea, the light of the
wicked shall be put out.</i> Even his <i>light,</i> the best and
brightest part of him, shall be put out; even that which he
rejoiced in shall fail him. Or the <i>yea</i> may refer to Job's
complaints of the great distress he was in and the darkness he
should shortly make his bed in. "Yea," says Bildad, "So it is; thou
art clouded, and straitened, and made miserable, and no better
could be expected; for <i>the light of the wicked shall be put
out,</i> and therefore thine shall." Observe here, 1. The wicked
may have some light for a while, some pleasure, some joy, some hope
within, as well as wealth, and honour, and power without. But his
light is but a spark (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.5" parsed="|Job|18|5|0|0" passage="Job 18:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), a little thing and soon extinguished. It is but a
candle (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.6" parsed="|Job|18|6|0|0" passage="Job 18:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
wasting, and burning down, and easily blown out. It is not the
light of the Lord (that is sun-light), but the <i>light of his own
fire</i> and <i>sparks of his own kindling,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.11" parsed="|Isa|50|11|0|0" passage="Isa 50:11">Isa. l. 11</scripRef>. 2. His light will certainly be
put out at length, quite put out, so that not the least spark of it
shall remain with which to kindle another fire. Even while he is in
his tabernacle, while he is in the body, which is the tabernacle of
the soul (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.1" parsed="|2Cor|5|1|0|0" passage="2Co 5:1">2 Cor. v. 1</scripRef>), the
light shall be dark; he shall have no true solid comfort, no joy
that is satisfying, no hope that is supporting. Even <i>the light
that is in him is darkness;</i> and <i>how great is that
darkness!</i> But, when he is put out of this tabernacle by death,
<i>his candle shall be put out with him.</i> The period of his life
will be the final period of all his days and will turn all his
hopes into endless despair. <i>When a wicked man dies his
expectation shall perish,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.7" parsed="|Prov|11|7|0|0" passage="Pr 11:7">Prov. xi.
7</scripRef>. <i>He shall lie down in sorrow.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p12">II. The preparatives for that destruction
represented under the similitude of a beast or bird caught in a
snare, or a malefactor arrested and taken into custody in order to
his punishment, <scripRef id="Job.xix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.7-Job.18.10" parsed="|Job|18|7|18|10" passage="Job 18:7-10"><i>v.</i>
7-10</scripRef>. 1. Satan is preparing for his destruction. He is
<i>the robber that shall prevail against him</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.9" parsed="|Job|18|9|0|0" passage="Job 18:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); for, as he was a
murderer, so he was a robber, from the beginning. He, as the
tempter, lays snares for sinners in the way, wherever they go, and
he shall prevail. If he make them sinful like himself, he will make
them miserable like himself. He <i>hunts for the precious life.</i>
2. He is himself preparing for his own destruction by going on in
sin, and so <i>treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.</i>
God gives him up, as he deserves and desires, to his own counsels,
and then <i>his own counsels cast him down,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.7" parsed="|Job|18|7|0|0" passage="Job 18:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. His sinful projects and pursuits
bring him into mischief. He is <i>cast into a net by his own
feet</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.8" parsed="|Job|18|8|0|0" passage="Job 18:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>),
runs upon his own destruction, is <i>snared in the work of his own
hands</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.9.16" parsed="|Ps|9|16|0|0" passage="Ps 9:16">Ps. ix. 16</scripRef>); his
<i>own tongue falls upon him,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.64.8" parsed="|Ps|64|8|0|0" passage="Ps 64:8">Ps.
lxiv. 8</scripRef>. <i>In the transgression of an evil man there is
a snare.</i> 3. God is preparing for his destruction. The sinner by
his sin is preparing the fuel and then God by his wrath is
preparing the fire. See here, (1.) How the sinner is infatuated, to
run himself into the snare; and whom God will destroy he
infatuates. (2.) How he is embarrassed: <i>The steps of his
strength,</i> his mighty designs and efforts, <i>shall be
straitened,</i> so that he shall not compass what he intended; and
the more he strives to extricate himself the more will he be
entangled. Evil men wax worse and worse. (3.) How he is secured and
kept from escaping the judgments of God that are in pursuit of him.
<i>The gin shall take him by the heel.</i> He can no more escape
the divine wrath that is in pursuit of him than a man, so held, can
flee from the pursuer. God <i>knows how to reserve the wicked for
the day of judgment,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.9" parsed="|2Pet|2|9|0|0" passage="2Pe 2:9">2 Pet. ii.
9</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xix-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.11-Job.18.21" parsed="|Job|18|11|18|21" passage="Job 18:11-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.18.11-Job.18.21">
<p class="passage" id="Job.xix-p13">11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,
and shall drive him to his feet.   12 His strength shall be
hungerbitten, and destruction <i>shall be</i> ready at his side.
  13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: <i>even</i> the
firstborn of death shall devour his strength.   14 His
confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall
bring him to the king of terrors.   15 It shall dwell in his
tabernacle, because <i>it is</i> 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 neither
have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his
dwellings.   20 They that come after <i>him</i> shall be
astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
  21 Surely such <i>are</i> the dwellings of the wicked, and
this <i>is</i> the place <i>of him that</i> knoweth not God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p14">Bildad here describes the destruction
itself which wicked people are reserved for in the other world, and
which, in some degree, often seizes them in this world. Come, and
see what a miserable condition the sinner is in when his day comes
to fall.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p15">I. See him disheartened and weakened by
continual terrors arising from the sense of his own guilt and the
dread of God's wrath (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.11-Job.18.12" parsed="|Job|18|11|18|12" passage="Job 18:11,12"><i>v.</i>
11, 12</scripRef>): <i>Terror shall make him afraid on every
side.</i> The terrors of his own conscience shall haunt him, so
that he shall never be easy. Wherever he goes, these shall follow
him; which way soever he looks, these shall stare him in the face.
It will make him tremble to see himself fought against by the whole
creation, to see Heaven frowning on him, hell gaping for him, and
earth sick of him. He that carries his own accuser, and his own
tormentor, always in his bosom, cannot but be afraid on every side.
This will drive him to his feet, like the malefactor, who, being
conscious of his own guilt, takes to his heels and <i>flees when
none pursues,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.1" parsed="|Prov|28|1|0|0" passage="Pr 28:1">Prov. xxviii.
1</scripRef>. But his feet will do him no service; they are fast in
the snare, <scripRef id="Job.xix-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.9" parsed="|Job|18|9|0|0" passage="Job 18:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The
sinner may as soon overpower the divine omnipotence as flee from
the divine omniscience, <scripRef id="Job.xix-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.9.2-Amos.9.3" parsed="|Amos|9|2|9|3" passage="Am 9:2,3">Amos ix. 2,
3</scripRef>. No marvel that the sinner is dispirited and
distracted with fear, for, 1. He sees his ruin approaching:
<i>Destruction shall be ready at his side,</i> to seize him
whenever justice gives the word, so that he is <i>brought into
desolation in a moment,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.19" parsed="|Ps|73|19|0|0" passage="Ps 73:19">Ps.
lxxiii. 19</scripRef>. 2. He feels himself utterly unable to
grapple with it, either to escape it or to bear up under it. That
which he relied upon as <i>his strength</i> (his wealth, power,
pomp, friends, and the hardiness of his own spirit) <i>shall</i>
fail him in the time of need, and <i>be hunger-bitten,</i> that is,
it shall do him no more service than a famished man, pining away
for hunger, would do in work or war. The case being thus with him,
no marvel that he is a terror to himself. Note, The way of sin is a
way of fear, and leads to everlasting confusion, of which the
present terrors of an impure and unpacified conscience are
earnests, as they were to Cain and Judas.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p16">II. See him devoured and swallowed up by a
miserable death; and miserable indeed a wicked man's death is, how
secure and jovial soever his life was. 1. See him dying, arrested
by <i>the first-born of death</i> (some disease, or some stroke
that has in it a more than ordinary resemblance of death itself;
<i>so great a death,</i> as it is called, <scripRef id="Job.xix-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.10" parsed="|2Cor|1|10|0|0" passage="2Co 1:10">2 Cor. i. 10</scripRef>, a messenger of death that has
in it an uncommon strength and terror), weakened by the harbingers
of death, which <i>devour the strength of his skin,</i> that is, it
shall bring rottenness into his bones and consume them. <i>His
confidence shall then be rooted out of his tabernacle</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xix-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.14" parsed="|Job|18|14|0|0" passage="Job 18:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), that is,
all that he trusted to for his support shall be taken from him, and
he shall have nothing to rely upon, no, not his own tabernacle. His
own soul was his confidence, but that shall be rooted out of the
tabernacle of the body, as a tree that cumbered the ground. "Thy
soul shall be required of thee." 2. See him dead, and see his case
then with an eye of faith. (1.) He is then brought to <i>the king
of terrors.</i> He was surrounded with terrors while he lived
(<scripRef id="Job.xix-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.11" parsed="|Job|18|11|0|0" passage="Job 18:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), and death
was the king of all those terrors; they fought against the sinner
in death's name, for it is by reason of death that sinners are
<i>all their lifetime subject to bondage</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.15" parsed="|Heb|2|15|0|0" passage="Heb 2:15">Heb. ii. 15</scripRef>), and at length they will be
brought to that which they so long feared, as a captive to the
conqueror. Death is terrible to nature; our Saviour himself prayed,
<i>Father, save me from this hour.</i> But to the wicked it is in a
special manner <i>the king of terrors,</i> both as it is a period
to that life in which they placed their happiness and a passage to
that life where they will find their endless misery. How happy then
are the saints, and how much indebted to the Lord Jesus, by whom
death is so far abolished, and the property of it altered, that
this king of terrors becomes a friend and servant! (2.) He is then
<i>driven from the light into darkness</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.18" parsed="|Job|18|18|0|0" passage="Job 18:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), from the light of this world,
and his prosperous condition in it, into darkness, the darkness of
the grave, the darkness of hell, into utter darkness, never to see
light (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.19" parsed="|Ps|49|19|0|0" passage="Ps 49:19">Ps. xlix. 19</scripRef>), not
the least gleam, nor any hopes of it. (3.) He is then <i>chased out
of the world,</i> hurried and dragged away by the messengers of
death, sorely against his will, chased as Adam out of paradise, for
the world is his paradise. It intimates that he would fain stay
here; he is loth to depart, but go he must; all the world is weary
of him, and therefore chases him out, as glad to get rid of him.
This is death to a wicked man.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p17">III. See his family sunk and cut off,
<scripRef id="Job.xix-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.15" parsed="|Job|18|15|0|0" passage="Job 18:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. The wrath
and curse of God light and lie, not only upon his head and heart,
but upon his house too, to consume it with the <i>timber and stones
thereof,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.4" parsed="|Zech|5|4|0|0" passage="Zec 5:4">Zech. v. 4</scripRef>.
Death itself shall dwell in his tabernacle, and, having expelled
him, shall take possession of his house, to the terror and
destruction of all that he leaves behind. Even the dwelling shall
be ruined for the sake of its owner: <i>Brimstone shall be
scattered upon his habitation,</i> rained upon it as upon Sodom, to
the destruction of which this seems to have reference. Some think
he here upbraids Job with the burning of his sheep and servants
with fire from heaven. The reason is here given why his tabernacle
is thus marked for ruin: <i>Because it is none of his;</i> that is,
it was unjustly got, and kept, from the rightful owner, and
therefore let him not expect either the comfort or the continuance
of it. His children shall perish, either with him or after him,
<scripRef id="Job.xix-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.16" parsed="|Job|18|16|0|0" passage="Job 18:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. So that,
<i>his roots being</i> in his own person <i>dried up beneath, above
his branch</i> (every child of his family) <i>shall be cut off.</i>
Thus the houses of Jeroboam, Baasha, and Ahab, were cut off; none
that descended from them were left alive. Those who take root in
the earth may expect it will thus be dried up; but, if we be rooted
in Christ, even our leaf shall not wither, much less shall our
branch be cut off. Those who consult the true honour of their
family, and the welfare of its branches, will be afraid of
withering it by sin. The extirpation of the sinner's family is
mentioned again (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.19" parsed="|Job|18|19|0|0" passage="Job 18:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>): <i>He shall neither have son nor nephew,</i> child
nor grandchild, to enjoy his estate and bear up his name,
<i>nor</i> shall there be <i>any remaining in his dwelling</i> akin
to him. Sin entails a curse upon posterity, and the iniquity of the
fathers is often visited upon the children. Herein, also, it is
probable that Bildad reflects upon the death of Job's children and
servants, as a further proof of his being a wicked man; whereas all
that are written childless are not thereby written graceless; there
is a name <i>better than that of sons and daughters.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p18">IV. See his memory buried with him, or made
odious; he shall either be forgotten or spoken of with dishonour
(<scripRef id="Job.xix-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.17" parsed="|Job|18|17|0|0" passage="Job 18:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): <i>His
remembrance shall perish from the earth;</i> and, if it perish
thence, it perishes wholly, for it was never written in heaven, as
the names of the saints are, <scripRef id="Job.xix-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.20" parsed="|Luke|10|20|0|0" passage="Lu 10:20">Luke x.
20</scripRef>. All his honour shall be laid and lost in the dust,
or stained with perpetual infamy, so that <i>he shall have no name
in the street,</i> departing without being desired. Thus the
judgments of God follow him, after death, in this world, as an
indication of the misery his soul is in after death, and an earnest
of that everlasting shame and contempt to which he shall rise in
the great day. <i>The memory of the just is blessed, but the name
of the wicked shall rot,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.10.7" parsed="|Prov|10|7|0|0" passage="Pr 10:7">Prov. x.
7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p19">V. See a universal amazement at his fall,
<scripRef id="Job.xix-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.20" parsed="|Job|18|20|0|0" passage="Job 18:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Those that
see it are affrighted, so sudden is the change, so dreadful the
execution, so threatening to all about him: and those that come
after, and hear the report of it, are astonished at it; their ears
are made to tingle, and their hearts to tremble, and they cry out,
<i>Lord, how terrible art thou in thy judgments!</i> A place or
person utterly ruined is said to be <i>made an astonishment,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xix-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.37 Bible:2Chr.7.21 Bible:Jer.25.9 Bible:Jer.25.18" parsed="|Deut|28|37|0|0;|2Chr|7|21|0|0;|Jer|25|9|0|0;|Jer|25|18|0|0" passage="De 28:37,2Ch 7:21,Jer 25:9,18">Deut. xxviii. 37;
2 Chron. vii. 21; Jer. xxv. 9, 18</scripRef>. Horrible sins bring
strange punishments.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xix-p20">VI. See all this averred as the unanimous
sense of the patriarchal age, grounded upon their knowledge of God
and their many observations of his providence (<scripRef id="Job.xix-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.21" parsed="|Job|18|21|0|0" passage="Job 18:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): <i>Surely such are the
dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place</i> (this the
condition) <i>of him that knows not God!</i> See here what is the
beginning, and what is the end, of the wickedness of this wicked
world. 1. The beginning of it is ignorance of God, and it is a
wilful ignorance, for there is that to be known of him which is
sufficient to leave them for ever inexcusable. They know not God,
and then they commit all iniquity. Pharaoh knows not the Lord, and
therefore will not obey his voice. 2. The end of it, and that is
utter destruction. <i>Such,</i> so miserable, <i>are the dwellings
of the wicked.</i> Vengeance will be taken of those that <i>know
not God,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xix-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.1.8" parsed="|2Thess|1|8|0|0" passage="2Th 1:8">2 Thess. i. 8</scripRef>.
For those whom he has not honour from he will get himself honour
upon. Let us therefore stand in awe and not sin, for it will
certainly be bitterness in the latter end.</p>
</div></div2>