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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J O B</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XVIII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter Bildad makes a second assault upon Job. In his first
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discourse
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+8:1-22"><I>ch.</I> viii.</A>)
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he had given him encouragement to hope that all should yet be well with
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him. But here there is not a word of that; he has grown more peevish,
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and is so far from being convinced by Job's reasonings that he is but
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more exasperated.
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I. He sharply reproves Job as haughty and passionate, and obstinate in
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his opinion,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:1-4">ver. 1-4</A>.
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II. He enlarges upon the doctrine he had before maintained, concerning
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the miser of wicked people and the ruin that attends them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:5-21">ver. 5-21</A>.
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In this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of the
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miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark, bewildered,
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ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world. "This," says
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Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and therefore thou art
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one."</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job18_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Second Address of Eliphaz.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
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2 How long <I>will it be ere</I> ye make an end of words? mark, and
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afterwards we will speak.
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3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, <I>and</I> reputed vile in
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your sight?
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4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken
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for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Bildad here shoots his arrows, even bitter words, against poor Job,
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little thinking that, though he was a wise and good man, in this
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instance he was serving Satan's design in adding to Job's
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affliction.</P>
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<P>
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I. He charges him with idle endless talk, as Eliphaz had done
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+15:2,3"><I>ch.</I> xv. 2, 3</A>):
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<I>How long will it be ere you make an end of words?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Here he reflects, not only upon Job himself, but either upon all the
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managers of the conference (thinking perhaps that Eliphaz and Zophar
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did not speak so closely to the purpose as they might have done) or
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upon some that were present, who possibly took part with Job, and put
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in a word now and then in his favour, though it be not recorded. Bildad
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was weary of hearing others speak, and impatient till it came to his
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turn, which cannot be observed to any man's praise, for we ought to be
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swift to hear and slow to speak. It is common for contenders to
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monopolize the reputation of wisdom, and then to insist upon it as
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their privilege to be dictators. How unbecoming this conduct is in
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others every one can see; but few that are guilty of it can see it in
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themselves. Time was when Job had the last word in all debates
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+29:22"><I>ch.</I> xxix. 22</A>):
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<I>After my words they spoke not again.</I> Then he was in power and
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prosperity; but now that he was impoverished and brought low he could
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scarcely be allowed to speak at all, and every thing he said was as
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much vilified as formerly it had been magnified. <I>Wisdom</I>
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therefore (as the world goes) <I>is good with an inheritance</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:11">Eccl. vii. 11</A>);
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for <I>the poor man's wisdom is despised,</I> and, because he is poor,
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<I>his words are not heard,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+9:16">Eccl. ix. 16</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. With a regardlessness of what was said to him, intimated in that,
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<I>Mark, and afterwards we will speak.</I> And it is to no purpose to
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speak, though what is said be ever so much to the purpose, if those to
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whom it is addressed will not mark and observe it. Let the <I>ear be
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opened to hear as the learned,</I> and then the tongues of the learned
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will do good service
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:4">Isa. l. 4</A>)
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and not otherwise. It is an encouragement to those that speak of the
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things of God to see the hearers attentive.</P>
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<P>
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III. With a haughty contempt and disdain of his friends and of that
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which they offered
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>Wherefore are we counted as beasts?</I> This was invidious. Job had
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indeed called them <I>mockers,</I> had represented them both as unwise
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and as unkind, wanting both in the reason and tenderness of men, but he
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did not count them beasts; yet Bildad so represents the matter,
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1. Because his high spirit resented what Job had said as if it had been
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the greatest affront imaginable. Proud men are apt to think themselves
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slighted more than really they are.
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2. Because his hot spirit was willing to find a pretence to be hard
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upon Job. Those that incline to be severe upon others will have it
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thought that others have first been so upon them.</P>
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<P>
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IV. With outrageous passion: <I>He teareth himself in his anger,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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Herein he seems to reflect upon what Job had said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:14"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 14</A>):
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<I>Wherefore did I take my flesh in my teeth?</I> "It is thy own
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fault," says Bildad. Or he reflected upon what he said
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+16:9"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 9</A>,
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where he seemed to charge it upon God, or, as some think, upon Eliphaz:
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<I>He teareth me in his wrath.</I> "No," says Bildad; "thou alone shalt
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bear it." <I>He teareth himself in his anger.</I> Note, Anger is a sin
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that is its own punishment. Fretful passionate people tear and torment
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themselves. <I>He teareth his soul</I> (so the word is); every sin
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wounds the soul, tears that, wrongs that
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:36">Prov. viii. 36</A>),
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unbridled passion particularly.</P>
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<P>
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V. With a proud and arrogant expectation to give law even to Providence
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itself: "<I>Shall the earth be forsaken for thee?</I> Surely not; there
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is no reason for that, that the course of nature should be changed and
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the settled rules of government violated to gratify the humour of one
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man. Job, dost thou think the world cannot stand without thee; but
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that, if thou art ruined, all the world is ruined and forsaken with
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thee?" Some make it a reproof of Job's justification of himself,
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falsely insinuating that either Job was a wicked man or we must deny a
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Providence and suppose that God has forsaken the earth and the rock of
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ages is removed. It is rather a just reproof of his passionate
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complaints. When we quarrel with the events of Providence we forget
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that, whatever befals us, it is,
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1. According to the eternal purpose and counsel of God.
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2. According to the written word. Thus it is written that in the world
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we must have tribulation, that, since we sin daily, we must expect to
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smart for it; and,
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3. According to the usual way and custom, the track of Providence,
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nothing but what is common to men; and to expect that God's counsels
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should change, his method alter, and his word fail, to please us, is as
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absurd and unreasonable as to think <I>the earth should be forsaken for
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us and the rock removed out of its place.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Job18_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Miserable Condition of the Wicked.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark
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of his fire shall not shine.
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6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle
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shall be put out with him.
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7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own
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counsel shall cast him down.
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8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh
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upon a snare.
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9 The gin shall take <I>him</I> by the heel, <I>and</I> the robber shall
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prevail against him.
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10 The snare <I>is</I> laid for him in the ground, and a trap for
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him in the way.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The rest of Bildad's discourse is entirely taken up in an elegant
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description of the miserable condition of a wicked man, in which there
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is a great deal of certain truth, and which will be of excellent use if
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duly considered--that a sinful condition is a sad condition, and that
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iniquity will be men's ruin if they do not repent of it. But it is not
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true that all wicked people are visibly and openly made thus miserable
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in this world; nor is it true that all who are brought into great
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distress and trouble in this world are <I>therefore</I> to be deemed
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and adjudged wicked men, when no other proof appears against them; and
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therefore, though Bildad thought the application of it to Job was easy,
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yet it was not safe nor just. In these verses we have,</P>
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<P>
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I. The destruction of the wicked foreseen and foretold, under the
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similitude of darkness
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>):
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<I>Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out.</I> Even his
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<I>light,</I> the best and brightest part of him, shall be put out;
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even that which he rejoiced in shall fail him. Or the <I>yea</I> may
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refer to Job's complaints of the great distress he was in and the
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darkness he should shortly make his bed in. "Yea," says Bildad, "So it
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is; thou art clouded, and straitened, and made miserable, and no better
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could be expected; for <I>the light of the wicked shall be put out,</I>
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and therefore thine shall." Observe here,
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1. The wicked may have some light for a while, some pleasure, some joy,
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some hope within, as well as wealth, and honour, and power without. But
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his light is but a spark
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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a little thing and soon extinguished. It is but a candle
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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wasting, and burning down, and easily blown out. It is not the light of
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the Lord (that is sun-light), but the <I>light of his own fire</I> and
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<I>sparks of his own kindling,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:11">Isa. l. 11</A>.
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2. His light will certainly be put out at length, quite put out, so
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that not the least spark of it shall remain with which to kindle
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another fire. Even while he is in his tabernacle, while he is in the
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body, which is the tabernacle of the soul
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:1">2 Cor. v. 1</A>),
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the light shall be dark; he shall have no true solid comfort, no joy
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that is satisfying, no hope that is supporting. Even <I>the light that
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is in him is darkness;</I> and <I>how great is that darkness!</I> But,
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when he is put out of this tabernacle by death, <I>his candle shall be
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put out with him.</I> The period of his life will be the final period
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of all his days and will turn all his hopes into endless despair.
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<I>When a wicked man dies his expectation shall perish,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+11:7">Prov. xi. 7</A>.
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<I>He shall lie down in sorrow.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. The preparatives for that destruction represented under the
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similitude of a beast or bird caught in a snare, or a malefactor
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arrested and taken into custody in order to his punishment,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:7-10"><I>v.</I> 7-10</A>.
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1. Satan is preparing for his destruction. He is <I>the robber that
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shall prevail against him</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
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for, as he was a murderer, so he was a robber, from the beginning. He,
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as the tempter, lays snares for sinners in the way, wherever they go,
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and he shall prevail. If he make them sinful like himself, he will make
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them miserable like himself. He <I>hunts for the precious life.</I>
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2. He is himself preparing for his own destruction by going on in sin,
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and so <I>treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.</I> God gives
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him up, as he deserves and desires, to his own counsels, and then
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<I>his own counsels cast him down,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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His sinful projects and pursuits bring him into mischief. He is <I>cast
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into a net by his own feet</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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runs upon his own destruction, is <I>snared in the work of his own
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hands</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+9:16">Ps. ix. 16</A>);
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his <I>own tongue falls upon him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+64:8">Ps. lxiv. 8</A>.
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<I>In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare.</I>
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3. God is preparing for his destruction. The sinner by his sin is
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preparing the fuel and then God by his wrath is preparing the fire. See
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here,
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(1.) How the sinner is infatuated, to run himself into the snare; and
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whom God will destroy he infatuates.
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(2.) How he is embarrassed: <I>The steps of his strength,</I> his
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mighty designs and efforts, <I>shall be straitened,</I> so that he
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shall not compass what he intended; and the more he strives to
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extricate himself the more will he be entangled. Evil men wax worse
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and worse.
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(3.) How he is secured and kept from escaping the judgments of God that
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are in pursuit of him. <I>The gin shall take him by the heel.</I> He
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can no more escape the divine wrath that is in pursuit of him than a
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man, so held, can flee from the pursuer. God <I>knows how to reserve
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the wicked for the day of judgment,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+2:9">2 Pet. ii. 9</A>.</P>
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<A NAME="Job18_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job18_21"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive
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him to his feet.
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12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction <I>shall
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be</I> ready at his side.
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13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: <I>even</I> the
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firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
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14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it
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shall bring him to the king of terrors.
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15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because <I>it is</I> none of
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his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
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16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his
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branch be cut off.
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17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall
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have no name in the street.
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18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out
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of the world.
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19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor
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any remaining in his dwellings.
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20 They that come after <I>him</I> shall be astonied at his day, as
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they that went before were affrighted.
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21 Surely such <I>are</I> the dwellings of the wicked, and this <I>is</I>
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the place <I>of him that</I> knoweth not God.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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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>
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|
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<P>
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|
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I. See him disheartened and weakened by continual terrors arising from
|
|
the sense of his own guilt and the dread of God's wrath
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>):
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<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,
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|
these shall stare him in the face. It will make him tremble to see
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|
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
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|
malefactor, who, being conscious of his own guilt, takes to his heels
|
|
and <I>flees when none pursues,</I>
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|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:1">Prov. xxviii. 1</A>.
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But his feet will do him no service; they are fast in the snare,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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The sinner may as soon overpower the divine omnipotence as flee from
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the divine omniscience,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+9:2,3">Amos ix. 2, 3</A>.
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No marvel that the sinner is dispirited and distracted with fear, for,
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|
1. He sees his ruin approaching: <I>Destruction shall be ready at his
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|
side,</I> to seize him whenever justice gives the word, so that he is
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|
<I>brought into desolation in a moment,</I>
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|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:19">Ps. lxxiii. 19</A>.
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|
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>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+1:10">2 Cor. i. 10</A>,
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+2:15">Heb. ii. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+49:19">Ps. xlix. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
III. See his family sunk and cut off,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:4">Zech. v. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
IV. See his memory buried with him, or made odious; he shall either be
|
|
forgotten or spoken of with dishonour
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+10:20">Luke x. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+10:7">Prov. x. 7</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. See a universal amazement at his fall,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:37,2Ch+7:21,Jer+25:9,18">Deut. xxviii. 37;
|
|
2 Chron. vii. 21; Jer. xxv. 9, 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Horrible sins bring strange punishments.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+1:8">2 Thess. i. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
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