Job 18:5














Again Bildad speaks. He is not the sufferer, but the judge. Be who came as a comforter utters but miserable words in the ears of the afflicted one. His words are true in themselves, but wrongly applied. Justly he describes the fruits of impiety.

I. To THE IMPIOUS THE LIGHT OF PROSPERITY IS EXCHANGED FOR THE DARKNESS OF MISFORTUNE. His "lamp is put out." Sorrowfulness, sooner or later, overtakes him. For a time he is in great prosperity; but his sin finds him out. The ill-gotten gain of ungodliness has no blessing upon it, but a withering curse. Sooner or later the heyday of wicked rejoicing is exchanged for the blackness of dark night. Universal experience affirms this. It is a just punishment of wrong, and a warning to the tempted; while it admonishes the obedient, and declares "there is a God that judgeth in the earth."

II. THE EVILLY FORMED PURPOSE OF IMPIETY FAILS. His "steps are straitened," how strong soever they may seem to be. Even his very counsel itself shall be a stumbling-block to cast the wicked down. The hope cherished without God must be disappointed; the selfish design is itself a trap for the feet of the ungodly.

III. IMPIETY ENTANGLES IN DIFFICULTIES. "The snare is laid for him in the ground." The whole kingdom of right and truth is against him. Judgment waits on his steps. Sooner or later his feet will be in "the trap" that is laid "for him in the way." His course is not a plain, direct, clear course. His motives are confused. He hedges himself with difficulties. One wrong exposes him to another. At last "the gin takes him by the heel"

IV. IMPIETY EXCITES TO FEAR AND DREAD. "Terrors make him afraid on every side." The awakened conscience makes a coward of him. He fears the rustling of the leaf. Judgment is passed in the secret chambers of his soul. He cannot escape.

V. IMPIETY WASTES THE STRENGTH AND BRINGS THE LIFE DOWN TO DESTRUCTION. Sin is the transgression of law. Laws of life cannot be broken without the health failing. An impious spirit, unruled and uncontrolled by righteous principle, will pursue evil and dangerous courses, will yield to evil habits, and the strength of the life will be undermined. Then "the firstborn of death shall devour his strength." He becomes the prey of. destruction. He is brought "to the king of terrors." Thus the course of impiety ends in ignominy, shame, and destruction. "This is the portion of their cup." Darkness, difficulty, fear, wasted purpose and wasted strength finally issuing in death, are the inevitable fruits of impiety. - R.G.

The light of the wicked shall be put out.
Moral, spiritual, civil.

1. Moral light is the light of wisdom, prudence, and understanding. In this sense some Rabbins understand the text; as if he had said, the wicked man shall be made a very fool, destitute of wit, reason, understanding, and ability to judge or know what evil is upon him, or what is good for him. The spirit of counsel shall be taken from him. That is a sore judgment.

2. There is spiritual light, and that is double. The light of the knowledge of God, and the light of comfort from God. The knowledge we receive from God is light; and the joy we receive from God is light. Some interpret the peace of this spiritual light. Though a wicked man, an hypocrite, hath a great measure of this light, yet his light shall be put out, as Christ threatens (Matthew 13:12).

3. A civil light: that is, the light of outward prosperity. And so these words are a gradation, teaching us that, not only whatsoever a carnal man reckons his greatest splendour, but what he calls his smallest ray of temporal blessedness, shall be wrapt in darkness and obscurity. Outward prosperity may be called "light" upon a threefold consideration.(1) Because as light refresheth and cheereth the spirits, so doth outward prosperity and the presence of worldly accommodations.(2) Light helps us on in our work; no man can work until he have either the natural light of the sun and fire, or some artificial light. Prosperity and peace carry us on in our worldly affairs.

3. Light makes us conspicuous: we are seen what we are in the light. Thus outward prosperity makes men appear. Poverty joins with obscurity.

(Joseph Caryl.)

The light shall be dark in his tabernacle.
The text is part of Bildad's description of a wicked man. The description might, however, be adapted to represent weakness and deficiency, as well as wickedness. Those who are of radically weak understanding may be spoken of thus: "The light shall be dark in his tabernacle." There is a four-fold light in our nature, placed there by our Creator, the Father of our spirits — the light of the understanding, the light of the judgment, the light of the conscience (including the whole moral sense), and the light of the religious sensibility, This light may be diminished, nay, even extinguished, by wickedness. Sin reduces the natural light within us, and continuous sinning involves constant decrease in that light. Sins in the body and sins against the body lessen the light of the understanding, and reduce the power of mental conception, and the power of thought. All sin perverts the judgment, sears the conscience, and blunts the moral sense. By continuing in sin there is a hardening process carried on, so that sin is at length committed without fear, or remorse, or regret. All sin tends to destroy faith in God, and to stop intercourse with God. The whole tendency of sin is to reduce the light within him. But there is a Deliverer from this position; there is a Saviour from this condition There is, in some cases, a natural deficiency of the light of which we have been speaking — a natural defect in conscience, understanding, judgment, and religious sensibility — a deep and radical defect. This is idiocy. "The light is dark in the tabernacle." What can be done in such cases? Five things.

1. Whatever latent capacity is possessed may be developed — power of observation, and of speech, power of attention and acquisition, power of thought and feeling, power of skill and labour, moral and religious power. The idiot is not a broken vessel, but an unfilled vessel; not a broken candlestick, but a candlestick with a feeble lamp.

2. The external condition may be made comfortable and pleasant, and favourable to the idiot's improvement. The dwelling may be made wholesome and attractive, and may present objects to the eye which shall call out the imagination, and evoke healthy sentiment and feeling.

3. All the energy of the body and of the spirit which is manifested may be directed into the channels of usefulness.

4. The almost insupportable burden of providing for an idiot child in the family whose means are scanty and insufficient may be shared or entirely borne by Christian benevolence.

5. A refuge from observation, and mockery, and injudicious treatment, and from ill-treatment, may be provided for idiots who are not poor. On all grounds it is most undesirable for those who are distinctly idiotic to live with those whose condition is sound. Consider the claims of idiots upon us Christians. The birth of idiots is a great mystery. It is one of the mysteries that would crush us if we did not look up. Way does God permit and inflict idiocy? It cannot come from malevolence in God. All we can say is, God willeth, and it must be right. Children smitten through their parents have a strong claim — the strongest possible claim — upon Christian benevolence. We may not be kept back from providing for the idiot by the fact that the affliction is sometimes directly traceable to sin in the parents and other ancestors.

(Samuel Martin, M. A.)

People
Bildad, Job
Places
Uz
Topics
Burning, Extinguished, Fire, Flame, Gives, Goes, Indeed, Shine, Shining, Sinner, Snuffed, Spark, Stops, Wicked, Yea, Yes
Outline
1. Bildad reproves Job for presumption and impatience
5. The calamities of the wicked

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 18:5-6

     4812   darkness, God's judgment
     5373   lamp and lampstand

Job 18:5-16

     4416   branch

Job 18:5-17

     4504   roots

Library
Whether the Fire of Hell is Beneath the Earth?
Objection 1: It would seem that this fire is not beneath the earth. For it is said of the damned (Job 18:18), "And God shall remove him out of the globe [Douay: 'world']." Therefore the fire whereby the damned will be punished is not beneath the earth but outside the globe. Objection 2: Further, nothing violent or accidental can be everlasting. But this fire will be in hell for ever. Therefore it will be there, not by force but naturally. Now fire cannot be under the earth save by violence. Therefore
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Devil is the Head of all the Wicked?
Objection 1: It would seem that the devil is not the head of the wicked. For it belongs to the head to diffuse sense and movement into the members, as a gloss says, on Eph. 1:22, "And made Him head," etc. But the devil has no power of spreading the evil of sin, which proceeds from the will of the sinner. Therefore the devil cannot be called the head of the wicked. Objection 2: Further, by every sin a man is made evil. But not every sin is from the devil; and this is plain as regards the demons, who
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Difference Between the Two Testaments.
1. Five points of difference between the Old and the New Testaments. These belong to the mode of administration rather than the substance. First difference. In the Old Testament the heavenly inheritance is exhibited under temporal blessings; in the New, aids of this description are not employed. 2. Proof of this first difference from the simile of an heir in pupillarity, as in Gal. 4:1. 3. This the reason why the Patriarchs, under the Law, set a higher value on this life and the blessings of it,
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Whether the Fire of Hell is of the Same Species as Ours?
Objection 1: It would seem that this fire is not of the same species as the corporeal fire which we see. For Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xx, 16): "In my opinion no man knows of what kind is the everlasting fire, unless the Spirit of God has revealed it to anyone." But all or nearly all know the nature of this fire of ours. Therefore that fire is not of the same species as this. Objection 2: Further, Gregory commenting on Job 10:26, "A fire that is not kindled shall devour him," says (Moral. xv):
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

A Few Sighs from Hell;
or, The Groans of the Damned Soul: or, An Exposition of those Words in the Sixteenth of Luke, Concerning the Rich Man and the Beggar WHEREIN IS DISCOVERED THE LAMENTABLE STATE OF THE DAMNED; THEIR CRIES, THEIR DESIRES IN THEIR DISTRESSES, WITH THE DETERMINATION OF GOD UPON THEM. A GOOD WARNING WORD TO SINNERS, BOTH OLD AND YOUNG, TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION BETIMES, AND TO SEEK, BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, TO AVOID, LEST THEY COME INTO THE SAME PLACE OF TORMENT. Also, a Brief Discourse touching the
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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