Reflections on Job 18

 Job 18 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Bildad from Shuah said:
2. How long will you talk? Be sensible! Let us speak.
3. Or do you think that we are dumb animals?
4. You cut yourself in anger. Will that shake the earth or even move the rocks?
5. The lamps of sinful people soon are snuffed out,
6. leaving their tents dark.
7. Their powerful legs become weak, and they stumble on schemes of their own doing.
8. Before they know it,
9. they are trapped in a net,
10. hidden along the path.
11. Terror strikes and pursues from every side.
12. Starving, they run, only to meet disaster,
13. then afterwards to be eaten alive by death itself.
14. Those sinners are dragged from the safety of their tents to die a gruesome death.
15. Then their tents and possessions are burned to ashes,
16. and they are left like trees, dried up from the roots.
17. They are gone and forgotten,
18. thrown far from the light into a world of darkness,
19. without any children to carry on their name.
20. Everyone, from east to west, is overwhelmed with horror.
21. Such is the fate of sinners and their families who don't know God.

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Bildad, the person of fewer words among the friends took another turn at speaking and was, by this time, ill tempered. He had grown weary of Job's talking, offended by Job's accusation that he and his friends should learn from the animals, and that their words were empty. He, no doubt, could not wait for Job to be quiet so he could return fire.

Following his initial attack on Job, Bildad then spoke of the ruin that befalls the wicked, obviously implying that Job was wicked:

• The lamp in his house (life and prosperity) would go out
• He would become weakened physically as a result of his schemes
• A series of snares awaited him: a net, a trap, a snare, etc.
• His skin would be eaten away
• He would be torn from his tent
• He would be marched off to the king of terrors
• His house would be burned and all security gone
• He would be forgotten, banished, and left with no descendants

Bildad and his friends have built their case against Job on unexamined assumptions. The first, mentioned before, that suffering equals sin. If one suffers it is obviously a result of sin in their life. A second such assumption is that age equals wisdom. They drew upon this assumption in two ways, the fact that at least one of the three was as old as Job's father, and then by drawing on the counsel of ancestors. A third faulty assumption began now to appear: to speak critically of God amounts to wickedness. This, at least, seems to be the source of Bildad's reference of Job as being wicked. It was one thing to call him a sinner and still another to accuse him of being wicked.

It becomes more and more evident that it was the friends, and not Job, who did not know or understand God. God is not an impersonal God who is easily put off and must be appeased. As with any personal relationship there will be rifts and angry words spoken. This was Job's situation. He was grieving and could see no other cause for his suffering than that it came from God, and for no good reason. Therefore, he spoke angrily toward God. But he did not curse God or deny His existence or deny any of His powers. He was simply aggrieved with God and said so. This speaks more of an intimate relationship than of a wicked person who rebels against God.