1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2“How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk. 3Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight? 4You who tear yourself in anger— should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place? 5Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow. 6The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out. 7His vigorous stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up. 8For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh. 9A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him. 10A noose is hidden in the ground, and a trap lies in his path. 11Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step. 12His strength is depleted, and calamity is ready at his side. 13It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs. 14He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors. 15Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling. 16The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away. 17The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land. 18He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world. 19He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived. 20Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror. 21Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Bildad reproves Job. (1-4) Ruin attends the wicked. (5-10) The ruin of the wicked. (11-21) 1-4 Bildad had before given Job good advice and encouragement; here he used nothing but rebukes, and declared his ruin. And he concluded that Job shut out the providence of God from the management of human affairs, because he would not admit himself to be wicked. 5-10 Bildad describes the miserable condition of a wicked man; in which there is much certain truth, if we consider that a sinful condition is a sad condition, and that sin will be men's ruin, if they do not repent. Though Bildad thought the application of it to Job was easy, yet it was not safe nor just. It is common for angry disputants to rank their opponents among God's enemies, and to draw wrong conclusions from important truths. The destruction of the wicked is foretold. That destruction is represented under the similitude of a beast or bird caught in a snare, or a malefactor taken into custody. Satan, as he was a murderer, so he was a robber, from the beginning. He, the tempter, lays snares for sinners wherever they go. If he makes them sinful like himself, he will make them miserable like himself. Satan hunts for the precious life. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare for himself, and God is preparing for his destruction. See here how the sinner runs himself into the snare. 11-21 Bildad describes the destruction wicked people are kept for, in the other world, and which in some degree, often seizes them in this world. The way of sin is the way of fear, and leads to everlasting confusion, of which the present terrors of an impure conscience are earnests, as in Cain and Judas. Miserable indeed is a wicked man's death, how secure soever his life was. See him dying; all that he trusts to for his support shall be taken from him. How happy are the saints, and how indebted to the lord Jesus, by whom death is so far done away and changed, that this king of terrors is become a friend and a servant! See the wicked man's family sunk and cut off. His children shall perish, either with him or after him. Those who consult the true honour of their family, and its welfare, will be afraid of withering all by sin. The judgments of God follow the wicked man after death in this world, as a proof of the misery his soul is in after death, and as an earnest of that everlasting shame and contempt to which he shall rise in the great day. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot, #Pr 10:7|. It would be well if this report of wicked men would cause any to flee from the wrath to come, from which their power, policy, and riches cannot deliver them. But Jesus ever liveth to deliver all who trust in him. Bear up then, suffering believers. Ye shall for a little time have sorrow, but your Beloved, your Saviour, will see you again; your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh away.