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1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said,
2 How long will it bee, ere you make an ende of words? Marke, and afterwards we will speake.
3 Wherefore are wee counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
4 He teareth himselfe in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rocke bee remooued out of his place?
5 Yea, the light of the wicked shalbe put out, and the sparke of his fire shall not shine.
6 The light shalbe darke in his tabernacle, and his candle shalbe put out with him.
7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his owne counsell shall cast him downe.
8 For hee is cast into a net by his owne feete, & he walketh vpon a snare.
9 The grinne shall take him by the heele, and the robber shall preuaile against him.
10 The snare is laide for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
11 Terrours shall make him afraid on euery side, and shall driue him to his feete.
12 His strength shalbe hunger-bitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
13 It shall deuoure the strength of his skinne: euen the first borne of death shall deuoure his strength.
14 His confidence shalbe rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrours.
15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered vpon his habitation.
16 His rootes shall be dryed vp beneath: and aboue shall his branch be cut off.
17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and hee shall haue no name in the streete.
18 He shall be driuen from light into darkenesse, and chased out of the world.
19 Hee shall neither haue sonne nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
20 They that come after him shalbe astonied at his day, as they that went before, were affrighted.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
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.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.