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英文原文
In this chapter Bildad makes a second assault upon Job. In his first discourse (Job 8:1-22) he had given him encouragement to hope that all should yet be well with him. But here there is not a word of that; he has grown more peevish, and is so far from being convinced by Job's reasonings that he is but more exasperated. I. He sharply reproves Job as haughty and passionate, and obstinate in his opinion, Job 18:1-4. II. He enlarges upon the doctrine he had before maintained, concerning the miser of wicked people and the ruin that attends them, Job 18:5-21. In this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of the miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark, bewildered, ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world. "This," says Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and therefore thou art one."
1-4
Second Address of Eliphaz (1520 BC)
约伯记第十八章
比勒达的第二次发言（主前1520年）
¹ 书亚人比勒达回答说：
² 你们寻索言语要到几时呢？你们心里明白，然后我们才说话。
³ 我们为何算为畜生，为何在你眼中看为污秽呢？
⁴ 你这恼怒将自己撕裂的，难道大地为你见弃，磐石从原处挪移吗？
比勒达在此向可怜的约伯射箭，就是苦毒的言语——他没想到，自己虽是智慧良善之人，此时却为撒但效劳，加增约伯的苦难。
一、他指控他空谈无已，如以利法所行（伯 15:2-3）：*「你们寻索言语要到几时呢？」（伯 18:2）
** 他在此非议的，不仅是约伯本人，或是会议的几位主持者（也许他认为以利法和琐法发言不如他们本可以的那样切题），或是听众中某些人——他们可能站在约伯一边，时而为他插一句话，虽未记下。比勒达厌烦听别人发言，急不可耐地等轮到自己——这不能算为人的长处，因我们当*「快快地听，慢慢地说」（雅 1:19）。* 争辩之人常把智慧之名据为己有，又坚持其特权为发号施令者。这种行径在别人身上何等不相宜，人人都看得见；但犯这罪的人，却少有能看见自己身上的。从前约伯在一切辩论中有末后的话（伯 29:22）：「我说话之后，他们不再回答。」 那时他有权有势、凡事亨通；如今他贫穷卑下，几乎不容他开口，他所说的每句话，都被人轻看，正如从前被人看重一样。所以*「智慧」（按世上之理）「「加上产业是好的」（传 7:11）；因为*「穷人的智慧被人藐视」，正因他穷，「他的话也无人听」（传 9:16）。***
二、对他所说的不留心听，含蓄于这句话中：*「你们心里明白，然后我们才说话。」
** 虽所说多么切题，若听的人不留心、不留意，说也无用。让*「耳朵聆听如受教者*（赛 50:4直译）」，那时受教者的舌头才能作出好的服事——否则不能。看见听者专心，对那些讲论神之事的人是一种鼓励。
三、对朋友及其所提的，怀有傲慢的轻视和鄙夷（伯 18:3）：*「我们为何算为畜生呢？」
** 这是别有用心的曲解。约伯确实称过他们为*「讥诮者」*，把他们描述为既无智慧又无仁慈——既无人的理性、也无人的温柔；但他并未把他们算为畜生。比勒达却如此曲解其事—— 1. 因他的高傲之心把约伯所说的话当作奇耻大辱。 骄傲人常以为被人轻视，过于实际所受的。 2. 因他的急躁之心乐意为苛刻待约伯找借口。 那些倾向严待别人的人，常设法使人以为别人先严待了他们。
四、以狂暴的怒气：*「你这恼怒将自己撕裂的」（伯 18:4）
** 这话他似乎在影射约伯从前所说的（伯 13:14）：「我为何将肉衔在牙间呢？」——「那是你自取的」（比勒达说）。 或他影射约伯在伯 16:9所说——在那里他似乎把这归于神，或（如有人所想）归于以利法：「他在怒中撕裂我。」——「不」（比勒达说）「「你独自承担吧。」 请留意：发怒是自取其罚的罪。暴躁易怒的人撕裂折磨自己。他*「撕裂自己的灵魂」*（原文如此）；每一样罪都伤灵魂、撕裂它、亏负它（箴 8:36），毫无节制的怒气尤其如此。
五、怀着骄傲僭妄的期望，要为护理本身立法：*「难道大地为你见弃吗？」
——「断乎不会；那是不合理的，岂可为讨一人的欢心而改变自然之常道、违反治理之定规？约伯啊，你以为没有你世界便不能站立吗？你若败亡，全世界也都随你败亡、被弃吗？」 有人以为这是对约伯自辩的责备，暗指约伯若非恶人，他们便须否认有神的护理、以为神已弃绝这地、万古的磐石也被挪移。这话更当看作对他激情之言的公正责备。我们与护理的事相争之时，便忘了：无论何事临到我们，都是—— 1. 按着神永恒的旨意和谋略。 2. 按着所写的道。 道上记着：我们在世上必有苦难；既然我们日日犯罪，便当料到为此受罚； 3. 按着寻常的轨迹和惯例——护理的常轨——人所共受的事，并无例外。 若盼望神的谋略为我们而改、他的方法为我们而变、他的话为我们而失效，正如以为*「大地为你见弃、磐石从原处挪移」*一样荒谬无理。
英文原文
Second Address of Eliphaz (1520 BC)
¹ Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
² How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
³ Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
⁴ He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Bildad here shoots his arrows, even bitter words, against poor Job, little thinking that, though he was a wise and good man, in this instance he was serving Satan's design in adding to Job's affliction.
I. He charges him with idle endless talk, as Eliphaz had done (Job 15:2,3): How long will it be ere you make an end of words? Job 18:2. Here he reflects, not only upon Job himself, but either upon all the managers of the conference (thinking perhaps that Eliphaz and Zophar did not speak so closely to the purpose as they might have done) or upon some that were present, who possibly took part with Job, and put in a word now and then in his favour, though it be not recorded. Bildad was weary of hearing others speak, and impatient till it came to his turn, which cannot be observed to any man's praise, for we ought to be swift to hear and slow to speak. It is common for contenders to monopolize the reputation of wisdom, and then to insist upon it as their privilege to be dictators. How unbecoming this conduct is in others every one can see; but few that are guilty of it can see it in themselves. Time was when Job had the last word in all debates (Job 29:22): After my words they spoke not again. Then he was in power and prosperity; but now that he was impoverished and brought low he could scarcely be allowed to speak at all, and every thing he said was as much vilified as formerly it had been magnified. Wisdom therefore (as the world goes) is good with an inheritance (Ec 7:11); for the poor man's wisdom is despised, and, because he is poor, his words are not heard, Ec 9:16.
II. With a regardlessness of what was said to him, intimated in that, Mark, and afterwards we will speak. And it is to no purpose to speak, though what is said be ever so much to the purpose, if those to whom it is addressed will not mark and observe it. Let the ear be opened to hear as the learned, and then the tongues of the learned will do good service (Isa 50:4) and not otherwise. It is an encouragement to those that speak of the things of God to see the hearers attentive.
III. With a haughty contempt and disdain of his friends and of that which they offered (Job 18:3): Wherefore are we counted as beasts? This was invidious. Job had indeed called them mockers, had represented them both as unwise and as unkind, wanting both in the reason and tenderness of men, but he did not count them beasts; yet Bildad so represents the matter, 1. Because his high spirit resented what Job had said as if it had been the greatest affront imaginable. Proud men are apt to think themselves slighted more than really they are. 2. Because his hot spirit was willing to find a pretence to be hard upon Job. Those that incline to be severe upon others will have it thought that others have first been so upon them.
IV. With outrageous passion: He teareth himself in his anger, Job 18:4. Herein he seems to reflect upon what Job had said (Job 13:14): Wherefore did I take my flesh in my teeth? "It is thy own fault," says Bildad. Or he reflected upon what he said Job 16:9, where he seemed to charge it upon God, or, as some think, upon Eliphaz: He teareth me in his wrath. "No," says Bildad; "thou alone shalt bear it." He teareth himself in his anger. Note, Anger is a sin that is its own punishment. Fretful passionate people tear and torment themselves. He teareth his soul (so the word is); every sin wounds the soul, tears that, wrongs that (Pr 8:36), unbridled passion particularly.
V. With a proud and arrogant expectation to give law even to Providence itself: "Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? Surely not; there is no reason for that, that the course of nature should be changed and the settled rules of government violated to gratify the humour of one man. Job, dost thou think the world cannot stand without thee; but that, if thou art ruined, all the world is ruined and forsaken with thee?" Some make it a reproof of Job's justification of himself, falsely insinuating that either Job was a wicked man or we must deny a Providence and suppose that God has forsaken the earth and the rock of ages is removed. It is rather a just reproof of his passionate complaints. When we quarrel with the events of Providence we forget that, whatever befals us, it is, 1. According to the eternal purpose and counsel of God. 2. According to the written word. Thus it is written that in the world we must have tribulation, that, since we sin daily, we must expect to smart for it; and, 3. According to the usual way and custom, the track of Providence, nothing but what is common to men; and to expect that God's counsels should change, his method alter, and his word fail, to please us, is as absurd and unreasonable as to think the earth should be forsaken for us and the rock removed out of its place.
5-21
Miserable Condition of the Wicked (1520 BC)
恶人的悲惨光景（主前1520年）
⁵ 恶人的亮光必要熄灭，他火焰的火星也必不发亮。
⁶ 他帐棚中的光要变为黑暗，他的灯也必与他一同熄灭。
⁷ 他坚强的步伐必被窄狭，他自己的计谋必将他倾覆。
⁸ 因为他被自己的脚缠在网上，行走在陷阱之上。
⁹ 圈套要抓住他的脚跟，强盗要胜过他。
¹⁰ 活扣为他藏在地里，陷阱为他设在途中。
比勒达余下的话，完全用以优美地描写恶人的悲惨光景；其中有许多确凿的真理，若郑重思考必有极佳的功用——罪恶的光景就是愁苦的光景，人若不悔改，罪孽必成为他们的毁灭。但并非所有恶人都在今世明显地、公开地如此愁苦；也并非所有在今世陷入大苦难和患难中的人，因此就被视为、被判定为恶人——在没有别的证据控告他们的时候。因此，比勒达虽然以为把这应用在约伯身上很容易，其实既不安全也不公道。在这些经文中，我们有，
一、恶人的毁灭被预见、被预言，用黑暗的比方来描绘（伯18:5,6）：「恶人的亮光必要熄灭。」连他的「光」——他身上最美好最明亮的部分——也必熄灭；连他所引以为乐的也必使他失望。或者这「实在」也可指约伯所抱怨自己身陷的大苦境和他不久要铺设床榻的黑暗。「实在，」比勒达说，「正是如此；你被云遮，被困迫，被弄得愁苦，再没有别的可期望了；因为恶人的亮光必要熄灭，所以你的也必熄灭。」在此请注意，1. 恶人可能暂时还有一些亮光，里面有一些快乐、一些喜乐、一些指望，外面还有财富、尊荣和权力。但他的光不过是火星（伯18:5），是微小之物，很快熄灭。不过是灯烛（伯18:6），逐渐燃尽、烧尽，轻易被吹灭。这不是主的光（那是日光），而是「他自己所燃之火的光」和「他所点燃之火星」（赛50:11）。2. 他的光终必熄灭，完全熄灭，连最微小的火星也不存留，不能用来点燃别的火。即便他在帐棚之中，就是他在身躯之内（这身躯是灵魂的帐棚，林后5:1）的时候，光也要变为黑暗；他不能有真实而坚实的安慰，没有令人满足的喜乐，没有支持他的盼望。连「他里头的光也是黑暗」；「那黑暗是何等大呢！」但当他被死亡逐出这帐棚时，「他的灯也必与他一同熄灭」。他一生的终点将是所有他日子的最终终点，并把他的所有指望变为无尽的绝望。「恶人一死，他的指望必灭绝」（箴11:7）；「他必躺卧在悲哀之中」。
二、那毁灭的预备，用野兽或飞鸟被陷阱捕获、或罪犯被逮捕拘押以待受刑的比方来描绘（伯18:7-10）。1. 撒但正在为他的毁灭作预备。他是「那要胜过他的强盗」（伯18:9）；因为他从起初既是杀人的，也是强盗（参约8:44）。他作为试探者，在罪人所到之处、在各处道路上为他们设下网罗，他必得胜。他若使他们像自己一样有罪，也必使他们像自己一样愁苦。他「猎取宝贵的性命」。2. 他自己也正借着继续犯罪为自己的毁灭作预备，如此「为自己积攒忿怒，以致忿怒之日」。神照他所配得的、所愿的，把他交在他自己的计谋中，于是「他自己的计谋将他倾覆」（伯18:7）。他罪恶的计谋和追求使他陷入祸患。「他被自己的脚缠在网上」（伯18:8），奔向自己的毁灭，「被他手中所作的缠住」（诗9:16）；「他的舌头要害他自己」（诗64:8）。「奸恶人的过犯里自有网罗。」3. 神正在为他的毁灭作预备。罪人借着犯罪预备了燃料，然后神借着忿怒预备了烈火。在此请看，〔1.〕罪人何等被迷惑，奔入网罗；神所要毁灭的人，必先使他迷糊。〔2.〕他何等被缠累：「他坚强的步伐」、他大有能力的计谋和努力「必被窄狭」，以致他不能成就所图的；他越想挣脱，就越被缠住。恶人必越久越恶。〔3.〕他何等被看管拘禁，不能逃脱那追讨他的神之审判。「圈套要抓住他的脚跟。」他不能再逃脱追讨他的神之忿怒，如同一个被如此抓住的人不能逃离追赶者一般。「神知道怎样把不义的人留在刑罚之下，等候审判的日子」（彼后2:9）。
¹¹ 四面的惊恐要使他害怕，并要驱逐他离开他的脚步。
¹² 他的力量必因饥饿而衰残，毁灭也必在他旁边预备妥当。
¹³ 它要吞吃他皮肤的力气，死亡的长子也要吞吃他的力量。
¹⁴ 他要从帐棚中被拔出他的倚靠，惊吓的王要把他带去。
¹⁵ 必有人住在他的帐棚里，因为那不是他的；硫磺必撒在他的住处。
¹⁶ 下边他的根要枯干，上边他的枝子要被剪除。
¹⁷ 他的记念必从地上灭亡，他在街市上必无名字。
¹⁸ 他必从光中被驱逐入黑暗，并被赶出世界。
¹⁹ 他在本民中必无子无孙，在他的住处也无遗留的人。
²⁰ 以后来的人要因他的日子惊奇，正如以前的人在惊恐之中一样。
²¹ 不义之人的住处诚然如此，这就是那不认识神之人的产业。
比勒达在这里描写恶人在来世所预备的那毁灭本身，而这毁灭有时尚在今世就抓住他们。来吧，看那罪人到了倾覆之日是何等悲惨的光景。
一、要看见他因自己罪咎的感觉和神忿怒的畏惧所产生的持续惊恐而灰心丧胆（伯18:11,12）：「四面的惊恐要使他害怕。」他自己良心的惊恐要追逐他，使他永不得安宁。无论他到哪里，这些都要跟随他；无论他朝哪边看，这些都要迎面凝视他。看见全天受造之物与他为敌、天向他皱眉、地狱为他张口、地也厌弃他，必使他战抖。那常把自己控告者和折磨者带在胸前的人，四面受敌自必害怕。这要驱使他离了脚步，如同那自觉有罪的罪犯，提脚飞奔，「无人追赶也要逃跑」（箴28:1）。但他的脚不能给他什么帮助；它们已经陷入网罗（伯18:9）。罪人要胜过神的全能，正如要逃脱神的全知一样不可能（摩9:2,3）。难怪罪人因恐惧而丧胆失措、心神纷乱，因为，1. 他看见毁灭临近：「毁灭也必在他旁边预备妥当」，一待公义下令便要抓住他，以致他「转眼之间成了荒凉」（诗73:19）。2. 他感到自己无力抵挡，无论逃脱或忍受都无能为力。他所倚靠为「力量」的（他的财富、权势、荣华、朋友和自己心灵的刚硬），在需要之时「必」失败，并且「因饥饿而咬啮」，那就是说，它不能给他更多的帮助，如同一个因饥饿而日渐消瘦之人在工作或战争中能帮上的一样。他既如此，难怪他成为自己的惊恐。请注意，罪之路是恐惧之路，引到永远的混乱；而不洁未得平安之良心现今的惊恐，正是那永远混乱的预尝，正如该隐和犹大所经历的。
二、要看见他被凄惨之死所吞灭；恶人之死诚然是凄惨的，无论他生前多么安稳、多么欢乐。1. 要看见他死去，被「死亡的长子」所拘禁（某种疾病，或某种击打，其中带有格外类似死亡本身的意味；如同所谓「极大的死亡」，林后1:10，一位死亡使者，其中带有非常的力量和恐怖）；他被死亡的先导所削弱，那些先导「吞吃他皮肤的力气」，那就是说，它要把腐烂引入骨头，把它们消耗。「那时他的倚靠必从帐棚中被拔出」（伯18:14），那就是说，他一切所倚靠为支持的都要从他身上被夺去，他无可倚靠，连自己的帐棚也不能。他自己的灵魂原是他的倚靠，但那也要从身躯的帐棚中被拔出，如同那占地土的树。「今夜必要你的灵魂。」2. 要看见他死了，并凭信心看见他那时的光景。〔1.〕他那时被带到「惊吓的王」面前。他活着的时候被四面的惊恐所包围（伯18:11），而死亡是这一切惊恐的王；它们以死亡之名与罪人争战，因为罪人「一生因怕死而为奴仆」（来2:15），最终他们必被带到他们长久所惧怕的那一位面前，如同俘虏被带到征服者面前。死亡对天然人性而言是可怕的；我们的主自己也祷告说：「父啊，救我脱离这时候。」但对恶人而言，它在特别的意义上是「惊吓之王」，因为它是他们放置自己幸福之生命的终点，也是通往他们将发现无尽愁苦之生命的通道。圣徒何等有福，又何等亏欠主耶稣！借着主，死亡被废除到如此地步，其性质也被改变，以致这位惊吓之王成了朋友和仆人！〔2.〕他那时被「从光中驱入黑暗」（伯18:18），从今世的光和他其中的兴旺光景中被驱入黑暗——坟墓的黑暗、地狱的黑暗，被驱入完全的黑暗，永不见光（诗49:19），连最小的微光也无线，对其也毫无指望。〔3.〕他那时被「赶出世界」，被死亡的使者所催赶拖拉，极其违背他的意愿，被赶逐如亚当被赶出乐园，因为这世界就是他的乐园。这暗示他宁愿留在这里；他不肯离去，但去是必须的；全世界都厌倦了他，因此把他赶出去，如同庆幸摆脱了他。这对恶人就是死亡。
三、要看见他的家被倾覆剪除（伯18:15）。神的忿怒和咒诅不仅落在他头上和心上，也落在他家中，要连「房屋的木头和石头」一并吞灭（亚5:4）。死亡本身要住在他帐棚里，既把他赶逐出去，就占据他的房屋，成为他所留下之一切的惊恐和毁灭。连住处也要因主人的缘故而荒凉：「硫磺必撒在他的住处」，如同降在所多玛，这看来是指着那毁灭而说的。有人以为比勒达在此用从天降火烧灭约伯羊群和仆人的事来嘲弄他。这里也给出了他的帐棚为何被定为荒凉之因：「因为那不是他的」；那就是说，那是不义地从原主得来并据为己有的，所以他不可指望其中的安慰或长久的安稳。他的儿女必灭亡，或与他同灭，或在他之后灭亡（伯18:16）。于是，「他的根」（在他自己身上）「下边既已枯干」，「上面的枝子」（他家中的每个儿女）「要被剪除」。耶罗波安、巴沙、亚哈的家就是这样被剪除；他们后裔之中没有一人存活。那些在地上扎根的人，可以预期它必如此枯干；但我们若在基督里扎根，连叶子也不枯干，更不用说枝子被剪除了。那些真正关心自己家族之尊荣、关心其枝子福祉的人，必害怕因罪使家族枯干。罪人家族的灭绝在这里又被提及（伯18:19）：「他既无子也无孙」，没有儿女也没有孙辈来享受他的产业、承继他的名号，「他的住处中也无遗留」与他有亲属关系的人。罪把咒诅遗传给后代，父亲的罪孽常追讨在儿女身上。在此比勒达也很可能暗指约伯儿女和仆人的死亡，作为他是恶人的进一步证据；然而一切无儿无女被记下的人，并不因此就被记为无恩之人；「有「一个名号比儿女的名号更好」」（赛56:5）。
四、要看见他的记念与他同埋，或变得可憎；他要么被遗忘，要么被人带着羞辱提及（伯18:17）：「他的记念必从地上灭亡」；若从地上灭亡，便是全然灭亡了，因为它从未像圣徒的名号那样被记在天上（路10:20）。他一切尊荣都要躺卧在尘土中归于无有，或被永远的臭名所玷污，以致「他在街市上必无名字」，离去也无人眷恋。如此，神的审判在他死后仍在这世上追赶他，作为他灵魂死后所处愁苦的征兆，也是他到大日复活时要进入那永远羞愧和被藐视的预尝。「义人的记念被称赞，恶人的名字必朽坏」（箴10:7）。
五、要看见他倾覆时众人无不惊奇（伯18:20）。看见的人都要惊惧，因为这变故如此突然，施行如此可怕，对所有周围的人如此威胁；而后人来听见这事的风声，也都为之惊奇，耳朵发响，心也战抖，便呼喊说：「主啊，你的审判何等可畏！」一个地方或一人被彻底毁灭，圣经说是「成为惊骇」（申28:37；代下7:21；耶25:9,18）。可怖的罪恶招致奇异的刑罚。
六、要看见这一切被肯定为列祖时代一致的观点，建立在他们认识神和对神护理之诸多观察之上（伯18:21）：「不义之人的住处诚然如此，这就是那不认识神之人的产业。」请看这邪恶世代之恶事的起头和结局。1. 它的起头就是不认识神；这是故意不认识，因为有足够关于他可知的事，足以使他们永远无可推诿。他们不认识神，然后就行各样不义。法老不认识主，所以不肯听从他的声音。2. 它的结局就是全然的毁灭。「不义之人的住处诚然」如此「凄惨」。神必从那些「不认识神的人」身上追讨（帖后1:8）。因为那些不向他致敬的人，他必向他们施行刑罚来得荣耀。所以我们当存敬畏的心，不可犯罪，因为到了结局必成为苦楚。
英文原文
Miserable Condition of the Wicked (1520 BC)
⁵ Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
⁶ The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
⁷ The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
⁸ For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
⁹ The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
¹⁰ The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
The rest of Bildad's discourse is entirely taken up in an elegant description of the miserable condition of a wicked man, in which there is a great deal of certain truth, and which will be of excellent use if duly considered—that a sinful condition is a sad condition, and that iniquity will be men's ruin if they do not repent of it. But it is not true that all wicked people are visibly and openly made thus miserable in this world; nor is it true that all who are brought into great distress and trouble in this world are therefore to be deemed and adjudged wicked men, when no other proof appears against them; and therefore, though Bildad thought the application of it to Job was easy, yet it was not safe nor just. In these verses we have,
I. The destruction of the wicked foreseen and foretold, under the similitude of darkness (Job 18:5,6): Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out. Even his light, the best and brightest part of him, shall be put out; even that which he rejoiced in shall fail him. Or the yea may refer to Job's complaints of the great distress he was in and the darkness he should shortly make his bed in. "Yea," says Bildad, "So it is; thou art clouded, and straitened, and made miserable, and no better could be expected; for the light of the wicked shall be put out, and therefore thine shall." Observe here, 1. The wicked may have some light for a while, some pleasure, some joy, some hope within, as well as wealth, and honour, and power without. But his light is but a spark (Job 18:5), a little thing and soon extinguished. It is but a candle (Job 18:6), wasting, and burning down, and easily blown out. It is not the light of the Lord (that is sun-light), but the light of his own fire and sparks of his own kindling, Isa 50:11. 2. His light will certainly be put out at length, quite put out, so that not the least spark of it shall remain with which to kindle another fire. Even while he is in his tabernacle, while he is in the body, which is the tabernacle of the soul (2Co 5:1), the light shall be dark; he shall have no true solid comfort, no joy that is satisfying, no hope that is supporting. Even the light that is in him is darkness; and how great is that darkness! But, when he is put out of this tabernacle by death, his candle shall be put out with him. The period of his life will be the final period of all his days and will turn all his hopes into endless despair. When a wicked man dies his expectation shall perish, Pr 11:7. He shall lie down in sorrow.
II. The preparatives for that destruction represented under the similitude of a beast or bird caught in a snare, or a malefactor arrested and taken into custody in order to his punishment, Job 18:7-10. 1. Satan is preparing for his destruction. He is the robber that shall prevail against him (Job 18:9); for, as he was a murderer, so he was a robber, from the beginning. He, as the tempter, lays snares for sinners in the way, wherever they go, and he shall prevail. If he make them sinful like himself, he will make them miserable like himself. He hunts for the precious life. 2. He is himself preparing for his own destruction by going on in sin, and so treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. God gives him up, as he deserves and desires, to his own counsels, and then his own counsels cast him down, Job 18:7. His sinful projects and pursuits bring him into mischief. He is cast into a net by his own feet (Job 18:8), runs upon his own destruction, is snared in the work of his own hands (Ps 9:16); his own tongue falls upon him, Ps 64:8. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare. 3. God is preparing for his destruction. The sinner by his sin is preparing the fuel and then God by his wrath is preparing the fire. See here, (1.) How the sinner is infatuated, to run himself into the snare; and whom God will destroy he infatuates. (2.) How he is embarrassed: The steps of his strength, his mighty designs and efforts, shall be straitened, so that he shall not compass what he intended; and the more he strives to extricate himself the more will he be entangled. Evil men wax worse and worse. (3.) How he is secured and kept from escaping the judgments of God that are in pursuit of him. The gin shall take him by the heel. He can no more escape the divine wrath that is in pursuit of him than a man, so held, can flee from the pursuer. God knows how to reserve the wicked for the day of judgment, 2Pe 2:9.
¹¹ Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
¹² His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
¹³ It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
¹⁴ His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
¹⁶ His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
¹⁷ His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
¹⁸ He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
¹⁹ He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
²⁰ They that come after him shall be 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 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.
I. See him disheartened and weakened by continual terrors arising from the sense of his own guilt and the dread of God's wrath (Job 18:11,12): Terror shall make him afraid on every side. 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, these shall stare him in the face. It will make him tremble to see 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 malefactor, who, being conscious of his own guilt, takes to his heels and flees when none pursues, Pr 28:1. But his feet will do him no service; they are fast in the snare, Job 18:9. The sinner may as soon overpower the divine omnipotence as flee from the divine omniscience, Am 9:2,3. No marvel that the sinner is dispirited and distracted with fear, for, 1. He sees his ruin approaching: Destruction shall be ready at his side, to seize him whenever justice gives the word, so that he is brought into desolation in a moment, Ps 73:19. 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 his strength (his wealth, power, pomp, friends, and the hardiness of his own spirit) shall fail him in the time of need, and be hunger-bitten, 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.
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 the first-born of death (some disease, or some stroke that has in it a more than ordinary resemblance of death itself; so great a death, as it is called, 2Co 1:10, a messenger of death that has in it an uncommon strength and terror), weakened by the harbingers of death, which devour the strength of his skin, that is, it shall bring rottenness into his bones and consume them. His confidence shall then be rooted out of his tabernacle (Job 18:14), 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 the king of terrors. He was surrounded with terrors while he lived (Job 18:11), 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 all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb 2:15), 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, Father, save me from this hour. But to the wicked it is in a special manner the king of terrors, 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 driven from the light into darkness (Job 18:18), 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 (Ps 49:19), not the least gleam, nor any hopes of it. (3.) He is then chased out of the world, 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.
III. See his family sunk and cut off, Job 18:15. 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 timber and stones thereof, Zec 5:4. 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: Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, 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: Because it is none of his; 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, Job 18:16. So that, his roots being in his own person dried up beneath, above his branch (every child of his family) shall be cut off. 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 (Job 18:19): He shall neither have son nor nephew, child nor grandchild, to enjoy his estate and bear up his name, nor shall there be any remaining in his dwelling 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 better than that of sons and daughters.
IV. See his memory buried with him, or made odious; he shall either be forgotten or spoken of with dishonour (Job 18:17): His remembrance shall perish from the earth; and, if it perish thence, it perishes wholly, for it was never written in heaven, as the names of the saints are, Lu 10:20. All his honour shall be laid and lost in the dust, or stained with perpetual infamy, so that he shall have no name in the street, 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. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot, Pr 10:7.
V. See a universal amazement at his fall, Job 18:20. 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, Lord, how terrible art thou in thy judgments! A place or person utterly ruined is said to be made an astonishment, De 28:37, 2Ch 7:21, Jer 25:9,18. Horrible sins bring strange punishments.
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 (Job 18:21): Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place (this the condition) of him that knows not God! 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. Such, so miserable, are the dwellings of the wicked. Vengeance will be taken of those that know not God, 2Th 1:8. 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.
在这一章中，比勒达对约伯发动第二次攻击。他在头一篇言论中（约伯记 8:1-22）曾鼓励约伯，盼望他一切终会好转。但这里再没有这样的话；他变得更加急躁，非但没有被约伯的论证所说服，反而更加激怒。I. 他严厉责备约伯骄傲、暴躁、固执己见，约伯记 18:1-4。II. 他进一步阐述他从前所持的论点，即恶人的悲惨及其所遭的灭亡，约伯记 18:5-21。在这论述中，他似乎自始至终都着眼于约伯所抱怨的悲惨境况——他在黑暗中、迷失困顿、陷入网罗、惊恐万分、即将离世。比勒达说："这就是恶人的光景；所以你就是其中一个。"