48. Calling Evil Good

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Hymns: RHC 284 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus; 283 In Times Like These; 325 A Shelter In the Time of Storm

Job 18:1-21

1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 2How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak. 3Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight? 4He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place? 5Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. 6The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him. 7The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. 8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. 9The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. 10The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. 11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. 12His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. 13It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength. 14His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. 15It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. 16His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. 17His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. 18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. 19He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. 20They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. 21Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. (Job 18:1-21 KJV)

Calling Good Evil

OUTLINE

Bildad’s 2ndSpeech – Calling Good Evil! (18:1-21)

  • Inflamed to retaliate against the truth (18:1-4)
    • Indicting Judgment for Wickedness (18:5-21)
      • Curse of Darkness in the Home (18:5-6)
      • Curse of Strength limited & counsel thwarted (18:7)
      • Curse of falling into his own traps (18:8-10)
      • Curse of fear overwhelming his heart (18:11)
      • Curse of devouring disease (18:12-13)
      • Curse of death (18:14-16)
      • Curse of forgotten legacy (18:17-18)
      • Curse of no offspring (18:19-20; cf. 42:13)
      • Curse of not knowing God (18:21)

INTRODUCTION

Our Lord Jesus instructed His disciples to expect perseuction as they sought to walk with God as His faithful witness. Our Lord Himself suffered severe persecution. He testified – Matthew 10:24-25 The disciple is not above hismaster, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they callthem of his household?

Even the Son of God was called to suffer such under the hands of wicked men.

Jesus encouraged His disciples to be courageous in the face of persecution – Matthew 10:26-28 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, thatspeak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, thatpreach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

He assured them of God’s care for His persecuted servants – Matthew 10:29-33 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Jesus promised that His power will go with them as they fulfill the Great Commission. Job, our afflicted, suffering, maligned saint, in the depth of his suffering received further abuse from his 3 friends.

From Job 18-21 is the second round of Job’s defence. For each round, his 3 friends will take turns to bombard him, charging him of sinning against God and living a wicked life. Bildad will now speak for the second time.

  • Inflamed to Retaliate Against the Truth (v1-4)

1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 2How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak. 3Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight? 4He 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.

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?

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. [Matthew Henry]

Job has been charged with a haughty contempt and disdain of his friends. 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.With outrageous passion: He teareth himself in his anger…

  • Indicting Judgment for Wickedness (v5-21)

                  i.          Curse of Darkness in the Home (18:5-6)

                 ii.          Curse of Strength limited & counsel thwarted (18:7)

                iii.          Curse of falling into his own traps (18:8-10)

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 thereforeto 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. [Matthew Henry]

5Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. 6The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

Not the light of the eye, in the tabernacle of his body, rather the light of nature and reason in him; and when that “light that isin a man becomesdarkness”, as our Lord says, “how great isthat darkness!” (Matt. 6:23); but best of all it designs the light of prosperity in his house and family, which should be quite obscured. [Gill]

 7The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. 8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. 

As a man in health can take large and strong steps, and travel in the greatness of his strength; so in prosperity he can and does take large steps in obtaining fame and reputation among men, in amassing substance to himself, and towards settling his family in the world; he is like one in a large place, and walks at liberty, goes in and out at pleasure, and none can control him; he walks in pride, and with an high and lifted up head, and with contempt of others, and his will is his law, and he does as he pleases; but in adversity, as his strength is weakened in the way, he cannot take the strides he did, his way is hedged up with thorns, he is pressed on every side, and surrounded with troubles, so that, let him turn himself which way he will, he can find no way to escape. [Gill]

9The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. 10The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. 

And hold him fast, so that he shall not be able to get away, especially out of such as are set by God Himself; for God has His nets, and snares, and gins for wicked men, and such plenty of them, that He even is said to rain them on them; yea, He Himself is a gin and a snare unto them, and out of His hands there is no escaping, wherefore it is a terrible thing to fall into them.

                iv.          Curse of fear overwhelming his heart (18:11)

                 v.          Curse of devouring disease (18:12-13)

                vi.          Curse of death (18:14-16)

11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. 

He shall be constantly subject to alarms, and shall never feel secure. [Barnes]

12His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. 13It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength. 

He shall be exhausted by hunger or famine. The bones are regarded as the bars, or the framework, holding the other parts of the body in their place, and over which the skin is stretched. [Barnes]

14His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. 15It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. 16His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. 

Security shall forsake his dwelling, and he shall be subject to constant alarms. There shall be nothing there in which he can confide, and all that he relied on as sources of safety shall have fled. Because it is none of his – It is no longer his. It is a forsaken, tenantless dwelling. [Barnes]

Death befallen such a one.

              vii.          Curse of forgotten legacy (18:17-18)

             viii.          Curse of no offspring (18:19-20; cf. 42:13)

                ix.          Curse of not knowing God (18:21)

17His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. 18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. 

He shall have none to survive him, to continue his name among men. He shall never be a man of reputation; after his demise, none shall talk of his fame. [Clarke]

19He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. 20They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

He shall be taken off by a violent death. Neither son, nor son’s son, or grandson, being all dead, or fled from them, through the terror, desolation, and destruction in them. 

21Surely such arethe dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked – The conclusion or sum of the whole matter. The meaning is, that the habitations of all that knew not God would be desolate – a declaration which Job could not but regard as aimed at himself (Job 20:29). This is the close of this harsh and severe speech. It is no wonder that Job should feel it keenly, and that he “did” feel it is apparent from the following chapter. A string of proverbs has been presented, having the appearance of proof, and as the result of the long observation of the course of events, evidently bearing on his circumstances, and so much in point that he could not well deny their pertinency to his condition. [Barnes]

CONCLUSION

We thank the Lord that in Him is our refuge. And yet, it is for the Lord’s people that they may be worthy comforters to their ailing and afflicted brethren. Amen.