Job 18
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
[READING - Job 18:1-4]
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded, 2 “How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk. 3 “Why are we regarded as beasts, As stupid in your eyes? 4 “O you who tear yourself in your anger— For your sake is the earth to be abandoned, Or the rock to be moved from its place?
[PRAYER]
[SUMMARY OF JOB 18]
‘Job, you are behaving like an idiot. How long are you going to argue like this? Let me spell it out to you again: wicked people are punished. They lose their health, their homes and their offspring. Do I need to say any more? Everyone else can see it, Job, except you. Are you really that stupid, or what?’
This is how pastor and theologian Derek Thomas summarizes Job 18.
It’s a faithful summary that captures Bildad’s hurtful words in his second speech to Job.
[SELF-REGULATING vs. GOD-REGULATED]
Bildad believed the world is self-regulating rather than God-regulated.
After accusing Job of being long-winded and ignorant (v. 2) and chastising Job for treating his friend like ignorant beasts (v. 3), Bildad asks Job in v. 4...
4 “O you who tear yourself in your anger— For your sake is the earth to be abandoned, Or the rock to be moved from its place?
According to Bildad, there’s a way the world works without exception; does Job have the audacity to think that he’s the exception? Does he think the rock should be moved from its place, that the world’s normal operating procedure is turned on its head in his case?
Bildad believes that God has set the world up to regulate itself according to natural laws without exception. Thus, God doesn’t take an active personal role in regulating the world.
In fact, Bildad doesn’t even mention God in his second speech until the very last word of the very last verse.
Whereas Job blames God for all His suffering, Bildad seems to think that God has little to do with it.
God just set things in motion, and now the world regulates itself.
He believes that God has set the world up so that you always reap what you sow...
...so that the righteous are always rewarded...
...so that the wicked are always punished.
But is Bildad correct? Is this how it always is?
No, and Job is the glaring exception to Bildad’s worldview.
Bildad couldn’t see it, but we saw in Job 1-2 that Job is blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil, and yet he was suffering.
Bildad and the rest of Job’s friends assumed his suffering was punishment for his secret sins, but it wasn’t.
In the wisdom of God, Job was suffering for other reasons—reasons known only to God.
But because Bildad could permit no exceptions to his self-regulating worldview, he believed Job to be wicked and paints a picture of what happens to the wicked.
Bildad paints with symbolism and poetry, and although he isn’t direct, it’s clear that he’s painting a picture of Job.
[TS] The picture he paints presents Job in three DESCRIPTIONS.
You can see the first in vv. 5-6...
5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, And the flame of his fire gives no light. 6 “The light in his tent is darkened, And his lamp goes out above him.
MAJOR IDEAS
MAJOR IDEAS
DESCRIPTION #1: Bildad paints Job as a wicked man fading (Job 18:5-6)
DESCRIPTION #1: Bildad paints Job as a wicked man fading (Job 18:5-6)
[EXP] His light goes out. His flame give no light. The light of his tent is darkened. His lamp runs out of fuel.
All of these words for light were symbolic of Job’s life—a life that Bildad said was fading to black.
And Bildad wasn’t making this up. Proverbs tells us the same thing…
9 The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked goes out.
20 For there will be no future for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out.
As Bildad looks at Job, in his mind there could be no doubt that his light was going out; his life was fading to black, and the wisdom of his worldview said that always happened to the wicked.
But is that always true? Do only the lives of the wicked fade away? Has there ever been a righteous man whose life faded to black?
[ILLUS]
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
5 “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
35 So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.
45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
44 The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.
46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
Bildad would’ve thought, surely this was a wicked man!
But Jesus had no sin; He was and is the perfect Son of God!
Sure, darkness closed in on him for a moment, but not for long.
This would be true if Job was on the outs with God, but Job isn’t; he suffers for other reasons—reasons only known to the wisdom of God.
[APP] We would be in the dark without Jesus.
[TS]
DESCRIPTION #2: Bildad paints Job as a wicked man fleeing (Job 18:7-14)
DESCRIPTION #2: Bildad paints Job as a wicked man fleeing (Job 18:7-14)
7 “His vigorous stride is shortened, And his own scheme brings him down. 8 “For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing. 9 “A snare seizes him by the heel, And a trap snaps shut on him. 10 “A noose for him is hidden in the ground, And a trap for him on the path. 11 “All around terrors frighten him, And harry him at every step. 12 “His strength is famished, And calamity is ready at his side. 13 “His skin is devoured by disease, The firstborn of death devours his limbs. 14 “He is torn from the security of his tent, And they march him before the king of terrors.
[EXP] Bildad depicts Job as a villain trying to run but one who is ensnared by his own devices. He is tangled in his own net, seized by his own snare, caught in his own trap. Again, Bildad is not making this up. Proverbs 5:22 says…
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
This would be true if Job was on the outs with God, but Job isn’t; he suffers another reason—a reason only known to the wisdom of God.
[APP] We were trapped by our own sinfulness until Jesus.
DESCRIPTION #3: Bildad describes Job as a wicked man forgotten (Job 18:15-21)
DESCRIPTION #3: Bildad describes Job as a wicked man forgotten (Job 18:15-21)
15 “There dwells in his tent nothing of his; Brimstone is scattered on his habitation. 16 “His roots are dried below, And his branch is cut off above. 17 “Memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name abroad. 18 “He is driven from light into darkness, And chased from the inhabited world. 19 “He has no offspring or posterity among his people, Nor any survivor where he sojourned. 20 “Those in the west are appalled at his fate, And those in the east are seized with horror. 21 “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God.”
This would be true if Job was on the outs with God, but Job isn’t; he suffers another reason—a reason only known to the wisdom of God.
[APP] Let us be forgotten on earth, so long as we are remembered by Jesus.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Bildad is an accuser of the brethren.
Rev 12:10
Job 1:9-11
Zechariah 3:1-2
[PRAYER]
Response Hymn - My Faith Has Found A Resting Place, #454
