For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Job 18:1-21  

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 ‘When will you end these speeches?
    Be sensible, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle
    and considered stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
    is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
    Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

5 ‘The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;
    the flame of his fire stops burning.
6 The light in his tent becomes dark;
    the lamp beside him goes out.
7 The vigour of his step is weakened;
    his own schemes throw him down.
8 His feet thrust him into a net;
    he wanders into its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare holds him fast.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
    a trap lies in his path.
11 Terrors startle him on every side
    and dog his every step.
12 Calamity is hungry for him;
    disaster is ready for him when he falls.
13 It eats away parts of his skin;
    death’s firstborn devours his limbs.
14 He is torn from the security of his tent
    and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Fire resides in his tent;
    burning sulphur is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below
    and his branches wither above.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth;
    he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into the realm of darkness
    and is banished from the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
    no survivor where once he lived.
20 People of the west are appalled at his fate;
    those of the east are seized with horror.
21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
    such is the place of one who do

A. Find Out

1. What questions does Bildad ask of Job? v.2-4
2. How does he describe what happens to the wicked? v.5-7a
3. List the way his schemes go wrong. v.7b-10
4. List carefully the consequences that follow. v.11-16
5. What sort of future does he then have? v.17-20.
6. What conclusion does he bring? v.21

B. Think:

1. What is Bildad asking Job to do in v.2-4?
2. What point is he making from verse 7 on?

C. Comment:

One is left wondering from this chapter if, even though he doesn’t say it specifically, Bildad is basically saying, “Job, it’s all your own fault.” He starts by chiding Job and asks him to “be sensible” (v.2) and why do you consider us stupid (v.3). Your anger seems to demand that the very truths of life must be changed to accommodate you (v.4).

Then he turns to ‘the wicked’ (v.5 onwards). Their life energy, he declares, is brought to an end (v.5,6), his strength is sapped (v.7a) and it’s all because of his own, self-centred (implied) schemes (v.7b) which go wrong. It’s like he gets caught in a net (v.8) or a trap (v.9) or a noose on the ground (v.10) Note all of these pictures are of things used by a gamekeeper to catch creatures. Does this imply (as Paul does in Romans 1) that God is at work in this way?

Whatever it is, the outworkings are very clear: fear is there at every turn (v.11), calamities and disasters are just waiting to happen (v.12), and even impacts him physically (v.13). Security goes as death (king of terrors) approaches quickly (v.14). Destruction comes (v.15) to his home and his whole life shrivels and contracts (v.16). Soon he is forgotten (v.17) and he ends up in the nether world of darkness (v.18). Even his family are destroyed (v.19) and all who see are appalled (v.20). These, he concludes, are truthful descriptions of the life and home of the evil, ungodly person (v.21). Often, but not always.

D. Application:

1. Sin does bring its own harvest (Gal 6:7). Beware.
2. Sinners sometimes only reap it fully after death.