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 . 15 "There dwells in his tent nothing of his; Brimstone is scattered on his habitation . 16 "His roots are dried below e , And his branch is cut off above e . 17 " Memory of him perishes from the earth , And he has no name abroad e . 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 ."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 18:11-21
Commentary on Job 18:11-21
(Read Job 18:11-21)
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, Proverbs 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.