11 Round about terrified him have terrors, And they have scattered him—at his feet. 12 Hungry is his sorrow, And calamity is ready at his side. 13 It consumeth the parts of his skin, Consume his parts doth death's first-born. 14 Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step to the king of terrors. 15 It dwelleth in his tent—out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur. 16 From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above cut off is his crop. 17 His memorial hath perished from the land, And he hath no name on the street. 18 They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out. 19 He hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings. 20 At this day westerns have been astonished And easterns have taken fright. 21 Only these 'are' tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.
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.