Job 18:1 - Meaning and Application

Bildad is here shooting bitter words at poor Job. He does not realize that, though he was a wise and good man, he was at this moment helping Satan’s plan by adding to Job’s pain.

First, Bildad accuses Job of empty, endless talk, as Eliphaz had done before him (Job 15:2, Job 15:3). “How long will it be before you stop speaking?” he says (Job 18:2). He is really criticizing not only Job, but perhaps everyone in the discussion, or at least any others who may have spoken in Job’s favor. Bildad was tired of listening and eager for his turn, which is no mark of wisdom, since we should be quick to listen and slow to speak.

People in argument often want to keep the honor of wisdom for themselves, and then act as if they have the right to control the whole debate. It is easy to see how wrong that is in others, but hard for proud people to see it in themselves. There was a time when Job had the final word in every discussion (Job 29:22): “After my words they did not speak again.” Then he was powerful and prosperous. Now that he was poor and brought low, he could hardly speak at all, and everything he said was mocked as much as it once had been praised.

That is how the world works: “Wisdom is good with an inheritance” (Ecc 7:11). A poor man’s wisdom is despised, and because he is poor, people do not listen to his words (Ecc 9:16).

Second, Bildad acts as if he does not care what Job has said, as shown by the words, “Mark it, and afterward we will speak.” It is useless to speak, even if you speak well, if the listeners will not pay attention. Let the ear be ready to hear as a learner, and then wise speech can help others (Isa 50:4). For those who speak about God, it is a great encouragement to see hearers paying attention.

Third, Bildad speaks with proud contempt toward Job and his friends (Job 18:3). “Why are we counted as beasts?” he says. This is unfair. Job had called them mockers and had said they lacked both judgment and kindness, but he did not call them beasts. Yet Bildad presents it that way for two reasons. One, his pride made him feel the insult more deeply than it was meant. Proud people often think they have been slighted far more than they really have. Two, his anger gave him an excuse to be severe with Job. Those who want to be hard on others will often claim that others were hard on them first.

Fourth, Bildad accuses Job of wild passion: “He tears himself in his anger” (Job 18:4). He may be answering Job’s own words in Job 13:14, “Why do I take my flesh in my teeth?” Or he may be answering Job 16:9, where Job seemed to speak of God’s anger against him, or, as some think, of Eliphaz, “He tears me in his wrath.” Bildad says, in effect, “No, the blame is yours alone. You are tearing yourself apart in your anger.”

Anger is a sin that punishes itself. Fretful, passionate people tear and wear themselves out. The word means he tears his soul. Every sin wounds the soul and wrongs it (Pro 8:36), and uncontrolled anger does this in a special way.

Fifth, Bildad speaks as if Job were expecting Providence itself, meaning God’s ruling care over the world, to bend to him: “Shall the earth be forsaken for you?” In other words, “No, of course not. The order of the world will not be changed, and God’s rule will not be overturned to suit one man’s wishes. Job, do you think the world cannot go on without you, so that if you are ruined, the whole world must be ruined with you?”

Some take this as a rebuke of Job’s defense of himself, as if Bildad were wrongly suggesting that either Job was wicked or else God had abandoned the earth and removed the ancient rock. It is better understood as a proper rebuke of Job’s bitter complaints. When we argue with what God allows, we forget three things. First, whatever happens comes according to God’s eternal purpose and counsel. Second, it comes according to his written word. Scripture says we must have trouble in this world, and since we sin every day, we should expect to suffer for it. Third, it comes according to God’s usual way of dealing with people, the common course of his providence. To expect God to change his plans, alter his method, and fail in his word just to please us is as unreasonable as thinking the earth should be abandoned for us and the rock moved from its place.