Job 18:5 - Meaning and Application

The rest of Bildad’s speech gives a vivid picture of the miserable state of a wicked person. Much of it is true, and it is very useful if we think about it rightly: a sinful life is a sad life, and wrongdoing will ruin people if they do not turn from it. But it is not true that every wicked person is openly made miserable in this life. It is also not true that every person who falls into deep trouble must therefore be wicked, if there is no other proof. So even though Bildad thought these words fit Job easily, his application was not safe or fair.

Here Bildad describes the ruin of the wicked as darkness. “The light of the wicked will be put out” (Job 18:5). Even the best part of his life, the thing he enjoyed most, will fail him. Bildad may also be answering Job’s complaint about his own suffering and the darkness that covered him. “Yes,” he seems to say, “that is how it is. You are trapped in gloom and trouble, and that fits the rule that the light of the wicked will be put out.”

A wicked person may have some light for a while, some pleasure, joy, or hope inside, as well as wealth, honor, or power outside. But that light is only like a spark (Job 18:5). It is small and soon goes out. It is only a candle (Job 18:6), burning down little by little and easy to blow out. It is not the light from the Lord, like sunlight. It is only the light of his own fire and the sparks he has kindled himself (Isaiah 50:11).

In the end, that light will be completely put out. Not even a tiny spark will remain to start another fire. While he is still in his tent, that is, while he is still in his body, which is the soul’s tent (2 Corinthians 5:1), his light will be dark. He will have no true comfort, no joy that lasts, and no hope that supports him. Even what light seems to be in him is really darkness, and how deep that darkness is.

When death comes, his candle goes out with him. The close of his life will be the close of all his hopes, and those hopes will turn into endless despair. When a wicked person dies, what he expected will die too (Proverbs 11:7). He will lie down in sorrow.

Bildad then shows the steps that lead to this ruin, using the picture of a beast or bird caught in a trap, or a criminal arrested and held for punishment (Job 18:7-10). Satan is preparing for the sinner’s destruction. He is the robber who overpowers him (Job 18:9), for from the beginning he has been both a murderer and a thief. As a tempter, he lays traps for sinners wherever they go, and he will win. If he makes people sinful like himself, he will make them miserable like himself. He hunts for precious lives.

The sinner is also preparing for his own ruin by continuing in sin and storing up anger for the day of wrath. God gives him over, as he deserves and wants, to his own plans, and then those plans bring him down (Job 18:7). His sinful schemes and pursuits lead him into trouble. He is caught in a net by his own feet (Job 18:8). He runs straight toward his own destruction and is trapped by the work of his own hands (Psalm 9:16). His own tongue turns against him (Psalm 64:8). In the wrongdoing of an evil person, there is a snare.

God is also preparing for his destruction. The sinner, by his sin, prepares the fuel, and then God, by his anger, prepares the fire. Notice here how the sinner is blinded, so that he runs into the trap. When God intends to destroy someone, he leaves him to foolishness. Notice also how he is hindered. The steps of his strength, his strong plans and efforts, will be blocked, so that he cannot finish what he intended. The more he tries to free himself, the more trapped he becomes. Evil people grow worse and worse.

Finally, notice how he is held fast and kept from escaping the judgments of God that are chasing him. The trap will catch him by the heel. He cannot escape God’s anger any more than a man held that way can run from the one pursuing him. God knows how to keep the wicked for the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:9).