Job 18:8

_FOR HE IS CAST INTO A NET BY HIS OWN FEET, AND HE WALKETH UPON A SNARE._ He walketh upon - rather, 'he lets himself go х_ YITHALAAK_ (H1980)] into the net' (Umbreit). If the English version be retained, then understand "snare" to be the pitfall, covered over with branches and earth, which, when walked upon, gave way (Psalms 9:15; Psalms 35:8). In following "his own counsel" (Job 18:7), which he fancies will secure him against calamity, he walks unwittingly into it....

5-10 Bildad describes the miserable condition of a wicked man; in which there is much certain truth, if we consider that a sinful condition is a sad condition, and that sin will be men's ruin, if they do not repent. Though Bildad thought the application of it to Job was easy, yet it was not safe nor just. It is common for angry disputants to rank their opponents among God's enemies, and to draw wrong conclusions from important truths. The destruction of the wicked is foretold. That destruction is represented under the similitude of a beast or bird caught in a snare, or a malefactor taken into custody. Satan, as he was a murderer, so he was a robber, from the beginning. He, the tempter, lays snares for sinners wherever they go. If he makes them sinful like himself, he will make them miserable like himself. Satan hunts for the precious life. In the transgression of an evil man there is a...

Verse Job 18:8. _FOR HE IS CAST INTO A NET_] His own conduct will infallibly bring him to ruin. He shall be like a wild beast taken in a net; the more he flounces in order to extricate himself, the more he shall be entangled. _HE WALKETH UPON A SNARE._] He is continually walking on the meshes of a net, by which he must soon be entangled and overthrown....

FOR HE IS CAST INTO A NET BY HIS OWN FEET - He is caught in his own tricks, as if he had spread a net or dug a pitfall for another, and had fallen into it himself. The meaning is, that he would bring ruin upon himself while he was plotting the rain of others; see Psalms 9:16, “The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands;” compare the note at Job 5:13. The phrase “by his own feet” here means, that he walks there himself. He is not led or driven by others, but he goes himself into the net. Wild animals are sometimes driven, but he walks along of his own accord into the net, and has no one to blame but himself. AND HE WALKETH UPON A SNARE - Or a pitfall. This was formerly the mode of taking wild beasts. It was done by excavating a place in the

EXPOSITION JOB 18:1 Bildad's second speech is no improvement upon his first (Job 8:1.). He has evidently been exceedingly nettled by Job's contemptuous words concerning his "comforters" (Job 16:2, Job 16:11; Job 17:10); and aims at nothing but venting his anger, and terrifying Job by a series of denunciations and threats. Job has become to him "the_ _wicked man" (verses 5, 21), an embodiment of all that is evil, and one "that knoweth not God." No punishment is too severe for him....

FOR HE IS CAST INTO A NET BY HIS OWN FEET,.... He goes into it of himself, incautious and imprudent; the counsels, schemes, and methods he takes to hurt others, issue in his own ruin; the pit he digs for them, he falls and sinks into himself; and the net which he has spread and hid for others, in it is his own foot taken; and the ways and means he takes to do himself good, to amass riches and advance his family, being illicit ones, prove snares and nets unto him, those leading him into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which bring him to perdition, Psalms 9:15; even the various sins and transgressions he commits are snares unto him, by which he is enticed and drawn in: for in "the transgression of an evil man there is a snare", Proverbs 29:6; these promise him peace, and pleasure, and liberty, but give neither;

CHAPTER 18 BILDAD'S SECOND ADDRESS _ 1. New reproaches (Job 18:1)_ 2. Once again, the wicked and what they deserve (Job 18:5) Job 18:1. Bildad has the good sense in this second oration to be very brief. He, like Eliphaz, pays his compliments to Job and reproaches him. How long are you going to speak yet any way! You, you tell us that we are like the beasts, stupid and ignorant! Keep on with your nonsense, you but tear yourself in your anger, it is all unavailing and changes not things for thee. This is the meaning of his rebuke. Job 18:5. Then the favored theme, the wicked and what is in store for them. Apart from the falsity of the a

JOB 18. SECOND SPEECH OF BILDAD.Bildad speaks this time at unusual length, but his speech has no significance, since it simply describes the fate of the godless. Into the description of this, however, there are interwoven direct allusions to Job's case, so that to this degree it serves to increase Job's perplexity and bring on the crisis (Duhm). Job 18:2 contains the usual personal polemic; in Job 18:2 we must read sing. for plur.; Job 18:4 asks Job if the earth is to be turned upside down to suit him. Job 18:5 contains an extended picture of the fate of the godless. In...

WALKETH. walketh habitually....

The disastrous end of the wicked, in the moral order of the world, is certain The last verse naturally led over to this idea, which is the theme of the speech. The idea is set out in a great variety of graphic figures, and the speech is studded with sententious and proverbial sayings in the manner of the speaker's first discourse (ch. 8). The history of the wicked man's downfall is followed through all its stages: Job 18:5. The principle the sinner's light goes out. Job 18:8. The progress of his downfall. Job 18:12. The final scenes. Job 18:15. The extinction of his race and name....