Slap in the Face 2 – Job 17&18

I have a wonderful friend who really gets upset and offended at people spitting on his stuff, or in front of his house, or, well, just about anywhere. We tease him about it relentlessly. Spitting has been a way of shaming someone in many cultures and Job’s is no different. He is as “one before whom men spit” and Bildad is adding to that list.

“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me. Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.

“Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me? Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph. He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property— the eyes of his children will fail.

“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’ If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

“How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we will speak. Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight? You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?

“Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh. A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare lays hold of him. A rope is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the path. Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels. His strength is famished, and calamity is ready for his stumbling. It consumes the parts of his skin; the firstborn of death consumes his limbs. He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors. In his tent dwells that which is none of his; sulfur is scattered over his habitation. His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above. His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street. He is thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world. He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live. They of the west are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the east. Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.” (Job 17&18, ESV)

Job cannot help but focus on the provocation of his friends as a cause for his brokenness of spirit and as evidence of his soon death.  He longs for someone to be on his side, like someone willing to be a security pledge for him and for God to bring his friends their just punishment for “informing against” him.  He expects God will do this since He has closed their hearts to understanding, not letting them see the truth about Job that would enable them to treat him correctly.

God has made Job an example of those who do evil and the cause of warnings and life lessons and righteous disgust.  He is waning away while those who hold to righteousness are getting stronger and stronger.

But he issues a challenge to all who claim wisdom to truly explain his situation.  His life is coming to an end without hope of restoration or hope of anyone seeing the truth about him.

Bildad is upset that Job is viewing him and the other friends as stupid and himself as an exception to all the wisdom of the wise. So he repeats himself.

The true wisdom that he wants to affirm is that the wicked is going to meet his end as part of God’s judgment.  His light goes out in his tent, he trips on his own feet, is trapped in a net and a snare, is frightened to death, loses strength in his body, sees his abode forever razed, has his roots dry up, is driven out of the world, loses all his offspring and becomes a byword to all those in the west.

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever experienced a time when you felt tired of being a Christian?
2. Job is tired but Bildad is still wound up. Where do you think Bildad’s energy is coming from?
3. Who does Job believe has closed off his “friends” understanding of his situation? Why does this give him assurance they will not triumph over him?
4. Why do you think Job is so certain of his righteousness that he can “hold to his way” and “grow stronger and stronger”?
5. What do you think is fueling Job’s recklessness at this point?
6. If you ever find yourself in Job’s situation, what do you want yourself to know?