Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 18:6
The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
6. his candle shall be put out with him ] The meaning is either: his lamp shall be put out over him, the idea being that it was hung in his dwelling above him or shone upon him, cf. ch. Job 29:3, “when God’s lamp shined upon my head”; or, his lamp shall be put out to him, the prep. being the same reflexive, untranslateable word referred to on ch. Job 14:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And his candle – Margin, lamp. The reference is to a lamp that was suspended from the ceiling. The Arabians are fond of this image. Thus, they say, Bad fortune has extinguished my lamp. Of a man whose hopes are remarkably blasted, they say, He is like a lamp which is immediately extinguished if you let it sink in the oil. See Schultens. The putting out of a lamp is to the Orientals an image of utter desolation. It is the universal custom to have a light burning in their houses at night. The houses of Egypt, in modern times, are never without lights; they burn lamps all the night long, and in every occupied apartment. So requisite to the comfort of a family is this custom reckoned, and so imperious is the power which it exercises, that the poorest people. would rather retrench part of their food than neglect it. Paxton. It is not improbable that this custom prevailed in former times in Arabia, as it does now in Egypt; and this consideration will give increased beauty and force to this passage.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle] His property shall be destroyed, his house pillaged, and himself and his family come to an untimely end.
His candle shall be put out] He shall have no posterity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In his tabernacle. i.e. in his family. Instead of his former splendour, both he and his shall fall into extremity of misery.
His candle shall be put out with him, i.e. his glory shall die with him, and not descend to his posterity, as he hoped and designed. Or,
his candle, which was with him, or shone upon him, shall be put out.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. candlethe lamp which inthe East is usually fastened to the ceiling. Oil abounds in thoseregions, and the lamp was kept burning all night, as now in Egypt,where the poorest would rather dispense with food than the night lamp(Ps 18:28). To put out thelamp was an image of utter desolation.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The light shall the dark in his tabernacle,…. Not the light of the eye, in the tabernacle of his body, rather the light of nature and reason in him; and when that “light [that is] in [a man becomes] darkness”, as our Lord says, “how great [is] that darkness!” Mt 6:23; but best of all it designs the light of prosperity in his house and family, which should be quite obscured:
and his candle shall be put out with him; which sometimes signifies the spirit of man, his rational soul, called “the candle of the Lord”,
Pr 20:27; which, though it dies not when man dies, yet its light is extinct with respect to the things of this life, and all its thoughts and reasonings are no more about civil matters, and the affairs of this world; in that sense this light is put out, and those thoughts perish with him, Ps 146:4; but more frequently it is used for outward prosperity, which if it continues with a man as long as he lives, as it often does, yet, when he dies, it ceases and is no more; it does not descend with him into the grave, and he cannot carry it into another world, but it is put out in “obscure darkness”; see Job 21:17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. His candle The lamp above him shall be put out. The lamp suspended in the tent was kept burning all night. The poorest would rather dispense with part of their food than with a night lamp. The custom still prevails in Aleppo and Egypt. Schultens cites a common saying of the Arab, “Misfortune has put out my lamp.” Hitzig does violence to the passage when he renders with him, on the supposition that the torch (lamp) is one that the wicked carries with himself in his wanderings by night. The following verses, he says, would then describe the disastrous consequences of its extinction.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
(6) The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him. (7) The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. (8) For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. (9) The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. (10) The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. (11) Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. (12) His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. (13) It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength. (14) His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. (15) It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. (16) His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. (17) His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. (18) He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. (19) He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. (20) They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. (21) Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
I see no reason for making a break in this discourse of Bildad. It should seem better to read it wholly through, and then look to gather into one point of view, the drift of his whole reasoning. The Shuhite is not through the whole of it, speaking personally of Job, but rather his object is to make Job draw the application of his discourse himself. He is describing the character of an hypocrite, and then pointing to his sure destruction. And this he doth under several particulars. His candle shall be put out. The sparks he hath kindled shall not shine. His feet shall be taken as in a net. His life shall be in terrors. Both root and branch shall die. When Bildad had thus drawn out in a very finished manner, the picture of the wicked; he evidently intended that Job should feel, that it was he whom the Shuhite had in view. The close of his lecture evidently implied all this, for he calls it the misery of such an end, and which as for as outward things reached, marked the present situation of the man of Uz.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
Ver. 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle ] The glory of his family shall be obscured; he and his shall come to utter and unexpected ruin, as Haman’s did.
And his candle shall be put out with him
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
dark. Hebrew. hashak: see note on Job 3:6; showing that the man is dead, and not alive to keep the light burning.
tabernacle = tent.
candle = lamp.
with him = over him: see note on “dark”, above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
candle: or, lamp, Job 21:17, Psa 18:28, Rev 18:23
Reciprocal: Job 5:24 – thou shalt know Job 15:23 – the day Job 15:30 – depart Job 20:5 – the triumphing Job 20:26 – darkness Job 22:11 – darkness Job 23:17 – the darkness from Job 29:3 – candle Job 30:26 – light Pro 4:19 – General Pro 13:9 – lamp Pro 20:20 – his Pro 24:20 – candle Eze 32:7 – put thee out