Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 18:11
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
11. This verse does not seem to give a picture of the sinner’s conscience, but rather of his consciousness at last. The preceding verses described how he walked on snares unwitting that they were there; now he awakens to the perception of his condition, he feels the complications that surround him, and would flee from the terrors that he has come to realize.
and shall drive him to his feet ] Rather, and drive him away at his heels. A spectral host of terrors pursue close behind him.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Terrors shall make him afraid – He shall be constantly subject to alarms, and shall never feel secure. Terrors here are represented as allegorical persons, like the Furies in the Greek poets. Noyes. The idea here is substantially the same as that given by Eliphaz, Job 15:21-22.
And shall drive him to his feet – Margin, scatter. This is a literal translation of the Hebrew. The idea is, that he will be alarmed by such terrors; his self-composure will be dissipated, and he will take to his heels.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Terrors; both from men, and from God, and from his own unquiet mind and guilty conscience.
Shall drive him to his feet; shall force him to flee hither and thither, and he knows not whither, being secure and safe no where, but pursued by terrors from place to place.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Terrorsoften mentioned inthis book (Job 18:14; Job 24:17;c.). The terrors excited through an evil conscience are herepersonified. “Magor-missabib” (Jer20:3).
drive . . . to hisfeetrather, “shall pursue” (literally, “scatter,”Hab 3:14) him close “athis heels” (literally, “immediately after his feet,”Hab 3:5 1Sa 25:42;Hebrew). The image is that of a pursuing conqueror whoscatters the enemy [UMBREIT].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,…. Make him a “Magormissabib”, or “terror on every side”, as Pashur was a terror to himself, Jer 20:3, and all his friends about him; these terrors may be either the terrors of the judges of the earth upon wicked men, who are, or should be, a terror to evildoers, and of whom wicked men are afraid, lest they should be taken and punished by them; to this sense is the note of Sephorno: or else the terrors of a guilty conscience, which drive a man to his wits’ end, that he knows not what to do, nor whither to go; these terrify him night and day, and make an hell upon earth unto him; or the terrors of the righteous law of God broken by him, its menaces and curses threatening him with death and everlasting damnation; or the terrors of the judgments of God on earth, which by their forerunners appear to be coming on it, by reason of which men’s hearts fail for fear of them; or terrible apprehensions of the wrath of God for sin, here and hereafter, together with the terrors of death, which fall upon them, and of an awful judgment yet to come. Now Bildad had observed, that Job had said some things concerning the terrors he was sometimes possessed of, Job 6:4; and therefore would suggest from hence that he must be a wicked man, since this is the case of such; but it is easy to observe that good men are sometimes surrounded with terrors as well as others, so that this is no proof of a man’s character and state, see Ps 88:15;
and shall drive him to his feet; to take to his feet and run, in order to get rid of his terrors if possible, but in vain; these cause him not to run to God, to his feet, to the throne and footstool of his grace, but from him, to the rocks and mountains to hide him from his wrath, though there is no going from his spirit, nor fleeing from his presence; and terrors will also have such an effect upon wielded men as to cause them to flee from men, as in Cain, who not only went, from the presence of the Lord, but from the society of men, and became a fugitive and vagabond, and afraid of everyone he met with, lest he should kill him; and sometimes wicked men flee when none pursue, and even at the sound of shaking leaf, Pr 28:1; or “shall scatter him at his feet” t, either at the feet of the robber, or cause him to fall to the ground, in the place where his feet stood. Mr. Broughton renders it, “shall press him at his feet”, shall follow at his heels, and keep close to him wherever he goes, and overtake and seize him.
t “dispergent eum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Beza, Mercerus, Piscator, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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.
Bildad here describes the destruction itself which wicked people are reserved for in the other world, and which, in some degree, often seizes them in this world. Come, and see what a miserable condition the sinner is in when his day comes to fall.
I. See him disheartened and weakened by continual terrors arising from the sense of his own guilt and the dread of God’s wrath (Job 18:11; Job 18:12): Terror shall make him afraid on every side. The terrors of his own conscience shall haunt him, so that he shall never be easy. Wherever he goes, these shall follow him; which way soever he looks, these shall stare him in the face. It will make him tremble to see himself fought against by the whole creation, to see Heaven frowning on him, hell gaping for him, and earth sick of him. He that carries his own accuser, and his own tormentor, always in his bosom, cannot but be afraid on every side. This will drive him to his feet, like the malefactor, who, being conscious of his own guilt, takes to his heels and flees when none pursues, Prov. xxviii. 1. But his feet will do him no service; they are fast in the snare, v. 9. The sinner may as soon overpower the divine omnipotence as flee from the divine omniscience, Amo 9:2; Amo 9:3. No marvel that the sinner is dispirited and distracted with fear, for, 1. He sees his ruin approaching: Destruction shall be ready at his side, to seize him whenever justice gives the word, so that he is brought into desolation in a moment, Ps. lxxiii. 19. 2. He feels himself utterly unable to grapple with it, either to escape it or to bear up under it. That which he relied upon as his strength (his wealth, power, pomp, friends, and the hardiness of his own spirit) shall fail him in the time of need, and be hunger-bitten, that is, it shall do him no more service than a famished man, pining away for hunger, would do in work or war. The case being thus with him, no marvel that he is a terror to himself. Note, The way of sin is a way of fear, and leads to everlasting confusion, of which the present terrors of an impure and unpacified conscience are earnests, as they were to Cain and Judas.
II. See him devoured and swallowed up by a miserable death; and miserable indeed a wicked man’s death is, how secure and jovial soever his life was. 1. See him dying, arrested by the first-born of death (some disease, or some stroke that has in it a more than ordinary resemblance of death itself; so great a death, as it is called, 2 Cor. i. 10, a messenger of death that has in it an uncommon strength and terror), weakened by the harbingers of death, which devour the strength of his skin, that is, it shall bring rottenness into his bones and consume them. His confidence shall then be rooted out of his tabernacle (v. 14), that is, all that he trusted to for his support shall be taken from him, and he shall have nothing to rely upon, no, not his own tabernacle. His own soul was his confidence, but that shall be rooted out of the tabernacle of the body, as a tree that cumbered the ground. “Thy soul shall be required of thee.” 2. See him dead, and see his case then with an eye of faith. (1.) He is then brought to the king of terrors. He was surrounded with terrors while he lived (v. 11), and death was the king of all those terrors; they fought against the sinner in death’s name, for it is by reason of death that sinners are all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. ii. 15), and at length they will be brought to that which they so long feared, as a captive to the conqueror. Death is terrible to nature; our Saviour himself prayed, Father, save me from this hour. But to the wicked it is in a special manner the king of terrors, both as it is a period to that life in which they placed their happiness and a passage to that life where they will find their endless misery. How happy then are the saints, and how much indebted to the Lord Jesus, by whom death is so far abolished, and the property of it altered, that this king of terrors becomes a friend and servant! (2.) He is then driven from the light into darkness (v. 18), from the light of this world, and his prosperous condition in it, into darkness, the darkness of the grave, the darkness of hell, into utter darkness, never to see light (Ps. xlix. 19), not the least gleam, nor any hopes of it. (3.) He is then chased out of the world, hurried and dragged away by the messengers of death, sorely against his will, chased as Adam out of paradise, for the world is his paradise. It intimates that he would fain stay here; he is loth to depart, but go he must; all the world is weary of him, and therefore chases him out, as glad to get rid of him. This is death to a wicked man.
III. See his family sunk and cut off, v. 15. The wrath and curse of God light and lie, not only upon his head and heart, but upon his house too, to consume it with the timber and stones thereof, Zech. v. 4. Death itself shall dwell in his tabernacle, and, having expelled him, shall take possession of his house, to the terror and destruction of all that he leaves behind. Even the dwelling shall be ruined for the sake of its owner: Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, rained upon it as upon Sodom, to the destruction of which this seems to have reference. Some think he here upbraids Job with the burning of his sheep and servants with fire from heaven. The reason is here given why his tabernacle is thus marked for ruin: Because it is none of his; that is, it was unjustly got, and kept, from the rightful owner, and therefore let him not expect either the comfort or the continuance of it. His children shall perish, either with him or after him, v. 16. So that, his roots being in his own person dried up beneath, above his branch (every child of his family) shall be cut off. Thus the houses of Jeroboam, Baasha, and Ahab, were cut off; none that descended from them were left alive. Those who take root in the earth may expect it will thus be dried up; but, if we be rooted in Christ, even our leaf shall not wither, much less shall our branch be cut off. Those who consult the true honour of their family, and the welfare of its branches, will be afraid of withering it by sin. The extirpation of the sinner’s family is mentioned again (v. 19): He shall neither have son nor nephew, child nor grandchild, to enjoy his estate and bear up his name, nor shall there be any remaining in his dwelling akin to him. Sin entails a curse upon posterity, and the iniquity of the fathers is often visited upon the children. Herein, also, it is probable that Bildad reflects upon the death of Job’s children and servants, as a further proof of his being a wicked man; whereas all that are written childless are not thereby written graceless; there is a name better than that of sons and daughters.
IV. See his memory buried with him, or made odious; he shall either be forgotten or spoken of with dishonour (v. 17): His remembrance shall perish from the earth; and, if it perish thence, it perishes wholly, for it was never written in heaven, as the names of the saints are, Luke x. 20. All his honour shall be laid and lost in the dust, or stained with perpetual infamy, so that he shall have no name in the street, departing without being desired. Thus the judgments of God follow him, after death, in this world, as an indication of the misery his soul is in after death, and an earnest of that everlasting shame and contempt to which he shall rise in the great day. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot, Prov. x. 7.
V. See a universal amazement at his fall, v. 20. Those that see it are affrighted, so sudden is the change, so dreadful the execution, so threatening to all about him: and those that come after, and hear the report of it, are astonished at it; their ears are made to tingle, and their hearts to tremble, and they cry out, Lord, how terrible art thou in thy judgments! A place or person utterly ruined is said to be made an astonishment,Deu 28:37; 2Ch 7:21; Jer 25:9; Jer 25:18. Horrible sins bring strange punishments.
VI. See all this averred as the unanimous sense of the patriarchal age, grounded upon their knowledge of God and their many observations of his providence (v. 21): Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place (this the condition) of him that knows not God! See here what is the beginning, and what is the end, of the wickedness of this wicked world. 1. The beginning of it is ignorance of God, and it is a wilful ignorance, for there is that to be known of him which is sufficient to leave them for ever inexcusable. They know not God, and then they commit all iniquity. Pharaoh knows not the Lord, and therefore will not obey his voice. 2. The end of it, and that is utter destruction. Such, so miserable, are the dwellings of the wicked. Vengeance will be taken of those that know not God, 2 Thess. i. 8. For those whom he has not honour from he will get himself honour upon. Let us therefore stand in awe and not sin, for it will certainly be bitterness in the latter end.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(11) Shall drive him to his feet.Comp. Job. 15:21. One feels very much tempted to understand this, as the English undoubtedly suggests, shall startle him to his feet, but the true meaning is, more probably, shall chase him at his heels.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Drive him Chase him at his feet. These terrors, personified, resemble the furies of the Greek poets their pursuit of the wicked man is so close that they are said to be at his heels.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 18:11. And shall drive him to his feet And shall be spread around at his feet] Houbigant. The same metaphor seems to be continued.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
Ver. 11. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side ] These terrors are, as it were, the cruel sergeants and merciless officers of that king of terrors, Job 18:14 , arresting him, as it were, in the devil’s name, and bringing him to justice, Apparitores et lictores (Jun.). How can it be but a terrible time with him, when death comes with a writ of Habeas corpus, Let you keep the body, and the devil with a writ of Habeas animam? Let you keep the spirit, when the cold earth must have his body, and hot hell hold his soul, according to that of the psalmist, “Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them,” Psa 55:15 . The sad forethought hereof causeth many unutterable griefs and grapings, perplexities of spirit and convulsions of soul, a very hell above ground, and a foretaste of eternal torments. The word here rendered terror signifieth utmost frights, such as put a man well nigh out of his wits and distract him. R. Solomon understandeth it to be devils; others to be furies, such as the poets feign. Most certain it is, that a body is not so tormented with stings or torn with stripes as a mind with remembrance of wicked actions and fear of future evils (Cic. Orat. pro Rose. Amer.).
And shall drive him to his feet
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
drive him to his feet = follow at his feet. Compare 1Sa 25:42.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Terrors: Job 6:4, Job 15:21, Job 20:25, Psa 73:19, Jer 6:25, Jer 20:3, Jer 20:4, Jer 46:5, Jer 49:29, 2Co 5:11, Rev 6:15, Rev 6:16
drive him: Heb. scatter him
to his feet: Lev 26:36, 2Ki 7:6, 2Ki 7:7, Psa 53:5, Pro 28:1
Reciprocal: Lev 26:16 – terror 1Sa 14:15 – there was trembling 1Sa 28:5 – he was afraid Job 21:9 – safe from fear Job 27:20 – Terrors Isa 33:14 – sinners Dan 5:9 – greatly Luk 9:7 – Herod 2Co 7:5 – troubled Heb 2:15 – through
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 18:11-12. Terrors shall make him afraid Both from men and from God, and also from his own unquiet mind and guilty conscience. And drive him to his feet Shall force him to flee different ways, being safe nowhere, but pursued by terrors from place to place, which, as Houbigant renders it, shall be spread around his feet. His strength Either his children, who are, and are called a mans strength, Gen 49:3; Psa 127:4, or rather, his wealth, power, and prosperity; shall be hunger-bitten Or famished, that is, utterly consumed. The Vulgate renders it, His strength shall be eaten by famine. And destruction shall be ready at his side Shall attend him as a constant companion, or follow him at the heels as a diligent servant. Or, he may allude to an arrow fitted to a string, and ready to be discharged at him.