Job 18:1-10 – “His Own Counsel Shall Cast Him Down.”
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Study Aired May 27, 2012
Job 18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
Job 18:2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
Job 18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
Job 18:4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Job 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
Job 18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
Job 18:9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
Job 18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
Introduction
This is Bildad’s second attempt to make himself feel righteous at the expense of his ‘friend’ Job. Of course that is not what Eliphaz, Bildad or Zophar would ever admit to being the motivation for their attacks upon their friend Job. Neither would any of us admit to being motivated by self- righteousness as we look down on others who are suffering. The first thing we just naturally think is, ‘I wonder what that brother or sister did to deserve the lesson God is teaching them at this time?’ We do not ‘just naturally’ think, “That is exactly what I needed to show me my own self- righteousness!” As Job we tire of the process of the judgment of our carnal- minded “old man”, and as Bildad we add to Job’s torment with accusations that apply equally to ourselves and to all mankind. It is all men who must live by every Word of God:
Job 16:9 He [ God] teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy [ God] sharpeneth his eyes upon me. (Job)
Job 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. (Bildad)
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It is always appropriate to open our studies by quoting 1Co 3:21-22, but the verses preceding those verses are also very revealing of the universal application of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1Co 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1Co 3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
“The thoughts of the wise” refers to the thoughts of our own carnal mind which reproves, contends with and condemns the ways of our own Maker, as He, in His love, corrects, chastens and scourges us for our own good. God’s chastening and scourging of our carnal- minded “first Adam” is essential to “make manifest… every man’s work of what sort it is”. The work of any man is first the works of Job. We all “suffer loss” with Job, and we are all “saved… by fire” because “the world… life… death… things present, [ and] things to come, all are [ ours]”. That is what this book is demonstrating for us. Our righteousnesses do not impress our Maker at all. The truth is that our own righteousnesses are one of the most detestable things in this world to a God who has declared that all flesh is corruption. For us to dare to challenge that assessment of our own God is a necessary ‘loss’ which we all must endure to come to know the truth of these words:
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
As Paul just told us:
1Co 3:20 … The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
Bildad is the shadow and type of each of us as the first Adam who sees no need for God to be his enemy. As a carnal- minded man we think of ourselves as wise, while thinking of those who are being subjected to God’s judgment as below ourselves and surely deserving of the affliction they are enduring.
So Bildad, the type of our own carnal mind, begins his second assault upon his close friend, Job:
Job 18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
Job 18:2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
Job 18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
It is clear that the truth of these following verses of God’s Words has not yet been revealed to us while we think as Bildad thinks:
Ecc 3:17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work
Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
“Every purpose and… every work” includes every evil purpose and every evil work. As long as we are unaware that God judges the righteous and the wicked within us, we cannot receive “the things of the spirit”, which “things” teaches us that all men are “themselves… beasts”. When we do come to see this truth, we will no longer be looking outwardly for an outward “false prophet” or an outward “beast” or an outward “man of sin… sitting in the temple of God showing himself that he is God”.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [“The day of Christ”, verse 2] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Paul is no longer Bildad. Paul is who we are when we come to know that we are the beast, we are “that man of sin… sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” by demanding that we fulfill all the lusts of our own flesh.
Here it is again. Here is what Paul meant when he spoke of the temple in which this “man of sin” sits demanding our worship “as God”:
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
“Him shall God destroy” is what this book of Job is all about. Job did not see himself as a man of sin. He saw himself as “perfect and upright…”. In time it was revealed to Job that he was in truth someone who thought he knew better than his own God how to deal with mankind. Our “old man” simply cannot accept the Biblical truth that God has determined from before the foundation of this world, that he must be destroyed. This resentment of God’s ways is common to us all as long as we remain “that man of sin… sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
This assessment of ourselves as “the first man Adam” is common to us all as “that man of sin… sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Here now is what we all struggle to comprehend: It is only through the Lord’s consuming and destroying of ‘that man of sin… the son of perdition”, who is our “old man”, that “[ we] ourselves” are saved “yet so as by fire”. That process of the destruction of our old man is “the patience and faith of the saints”, and in keeping the patience and faith of the saints and keeping the commandments of God is also the love of God:
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
There it is. “They that keep the commandments of God” are they who “drink of the wine of the wrath of God”, and are “tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” first. They that “keep the commandments of God” know that the love of God is the destruction of our old man by the wrath of God upon that old carnal- minded “first man Adam”. The patience and faith of the saints includes the keeping of the commandments, and the keeping of the commandments is the love of God. “All things are ours… life… death… things present and things to come”. It is all inexorably connected together.
Bildad, of course would agree that Job is “that man of sin”. The trouble with all of us, as we are foreshadowed by Bildad, is that we see no personal application for the words “that man of sin sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”. As Bildad we can only see this phenomenon in that evil man, Job:
Job 18:4 He [ Job] teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Is that “the comfort of the scriptures”, or is this not a perfect example of how we, like Peter, tend to “cut off the ear” of the very person we proclaim we are trying to bring to our Lord?
Bildad, as the type of our self- righteous old man, continues:
Job 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
Let us think of these words in the light of their application to the spirit of Bildad within us, as we look down on Job, whose suffering is made a spectacle to all men.
Here is the very same spirit of Bildad in Christ’s own apostles, as just another type of us:
Joh 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Is not this the same spirit of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar? Are they not telling Job that he has sinned, and therefore this terrible condition has come upon him. Is that not the same spirit we all just naturally subscribe to when we believe the doctrines of all the ministries which connect our own works to God’s blessings or His curses? Of course it is. So we attend church regularly. We pay our tithes, and we do many wonderful words besides. Now, Eliphaz, Bildah, Zophar and Christ’s own carnal disciples tell us that God is now obligated to us, and He now has to bless us, because we are just that righteous and deserving of His blessings.
But what does Christ tell his disciples when they ask him why this man was born blind? Is there any connection at all to this man’s works or the works of his parents and his being born blind?
Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
This is the man who provoked these words from the mouth of our Lord:
Joh 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Job and all three of his “miserable comforters” think they are “they which see”. As such they too, have been born blind, and they cannot see.
Just as we are both Job and his miserable comforters, we are also the man who was born blind as well as being the priests and the Pharisees who cast him out of the synagogue. We are all first born blind. We all first cast out of our synagogue those whose eyes have been opened by our Lord. Only after we are miraculously granted to see just how blind we are will we miraculously be given our sight.
The apostle Paul, while still known as ‘Saul of Tarsus’, is the Biblical New Testament shadow of how we all live out the experience of Job and his miserable comforters who think of themselves as those who see and know God because of all their own righteousness and their own “many wonderful works”.
Here is what God thinks of all of our righteousnesses and all of our many wonderful works:
Act 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Act 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
Act 9:8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
Act 9:9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
Saul was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter, “thinking [ he] was doing God a service”. He believed he already could see and hear the word of God. And indeed, if a dictionary and an education from men were all that was required, then he would surely have been able to see and hear the words of God. But such is not the case. Until “his eyes were opened” to the fact that he could not see his own hand in front of his face, Saul of Tarsus was spiritually as blind as a bat. He, like all of us, had to come to see and acknowledge that it was he who had been born spiritually blind.
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
That is the spirit that is in Bildad as he continues his assault upon his friend Job. That is the same spirit that is in us all as we judge as great sinners, those who are the first to be judged (1Pe 4:17).
Job 18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
“His own counsel shall cast him down… he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks upon a snare” are all the divine way of telling us that the very thoughts of our old man are sin:
Pro 15:26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
Here is this same message out of the mouth of our Savior:
Luk 19:22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
Who is wicked? Is Job wicked? What is God’s answer to that question?
Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Job was contending with the Almighty. He was reproving God, and he was disannulling God’s judgment and condemning God to make himself righteous. That is what we all do when we are suffering the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God upon our old self- righteous first man Adam.
Is not Bildad himself included in his own disdainful words to Job?
Job 42:7 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
Job 42:8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.
Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
These words are the Old Testament shadow of these words which refer to all those in whom Christ now resides in this age:
Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
It is of utmost importance that we note that the LORD turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends:
If we do not see and appreciate the fact that our belief comes only through the unbelief of our friends and brothers in Babylon, we will not be “accepted of the Lord”.
Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
But until our eyes are opened to our own blindness we blithely continue to point one finger at others and three fingers at ourselves while applying these words to that evil man, Job:
Job 18:9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
Job 18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
Truer words were never spoken concerning our “old man… the first man Adam”. What we simply cannot see while we are pointing our accusing finger is that we are “that man”.
2Sa 12:5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
2Sa 12:6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
2Sa 12:7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
The spirit of Bildad was alive and well in King David as he indignantly saw the sins of others but could not see his own.
Next week, if the Lord wills we will continue to look back and see who our own old man is in the type of Bildad the Shuhite.
Job 18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
Job 18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
Job 18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
Job 18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
Job 18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
Job 18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
Job 18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Job 18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
Job 18:20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
Job 18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
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