If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
Bildad has compared the wicked to a plant that thrives for a season, then is torn out so completely that the ground where it grew says it never saw him. The picture is vivid and mostly true, but does it fit Job, the man sitting in ashes in front of him?
The ground that disowns
The removal is total. The ground itself turns witness and disowns him, as if he had never grown there. One writer traces the plant's grip on the stones — verse 17 in an older wording — then the sudden end:
William Kelly"His roots are wrapped about the heap" — to get a little strength from the heap — "and sees the place of stones." That is what the reed does to get a firm hold... The same is true of man on the earth. He passes away, and his memory is so forgotten that the place itself says it never saw him — it is all completely forgotten.
A short season, and a replacement
Bildad piles up one image after another. The verse itself does not name who does the destroying; this writer reads the act as God's, and the emptied place does not stay empty:
Samuel RidoutIn this part Bildad traces the way of the wicked, and there is much truth in what he says, though it is not all the truth... Once more his images come pouring out. He compares this passing prosperity to a lush vine covering a heap of stones in the garden, full of sap and strength in the bright sunshine. Soon God cuts him off, and "the place that once knew him shall know him no more." Others shall take his place.
The height was never the plant's own achievement:
William KellyThe papyrus does not lift its head so high by any strength of its own. It does so because of the deep mud in which it thrives for its little day... And this is so true that these plants do not decay slowly, like other plants. They are the first to wither, though no one has cut them down.
True of the pretender — untrue of Job
The description itself is sound. The damage lies in where Bildad aims it. A man who only looked prosperous can end with no trace that he ever existed:
Leslie M. GrantBut he may be destroyed from his place, and his place then denies that it ever saw him (v.18). Nothing remains to show that he was ever prosperous. This description may indeed be true of the hypocrite when he is finally exposed and shamed. But Bildad hinted that Job had suffered things like the destruction he describes, so Job must be a hypocrite! Bildad did not yet know the end of the story, and his assumptions were poorly thought out and false.
The flaw underneath the argument
Bildad is defending God's honour. But one fixed assumption controls everything he says:
Samuel RidoutFor all his ignorance of God's principles, Bildad is zealous for the honour of God and will not let anyone accuse Him. In this he is right. But he fails to convince Job, because of the root error in the thinking of all of them: God must punish sin, and Job must be a sinner, because he is being punished.
So Bildad judged Job by what he could see of a ruined life:
William KellyHe may look on a house of stone, but he is soon destroyed — a harmful weed that only takes up room in the ground, and the ground then denies him as if it had never seen him... But applied to Job, Bildad's thoughts held no fellowship with God and no kindness for the man who was suffering. So his judgment went by appearances, and it was unrighteous.
The lesson for the reader
The mistake did not stop with Bildad. The warning cuts both ways: we can misjudge others by their troubles, and misjudge ourselves the same way:
The Bible TreasuryThe lesson of the first importance here is that outward calamities do not prove that a man is in the wrong place... Nor is outward success a necessary evidence of God's approval. This is a very basic lesson, yet it cannot be repeated too often. We have such a strong tendency to judge in that crude and childish way. So we are likely to accept the verdict of Job's comforters when we judge the lives of others — and to let the same tests mislead us about our own path.
Summary
- Rooted in nothing — the plant's height came from the mud around it, not from any strength of its own. Nothing cut it down, yet it withers first.
- Uprooted — take the plant from its place, and the place itself denies it. The man passes away, and even his memory is gone.
- Replaced — God cuts him off, and others step into the spot he held.
- Misapplied — the picture fits a pretender exposed at last, but Bildad aimed it at Job. He did not know the end of the story, so his assumptions were false.
- Warned — judging by outward disaster or outward success is judging "according to appearances." It is unrighteous, whether we aim it at others or at ourselves.