8 For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,
9 since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,
9 since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
12 While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless will perish.
14 His source of confidence is fragile;
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.
15 He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
16 He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
17 His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
18 If he is uprooted from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”
19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
Commentary
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)
"Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys.
Bildad refers to the testimony of the ancients. Those teach best that utter words out of their heart, that speak from an experience of spiritual and divine things. A rush growing in fenny [swampy] ground, looking very green, but withering in dry weather, represents the hypocrite's profession, which is maintained only in times of prosperity.
The spider's web, spun with great skill, but easily swept away, represents a man's pretensions to religion when without the grace of God in his heart. A formal professor flatters himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure, and cheats the world with his vain confidences.
The flourishing of the tree, planted in the garden, striking root to the rock, yet after a time cut down and thrown aside, represents wicked men, when most firmly established, suddenly thrown down and forgotten."
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