Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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.

John Gill's Exposition of 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!" Matthew 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", Proverbs 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, Psalm 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.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

candle — the lamp which in the East is usually fastened to the ceiling. Oil abounds in those regions, and the lamp was kept burning all night, as now in Egypt, where the poorest would rather dispense with food than the night lamp (Psalm 18:28). To put out the lamp was an image of utter desolation.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

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] He and his prosperity shall die together; he shall go out in a snuff, and leave nothing behind him but a detestable name. Sicut felis fugiens pedit, sic ille moriens hunc crepitum cecinit, saith Melancthon concerning Eckius’ last piece, De coniugio sacerdotum. Or, his candle shall be put out above him, so the Vulgate interpreter; the lamps which glittered overhead, during the pride and pomp of his feasts, shall give no more light; or if they give any, it shall be but to shine upon his tomb.

Sermon Bible Commentary

Job 18:6

There is a fourfold light in our nature, placed there by our Creator, the Father of our spirits. There is the light of the understanding, the light of the judgment, the light of the conscience, including the whole moral sense, and the light of the religious sensibility. These lights are as branches of one candlestick, and they constitute the natural light in man.

I. This light may be diminished—nay, even extinguished—by wickedness. Never let us forget that sin reduces the natural light within us, and continuous sinning involves constant decrease in that light. By continuing in sin there is a hardening process carried on, so that sin is at length committed without fear, or remorse, or regret.

II. All sin tends to destroy faith in God and to stop intercourse with God. It withers all sense of His presence and of personal relation with Him, so that the whole tendency of sin is to reduce the light within a man. A lessening of the light is necessary before we can sin at all, but following sin is a still further reduction of the light as the expression of a retributive Providence.

III. There is a Deliverer from this position of darkness. Unto us has been born a Saviour. Just as there is a sun in the heavens to give us light by day, so there has been born to us a Saviour; and if our sins ruin us, we shall have destroyed ourselves.

S. Martin, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 145.

References: Job 18:10.—Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 257. Job 18:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1510. Job 18—S. Cox, Expositor, 1st series, vol. vii., p. 410, and vol. viii., p. 127; Ibid., Commentary on Job, p. 216. 18-21—A. W. Momerie, Defects of Modern Christianity, p. 116. Job 19:17.—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 429. Job 19:20.—J. Robertson, Ibid., 2nd series, vol. vi., p. 255.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy 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.

Whedon's Commentary on the 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.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Light; prosperity, (Menochius) offspring, &c. (Calmet)

Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible

The term "tent" indicates that when this book was written many people still lived in tents.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

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.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

Candle - the lamp which in the East is usually fastened to the ceiling. Oil abounds in those regions, and the lamp was kept burning all night, as now in Egypt, where the poorest would rather dispense with food than the night-lamp (Psalms 18:28). To put out the lamp was an image of utter desolation. With him - rather, above him; over his head.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

candle

or, lamp.

21:17; Psalms 18:28; Revelation 18:23