They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
The verse belongs to Bildad's speech describing the final doom of the wicked, in which those who come later are astonished at his fate just as those who lived before were horrified. It belongs likewise to the broader claims of the friends about the fate of the wicked, that those who come later are astonished at his downfall as those who witnessed it were terrified. It stands within Job 8-27 in the extended exchange of constant accusations, implied and otherwise, by Job's friends and Job's replies. There it is grouped with Job 17 and Job 19 on the way to the point where the friends cease troubling him in the middle of his last reply.
It teaches that the day of a wicked person's ruin, fate, or downfall brings horror, with those who come afterward astonished at it just as those who went before or witnessed it were terrified and afraid. The friends' statements of this kind reflect their wisdom and observation, but they misapplied them to Job. Suffering does not prove that a sufferer is under God's displeasure.
As part of the friends' misguided declarations about Job and God, its statements are not reliable where they contradict inspired teaching and must be tested against the rest of Scripture. The terror and astonishment it describes applies to Lucifer, whose self-exaltation and attempt to cast others down brought him disgrace and a remembrance that perishes.
The verse belongs to Bildad's speech describing the final doom of the wicked, in which those who come later are astonished at his fate just as those who lived before were horrified. It belongs likewise to the broader claims of the friends about the fate of the wicked, that those who come later are astonished at his downfall as those who witnessed it were terrified. It stands within Job 8-27 in the extended exchange of constant accusations, implied and otherwise, by Job's friends and Job's replies. There it is grouped with Job 17 and Job 19 on the way to the point where the friends cease troubling him in the middle of his last reply.
It teaches that the day of a wicked person's ruin, fate, or downfall brings horror, with those who come afterward astonished at it just as those who went before or witnessed it were terrified and afraid. The friends' statements of this kind reflect their wisdom and observation, but they misapplied them to Job. Suffering does not prove that a sufferer is under God's displeasure.
As part of the friends' misguided declarations about Job and God, its statements are not reliable where they contradict inspired teaching and must be tested against the rest of Scripture. The terror and astonishment it describes applies to Lucifer, whose self-exaltation and attempt to cast others down brought him disgrace and a remembrance that perishes.