Job 8

Bildad Speaks

The second of Job's friends speaks to Job. Much more terse and to the point than Eliphaz, Bildad begins his discourse with a question, "How long will you go on like this?"  He is already disgusted with Job and shows no empathy for his plight at all.

Bildad's conclusion is the same as Eliphaz's - Job must have sinned and is getting what he deserves. He blatantly states in verse 4, "Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved."  This is a denial of Job's integrity and a repudiation of Job's practice of making a sacrifice for his children.  Essentially Bildad is saying that Job's obedience to the law was ineffective. All Job has to do is repent and God will restore (v. 5).

While Eliphaz over analzyed, Bildad over simplifies. He goes off on a platitudinous oration of ancestral practices, of how Job can learn from the wisdom of the elders, how all "who forget God" evaporate and hang over destruction by a thread.  He does not explicitly lump Job in with the godless, but he implies Job's fallen state with the statement, "God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will he lend a hand to the wicked."  Where does put Job?  If Job is a person of integrity, then why did God reject him.  And if he is rejected, then there is no hope that God will help him.

As quickly as Bildad accuses Job, he ends his brief discourse with an almost mocking promise that God will restore Job and destroy his enemies.  Bildad completely misses the point.  Job's plight is not the result of his enemies, nor any personal attack.  Neither is Job's condition the result of unremitted sin.  Yet, in Bildad's mind, there can be no other explanation.

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.