Job Chapter 8
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2 "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
4 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.
5 If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.
6 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.
8 "Please enquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.
9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
10 Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?
11 "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?
12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.
13 So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish,
14 Whose confidence will break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web.
15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand. He will cling to it, but it will not endure.
16 He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden.
17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others will spring.
20 "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.
21 He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked will be no more."
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Job Chapter 8 Guide
In answer to Job, the next of his friends, Bildad, took up the argument. There is greater directness in his speech than in that of Eliphaz. By comparison it lacks in courtesy, but gains in force. He made no reference to Job's attack on his friends, but proceeded to make one statement of the righteousness of God from two standpoints. He first protested against the idea which Job's complaint had seemed to advance, that God's dealings are ever unjust with the righteous (1-7). It would be better for him to recognize that his children had died on account of their sin, and himself turn to God. Next he affirmed that those who forget God can no more flourish than can the m h without mire, or the flag .without water. The paths of such as forget God are described with great force (8-19). The two things are then summarized (20):
God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will He uphold the evildoers.
This is followed by an expression of hope concerning Job. Here again we have the same general thought as appeared in the speech of Eliphaz, namely, that God is righteous, and prospers the just, and punishes evil. No direct charge was made against Job. He was left to make his own deduction and application.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Job Chapter 8 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Bildad reproves Job. -- (1-7)
- Hypocrites will be destroyed. -- (8-19)
- Bildad applies God's just dealing to Job. -- (20-22)
Verses 1-7
Job spake much to the purpose; but Bildad, like an eager, angry disputant, turns it all off with this, How long wilt thou speak these things? Men's meaning is not taken aright, and then they are rebuked, as if they were evil-doers. Even in disputes on religion, it is too common to treat others with sharpness, and their arguments with contempt. Bildad's discourse shows that he had not a favourable opinion of Job's character. Job owned that God did not pervert judgment; yet it did not therefore follow that his children were cast-aways, or that they did for some great transgression. Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, sometimes they are the trials of extraordinary graces: in judging of another's case, we ought to take the favorable side. Bildad puts Job in hope, that if he were indeed upright, he should yet see a good end of his present troubles. This is God's way of enriching the souls of his people with graces and comforts. The beginning is small, but the progress is to perfection. Dawning light grows to noon-day.
Verses 8-19
Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys. He proves this truth of the destruction of the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to former times. 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 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. This doctrine of the vanity of a hypocrite's confidence, or the prosperity of a wicked man, is sound; but it was not applicable to the case of Job, if confined to the present world.
Verses 20-22
Bildad here assures Job, that as he was so he should fare; therefore they concluded, that as he fared so he was. God will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away for ever. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue, that Job was an ungodly, wicked man, was unjust and uncharitable. The mistake in these reasonings arose from Job's friends not distinguishing between the present state of trial and discipline, and the future state of final judgment. May we choose the portion, possess the confidence, bear the cross, and die the death of the righteous; and, in the mean time, be careful neither to wound others by rash judgments, nor to distress ourselves needlessly about the opinions of our fellow-creatures.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.