Job 8: 1 – 22
Who Made You Judge?
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 2 “How long will you speak these things, and the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? 3 Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? 4 If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression. 5 If you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty, 6 if you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and prosper your rightful dwelling place. 7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly. 8 “For inquire, please, of the former age, and consider the things discovered by their fathers; 9 For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow. 10 Will they not teach you and tell you, and utter words from their heart? 11 “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? 12 While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any other plant. 13 So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, 14 Whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is a spider’s web. 15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. 16 He grows green in the sun, and his branches spread out in his garden. 17 His roots wrap around the rock heap, and look for a place in the 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, and out of the earth others will grow. 20 Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers. 21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing. 22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.”
As I was reviewing this chapter a certain saying kept circulating through my mind – ‘Let me add my two cents.’ Have you ever heard of this statement before?
"My two cents" and its longer version "put my two cents in" is an American idiomatic expression, taken from the original British idiom expression: to put in "my two pennies worth" or "my tuppence worth." It used to preface the tentative stating of one’s opinion. By deprecating the opinion to follow — suggesting its value is only two cents, a very small amount — the user of the phrase hopes to lessen the impact of a possibly contentious statement, showing politeness and humility. However, it is also sometimes used with irony when expressing a strongly felt opinion. The phrase is also used out of habit to preface un-contentious opinions.
In other words ‘your input is pretty much worth less.’
If you have been with us through the previous studies in the book of Job, it is easy to see that these so-called friends are not being friends.
We have heard from one of the guys now another one by the name of Bildad is going to add his two cents to the verbal beating of Job. This guy is a small man. Not only is he short in stature [He was only a shoe height in size – since these chapters are stressful this is my version of adding a little lightness] he was very little and short on being a friend and comforter.
The first speaker Eliphaz did not reply to what Job had said in answer to him, but left it to Bildad, whom he believed to be of the same mind with himself in this affair. Eliphaz had undertaken to show that because Job was sorely afflicted he was certainly a wicked man. We learn that Bildad is much of the same mind. He will conclude that Job is a wicked man, that is, unless God speedily appears for his relief. In this chapter he endeavors to convince Job;
I. That he had spoken too passionately (v.2).
II. That he and his children had suffered justly (v.3, v.4).
III. That, if he were a true penitent, God would soon turn his captivity (v.5-7).
IV. That it was a usual thing for providence to extinguish the joys and hopes of wicked men as his were extinguished; and therefore that they had reason to suspect him for being a hypocrite (v.8-19).
V. That they would be abundantly confirmed in their suspicion unless God did speedily appear for his relief (v.20-22).
If we were to contrast the three friends we could get away in saying that Eliphaz was emotional. He relies on experience (4:8) and visions (4:12). Bildad on the other hand is the strong willed. Having arrived at a consensus he charges ahead with no diplomatic niceties. Zophar, we will see has a problem with head and mouth disease. He speaks without engaging the brain. He is cold and aloof.
Whereas Eliphaz claimed visions and experience as his guide, Bildad appeals to the wisdom of tradition for understanding (8:8-10). We too often forget the importance of tradition as a guide, in our rush to invent a new destiny, a new righteousness like we see in the book of Deuteronomy 32:7. “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee”. Unfortunately, tradition is a limited resource. Bildad is not plugged into the Holy Spirit so his faith relies on yesterday's Manna. Job's current predicament defies Bildad’s present understanding.
At the heart of it, Bildad is not relying on God, but on traditions. Job wrestles with his belief in what he has learned from other people who has lived before, but Bildad stubbornly clings to it, until he imagines all sorts of wickedness. Even today if you study various churches who profess that they are Christian, you will see that they hold to a higher standard traditions over the Word of God.
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 2 “How long will you speak these things, and the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? 3 Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? 4 If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression. 5 If you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty, 6 if you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and prosper your rightful dwelling place. 7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly.
Bildad now takes a turn of speaking. He reproves Job for his justifying himself. In reality Job had spoken with a great deal of good sense and much to the purpose of his pain and suffering, and that he had reason and right on his side.
It says in the second book of Timothy chapter 3, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” You might be thinking then that Bildad was correct in his approach. But remember this point, ‘what did we say triggered Bildad’s opinions – It was ‘traditions’. This wasn’t based on the word of God but on traditions. These are not the same.
We all need to pray a lot before we ever reprove someone. In many situations reproofs are often grounded upon mistakes. We are all imperfect people and we make mistakes. Often we misinterpret when someone does or says something and then we jump on them in rebuke. When you point you finger at someone else remember three other fingers are pointing back at you.
Bildad compares Job’s discourse to a strong wind. Job had excused himself with this, that his speeches were but as wind back in chapter 6:26 , and therefore they should not make such ado about them: "Yes, but’’(says Bildad) "they are as strong wind, blustering and threatening, boisterous and dangerous, and therefore we are concerned to stand up against them.’
Bildad goes on like he has to stand up for and justify God in what He had done to Job. This he had no occasion to do at this time for Job did not condemn God. He explains that God is just, and never punishes but for iniquity; and intimates that it was on account of their sins that his children were killed.
He is right in general, that God doth not pervert judgment, nor ever go contrary to any settled rule of justice. He never oppresses the innocent, nor lays a greater load on the guilty than they deserve. He Is God Almighty, The Supreme Judge. We see this truth explained in Genesis 18 verse 25, ‘and shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’
Men pervert justice sometimes for fear of the power of others or to obtain the favor of others. Our Holy God Is Almighty, and stands in awe of none and He Is All-sufficient, and cannot gain any benefit by the favor of any man. It is man’s weakness and impotency that he often is unjust.
Bildad is not fair in the application. He takes it for granted that Job’s children (the death of who was one of the greatest of his afflictions) had been guilty of some notorious wickedness, and that the unhappy circumstances of their death were sufficient evidence that they were sinners above all the children of the east and therefore deserved what they got.
Look at these words again. Put yourself in the place of Job and see how you would feel with such cutting words spoken against you? ‘If thou wert pure and upright’- Bildad viciously says, ‘Concerning thy guilt Job there can be no doubt; for if you had been a holy man, and these calamities had occurred through accident, or merely by the malice of your enemies, would not God, long before all this, have manifested His power and justice on your behalf, punished your enemies, and restored you again to affluence? Job you are a hypocrite. If your house had been as a temple of God, in which His worship had been performed, and His commandments obeyed, would it now be in a state of ruin and desolation? ‘
Bildad advises Job not to complain, but to petition, to make his supplication to the Almighty with humility and faith, and to see that there was (what he feared had hitherto been wanting) sincerity in his heart. Bildad tells Job that he shall yet again see good days, secretly suspecting, however, that he was not qualified to see them. He tells Job that if he would be early in seeking God, God would awake for his relief, would remember him and return to him, though now he seemed to forget him and forsake him—that if his habitation were righteous it should again be prosperous.
8 “For inquire, please, of the former age, and consider the things discovered by their fathers; 9 For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow. 10 Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words from their heart?
Bildad here discourses very well on the sad catastrophe of hypocrites and evil-doers and the fatal period of all their hopes and joys. He will not be so bold as to say with Eliphaz that none that were righteous were ever cut off thus as we read in chapter 4:7; yet he takes it for granted that God, in the course of His providence, does ordinarily bring wicked men, who seemed pious and were prosperous, to shame and ruin in this world, and that, by making their prosperity short, he discovers their piety to be counterfeit. Whether this will certainly prove that all who are thus ruined must be concluded to have been hypocrites he will not say, but rather suspect, and thinks the application is easy.
He proves this truth, of the certain destruction of all the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to antiquity and the concurring sentiment and observation of all wise and good men. Bildad most evidently refers here to an antiquity exceedingly remote that is speaking of the first age of the patriarchs- the first generation of men that dwelt upon the earth. It was in those times that human life was protracted to a much longer date than that in which Job lived; when men, from the long period of eight or nine hundred years, had the opportunity of making many observations, and treasuring up a vast fund of knowledge and experience. In comparison with them, he considers that age as nothing, and that generation as being only of yesterday, not having had opportunity of laying up knowledge: nor could they expect it, as their days upon earth would be but a shadow, compared with that substantial time in which the fathers had lived.
Bildad is referring to the testimony of the ancients and to the knowledge which Job himself had of their sentiments. "Do thou enquire of the former age, and let them tell thee, not only their own judgment in this matter, but the judgment also of their fathers, v.8. They will teach thee, and inform thee (v.10), that all along, in their time, the judgments of God followed wicked men.
We are extremely blessed in the time that we currently are living. We have the word of God in writing, and are directed to search that, we need not enquire of the former age, nor prepare ourselves to the search of ancient fathers; for, though we ourselves are but of yesterday, the word of God in the scripture is as near to us as it was to them (Rom.10:8 ), and it is the more sure word of prophecy, to which we must take heed. If we study and keep God’s precepts, we may by them understand more than the ancients,
11 “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? 12 While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any other plant. 13 So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
The hypocrite cannot gain his hope without some false rotten ground [mire] or other out of which to raise it, and with which to support it and keep it alive, any more than the rush can grow without mire. He grounds it on his worldly prosperity, the plausible profession he makes of religion, the good opinion of his neighbors, and his own good conceit of himself, which are no solid foundation on which to build his confidence. It is all but mire and water; and the hope that grows out of it is but rush and reed.
The rush may look green and healthy for a while, but it is light and hollow, and empty, and good for nothing. It is green for show, but of no use. It withers presently, before any other herb. Even while it is in its greenness it is dried away and dies off in a little time.
The best state of hypocrites and evil-doers borders upon withering; even when it is green it is dying. The grass is cut down and withers as we read in Psalm 90:6; but the rush is not cut down and yet withers, as it has no use, so it has no continuance. So are the paths of all that forget God; they take the same way that the rush does, for the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.
The papyrus and the rush flourish while they have a plentiful supply of ooze and water; but take these away, and their prosperity is speedily at an end; so it is with the wicked and profane; their prosperity is of short duration, however great it may appear to be in the beginning.
14 Whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is a spider’s web. 15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure.
When the spider suspects his web, here called his house, to be frail or unsure, he leans upon it in different parts, propping himself on his hinder legs, and pulling with his fore claws, to see if all be safe. If he finds any part of it weakened, he immediately adds new cordage to that part, and attaches it strongly to the wall. When he finds it all safe and strong, he retires into his hole at one corner, supposing himself to be in a state of complete security, when in a moment the brush or the broom sweeps away himself, his house, and his confidence.
The wicked, whose hope is in his temporal possessions strengthens and keeps his house in repair; and thus leans on his earthly supports; in a moment, as in the case of the spider, his house is overwhelmed by the blast of God's judgments, and himself probably buried in its ruins.
So, we see the hope of the hypocrite is woven out of his own bowels; it is the creature of his own fancy, and arises merely from a conceit of his own merit and sufficiency.
16 He grows green in the sun, and his branches spread out in his garden. 17 His roots wrap around the rock heap, and look for a place in the 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, and out of the earth others will grow.
Again Bildad illustrates the man of shallow faith: “He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones. But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, ‘I never saw you’”. The image is of lush greenery coming from a poor root system. It will not last. David uses this image in Psalm 37 verses 35-36, “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found”. Bildad is describing someone whose faith is alive when everything is going well, but should the comfortable life come to an end, faith dissolves. Bildad raises the important question, ‘is faith that has never been tried in the fire, faith at all?’
The wicked is represented as a luxuriant plant, in a good soil, with all the advantages of a good situation; well exposed to the sun; the roots intermingling themselves with stones, so as to render the tree more stable; but suddenly a blast comes, and the tree begins to die. The sudden fading of its leaves, etc., shows that its root is become as rottenness, and its life destroyed.
Bildad speaking from his knowledge and experience in nature states, ‘I have often observed sound and healthy trees, which were flourishing in all the pride of health, suddenly struck by some unknown and incomprehensible blast, begin to die away, and perish from the roots. So, therefore, I have seen also the prosperous wicked, in the inscrutable dispensations of the Divine providence, blasted, stripped, made bare, and despoiled, in the same way.’
When one plant or tree is blasted or cut down, another may be planted in the same place; so, when a spendthrift has run through his property, another possesses his inheritance, and grows up from that soil in which he himself might have continued to flourish, had it not been for his extravagance and folly.
A wicked man, when he prospers in the world, thinks himself secure; his wealth is a high wall in his own conceit. He made a great show and a great noise for a time, but he is gone all of a sudden, and neither root nor branch is left him. He shall not leave a family behind him to enjoy what he has? No, out of the earth (not out of his roots) shall others grow, that are nothing related to him, and shall fill up his place, and rule over all that which he labored.
I know about his truth first hand. I come from a long line of people who settled in America. My great ancestor was here during the time of our Revolutionary War. He owned a large piece of land along the Delaware River. In fact you history buffs might know of this land although you might have never been to Pennsylvania. You see part of his land was made important because our First President George Washington crossed the Delaware into New Jersey from my ancestor’s former land. The sad part of this story was that he was a heavy drinker and wasted his money and died a poor man. Neither I nor any of my relatives ever inherited his land. It now belongs to the state. He was buried on a high hill which is now called Bowman’s Tower just outside New Hope, Pennsylvania.
20 Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers. 21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing. 22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.”
Have you ever been insulted greatly by someone, then to act like they are a really nice person they try to say something nice? It doesn’t work does it? You do not want to hear anything else they have to say.
Bildad here is doing the same thing. He closes with a summation of his great wisdom and insight [which it really wasn’t].
On the one hand, if Job were a perfect upright man, God would not cast him away, v.20. Though now he seemed forsaken of God, he would yet return to him, and by degrees would turn Job’s mourning into dancing and comforts should flow in upon him so plentifully that his mouth should be filled with laughing, v. 21. Those that loved him would rejoice with him; but those that hated him, and had triumphed in his fall, would be ashamed of their insolence, when they should see him restored to his former prosperity.
Now it is true that God will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away forever. It is true that, if not in this world, yet in another, the mouth of the righteous shall be filled with rejoicing. Though their sun should set under a cloud, yet it shall rise again clear, never more to be clouded; though they go mourning to the grave that shall not hinder their entrance into the joy of their Lord. It is true that the enemies of the saints will be clothed with shame when they see them crowned with honor. But it does not therefore follow that, if Job was not perfectly restored to his former prosperity, he would forfeit the character of a perfect man.
On the other hand, if he were a wicked man and an evil-doer, God would not help him, but leave him to perish in his present distresses (v.20), and his dwelling-place should come to naught, And here also it is true that God will not help the evil-doers; they throw themselves out of his protection, and forfeit his favor. He will not take the ungodly by the hand, will not have fellowship and communion with them; for what communion can there be between light and darkness? He will not lend them his hand to pull them out of the miseries, the eternal miseries, into which they have plunged themselves; they will then stretch out their hand to him for help, but it will be too late: he will not take them by the hand. It is true that the dwelling-place of the wicked, sooner or later, will come to naught. Those only who make God their dwelling-place are safe for ever. Those who make other things their refuge will be disappointed. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue (as Bildad, I doubt, slyly does) that because Job’s family was sunk, and he himself at present seemed helpless, therefore he certainly was an ungodly wicked man, was neither just nor charitable, as long as there appeared no other evidence of his wickedness and ungodliness. Let us judge nothing before the time, but wait till the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, and the present difficulties of providence be settled.
