Job 8
McGeeCHAPTER 8THEME: Bildad’s first discourseThe next man who makes his attack upon Job is Bildad. He is what we would call a traditionalist. Bildad is a man who rests upon the past. His argument is: “For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers” (Job_8:8). It is as if he picks up the old rocks and stones of geology, looks at them and tells what happened years ago and from them predicts what will happen. Actually, the evolutionist is really a traditionalist, which a great many people do not recognize. The evolutionist rests upon the past and assumes certain premises which he cannot prove. There are only two explanations for the origin of this universe: one is creation and the other is speculation. Evolution is speculation. It digs up a bone, attempts to date it and classify it as belonging to a certain period, and then relate it to the development of man. But who knows?
This Book of Job is going to raise that very question. In Job_38:4 God asks Job, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.” Bildad will use the argument of “when I was young,” and “we’ve been doing it this way.” He knew a lot of old sayings and proverbs and pious platitudes, but he actually offers nothing new at all. He is a more crude fellow than Eliphaz. He breaks in upon Job and hurts him a great deal. He doesn’t help Job at all. This is Bildad who is supposed to have been his friend.
Job 8:1
BILDAD RESTS HIS ARGUMENT ON TRADITIONThese men really get in some good ones. This is real repartee. This is a real rap session they are having here. They are brilliant men, by the way. Notice that Bildad puts the knife into Job and twists it a little. He says, “Job, listening to you is just like listening to the wind blowing. You’re a windy individual.” Actually, I would say they are all a little windy, including Job. We will see a little later that there is something wrong with Job, too. So this remark by Bildad was good for a laugh at the expense of Job. A crowd had gathered around by this time. This was as interesting to people as a football game or a basketball game would be today. They were interested in an intellectual contest as we seem to be interested in physical contests. I wonder who are the more civilized people!
Job 8:3
He is really saying, “Job, you are getting exactly what you had coming to you. You try to defend yourself, but it means that there is some great sin in your life and you are getting exactly what you deserve.”
Job 8:4
Now that is an awful thing to say. He is suggesting that the reason Job’s children were destroyed was because they were sinners. I can’t think of anything anyone could say that would hurt more than that. Bildad had no right to say that. We know (because God let us in on it from the beginning of the book) that his children were not destroyed for that reason.
Job 8:5
Job, if you were lily white, as you have given the impression, God would hear your prayer and heal and restore you. But as it is, there must be something radically wrong.
Job 8:7
By the way, that is what is going to happen. When all of this is over, Job will greatly increaseGod is going to double everything he had.
Job 8:8
Bildad is going back to the old evolutionary theory. He is going to say that everything works according to set laws. He will put down quite a few of those laws which are old sayings.
Job 8:9
“We are but of yesterday and know nothing” is a true statement. Of course, Bildad doesn’t really feel that he knows nothing; he means that Job knows nothing. However, the statement was true of Bildad, it is true of the evolutionists, and it is true of you and me. We are but of yesterday. Man is a “Johnny-come-lately” in God’s universe. He hasn’t been around very long. God has not seen fit to tell us what He was doing back in the millenniums before man arrived on the scene. Frankly, I’m not interested in the eternity past, but I am very interested in what He is going to be doing in the millions of years from today, because I expect to be around then.
Job 8:10
Bildad says that the past will teach us. Men try to take a few rocks and a few bones and then pretend they know all about the origin of the earth and its development. May I say to you that man is assuming more than he could possibly know. Notice how different is the philosophy of the apostle Paul. He pointed to Christ and to the future: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php_3:14). The only way we can learn about eternal things is from the Word of God. Now Bildad gets more candid and more crude.
Job 8:11
He tries to get very scientific here, but any third grader would know the answer. I’ve learned the answer here in California. I need to water my flags out by my back fence or they will not grow. That is not very profound wisdom. Who doesn’t know this!
Job 8:13
Now he is accusing Job of being a hypocrite! He says Job has been covering up something. He says to Job, “You’ve been a hypocrite, just putting up a front.”
Job 8:14
That’s as good as leaning on a spider’s web. When trouble comes, it won’t hold you.
Job 8:20
Now, wait a minuteis that actually true? God has certainly helped me although I have been an evildoer. He saved me, my friend. Will God “cast away a perfect man”? No, He won’t. But where is the perfect man? There is none. The Scripture is clear on that score: “…There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom_3:10). Although what Bildad says is true, it is not true when you pour it into the test tube of life and pour the acid of experience upon it.
Job 8:21
He is telling Job that he has come to nothing because he is a great sinner. That is not very helpful for a man who is in the position of Job! You see, Bildad does not know God. He does not know Job. Neither does he really know himself. He is a traditionalist. He thinks that by scientific examination he can tell you how the world began. He is a smart boy, but he doesn’t know. He cannot put himself in the place of God. In the following chapter we will see that Job answers Bildad, and he does it very well, although he is getting awfully weary of these rounds of conversation.