Bildad

the Shuhite, one of Job’s friends, thought by some to have descended from Shuah, the son of Abraham, by Keturah, Job 2:11; Job 8;

Bil´dad the Shuhite, one of the friends of Job, and the second of his opponents in the disputation (Job 2:11; Job 8:1; Job 18:1; Job 25:1). The Shuah of which the Septuagint makes Bildad the prince, or patriarch, was probably the district assigned to Shuah, the sixth son of Abraham by Keturah, and called by his name. This was doubtless in Arabia Petra, if Shuah settled in the same quarter as his brothers, of which there can be little doubt; and to this region we are to refer the town and district to which he gave his name, and in which Bildad was doubtless a person of consequence, if not the chief.

A descendant of Abraham by Keturah, Gen 25:1,2 . Shuah and his brethren were located in Arabia Petraea; and thus Bildad the Shuhite was a neighbor and friend of Job, and came to condole with him in his affliction, Job 2:11 ; 8:1-22; 18:1-21; 25:1-6. His chief topics are the suddenness, swiftness, and terribleness of God’s wrath upon hypocrites and oppressors.\par

Bil’dad. (son of contention). The second of Job’s three friends. He is called "the Shuhite," which implies both his family and nation. Job 2:11. (B.C. about 2000).

BILDAD or BENLEDAD ("son of contention, disputant".) Second of Job’s (Job 2:11; Job 2:8; Job 2:18; Job 2:25) three friends. The Shuhite, i.e. sprung from Shuah, Abraham’s son by Keturah, who was sent eastward by Abraham and founded an Arab tribe (Gen 25:2) Syccea, in Arabia Deserta, E. of Batanea, mentioned by Ptolemy, is identified by Gesenius with the Shuhite country. Bildad is less violent than Zophar, though more so than Eliphaz.

(Heb. Bildad’, בַּלְדִּד, according to Gesenius, for בֶּןאּלְדָד, son of contention, i.e. quarrelsome; according to First, for בַּלאּאֲדָד, Bel-Adad, but less likely; Sept. Βαλδάδ), "the Shuhite," one of the friends of Job, and the second of his opponents in the disputation (Job 2:11; Job 8:1; Job 18:1; Job 25:1). The Shuah of which the Sept. makes Bildad the prince or patriarch (ὁ Σαυχέων τύραννος) was probably the district assigned to Shuah, the sixth son of Abraham by Keturah, and called by his name (Gen 25:2). This was apparently in Arabia Petraea, if Shuah settled in the same quarter as his brothers, of which there can be little doubt; and to this region we are to refer the town and district to which he gave his name, and in which Bildad was doubtless a person of consequence, if not-the chief. SEE SHUAH.

Bildad takes a share in each of the three controversial scenes in the Book of Job. He follows in the train of Eliphaz, but with more violent declamation, less argument, and keener invective (Wemyss, Job and his Times, p. 111). His address is abrupt and untender, and in his very first speech he cruelly attributes the death of Job’s children to their own transgressions, and loudly calls on Job to repent of his supposed crimes. His second speech (18) merely recapitulates his former assertions of the temporal calamities of the wicked. On this occasion he implies, without expressing, Job’s wickedness, and does not condescend to exhort him to repentance. In the third speech (256), unable to refute the sufferer’s arguments, he takes refuge in irrelevant dogmatism on God’s glory and man’s nothingness; in reply to which Job justly reproves him both for deficiency in argument and failure in charitable forbearance (Ewald, Das Buch Job). SEE JOB.

Bildad (bĭl’dăd), son of contention, i.e., quarreller. One of Job’s friends, called the Shuhite. Job 2:11; Job 8:1; Job 18:1; Job 25:1; Job 42:9. He is abrupt, almost unfeeling in the part he takes in the discussion with Job; and his arguments are not always to the point See Job.

[Bil’dad]

One of Job’s friends, ’the Shuhite,’ perhaps a descendant of Shuah the son of Abraham and Keturah. He in no way understood Job’s case, and could only judge that Job was being punished for wickedness, whereas God had called Job a righteous man. God’s anger was kindled against Bildad: but he, with his two companions, brought a sacrifice, and when Job prayed for them God accepted him. Job 2:11; Job 8:1; Job 18:1; Job 25:1; Job 42:9.

(LXX., Î×ÎŒÎ+Î|ÎýÎ|):

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Wilhelm Nowack

One of the three friends of Job (Job ii. 11). The meaning of the name is not clear; opinions of scholars vacillate between rendering "Bel has loved" (compare "Eldad," Num. xi. 26 et seq., and "Elidad," Num. xxxiv. 21; Nöldeke, "Z. D. M. G." xlii. 479) and regarding it as a softened pronunciation of "Birdad," which would then be identical with "Bir-dadda" that appears inAssyrian inscriptions. Delitzsch ("Wo Lag das Paradies?" p. 298) mentions also Bedad, the father of the Idumean king Hadad. Bildad was descended from Shuah, a son of Abraham and Keturah, mentioned in Gen. xxv. 2, and now generally associated with the place Sûhu on the Euphrates, south of Carchemish (compare Delitzsch, l.c. pp. 297 et seq.; "Zeitschrift für Keilinschriften," ii. 91 et seq.; Glaser, "Skizze," ii. 446). Bildad appears three times in the dialogue with Job; in the first speech (Job viii.) he dwells chiefly on the wisdom of the fathers, who preach the destruction of the wicked; in the second speech (ib. xviii.) he pictures this destruction; and in the third speech (ib. xxv.) he confines himself to a few words, because he has in reality nothing more to say. He speaks of God's "dominion and fear . . . in His high places" only to emphasize man's impurities and imperfections, and leaves it to Job to apply the doctrine to his own case. All attempts to lengthen this last short speech by additions from other parts of the book have proved failures, and are indeed unnecessary (compare Budde, "Das Buch Hiob," pp. 142 et seq.).

BILDAD.—See Job.

bil´dad (בּלדּד, bildadh, “Bel has loved”): The second of the three friends of Job who, coming from distant regions, make an appointment together to condole with and comfort him in his affliction (Job 2:11). He is from Shuah, an unknown place somewhere in the countries East and Southeast of Palestine (or the designation Shuhite may be intended to refer to his ancestor Shuah, one of Abraham’s sons by Keturah, Gen 25:2), and from his name (compounded with Bel, the name of a Babylonian deity) would seem to represent the wisdom of the distant East. His three speeches are contained in Job 8; 18 and Job 25:1-6. For substance they are largely an echo of what Eliphaz has maintained, but charged with somewhat increased vehemence (compare Job 8:2; Job 18:3, Job 18:4) because he deems Job’s words so impious and wrathful. He is the first to attribute Job’s calamity to actual wickedness; but he gets at it indirectly by accusing his children (who were destroyed, Job 1:19) of sin to warrant their punishment (Job 8:4). For his contribution to the discussion he appeals to tradition (Job 8:8-10), and taking Eliphaz’ cue of cause and effect (Job 8:11) he gives, evidently from the literary stores of wisdom, a description of the precarious state of the wicked, to which he contrasts, with whatever implication it involves, the felicitous state of the righteous (Job 8:11-22). His second speech is an intensified description of the wicked man’s woes, made as if to match Job’s description of his own desperate case (compare 18:5-21 with 16:6-22), Thus tacitly identifying Job with the reprobate wicked. His third speech (Job 25:1-6), which is the last utterance of the friends, is brief, subdued in tone, and for substance is a kind of Parthian shot, reiterating Eliphaz’ depravity idea, the doctrine that dies hardest. This speech marks the final silencing of the friends.