Bildad, The Bonehead

July 13, 2014

Job 8

In Job 8 Bildad takes his turn to bash Job further into the ground. [Being a “Shuhite” he was shorter than another small man in the Bible—Knee-High, my-ah.]

Bildad’s counsel is not any better than Eliphaz, maybe worse. Bildad sticks the knife of criticism into Job and then twists it a little.

Job opened himself up to criticism by his complaining in previous chapters.

I. The coldness of Bildad’s accusations (vs. 1-7).

A. Having heard Job’s confession and complaint— “I have sinned… why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity?”—Bildad asked, “How long wilt thou speak these things?”

B. Job, are you accusing God of being unjust??? Since Job called Eliphaz’s words just “wind” (6:26), Bildad counters by accusing Job of being a ‘wind-bag.’

Three “ifs” (vs. 4-6):

B. Bildad suggests Job’s children were killed because they sinned (v.4)!

This is hitting Job “below the belt.” What a boneheaded thing to say! Bildad was not only wrong, it was cruel and unkind to say such a thing at that moment! It would like going to a grieving parent whose children were just killed in a car accident and say, “Your kids were killed because they sinned against God.” How could anyone be so uncaring?

C. “Job, IF you prayed earlier, everything would be OK”(vs.5-6).

Job did seek the Lord and make supplication to Him (1:5). It is a mistake to believe praying will always make your situation better or prosperous. Prayer, for the present, may not change anything. Things may get worse before it gets better!
At this point Job thought that even if God did answer, he would doubt the answer was really from the Lord (9:15-16).

D. “Job, IF you were as pure and upright as you claim, God would hear your prayer and restore you. You must be hiding something. Job, your continued suffering is evidence you must be a hypocrite” (cf. 8:13). [God does restore Job, but not “now.”]