Job 8, "Righteousness Is Rewarded; Sin is Punished!" insists Bildad

After Job's litany of complaints, another friend responds.

Job 8:1-4, Trust in a just god

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

"How long will you say such things? 

Your words are a blustering wind.

Does God pervert justice? 

Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

When your children sinned against him, 

he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

Bildad begins with confrontation, accusing Job of empty words. He then argues that the Almighty is a just God (see Deuteronomy 32: 4) and sot Job's children were being punished for their sins. 

Bildad has the same message as Eliphaz, but without the sympathy. Imagine telling a grieving father, "your children died because they sinned." We do not need friends like Bildad.

Job 8:5-7, Plead and be restored

But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty,

if you are pure and upright, 

even now he will rouse himself on your behalf 

and restore you to your rightful place.

Your beginnings will seem humble, 

so prosperous will your future be.

Bildad encourages Job to be humble and become pure and then to plead with God for restoration. If Job does that, he might still be forgiven, restored and returned to prosperity.

Job 8:8-10, Look to past wisdom

"Ask the former generations 

and find out what their fathers learned,

for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, 

and our days on earth are but a shadow.

Will they not instruct you and tell you? 

Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?

Since our lives are so short, we must seek wisdom from previous generations, argues Bildad.

Job 8:11-13, Without water

Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? 

Can reeds thrive without water?

While still growing and uncut, 

they wither more quickly than grass.

Such is the destiny of all who forget God; 

so perishes the hope of the godless.

Papyrus and reeds wither without water; to forget God is to be without water.

Job 8:14-19, Fragility of evil

What he trusts in is fragile; 

what he relies on is a spider's web.

He leans on his web, but it gives way; 

he clings to it, but it does not hold.

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.'

Surely its life withers away, 

and from the soil other plants grow.

Those who forget God may look healthy but eventually they wither away. Even if they have moved out to control much of the garden, a little time passes and they are gone.

Hartley says that verses 16-19 "are obscure and have led to many interpretations." Particularly difficult is the Hebrew words in verses 18 and 19. Hartley and the NIV imply that the well-watered plant (of verse 16) eventually dies and is replaced (verse 19) but the Hebrew could also be interpreted to say that the well-watered plant survives attack and at the end, flourishes. Different translations bridge this problem differently.

Job 8:20-22, Laughter and joy return

"Surely God does not reject a blameless man 

or strengthen the hands of evildoers.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter 

and your lips with shouts of joy.

Your enemies will be clothed in shame, 

and the tents of the wicked will be no more."

So, claims Bildad, God takes care of the blameless man. If you are blameless, laughter will return ot you.

Bildad, like Eliphaz, repeats the argument that righteousness leads to blessing and sin leads to pain -- and there is no other explanation for suffering. Bildad makes God a mechanical dispenser of pain and pleasure, depending on one's actions. We would be tempted to believe everything Bildad says, if we had not had the Throne Room scene of the first two chapters.