1 ¶
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 2 How long wilt thou speak these things? and how
long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? 3 Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the
Almighty pervert justice? 4 If thy
children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
5 If thou wouldest seek unto God
betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; 6 If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he
would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
7 Though thy beginning was small, yet
thy latter end should greatly increase.
Another friend
speaks up. Bildad wants to know how long Job is going to go on being a windbag,
full of hot air, so to speak. Job referred to his lamentations as so much wind
in 6:26. Bildad challenges Job. Are you saying that God perverts judgment and
justice? If your children sinned, and the assumption here is they did, and God
killed them for their sins, and you pleaded with God as a pure and upright
person would, God would make it right, and restore your wealth to you, at
least.
What is right
in here is that God never does wrong. He sets the standard for right and wrong.
When a modern conservative or libertine Christian questions God’s goodness he
or she is placing themselves in the place of God.
Note that a sin
and a transgression are arranged in verse 4 as synonyms. Also, see in the
following.
1John 3:4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the
transgression of the law.
Now, the Law
has not been given to Moses as yet for the Hebrews. So, there must have been an
understood standard of life and worship that existed before the inhabitants of
Canaan began on their path of child sacrifice, bestiality, and perversion in
their religious practices. This is important to consider as in Noah’s time
there are animals listed as clean and not clean long before the Law given to
Moses. Read Genesis 7. There must have been a standard set after Abel began
sacrificing in Genesis 4. Was the Law given to Moses actually a new thing or
was it the reaffirmation of an older standard that God had set that mankind was
abusing and ignoring?
The phrase,
cast away, is significant in verse 4. It sometimes means to remove from God’s
favor.
Luke 9:25
For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose
himself, or be cast away?
Romans 11:1 ¶ I say then, Hath God cast away his people?
God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew…
As Job’s
messengers came to him with bad news so his friends come to him with bad
opinions, foregone conclusions, already set by their self-righteous lack of
compassion for his plight. Job, your children must have done something very
bad. They got what they deserved because God never does wrong. If you were
really as good as you think you are you’d turn to God in prayer and he’d
restore you. It’s simple warped doctrine, typical of many conservative
Christians, error drawn from truth.
You draw the
wrong conclusions from the truth. We do it all the time. We know certain things
from God’s word and we see certain things, the causes of which we don’t know.
So, we assume knowledge we don’t have based on the truth we do have, instead of
focusing on what we are called to do as a response to circumstances.
Jesus said;
Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Paul said;
Romans 12:15
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
2Corinthians 1:3 ¶ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
When you see a
brother or sister engaging in sin you rebuke and correct and this is good, out
of love, and for their sake. But, being unable to separate circumstance from
behavior renders you a useless comforter. Let’s use a hypothetical situation to
explain this. You see a brother or sister smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, a
lifelong habit they haven’t broken free from since being saved. You rebuke them
for their self-destructive ways and remind them of the fate of cigarette
smokers, perhaps lung cancer, offer to pray with them and for them for
deliverance, and promise to be there in their struggle. Another brother or
sister, who never smoked, or maybe quit years ago, is told they have lung
cancer. You suggest in word or thought that God is punishing them either for
the sin that was forgiven long ago or you insist that they must be guilty of
some other wickedness for which God is judging them, something that, in their
case, you have no way of knowing because I am certain God didn’t tell you.
In the first
case you did well to, “warn them that are unruly.” (1Thessalonians 5:14). In
the second case you were like a friend of Job, rather than taking the
opportunity to do God’s work for you of comfort and mercy, choosing to be a
sanctimonious boor. Beware of the worst you assume about others when you have
no direct knowledge.
8
¶ For enquire, I pray thee, of the
former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: 9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know
nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) 10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and
utter words out of their heart? 11 Can
the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? 12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not
cut down, it withereth before any other herb. 13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and
the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: 14
Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web.
15 He shall lean upon his house, but it
shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. 16 He is green before the sun, and his branch
shooteth forth in his garden. 17 His
roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones. 18 If he destroy him from his place, then it
shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee. 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out
of the earth shall others grow.
Bildad explains
to Job the destruction due to the hypocrite who is struck down in the prime of
his life with nothing that he depends on for support as being of any value to
help him. Search history, Job, and ask of the past. We haven’t been around long
and don’t know much. Our day comes and goes quickly. But, there are some facts
of history and human nature you should know.
Something to
know about people and nations;
Psalm 9:17
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God.
Some things to
know about humankind.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in
himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
And when the
wicked and the hypocrite are brought down others rise up to take their place.
20 ¶ Behold, God will not cast
away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: 21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy
lips with rejoicing. 22 They that hate
thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall
come to nought.
Bildad, in his
mostly true, but oversimplified view of how God deals with humans, says that,
like Eliphaz who said bad things don’t happen to good men, God will not refuse
to help a perfect man, which we saw in the first chapter refers to an upright
and righteous man. God will also not help the wicked. Bildad promises victory
to Job, if he is righteous, and the destruction of his enemies.
This is advice
that sounds a lot like it comes from a modern, conservative Christian’s mouth.
If you do right, come to church every week, be an active soul-winner, get all
prayed up, read the Bible as if it was Emily
Post’s Etiquette, don’t swear, or drink, he says, bad stuff won’t happen to
you. Bad stuff only happens to bad people. I say this not to discourage you
from doing right but to discourage you from doing right for the wrong reason.
You cannot make a business deal with God. I’ll be good and you be nice, God.
Good people,
faithful Christians, suffer persecution, pain, and even are murdered around the
world today, as in all times of history in the last two thousand years. Bildad’s
simplistic view of life doesn’t take this into account as he, like so many, is
regarding his own experience as the standard by which to judge life.
Truthfully, Bildad did not have the Scripture record we do. We read that the
Christian is promised tribulation and that trouble will come his or her way.
Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
But, more
importantly, for our purpose, here we must understand that natural calamities,
apart from persecution for being a Christian, can befall the faithful follower
of Christ. Note the condition and the response of the Christians in the
following.
Acts 11:27 ¶
And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. 28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus,
and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all
the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. 29 Then the disciples, every man according to
his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
30 Which also they did, and sent it to
the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
Their response
was to send their brothers and sisters relief, not to send someone to tell them
how they were probably being judged by God for some wickedness on their part.
If a modern Pharisee, a fundamentalist, was around back then he would have told
the churches in Judea that if they would just get right, even though the
failure of harvests and the resulting famine were everywhere else, they’d have
plenty.
Remember, your
calling as a Christian for those who are in any distress.
2Corinthians 1:3 ¶ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
I would put
forward my opinion here that one reason you are permitted to suffer, when it is
not a direct result of your sin or negligent living, is so that you can
minister to someone else who is suffering and understand what Eliphaz and
Bildad cannot, the agony of the person to whom you are ministering. Empathy and
compassion are more important than a judgmental know-it-all attitude on our
part to God.
James 2:13
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and
mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
While Bildad
and Eliphaz are out telling a brother, “the truth in looovvvve,” they could
have been putting medicine on his wounds and helping him get back on his feet,
encouraging him and praising God. But, then, we wouldn’t have had this great
lesson from which to learn.
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