Bible Commentaries

John Brown

Job 8:1-2 (NKJV) Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 "How long will you speak these [things], And the words of your mouth [be] [like] a strong wind?

1. Bildad is even a little less tactful than Eliphaz

2. In effect, he is calling Job a "windbag", and asks him how long they have to listen to his hot air!

B. Job 8:3 (NKJV) Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice?

1. " Job 8:4 (NKJV) If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression.

1. If you will remember, early in Job scripture told us that Job's children partied a lot and that Job would offer sacrifices for them in case they had done or said something that they shouldn"t have during the course of the evening.

a) BUT, it did not say directly that they had offended the Lord or that they were being judged when they were taken home to be with the Lord!

2. However, Bildad suggest that they were killed for sinning against the Lord.

a) This had to be a tremendous source of encouragement for a man on the verge of mental and physical collapse.

(1) If you are a parent, don"t you think that Job has probably "mulled" this over in his mind a million times!!

(2) Or at least blamed himself for not being a better father!

D. Job 8:5-7 (NKJV) If you would earnestly seek God And make your supplication to the Almighty,

6 If you [were] pure and upright, Surely now He would awake for you, And prosper your rightful dwelling place.

7 Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.

1. "Job if you were really pure and upright like you say that you are, you could simply ask the Lord and He would restore your health and wealth!"

a) Therefore, there must be some "hidden" sin in your life that is preventing Him from doing this.

E. Job 8:8 (NKJV) "For inquire, please, of the former age, And consider the things discovered by their fathers;

1. You can almost see Bildad as he takes out his glasses, puts on his collegiate look begins to try and impress with his wisdom of the ages.

2. He start by saying, " Job 8:9-10 (NKJV) For we [were] [born] yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth [are] a shadow.

10 Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart?

1. It's too bad that Bildad doesn"t believe his own words.

a) When he says, "For we [were] [born] yesterday, and know nothing", he really doesn"t believe that HE knows nothing, only that Job knows nothing!

2. Here is where Bildad kicks in the history lesson by saying, " Job 8:11-13 (NKJV) "Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water?

12While it [is] yet green [and] not cut down, It withers before any [other] plant.

13So [are] the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,

1. " Job 8:14-18 (NKJV) Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust [is] a spider's web.

15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure.

16 He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden.

17 His roots wrap around the rock heap, [And] look for a place in the stones.

18 If he is destroyed from his place, Then [it] will deny him, [saying], `I have not seen you."

1. "The hypocrite looses his confidence, because the Lord is not there to `support" him. There is nothing to lean on."

I. Job 8:20 (NKJV) Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, Nor will He uphold the evildoers.

Job 8:21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing.

1. This is not exactly true! God died for the "evildoers."And 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that The Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2. And before we get too self-righteous Romans 3:10-12 tells us . . . "There is none righteous, no, not one;

11There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

12They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one."

3. Righteousness, good, and evil are all measured at the cross!

a) It is not measured by how prosperous or healthy, or how educated a man or woman is.

J. Job 8:22 (NKJV) Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing."

1. This is definitely true from the Christian perspective when the Lord reconciles everything, but it is not the case in this world!

a) Sometimes the people closest to you who will "hate" you for simply trying to serve the Lord because they disagreeing on how you should do that!

(1) Matthew 10:34 (NKJV) "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

35 "For I have come to `set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law";

36 "and `a man's enemies will be those of his [own] household."

b) And right now, in this world, the wicked are prospering, and crime does pay.

(1) Which would you rather do if you didn"t have the Lord:

(a) Work for $6 an hour honestly or make $600/hr selling drugs?

III. CONCLUSION

A. Bildad missed it also!

1. Suffering is part of the plan!

2. Job was not hiding sin.

3. God was doing a mighty work in his life.