Bildad’s 1st Response to Job

Job 8:3 | Judgment: Job 8:3[Gen. 18:25, Deut. 32:4], 20:27, 29, 22:4-30, 27:7-22, 31:9-40 (non-arbitrary judgment without perversion), 29:14, 31:9-13, 24-28 (non-arbitrary judgment without perversion through the instrumentality of Church Officers), 9:19 & 32, 14:3, 27:2 (Job disagreeing with God’s Judgment), 19:7, 29 (Job hoping for a vindicating judgment from God) - Job 32:9, 34:4-5, 12, 23, 35:14, 36:17, 37:23, 40:8 [Jehovah Shaphat]

Bildad can hardly believe what he is hearing from Job (Job 8:2)! In hearty agreement with Eliphaz (Job 5:3-5), Bildad denounces Job’s claim of innocence as something utterly impossible, because this would most certainly mean that God has perverted justice and judgment in Job’s case (Job 8:3; Gen. 18:25, Deut. 32:4). However, this is exactly why Job’s unique and unprecedented situation serves as a marvelous type of Christ.

What was happening to Job had never been seen before in all of Church History (Job 5:1)! Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had never heard from Noah, Shem, Eber, or Peleg (who were indoctrinated by the likes of Adam, Seth, and Enoch) that God would ever allow such sore judgments to befall a righteous man (Job 8:8-10, 12:12-13, 15:17-19). Therefore, Job serves as a type of Christ (Isa. 53:1-12, Ps. 22:1-19) – whose reproach is also borne by true Christians (Heb. 13:13) in the mysterious Gentile Church Age of the New Covenant (Ps. 44:9-26, Rom. 8:35-39) – all of which will change when God turns back to the Jews at the 2nd Advent of Christ (Rom. 11:25-36).

Job 8:4 | Judgment upon Children: Job 5:4 (hereditary judgment), 8:4 (dying for their own sins), 8:6 (hereditary judgment), 17:5, 18:19, 20:26, 21:19, 31:8 (hereditary judgment), 27:14, 29:5 (the blessing of God), 30:1-15 (the slaughter of the fathers, & the children follow; like father like son) [Job 21:11, 24:5 - the delayed destruction of the children of the Wicked]; The Doctrine of Becoming a Castaway: Lev. 26:44, Hos. 9:17

Alongside Eliphaz (Job 5:3-5), Bildad proceeds to exalt the moral protocol of divine justice in respect to “children” and one’s “habitation” / “house” / “dwelling place” as they pertain to God’s blessing of “increase” and prosperity (Job 8:4, 6, 7, 15, 22). This is a very pointed argument against a man who just lost his posterity and prosperity in one day (Job 1:13-19)! We can have no doubt about what Bildad is seeking to prove his argument to Job.

Job 8:5-6 | Conditions for Being Heard in Prayer: Job 8:5-6, 15:4, 16:17, 19:8, 22:27, 27:9, 30:20 (Ps. 66:18, Prov. 28:9, Isa. 1:15, Jas. 4:3); Purity / Uprightness: Job 4:17, 15:4, 16:17, 17:8 (Ps. 18:26, 19:8, 24:4 / Deut. 32:15, 33:5, 26, Ps. 7:10, 11:7, 18:23, 25, 19:13); Language of Divine Repentance – Awake: Ps. 7:6, 35:23, 44:23, Isa. 51:9

Long before Israel became “Jeshurun” to God, which means “Upright One” (Deut. 32:15), and ages before Jehovah reigned gloriously as “King” over the Israelites (Deut. 33:5, 26-29), the Almighty famously ruled over the saints in former times (Ex. 6:3-4) by the very same spiritual principles of purity and uprightness set forth in the Mosaic Covenant. Holiness is a universal requirement of the Church (Ps. 90:1). Should we expect Jehovah to rule the Kingdom any differently than the Almighty? You be the judge.

Job and his friends were certainly taught the importance of purity and uprightness before the Almighty (Job 8:5-6, 15:4, 16:17, 19:8, 22:27, 27:9, 30:20). Yea, long before David famously penned the words in Psalm 24:3-4, cleanness of hands and purity of heart were widely regarded as necessary to be in salvific fellowship with God (Job 17:9, 22:30, 9:30, 11:4, 22:30, 31:7, 33:9). My reader, did you know that the Almighty was renown worldwide long before He appeared to Abraham in Gen. 17:1?

Speaking volumes, the divine name “the Almighty”, or El-Shaddai, appears 31 times in the book of Job, when it only appears once or twice in every other book of the Bible, save in 6 times in Genesis and 8 times in Revelation. From Adam to Noah, and Noah to Abraham, the name “the Almighty” was made great among the nations, and seeing that Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu lived several generations before Abraham, they bear witness to the fame of the Almighty prevalent in those days.

Job 8:8-10 | Evidence of a Unified Church: Job 2:10, 11-13, 4:3-7, 5:1, 8, 27, 6:10, 25, 8:8-10, 9:2, 12:2-3, 9-10, 12-13, 13:1-2, 15:7-10, 17-19, 16:2, 4, 8, 17:2, 4, 8-10, 18:3-4, 20-21, 19:3-5, 7, 20:2-4, 21:29-31, 22:15-17, 24:1, 27:12 (Laws of Perpetuity: Deut. 32:7-8, 4:32, Ps. 44:1, 77:5-12, 78:1-8, Ps. 119:52, Isa. 46:9, 63:11, Joel 1:2-3)

This company of the world’s most godly men don’t even claim to be the godliest men on earth. Neither do they take credit for the doctrines they so fluently and effortlessly converse about with one another. They openly confess to have learned these things from the older and godlier men among their fathers and forefathers (Job 12:12-13), and especially the most aged and renowned among them like Noah and Shem who lived in “the former age” before the flood (Job 8:8-10, 15:7-10, 17-19, 20:4). Judging by the voluminous amount of doctrine set forth in Job, it is evident that these men possessed and studied the written Word of God as a Law passed down from Adam to Shem (Job 6:10, 25, 22:22, 23:12). As disciples, they became possessors of the Word of God, and through diligent study they became proficient preachers (Job 29:7-11, 21-25) of doctrine (Job 11:4) from the Word of God.

Job 8:9 | Days as a Shadow: Job 8:9, 1 Chron. 29:15, Job 14:2, Ps. 102:11, 109:23, 144:4, Eccl. 6:12, 8:13

Job 8:13 | Forget God: Ps. 9:17, 50:22

Job 8:11-14 | Wicked as Grass: Job 8:11-14, 14:2, Ps. 90:5-9, 92:7, 102:11, 103:15-16, 144:4, Isa. 40:6-8, Jas 1:10-11, 4:14, 1 Pet. 1:24, Note: the withering of a spider web is like grass (what about verses 15-19?); …as a Leaf: Job 13:25, Isa. 17:13, Lev. 26:36, Ps. 1:3, Isa. 1:30, 34:4, 64:6, Jer. 8:13, Jer. 17:8; …as Dry Stubble: Job 13:25, 21:18, Nah. 1:10, Ps. 83:13, Isa. 5:24, Isa. 33:11, 40:24, 41:2, 47:14, Jer. 13:24, Joel 2:5, Obadiah 1:18, Mal. 4:1, 1 Cor. 3:12; …as a Rotten & Moth Eaten Thing / Garment: Job 13:28, 27:18, Isa. 5:24, Hos. 5:12, Isa. 50:9, 51:8; The Mechanism of Fire: Job 1:16, 15:30, 34, 22:20, 24:19, 31:12 [El-esh-oklah]; Nothing Green: Job 15:32; Fire Falling from Heaven: “a fire not blown shall consume him” – Job 1:16, 20:26, Ps. 21:9, 120:4;

Job 8:20 | Perfection: Job 1:1, 8, 2:3, Gen. 6:9, 17:1; The Doctrine of Becoming a Castaway: Job 8:4, 20, Lev. 26:44, Hos. 9:17

Job 8:22 | Haters: Num. 10:35, Deut. 7:15, 30:7, Ps. 21:8, 68:1-2; Clothed with Shame: Ps. 35:26, 109:29, 132:18; The Wicked Perish & are turned into Nothing: Job 4:9, 20, 6:18, 8:13, 17, 22, 20:7, 34:15, 36:12