Job 8:1-22

8:1-22 | Bildad’s first speech focuses on God’s justice, saying that since Yahweh cannot undermine (subvert) or pervert justice, the judgment on Job and his sons and daughters must have been deserved.

8:1-7 | Rather than offering religious platitudes as Eliphaz had done, Bildad – a coldly intellectual debater who saw life in black and white – coarsely attacked Job’s character, contending that Job was a windbag (words like a strong wind) trying to justify himself before God. Bildad believed he was positioned to defend God.

8:2-3 | Job, in a state of deep sorrow, spoke honestly about the agony of his losses. But because Bildad misunderstood the complexity of the circumstances – unaware that God was allowing a righteous man to suffer – he rushed to judgment.

8:4-7 | Bildad also believed the principle of retribution was at work, except he asserted that the sin of Job’s children caused God to cast them away to their deaths. According to him, prosperity was only a prayer away (seek God and make supplication).

8:8-10 | Tradition is not necessarily correct. The past is supposed to be a rudder to guide a person, not an anchor to hold him or her down.

8:11-18 | While God does use nature to communicate and teach, Bildad’s attempt to sermonize was insensitive, for the cause of Job’s every problem was not a hypothetical relationship with God. Pious platitudes and spiritualizing only cause further damage. True friends seek to understand rather than condemn.

8:20-22 | Bildad held out the possibility of restoration to Job, but it must have been cold comfort after the wave of insults (Ps. 35:26; 109:29).