Dr. Kim Riddlebarger on Job 8:
This brings us to cycle one, round two, and the speech from Bildad and Job’s response. Bildad picks up where Eliphaz left off. Utterly insensitive to Job’s lament and his defense against Eliphaz’s accusation, Bildad doggedly returns to the theme of divine justice, even calling Job a windbag in Job 8:2:14
“How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind.”
For Bildad the issue is very straight-forward. There are two kinds of people–those who are blameless and those who are wicked. God reveals who is who through blessing or curse. And so in verses 3-7, Bildad makes his case, only instead of accusing Job of a secret sin, he accuses Job’s children of sinning.
“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. 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.”
These words must have cut Job to the quick, since he regularly made burnt offerings on behalf of his children. Bildad’s words are not only cruel, they are dead wrong. Notice how his speech ends. Job’s own illness has not yet proved fatal, so he still has time to repent and plead with God to spare his life.
Perhaps aware of the stinging nature of his words, Bildad offers a rather weak attempt in 8:20-22 to offer Job words of cheer, but these words bite as well.
“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.”
The problem is that God does not reject the blameless, yet God has apparently rejected Job. Therefore, Job must not be blameless. Again, the implication is obvious. Job must repent of whatever sin he has committed!
Bildad’s black and white view on things has taken him. We see this from an omniscient perspective and we know the reason why Job is suffering. Otherwise we may want to agree with Bildad.
This black and white thing kinda ties in with a short i wrote on skunks. maybe you will enjoy it. : Skunks are super cool for this reason: Anyone who has had a dog that was sprayed by a skunk will know that their spray is more than just really smelly. Its chemically. It makes it hard to breath. It burns the skin and eyes. It can even blind the one getting sprayed. In the wild its all about survival. There are no hospitals out there. If an animal becomes injured they’re likely to become a feast. The skunk is every predators best friend. If I were out there, say, as a wolf, and I got hit by a skunk and survived I would then hang around near skunks without bothering them. I would wait until I smelled that odor and then I would find the animal that got hit. dinner time, sans injury. Why do I think this is so cool? Because anyone who has ever smoked really fine weed knows that the smell is very similar to that of the faint smell of skunk. Why did The Creator connect the mature cannabis plant with the skunk? Because getting high makes us vulnerable. sensitive to attack. Both socially and spiritually. Its also really chemically nowadays too. If you have ever smoked a lot of high grade weed you know that over time it can produce lingering effects that are similar to the test chemicals people explore and love on today. there is also this: http://www.bibleprobe.com/buddhatoldofjesus.htm do you think its accurate?