Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 18:1-2 and following. Indeed, en overwhelming their friend, Eliphaz, Bildad and Tsophar work without realizing it to shake his faith. To accuse someone is to do Satan’s usual work. Not only does he attack the believer before Jehovah, as we have seen him do in ch. 1 and 2, but he also accuses him within himself by inspiring doubts: “You do not have the true kind of faith! You are not saved! You can see that God is abandoning you! If you were a child of God, you would not behave like this.” And the first doubts sown lead to others, for the Enemy takes advantage of it to then breathe: “Since you have doubts, it is proof that you do not have faith; a believer cannot doubt.”
Let’s energetically repel these “flaming projectiles of the villain”. By what means? Using the “shield of faith,” simple trust in God and the promises of His Word (Eph 6:10-20). Bildad evokes the king of terrors (v. 14). It is death, a permanent threat, towards which every man is forced to walk without knowing when he will meet her. But for the believer it is no longer a subject of fear. Jesus, by willingly facing death himself, rendered Satan powerless who had the power to do so (Heb 2:14-15). The second of Job’s friends now speaks. As we noticed in the previous debate, Bildad has much less gentleness of mind and empire over himself than his older friend Eliphaz, who occupies the first place in all these discussions. So he is much less scrupulous in expressing his doubts about Job and his suspicion that he is a hypocrite, for this is what he quickly arrives at: “How long will you set traps with your words?
Be smart, and then we’ll talk. Why are we considered beasts, and are we stupid in your eyes? You who tear your soul apart in your wrath, will the earth be abandoned because of you, and will the rock be carried from its place? Now the light of the wicked (is this what he insinuates about Job, that “the light of the wicked” is in him?) will be extinguished and the flame of his fire will not shine… The trap takes him by the heel, the lace grabs him; his rope is hidden in the earth, and his trap on the path” (Jb 18:2-10). “Do not judge, that ye may not be judged” (Matthew 7:1). This is the spirit of Bildad. He was convinced that, whatever the appearances, they were all baseless, and that now the truth could not remain hidden any longer: God’s judgments and Job’s language manifested that he was simply a fool who had prospered, but whose life ended according to a just and habitual rule.
We all probably understand what Scripture means by a “fool,” a man without God. There is no such madness. This is what Bildad believes was the case with Job. Is it not humiliating and solemn that we can be most sincere in what we believe, but completely in error? We are as responsible for what our beliefs are as we are for what we do or say. The only one who is competent to form righteous thoughts and feelings in us is the One who alone gives the wisdom and strength to manifest them; it is God Himself. We are entirely dependent on Him to communicate His thoughts to us and form our feelings as well as our ways according to what He is.
But Bildad adds, “He has no children or posterity among his people.” It is painful to note that, in a spirit of harshness, he takes the opportunity of the painful calamity that had taken job’s children to overwhelm him. “Those who come after will be astonished by his day, as horror has taken hold of those who preceded them. Certainly, these are the abodes of the iniquitous, and this is the place of the one who does not know God.” Was Job such in Bildad’s estimate? This speech of Bildad stands out for its strength and subtlety and, no less, for its cruel rigor quite distinct from those addressed to Job. This is the most brutal attack the victim has to endure. The law of punishment is laid out in a harsh and collected tone that seems to leave no room for doubt. The force that dominates and kills is presented more as a fatality or a destiny than as a moral government. No attempt is made to describe the character of the man on whom the punishment falls. We hear nothing proudly defiant or the crime of settling in dwellings under the divine curse. Bildad dares no definition that does not correspond to the case of Job. He calls a man ungodly, and then, with fierce gluttony, follows his entanglement in the net of disaster. Everything he says is general, abstract; nevertheless, the whole is calculated to pierce the armor of job’s so-called presumption.
Nowhere is the author’s skill better demonstrated than to make these Job protagonists say false things in a plausible and effective way. Its resources are wonderful. After the first circle of speeches, the lines of opposition to Job drawn by the content of the controversy might seem to admit no more or very few new arguments. Yet this address is as graphic and picturesque as the previous ones. All the strength of the opposition is thrown into these sentences stacking threat after threat with such apparent truth. The reason for this is that the crisis is approaching. By the attack of Bildad, the sick must be awakened to his highest effort, that prophetic word that is in a sense the raison d’être of the book.
Bildad opens the attack by accusing Job of searching for the words – a general accusation apparently referring to the strong expressions he had used to describe his sufferings on behalf of God and criticism of men. He then calls Job to understand his own mistakes, so that he can be able to receive the truth. Perverting and exaggerating Job’s language, he asks why friends should be considered beasts and unclean, and why they should be so marked by a man who was in revolt against providence. “Why are we counted as beasts, so impure even in your eyes?
The personification of death here is natural and many parallels with the figure are easy to find. The horror of death is the mark of a healthy and strong life, especially among those who see beyond it only a dark sheol of a dreary and desperate existence. The “firstborn of death” is the appalling black leprosy, and it bears this name depicted as possessing more than other diseases that power to corrupt the body that death itself fully exercises. This cold prediction of the death of the very ungodly of disease that attacked Job is truly cruel, especially from the one who once promised health and bliss in this world as a result of penance. It can be said that Bildad has made it his duty to preach the terrors of God, and this duty seems pleasant to him, because he describes with insistence and ornament the end of the ungodly. But he should have postponed this terrible homily until he had clear proof of Job’s wickedness. Bildad says things in his zeal of his mind against the ungodly that he will bitterly regret later.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Bildad’s intervention: a trap for the villain:
- Anger of man, forbidden
Ps 37:8 Leave anger, let go of fury; Don’t get irritated, that would be wrong. Pr 14:17 He who is quick to anger makes foolishness, and the man full of malice attracts hatred. Mt 5:22 But I tell you that whoever gets angry with his brother deserves to be punished by the judges; that he who says to his brother: Raca! deserves to be punished by the Sanhedrin; and that he who says to him: Foolish! deserves to be punished by the fire of gehenna. John 1:19 Know it, my beloved brethren. Thus, let every man be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry;
- Fall of the wicked, prophesied
Pr 22:14 The mouth of strangers is a deep pit; He against whom jehovah is irritated will fall into it. Jer 6:15 They will be confused, for they commit abominations; They do not blush, they do not know shame; That is why they will fall with those who fall, They will be overthrown when I chastise them, says the Lord. Jer 8:4 Tell them: Thus saith the Lord: Do we fall without getting up? Or do we turn away without coming back? Hos 4:14 I will not punish your daughters for being prostitutes, nor your daughters-in-law because they are adulterous, For they themselves go away with prostitutes, and sacrifice with debauched women. The foolish people are running to their doom.
- Destructive sin
Ps 34:22 Misfortune kills the wicked, and the enemies of the righteous are punished. Ps 140:12 Man whose tongue is false does not strengthen himself on earth; And the violent man, misfortune leads him to his loss. Am 7:11 For this is what Amos says: Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will be taken captive away from his land. 1 Tim 6:9 But those who want to enrich themselves fall into temptation, into trap, and into many foolish and pernicious desires that plunge men into ruin and perdition.
- The wicked, uprooted
Dt 29:28 The Lord snatched them from their land with anger, with fury, with great indignation, and cast them on another country, as we see today. Ps 52:7 So God will slaughter you forever, seize you and take you out of your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. -Pause. Pr 2:22 But the wicked will be removed from the land, the infidels will be torn from it. Mt 15:13 He answered, “Any plant that Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
From all the above, we note thatby bringing the victim of fate into the grave, the speaker has even more to say: There were consequences that extended beyond a man’s own suffering and extinction. His family, his name, everything that one desired to remember in this world would be denied to the malefactor. In the universe, as Bildad sees it, there is no place for repentance or hope, even for the children of the man against whom the decree of fate was pronounced. The sinner’s dwelling will pass into the hands of complete strangers or will be covered with sulfur and made cursed. The roots of his family or clan, those who still survive an older generation, and the branches above children or grandchildren, as in Job 18:19 – will fade. Thus his memory will perish, both in the country where he lived and abroad in other regions. His name will fall into oblivion, driven out of the world with aversion and disgust. Such, says Bildad, is the fate of the wicked. Job saw fit to speak of men astonished at the justification he would enjoy when God appeared for him. But the surprise would be of a different nature: At the total destruction of the wicked man and his posterity, his farm and his memory, those of the west would be astonished and those of the east frightened. As logical as so many other schemes offered to the world since then, moral scheme too, bildad’s is both determined and incoherent. He has no doubt, no hesitation in presenting it: If he were the moral governor, there would be no mercy for sinners who refuse to be convicted of sin, in his own way and according to his law of judgment. He set traps for them, hunted them down, snatched away all the arguments against them. In his opinion, this is the only way to defeat unregenerated hearts and convince them of guilt. To save a man, he would destroy him. To make him penitent and holy, he would attack his entire right to life. Because ofa human character, Bildad has almost none. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom as I walk in your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow.” Job’s reply to Bildad.”(Jb 19)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.