Sunday, February 22, 2015

Job 8: "People Always Get What They Deserve"

Bildad the Shuhite wants to weigh in on what Job just said.  Bildad is concerned for God's reputation - Job is insinuating that the righteous don't always prosper and the wicked don't always suffer.  To Job's friends, this assault on God's character is nearly blasphemous!

Bildad wants Job to realize that the bad things that befell him happened because he deserved them.  Even his children got what was coming to them, Bildad explained.  "If your children sinned against him, he delivered them into the power of their transgression" (vs 4).

Even now, however, it is not too late for Job.  Bildad believes that God wants Job to repent of whatever secret evil he has committed, and then God will be sure to return to blessing Job - even more abundantly than he had before (vs. 5-7).

Bildad appeals to the folklore of the nations as well as evidence from nature to show that the prosperity of the wicked is fleeting and that the wellbeing of the righteous is assured.  Bildad is rooting for Job to realize this truth and repent, mending his ways to return to God's favor.

For an innocent man like Job, however, such words from his friends must have felt like salt being rubbed in his wounds.

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